I had almost forgotten how much I love this sauce. We originally paired it with sturgeon medallions back in 2010, but it's outstanding with salmon as well and it's Eastern Washington apricot season! You can find fresh Washington apricots at Spuds Produce and other local stores. Yum! 
You can prepare your salmon a variety of ways - baking at 350 for 10 minutes (for a one pound piece), pan searing skinless for 3-4 minutes on each side or, personally, I think this weather begs for grilling! We grill our salmon on a clean grill, meat-side down, for about 3 minutes - then flip over to the skin side and finish cooking for about 5-6 minutes.
Sweet and Spicy Apricot Sauce
ingredients
- 7 fresh ripe apricots
- ¾ cup orange juice
- ½ cup sugar (or less)
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp. minced fresh ginger
- 4 cloves minced fresh garlic
- 1 whole minced jalapeno
- 1 T butter
- 1 T Dijon mustard
- 1 T rice vinegar
Remove the pits from the apricots, quarter them (I just tear them up with my messy fingers...) and toss them in a sauce pan. Add the orange juice and sugar, then bring to a boil. Let simmer and reduce for about 15 minutes. In a little fry pan, sauté the garlic and jalapeno in the butter over medium heat. (Keep it low
so your butter doesn't burn, you just need to soften the garlic and jalapeno.) Add the cooked garlic mixture, ginger, salt, mustard and vinegar to your apricot pot and fold to combine. Let it set for at least 15 minutes for the flavors to meld a bit, pour over your salmon and enjoy!
