Date Night Dinners - Salmon
Each week in the fourth grade a student in my class was selected to be Star Of The Week. This special opportunity highlighted facts about the selected student on a laminated poster. The facts were simple and to the point: name, nickname, favorite color, favorite book, favorite food, etc. And in typical fourth grade fashion, the answers tended to be predictable and childlike. The most favored colors were blue or green for the boys of the class and pink or purple for the girls and the top books at the time consisted of Harry Potter or Goosebumps. Of course, the food of choice was pizza, chicken nuggets, or mac and cheese, that was, except for me.
When it came my turn to fill out the long anticipated poster of facts, with my picture plastered on top I began in typical fashion: color, purple; book, goosebumps; food, salmon teriyaki. Salmon teriyaki?! Three quarters of the kids in my class didn't even know what that was or even meant. I, on the other hand, had learned to spell teriyaki the year before after I had officially declared it my "all time favorite food." I loved everything about the dish and, at 8, I even had a favorite restaurant that served it, just the way I liked. I was determined to make everyone around me love it too - unfortunately, I did not foresee how challenging this task would be when I started to date a person who claimed to not like fish.
Since meeting Brenden I have tried to push my love of salmon teriyaki and pescatarian ways on him. Although I have met some reluctance, an he doesn't like to admit it, Brenden has totally come around. I mean who would have thought that we would be making a meal with salmon or asparagus, let alone having the two be our entire meal. Not me. Three years ago McDonalds crispy chicken salads with extra dressing and ice cream sundaes with extra, extra hot fudge were the way we rolled.
Even though, teriyaki isn't his marinade of choice, I can't complain, because just the fact that Brenden has begun to crave salmon and has become adventurous enough to make it with me, makes me ecstatic. When I learned we had a piece of salmon laying around the house that needed to be used up I jumped right on over to Pinterest to find an interesting recipe that would fulfill both of our joys for salmon. We had been seeing a lot of foil bakes lately, so of course we decided that would be perfect, simple and tasty. We knew that the recipe we found, with lemon and garlic complimenting the flavor of the salmon, would satisfy both of our pallettes.
We were both very excited about how good this recipe sounded and, of course, how easy it seemed to make. Once we mixed most of the ingredients together, making the marinade, there was really nothing to it. Just make sure you have a while before dinner because you have to let the salmon soak in the marinade for at least an hour. Or, you could make the marinade and let the salmon sit in it the night before so it will be ready to pop in to the oven when you want it the next night.
I will admit, Brenden and I ended up overcooking our salmon and veggie a bit for our personal tastes, so next time we will be a little more cautious with that aspect. However, I loved everything about the recipe. The colors that the dish had - bright pink, green, and yellow from the different ingredients - and the hint of each ingredients flavor you got with every bite. And most importantly, the fact that Brenden is another salmon closer to becoming as much of a fish enthusiast as me.
Baked Salmon in Foil
Recipe Adapted from allrecipes.com, Baked Salmon II
Ingredients
- 6oz. salmon fillet
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 Tbsp parsley, chopped
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- Half a bunch of asparagus
- 1 lemon, sliced
Directions
- In a medium bowl, mix together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, basil, salt, and pepper, creating a marinade.
- Place the salmon fillet in a glass baking dish.
- Pour the marinade over the salmon, coating completely.
- Let the salmon marinate in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours, flipping salmon halfway through.
- When the salmon is done marinating, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place a large piece of foil on the counter.
- Place the asparagus, in a row, in the center of the foil.
- Set three lemon slices on top of the asparagus.
- Place the salmon fillet on top of the lemon and asparagus and drizzle the excess marinade over top.
- Set three more lemon slices atop the marinated salmon.
- Cover with another large sheet of aluminum and wrap the edges around each other to to create a tight seal around the ingredients inside.
- Put the sealed salmon on a baking try and place in the oven.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, until cooked through and easily flaked with a fork.
- Remove salmon and asparagus from the foil, plate and serve.
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