SUPER-SAD SATURDAY NIGHT SALMON

GLM

For the first three years I lived on my own, the idea of a weekend evening spent by myself was downright depressing. Why would I stay home when the opportunity to straighten my hair, put on sexy (read: uncomfortable) shoes, and make out with a stranger was available to me just about every weekend? What if, I would wonder, my destiny lies beyond the bouncer skeptically allowing me in the door of this shitty club even though my fake ID says I was born in 1968? What if one of those cheesy strangers, who don’t ever seem to mind that I’ve spilled vodka and cranberry down my too-tight top, is my true love? My beshert, as we say among Jews?

But then one weekend in late spring, my Saturday-night plans fell through. I panicked briefly, calling everyone in my neighborhood to see if they might want to meet up instead, but nobody was around. Crestfallen, I called it. The night was over. Dead.

I washed off my makeup, changed into clean pajamas, and set about making dinner. I cooked a salmon fillet I’d bought earlier that week, topped it with a soy glaze and a fresh blood orange my roommate had been saving, and tossed together a quick side salad. I poured myself a glass of white wine, settled in with my dinner, and found a Molly Ringwald marathon on TBS. As I laughed and cried along with Molly, sipped my wine, and ate my dinner, it suddenly hit me: Saturday nights alone are actually kind of awesome. There was nobody to bother me since everyone was out getting drunk and making out with each other, and I had a rare opportunity to cook, eat, and veg out in peace. Best of all, I could cook and eat fish without offending anyone with the aroma. It was more relaxing than a deep-tissue massage (and much cheaper).

Since I met my husband, my weekend nights alone are fewer and further between. But a few times a year, he takes off for a weekend-long conference or goes out with his guy friends. I mope and pout and tell him how sad I am that I’ll have to spend the weekend without him. Then I drop him off at the airport or the bar and head straight to my neighborhood grocery store, where I pick up ingredients for my very favorite solo meal. I cook dinner, run the bath and pour in a decadent amount of bubbles, grab a large glass of wine, and celebrate the joys of spoiling myself.

Because the secret of super-sad Saturday nights in is that they aren’t very sad at all.

SERVES 1

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (1-inch) piece of ginger, peeled and minced

1 blood orange, half zested and juiced, half sliced into thin rounds

1–2 teaspoons Asian chili sauce (depending on taste)

1 (4-ounce) fillet salmon, skin on

1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped, for garnish

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat the oven to 375°F.

• Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, blood orange zest and juice, and chili sauce in a large bowl. Whisk until well incorporated.

• Place salmon fillet flesh-side down in the marinade, gently pressing down to ensure that all of the fish is exposed to the marinade.

• Set in the refrigerator to marinate for 10 minutes.

• Place fillet skin-side down in a glass baking dish. Top with 2 or 3 slices of blood orange and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until fish is cooked to desired doneness.

• Garnish with parsley and serve.