Simple Salmon

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in creating new recipes that I lose sight of why I started this website in the first place: to help busy people learn to fit healthy cooking into their lifestyles. I recently had a wonderful reminder of this mission. Liz has been my friend for more than 10 years. We were hockey teammates in college and lived together in New York right after graduation. While we were roommates, we adhered to a strict division of labor, I cooked and she cleaned. It was with Liz that I first developed my recipe for healthy chicken fingers (a dish she requests every time she comes over to my house). Well, after many years of hating/avoiding cooking, Liz has started to experiment with some of my recipes. It turns out that she's a natural.

So, for the past few weeks she and I have been exchanging tons of emails about cooking and meal planning. Having these conversations with her has really reinforced my mission with this website as a place for information, tips and general info about cooking and meal prep. Liz emailed me this week about some ideas for preparing fish. Turns out, I haven't put a lot of fish on the website, mainly because I prefer simple preparations and never thought these were "wow" enough for the site. Talking to Liz has changed my attitude about this, and so I wanted to share this simple preparation for tasty salmon with you all.

I love fish. Living in New England, I am very lucky to have access to wonderful fresh fish year round. When it comes to fish, my opinion is that simple is better. This is mainly for two reasons. First, good fresh fish can be pricey, so you don't want to ruin it with too much recipe/seasoning. And two, fresh fish is DELICIOUS - so I don't like to cover it up with a lot of stuff.

Wild salmon makes for a tasty and incredibly healthy dinner. Craig and I picked up this beautiful filet of  wild Alaskan Coho Salmon at the store this weekend, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to highlight a simple preparation for this tasty fish.

My cast iron skillet is my kitchen MVP. I use it for everything, but over the years I've learned that it is the absolute best and most precise way to prepare fresh fish perfectly. This is due to the fact that you can put the skillet in the oven. Because most types of fish are very delicate, you never want to flip it. Broiling in a skillet ensures even cooking because you broil the skillet first so that it gets super hot. This will crisp the skin of the salmon and help it to cook evenly while the rest of it broils. I have been honing this method over the past few years and it works with all varieties of fish.

I served the salmon with lemon wedges and bulgur with kale and walnuts. It was a simple and tasty meal that took approximately 20 minutes to put together.

Read more for the full recipe!
Read more »

Tilapia Piccata

Tilapia is such a versatile, lean fish. It is safely farmed, so there are no health or environmental concerns, and it's usually available year round. It is the perfect lean protein to build a tasty meal around. I decided to use tasty lemons and capers to make tilapia piccata. This recipe is as lean and simple as possible, no butter or excess salt and it cooks up in just a few minutes. The perfect last minute dinner.

Read more for the full recipe!
Read more »

Apple Fennel Pork Chops

These pork chops are a quick and simple dinner that can be whiped up in less than 30 minutes. Lean pork is high in iron, vitamin B12 and zinc. Combined with tasty apples and crisp fennel, it is an impressive and lean dinner. Fresh sage compliments the dish and intensifies its flavors. As always, it is critical that you thoroughly cook pork. Google internal temperatures and use a meat thermometer if you want to be absolutely sure.

Read more for full recipe.
Read more »

Skillet Pork Chops

I love my cast iron skillet! It's incredibly versatile and easy to clean. Since we don't have a grill, it's great for quickly cooking meat. I whipped up these pork chops in 15 minutes and they were juicy and flavorful. I just put together a quick spice rub consisting of whatever I have on hand. Here, I used cayenne pepper, garlic powder, dried parsley, red pepper flakes and sea salt. Rosemary or thyme work as well. 

Recipe and photos after the jump.

Read more »

Skillet Tilapia

My cast iron skillet is the most versatile cooking tool I own. Because I have such a small kitchen and no grill, it ends up being used for many different things. A well seasoned skillet ensures heat retention, even heat distribution and a scratch proof non-stick surface. Its easy to clean and maintain and sears meat beautifully. It is also great for broiling fish, especially tilapia, which is inexpensive, quick to prepare, and fully of heart healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.

Full recipe after the jump!

Read more »