Recipe: Baked Salmon

Hey guys! Here's the first recipe here at FoE+1, and its actually what I had for dinner tonight!

If you have a Kroger grocery store near you, they will, on occasion, drastically mark down their seafood when the expiration date approaches. I try to check every time I'm there just in case this happens. Since salmon is normally pretty expensive, whenever I find it on sale like this I'll buy at least 2 or 3 fillets. Since they average around 2 lbs. each at $1.99 a pound or so, you can get some real value out of your purchase if you make use of your freezer when you get home.

After you get back from the store, cut the fillets in half, wrap each half in aluminum foil, put it in a plastic freezer bag, and then stick it in the freezer until you need it.

Since this recipe calls for two 6 ounce pieces of salmon, all you need to do to make it is defrost one of your fillet halves in the microwave (take the foil off first!) or the fridge, cut it in two and voila, you're most of the way there!

Here's the recipe:

Two 6 ounce pieces of salmon fillet (bought on sale!)
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 tbls lemon juice (from the bottle is fine, but if you've got a lemon laying around, go ahead and use it)
1/2-1 teaspoon salt (omit if you're trying to cut back)
1 teaspoon pepper (fresh ground if you've got it, but from the shaker is fine)
1 teaspoon dried parsley (1 tbls fresh, if you've got it)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon minced garlic (I use pre-minced, but that's 2 cloves if you want to do it yourself)


1. Combine all the ingredients except the salmon in a bowl and stir
2. Place salmon in an oven safe dish (I use Pyrex), then cover with mixture
3. Marinate in the fridge for one hour (less, if you're in a hurry) and flip it over every now and then.
4. Get about 12-18 inches of aluminum foil and fold up the sides, forming a kind of trench. Place the fillets in the center of the foil, pour the marinade over it, and then fold the foil into a packet.
5. Place the packet into the baking dish, pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees, then bake for about 40 minutes.

When you pull the dish out of the oven, use tongs or a fork to open the packet and let it cool for a few minutes. You'll have a pair of tender, flavorful salmon fillets ready to eat! Heat up some frozen or canned veggies (I like corn), toss up a salad if you like your roughage, and you have a meal!

You can serve two with this dish, or if you're single, you can save the other fillet for lunch the next day. Sometimes I'll just reheat the fillet and the veggies, but other times I'll pull the fillet apart and use it to make salmon salad for sandwiches.

Salmon salad is easy if you've ever made a tuna sandwich. Just substitute the chopped up fillet for the can of tuna, add mayo, relish, and a little salt and pepper, toast some bread, and you've got lunch!

Cost: approx $1.50 to $2.00 per meal ($2 worth of fish, a few cents worth of oil and herbs, plus whatever you serve it with)

This recipe does take some time to prepare, but most of that is spent waiting for the marinade, which leaves plenty of time to read comics or watch Babylon 5 :)

Note: I found this recipe here, using a tool called SuperCook, which is coincidentally tomorrow's topic!