MONDAY RECIPE POST - HOW TO BAKE SALMON

I went back to the basics for this one and needed a refresher course of sorts.  I wanted a simple recipe for a piece of salmon I bought for dinner.  Some days you just don't feel like fussing.  This came from Gimme Some Oven hosted by Ali.  Thank you for this simple recipe Ali.  If you want to see more tips you can go to the link above in red.

Baked Salmon

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.  

Bring your piece of salmon to room temperature.  Let your salmon rest on the counter for 15 to 30 minutes, until it has come mostly to room temperature.  This apparently helps with even cooking.  Blot the salmon on all sides with paper towels.  

Next, place the salmon skin-side down on a foil-covered baking sheet (or in an oven-proof non-stick skillet, such as a cast iron pan).  If the ends of the salmon filets are really thin, just fold them under a bit for even cooking.  

Brush on all sides (except the bottom) with oil.  Sprinkle with favorite seasonings.  Ali suggests a mixture of garlic powder, kosher salt and black pepper.

Bake in the oven (at 450 degrees Fahrenheit) until the internal temperature is 140 degrees, 4 to 6 minutes for every half inch of thickness.  The instructions say you can test for doneness by inserting a fork or knife and twisting it a bit.  The fish should be opaque and flake easily.

Remove salmon from the oven and put on a clean serving plate.  Sprinkle each filet with a good squeeze of lemon juice (or in my case lime juice as I didn't have any lemons and wanted to use up the limes).  If you have any fresh herbs you can scatter those on the top also.

Serve and enjoy!

Once the salmon is cooked it can be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to two days.

You can also freeze it up to three months.

Salmon is my favorite go-to fish lately.  This was an easy, fast and simple way to get a meal on the table.

My side dish took longer than the fish to cook, but I timed the veggies to finish with the salmon.  I roasted a selection of vegetables after placing on a foiled-lined baking sheet, lightly oiled and sprinkled with salt and pepper to taste.  These were put in a 450 degree pre-heated oven for about 45 minutes, turned over half way during the cooking process.  I have a double oven and used it, but you can cook them both either on different racks in the one oven, or on a sheet pan.  The roasted vegetables would need to be put in first and the salmon at the side of them for the remaining cooking time.

I placed the salmon on top of a bed of leftover kale that I had not used in the other recipe, along with a few leftover roasted chickpeas (I made this recipe the day after).