salmon, roasted potatoes, asparagus

For this dinner, first you want to start marinating the salmon (see below).  Then, you can work on the potatoes since those take the longest to cook.  I used small yukon gold potatoes and cut them in half lengthwise and then in quarters.  I cut up 5 of these and put them in a bowl and then added 1 tsp. rosemary, 1/2 tsp. Italian herbs, 1-2 tbsp. olive oil, and some salt and pepper.  Stir these up and then spread them on a baking sheet. 

Bake at 350 degrees for ~30 minutes or until browned and soft when pierced with a fork. Remember to rotate/mix up the potatoes once or twice while baking so that they do not burn on one side or stick to the pan.  I usually just open the oven door, slide the pan out a little wearing an oven mitt, and do this right then.  Alternatively, you can take the baking sheet out out, mix the potatoes, and put it back in.  This may be easier.

Now, I turned the oven up to broil.  Actually, I turned it up about 20 minutes into the baking time of the potatoes and moved the potatoes to the lowest rack.  That way, the salmon could go on the top rack.  You want the salmon to go close to the top of the oven.

Salmon:
I bought 2 fillets from the grocerie store and decided to make them different ways.  I marinated one fillet in a sauce of equal parts butter and brown sugar for ~1 hr. in the fridge.  For 1 fillet, melt ~3tbsp. butter and stir in 3 tbsp. brown sugar.  Transfer to a separate bowl and let cool down a bit (you don't want to cook the salmon in the sauce).  Then, I added the salmon fillet upside down (so that the flesh part would touch the sauce).  Reserve some of the sauce to spread on the salmon after it's done cooking.



Scrape off some of the marinade once ready to cook.  Place both fillets on a baking sheet on top of a piece of foil (which I forgot here!...see pic at end).  Salt and pepper the other fillet and squeeze some lemon juice on it. 

Broil for ~10 minutes.  It really depends on how thick the samon is and you want to keep a close eye on them.  These were ~1" thick in their thickest parts, so they took ~12 mintues total.  You want to slice through the thickest part of the salmon to make sure it is no longer translucent looking.  If it looks cooked through (becomes lighter and more opaque versus translucent and raw looking), then it's done!  Take the salmon out and turn off the oven.  Spread a little of the reserved marinade over the marinated fillet.  Slide your spatula under the fillet, but over the skin, and it should easily peel away from the skin while the skin sticks to the foil (again, I forgot the foil here!).  Foil makes for very easy cleanup.  You just wad up the oils and skins and through it away!

We had asaparagus for a veggie.  Just boil it in salted water until its as soft as you like it.  I boiled it ~8 minutes.

See the mess when you forget foil?  It wasn't too bad actually, but foil is easier.