Last night’s “make-it-up-as-you-go” adventure was a resounding success.
Baked wild salmon with roasted red peppers and brie, served with caramelized onions and mushrooms, steamed peas, garlic spaghetti squash, and oven-roasted asparagus.
I am someone who very much is in love with food. I enjoy eating… and I enjoy it even more when I have many different foods on my plate. Bare minimum is three – usually meat, starch (or in our case, squash), and a veggie. More is better. Adding a side salad is awesome. The “less is more” rule does not apply here. Variety = good. Got it? (Are you hearing me, husband? He doesn’t do it as much anymore, but he is notorious for “forgetting” to throw a veggie on the stove when he’s in charge of supper. Even frozen peas would do…)
Well, without further rambling, here is the recipe:
Baked Salmon with Roasted Red Peppers and Brie
Ingredients
- 4-6 wild salmon fillets I buy 'em already deboned and skinned
- the juice of one whole lemon
- 1/3 c. olive oil
- 1/4 t. each of basil oregano, salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 5-6 cloves of garlic
- sliced brie as much or as little as you want
Instructions
- Juice the lemons. A tip: before you slice them, roll them around on the counter while squishing them down. This allows the juice to be squeezed out a lot easier. Squeeze the juice into a small mixing bowl.
- Add the oil, garlic, oregano, basil, and salt. Add a few turns of freshly ground black pepper. Stir.
- Lay out salmon in a glass baking dish (preferably one that fits all the salmon snugly, but without overlapping or being too squishy, like mine).
- Pour lemon mixture over the salmon, lifting each piece slightly with a fork to make sure each piece is coated. Let it marinate for 20-30 minutes (technically it should be in the fridge for food safety, but I left mine on my counter).
- Add slices of brie cheese on top of the salmon. Also, add sliced red pepper, coated in olive oil (As you can see above, I did my red pepper separately - roasted in the oven - but I think it would be better baked on top of the salmon, with the cheese, so that's what I'm going to do next time!).
- Bake at 400 degrees fahrenheit for approximately 30-45 minutes (I find ovens really vary, so check it after 30 minutes. You'll know it's done when it flakes easily with a fork, and is light pink in colour).
Notes
Nutrition
In the meantime, throw some asparagus on a pan, coat with olive oil, salt and pepper, and top it with a little grated cheese that your toddler asked for then refused to eat earlier in the day.
Bake for 10 minutes. Watch out – asparagus is easily overcooked, and it’s practically unchewable when that happens. Not that I know from experience or anything…
Then throw some leftover spaghetti squash into a small casserole dish, toss a liberal amount of butter on top, some S&P, some crushed garlic, then put a lid on it, and throw it into the oven to heat. Or, cook it from the beginning (they take about an hour to bake, face down, with a little water, cut in half), if you haven’t got any leftover “noodles” from last night’s spaghetti dinner.
Oh, and I didn’t take any photos of the onions cooking – but it’s really easy – just cut up an onion in large pieces, throw it into a pan with melted butter (LOTS of butter), and fry it slowly on low heat (allow about 20 minutes for this). Throw in some mushrooms if you want. (I want). The slow cooking of the onion makes it all brown and soft and yummy – this is called caramelizing because the sugars in the onion are reacting with the heat. I love these served on top of my roast beef too.
That was our supper last night.
Tonight: Adventures in Nutrient-Dense Superfoods: The Liver Edition.
I’m not kidding. I’ll let you know how it goes 🙂
Frances
Yum! Salmon and fresh veg, my fav!
Laurie Snyder
Was the 5-6 cloves of garlic mentioned in the ingredient list missed in the salmon “marinade”? Or was that for the spaghetti squash? Thanks!!
Beth
Yes! They should be included in the marinade. I’ll update the post to reflect that. Good catch!
Den
Can you use any other kind of cheese?
Beth
I haven’t tried that, but another type of soft and mild cheese would probably work.
Ethel
I coked the salmon and Brie. Unfortunately it came out a little to a lot dry. I cooked it on wax paper on a cookie sheet. I had to take it out after 40 minutes even though it really looked orange and not pink. The Brie was very dried out. The inside of the salmon was ok but still a little dry and the outside was really dried out ans crispy. My first time cooking fish that had been frozen. Usually I use fresh and don’t marinate at all. I used your 400 degree setting but maybe I should have used the 475 setting the store adviced for 8 to 10 minutes. I am a novice. Any hints would be appreciated.
Beth
Hi Ethel! So sorry that it didn’t turn out well for you. I’m guessing it may have to do with using a cookie sheet. It’s best to do this recipe with the salmon all packed in tight to help it stay moist. Perhaps use a smaller pan with higher edges to allow the marinade to coat the salmon.
Thanks for commenting!
Leslie
So delicious. I’m going to try the spaghetti squash with spaghetti sauce. Can you tell me exactly how you did it? (what kind of tray did you back it face down in, and how hot was your oven?)
Beth
Cut it in half. Scrape out the seeds and guts. Add a little water to the pan (whatever you have – a cookie sheet, a baking pan, I even used a pie plate)… and bake at around 400-ish for about an hour, or til it’s soft.
Marissa
Sounds yummy! Fish is a hard thing for me here because I like it fresh and hate it after it has been frozen so we haven’t been eating a lot…this makes me want to though.
Have you ever had wild asparagus? It grows in my parents field and along the river near where they live…it is pretty tasty, we just snap it off and eat it, and just keep growing back after you pick it. Fun hey!
naomi
oh yeah – and i’m with lola…i was asparagus now too, except now i am terrified to overcook it (i’ve never made asparagus before)
Beth
Don’t be scared, it’s easy and soooo yummy! And it’s in season now!
naomi
ok…but what do you do after you’ve cooked the squash?
Beth
not a whole lot – you just cook it, scrape it out with a fork, and mix in lots and lots of butter, salt and pepper… maybe some garlic if you’re reheating in the oven the next day. We like spaghetti squash best with a good chunky meaty spaghetti sauce on top… when we have squash as a side like I did here, it’s usually acorn squash. We just happened to have spag squash leftovers in the fridge.
Lola
So, how did the liver go? I still don’t love it and we eat it once a week in meatloaf so we don’t have to taste it. This post made me crave asparagus.
Beth
We managed to finish our servings (all 3 of us, and Aliza even tried some pureed)… but I’d say none of us were real excited about it. The taste was good… I cooked it with a ton of bacon grease, and bacon, onions, and garlic… but the texture was not good. I wanted so much to like it… but I just couldn’t do it – I think it was a mental hurdle. But alas… I think I’ll put it in meatloaf or spaghetti or chili from now on. How much do you put in before it becomes noticeable? Do you puree it first?