So, I had a 1lb salmon filet left over that I either needed to get back into the freezer or use up. I decided to use it.
I’ve done salmon in skillet before, but wanted to try something different, so I looked up some baked salmon recipes on the net. But I didn’t really find anything that didn’t look (to me, at least) “overwrought.”
So I greased a Pyrex baking dish, laid the salmon skin-down in it, and surrounded it with sliced potatoes.
On the salmon I sprinkled dill and garlic salt, with “slivers” of butter (real, not margarine). On the potatoes it was dill and paprika.
Covered all in foil, baked for 30 minutes at 350. Uncovered and baked 10 more, after.
Damn, it was tasty.
I need to remember this; easy, quick, and tasty. My kind of meal.
Grats on the brainstorm. Isn’t that awesome when you figure out stuff like that?
For an easier cleanup method, do that but wrap the whole thing in foil, place on a baking sheet or inside a baking dish. Vary the herbs/seasonings, add a slice of lemon or so, maybe slice up some different veggies.
The above mentioned method, wrapping the whole thing in foil, works wonders for frozen fish. If, like you said, you don’t like the look of the fresh fish on offer you can’t go wrong with frozen fish with this method of cooking
We learned the foil packet method of cooking in Camp Fire Girls. The leaders liked this method because there was very little cleanup to supervise. Right now my husband is out of town for a week, it’s cold, and I will probably use this method for some of my meals. It works with hamburger patties, chicken parts, and various cuts of beef as well as fish. Usually I cut up a potato, about a quarter of an onion, and a carrot, no matter what sort of meat I’m using. I’ve tried putting in broccoli, brussel sprouts, and yellow squash, and all came out very nicely.
In fact, tonight’s dinner was a chicken breast, diced onion, sliced mushrooms, a potato, broccoli, and yellow squash. The potatoes got salted, the chicken was seasoned with rosemary and sage, and I put a little butter (REAL butter) in the packet as well. It was delicious.
Sounds like a variation on my failsafe salmon fillet recipe:
Butter the bottom of a baking tray (with sides). Put salmon skin-down on the buttered surface, season with black pepper and dill, dot with globs of butter, and cover the whole thing in tented foil. Ten minutes in the oven, done - basically, you’ve poached it in butter. Lovely.
Look in your freezer section instead, or the freezer section just next to where they’re selling the fish and seafood. Often, you’ll be able to find flash-frozen salmon or seafood that should be high-quality - it’s frozen either on the boat or just off the boat at a processing center, so it’s generally fresher than the stuff us landlubbers far away from the coasts can get, even if it’s flown in.
If there’s a butcher in your town, you might have some luck there too.
I’ve done the foil packet with a lamb chop, a slice of onion, a thin sliced potato, and a sprinkling of rosemary - sometimes a bay leaf tucked underneath. Baked it in my little toaster oven at 350 about an hour. Oh, the smell is unbelievably good!
I’d love to try this. Unfortunately, lamb seems to be a seasonal thing around here. Which is odd, given the decent sized Greek Orthodox community here in St. Louis.
When I do get lamb chops, I tend to do them in skillet with olive oil, garlic, and some garlic salt. Time to break out of the rut!
Lynn, we also did the foil packet cooking thing in the Boy Scouts. I always associated it with “camp cooking,” and never thought to give it a go in a regular oven.
You can do it in a regular oven, and you can do it in coals in a BBQ grill, should you care to let the charcoal burn down to white hot coals, to recreate that camp cooking experience. I recommend a double wrapping of foil if you want to do it in your grill, though. You can either place the packets on the grill, or bury them in coals. Even the most tightly wrapped packets will have that delicious firegrilled flavor. If I ever get a chimnea/chiminea, I will probably attempt to cook a dinner or two in it.
In Camp Fire Girls, we just set the foil packets on our plates, ate out of the packets, and just rinsed the plates. Nowadays, I do dump the packets onto a real plate…but I don’t have to really worry about cooking utensil cleanup. I do have to wash a cutting board, vegetable peeler, and knife, though. But since most of my meals involve cutting up veggies, then that’s not any different.
You can also nuke fish fillets wrapped in parchment. If they’re frozen cut the power back and take a little more time. I love fish. Olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper
Isn’t that awesome when you figure out stuff like that?