Last weekend I was hanging out at the parent's house because our house smelled like rubbing alcohol on steroids - they were finishing the floor, sanded, sealed and as of this week delivered and ready for furniture and feet. We had pretty much eaten our way through the pantry and two fridges, and I said "stop the insanity" (is that saying trademarked - hope not). Sunday night was going to be health nut night, well, kind of.
The only thing we had left in the freezer was the salmon, and I thought, ah ha, let's have a simple Japanese meal - teriyaki salmon, white rice made in the rice cooker and broccoli, lightly roasted with garlic in the oven. When I woke up Sunday, I jumped on epicurious to find a recipe for teriyaki sauce. Every single recipe I looked at said, 1 cup/1/2 cup, whatever, purchased teriyaki sauce. Well, to me that's just absurd. I mean I can make teriyaki sauce with just about 4 ingredients in about 10 minutes. Why in the world would I want to go out and buy something loaded with things I can't even pronounce. Mom had soy sauce, cider vinegar and sugar - all I had to buy was mirin. So I whipped this together in the aforesaid 10 minutes, went outside carved my punkin' and played Apples to Apples all afternoon while scarfing down snacks and beers - so much for stopping the insanity. Oh well, at least we didn't have T-bone steak for dinner, with a baked potato loaded with sour cream and bacon - dang that sounds good - maybe this Sunday...
Below is my super simple teriyaki sauce recipe. You can put it on salmon, chicken, and I'd say it might even make a decent teriyaki burger, but you'd probably want to cut back on the sugar - it did come out just a tad sweet, for my taste anyway. It's really easy to double so adjust according to the size of meat, number in your party, etc.
Teriyaki Sauce
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin
2 - 3 Tbls sugar
2 Tbls cider vinegar (add to taste if it seems a little heavy)
Place all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and let boil about 5 minutes. Voila, you've got teriyaki sauce. Let it cool and then pour over your meat 30 minutes to an hour before you cook. We baked our salmon in the oven at about 400 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes, but that will all depend on the meat you use and your oven. This would be great on grilled meat too, same directions, you just grill instead of bake.
Moved back into our house this weekend. It's been great staying at Mom and Dad's but I'm sure they want their house back!
