Balsamic Reduction

Last night we had a quick meal that was healthy and used up a large bunch of spinach in the fridge!  It's weird that one of the positives is that it used something green and leafy....I really fight to eat all the door to door organics veggies before the next batch.  At the moment it is a chore, not stressful, it's just keeping me on my toes. I can't complain, I signed up for the deliveries to encourage me (and the significant other) to eat more fruit and veggies. The sad thing is we signed up for the smallest amount (Bitty Box) and we're still struggling. My hope is I can create and acquire more healthy recipes and get to the point where I'm choosing what to use the produce for, rather than scrambling to think of something to do with it.  I can see that happening with some vegetables; I have no problem with kale anymore (soup, wilted in a creamy sauce or oven baked chips), I wouldn't have said that last year at this time. in fact I'm not sure if I could distinguish kale from chard from collard greens last year!

Last night's meal was a broiled sockeye salmon on a bed of wilted spinach with onions and garlic, topped off with a balsamic reduction.  It was wonderful and made me happy!  I've had similar reductions with lamb and thought of it as a dark meat sauce.  I'm not sure why I thought of it last night, because I usually put Dijon mustard or dill on salmon, but for some reason a balsamic reduction sounded like it would work nicely with spinach and salmon.

Balsamic Reduction Sauce

This is what you need;
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2/3 cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp Earth Balance, buttery spread (soy free)

This is how you make it;

• Sauté the onions in olive oil for a few minutes until they are just about to turn brown and there is no hint of crunchiness. You want to fry out some of the moisture and you don't want a crunchy onion texture to interfere with the main meal, conversely, you don't want crispy or overcooked plastic onions either...yes, I'm a little picky about my onions. 
• Add the vinegar and broth and summer until the volume has reduced to less than half of the original volume and forms a thin runny glaze over the back of a wooden spoon.
• Finally add the Earth Balance, stir until melted, serve immediately

This makes enough for 2 generous portions (over everything on the plate), or 4 directly portions (cover protein on the plate).

 

[gluten-free dairy-free soy-free yummy]