Miso Salmon

Best served over a scoop of cooked white or brown rice.

Makes 4 servings

1 cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
4 tablespoons light yellow miso (fermented soybean paste*)
6 tablespoons sugar
4 salmon filets (about 5 or 6 ounces each)

1 1/2 cups snow peas

1. Add the mirin, miso and sugar to a small, nonstick saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue to boil for three minutes, whisking as it boils to create a smooth miso marinade.
2. Reserve 1/3 cup of the miso marinade and set aside. Pour the remaining miso marinade over the salmon filets in a gallon zip-lock bag or a shallow dish. Let salmon marinate in refrigerator for at least an hour (or up to 12 hours).
3. Grill the salmon filets skin side down about 5 inches from the coals or heat for about 14 minutes or until salmon is cooked throughout. You can lightly brown the top of the salmon filets by broiling briefly in your kitchen oven or by gently flipping the salmon filets over and grilling them, flesh side down, for a couple of minutes.
4. Meanwhile to make a miso sauce for the table, add the 1/3 cup of the reserved miso marinade to a small nonstick saucepan and stir in 3 tablespoons fat-free half-and-half and a teaspoon of Wondra flour. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly, until the sauce has reached your desired thickness. Also, add snow peas to a small microwave-safe dish with 1/4 cup water, cover and cook on HIGH until snow peas are just tender (about three minutes).
5. Serve each serving of broiled salmon over a scoop of steamed white or brown rice (if desired) and top with a drizzle of the miso sauce and fan some snow peas on top for garnish.

Per serving (assuming only 1/3 of the marinade is consumed): 265 calories, 30 g protein, 12 g carbohydrate, 9.5 g fat (1.5 g saturated fat, 3.1 g monounsaturated fat,
4 g polyunsaturated fat), 78 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber,
380 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 34 percent.
Omega-3 fatty acids = 3.6 g, Omega-6 fatty acids = .4 g

* Available at Japanese markets, specialty food stores and in the Asian food sections of some supermarkets. If you can't find the light yellow miso, you can use Hacho Miso and follow the recipe above; the sauce will just be darker in color and the flavor will be a bit more intense.