When it comes to cooking fish at home, Dave and I are FAR from experts. We have grilled salmon a few times before, and I have a super simple recipe for Lemon Garlic Tilapia — but that’s about it.
I always kind of assumed that cooking fish inside would make our house smelly, or that it was too complicated, or even too expensive.
Well, over the past few months, I’ve put all those fish myths behind me and have been experimenting with cooking more fish at home (thanks in part to the amazing deals on fish during Lent!)
Since fish isn’t necessarily my favorite protein, I started with salmon because I knew I liked it (and Dave likes most fish). I looked up a bunch of different recipes, watched YouTube videos about how to cook salmon at home, and waited for it to go on sale.
I was able to get a package of 4 frozen salmon “tails” (not the best cut, but totally fine for us) for only $4.99 — so about $1.25 per 4-ounce portion!
I didn’t really follow any specific recipe, but instead used the guidelines from some of the videos I watched.
The results were WAY better than I expected — and it literally took longer to preheat our oven than it did to cook the salmon. Dave and I were so impressed that I’ve made this “Seven-Minute Salmon” recipe a couple more times already — with amazing turnouts each time!
If you’d like to try your hand at cooking fish at home, I would highly recommend scouring your local grocery store for deals on fish this time of year — and then trying out this simple salmon recipe 🙂
Recipe for Simple Seven-Minute Salmon
serves 2
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 T. butter
- 2 (4-6 oz.) salmon fillets
- your favorite seasoning of choice
- salt and pepper to taste
- a few squirts of lemon juice (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 450*F
- Place butter in baking dish
- Put baking dish in oven while oven preheats
- Rub seasonings on one side of salmon (I used what I had in the house, Penzeys’ Spice “Herbs de Provence”)
- When the oven is preheated, remove pan and place the salmon seasoned side DOWN in the butter
- Sprinkle top side with salt and pepper
- Bake for 4 minutes
- Remove from oven and gently flip salmon fillets over
- Bake for another 1-3 minutes depending on the thickness (until it’s pink and flaky)
- Squirt with a little lemon juice (optional)
- Eat and enjoy!
I serve our salmon with veggies, rice or pasta, and garlic bread or fresh rolls.
Obviously I’m not a salmon expert, but it has been pretty tasty each time I made it so far — and it’s just SOOO simple! It definitely makes you think how crazy it is to pay $30+ for salmon in restaurants!
What are your favorite fish recipes to cook at home?
Visit my virtual recipe box for more simple, delicious, family friendly recipes!
Kari says
hi Andrea,
Your salmon dish, amongst other previous post on things like when you got tons of fresh berries on discount to freeze, etc., just gave me a thought.
This might sound silly, but some of us don’t know when a certain type of produce/food types are in season. (I for one, have been living abroad and moving every few years, and had no idea salmon was in season or cheap in february/march)
If you wouldn’t mind sharing your wisdom – do you think you might be inspired to share what you know about when certain types of veggies/fruits/meat/fish would be in season, thus plentiful and yummy and cheap?
It would be so helpful to be able to plan ahead, and without having to monitor food prices for a year… 😉
thanks always for inspirational articles you provide!
Andrea says
Hey kari,
Good idea — but I don’t think I could ever do a post like that because most of it is extremely dependant on where you live. I did just do a quick google search and literally found hundreds of these type of resources already out there. The first one that popped up lets you pick your location and the time of the year. It looks pretty good. Also, if you look at any grocery store add, the “inseason onsale stuff” is usually right on the front page 🙂
Kari says
thanks so much Andrea!
We’re going back to the west coast after 20years moving around, and I’m looking forward to shopping for local produce, fresh berries in season, etc!
Your tip to look out for the store ads and website is very helpful, thanks!
Andrea says
glad to help 🙂 Enjoy the est coast!
JoDi says
That looks yummy! We love salmon and have it almost every week! I buy the large salmon fillets at Costco and cut them into serving size portions. Then I put enough portions for one meal in a zipper top bag with enough teriyaki sauce to coat them, and I store them in the freezer. I pop one bag of frozen fillets in the fridge the night before we’re going to have them for dinner to defrost overnight. Then I broil them for 2-3 minutes on each side (depending on the thickness). Easy and tasty! I’ve tried other recipes, and my husband always asks why I didn’t make them the “usual way,” but your recipe looks so good, I’m going to have to try it anyway! 🙂
Andrea says
Yes, I’ve seen lots of salmon recipes with Teriyaki sauce — but that’s not one of our favorite flavors so I’ve never tried that one either. Hope you like the simple butter + herbs recipe!
Stel says
Mmm looks yummy.
You might want to have a look at Jack Monroe’s blog then. A Girl Called Jack.
Laurie says
That looks delicious! We love salmon; I may have to try this recipe. I would caution, though, about using a glass pan at such a high oven temperature. I don’t know whether all glass pans are the same, but I know that when I bake something using a high temperature, I have to use a different pan because my glass pans are only oven safe to a lower temperature, or they could break or shatter.
Lela says
Love salmon!!!Thank you for the recipe!!!
Emily says
That sounds super yummy! Love how easy it is. Our favorite fish recipe (and the only one my kids will eat) is this Salmon Rub my mother in law found years ago. I usually triple the dry ingredients so if our filet is bigger we have enough. I keep leftover rub in a sealed container.
Salmon Rub
mix together:
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/4-1/2 tsp allspice
Rub Salmon filet with olive oil, sprinkle as much rub on filet as desired (we rub a bunch on). Grill or bake and enjoy!
Seriously, my kids gobble this up! This is one of our favorites to grill and to serve for company. 🙂
Andrea says
Yum!! Anything with brown sugar is a hit at our house 🙂
Chris says
I love salmon. We don’t eat it often because of the expense. We get a lot of “free” fish because my husband loves to fish. (not salmon though 🙂 )
Andrea says
well Salmon has been MAJORLY on sale at the stores by me the last several weeks so if you ever want to try salmon, now is the time!