Easy Skinny Dinner Take 3: Thai Garden Salmon with Roasted Asparagus

I go through a lot of citrus!

My cleaning lady comes every other Friday.  She has this magical ability to get the fishy smell out of my apartment, so in the days leading up to her cleaning day, I throw caution to the wind and sizzle all the fish I want.  Last night I chose salmon, which I think is one of the bigger offenders of making the apartment smell like fish.  Sure enough after she left today there was no fishy smell.  And keeping in the easy cooking motif, there's nothing easier than frying fish on your cast iron skillet.

Marinate in extra virgin olive oil and Thai Garden spice

Salmon can stand up to spices without being overpowered by them.  My friend Martena, who is from Thailand, found Thai Garden spice at Williams-Sonoma.  It's not very expensive and adds a nice layer of flavoring to the salmon.  Don't be too heavy handed though - a little goes a long way.  I marinated the salmon with extra virgin olive oil and about a half teaspoon of the Thai Garden spice.  In keeping with easy - I marinated the salmon right in the butcher paper from the fish monger.

Roasted Asparagus with tomato made easy

I have been relying on the store bought side dishes quite a bit this week so I decided to roast some asparagus and tomatoes.  I skipped the garlic cloves this time - it takes a bit of work to peel them and I was feeling too lazy to do even that.  I put them in the oven safe frying pan and measured 2 capfuls of canola oil - much less than usual.  I topped it with coarse sea salt and freshly ground paper and made sure the tomatoes and asparagus were well coated.  I roasted them at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.  The asparagus weren't that big and when I went to flip them they were well charred.  I turned the oven down to 250 degrees while I prepared the salmon.  The asparagus were the best I've ever tasted.

Well pre-heated pan and a good cast iron skillet makes the difference

For the salmon, I pre-heated my trusty cast iron skillet over medium heat for about five minutes. I put the flesh side down first and cooked for about 3 minutes on each side - use your spatula and peek around the edges. Once one side of the salmon is cooked you can check progress on the other side by seeing the raw color slowly disappear.

Let the salmon rest under tin foil for a few minutes

For the salmon, I pre-heated my trusty cast iron skillet over medium heat for about five minutes.  I put the flesh side down first and cooked for about 3 minutes on each side - use your spatula and peek around the edges.  Once one side of the salmon is cooked you can check progress on the other side by seeing the raw color slowly disappear.

I grilled a half a lemon along with the salmon

Dinner is served!

Ingredients

For the salmon

1/2 pound salmon per person with skin on

1 tspn Thai Garden spice

1 tspn extra virgin olive oil

1/2 lemon

Pre-heat cast iron skillet over medium heat for at least 5 minutes

Marinate salmon with oil and Thai Garden spice

Place salmon skin side down and saute for 3 - 4 minutes on first side

Flip with spatula once you have the char marks

Cook for another two minutes

Remove from heat and place on plate and cover with foil and let rest for a few minutes

For the asparagus

1 bunch asparagus

1 plum tomato

2 tspns canola oil

salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven at 375
Place asparagus in pan
Cut tomato in half and add to pan
Drizzle olive oil and salt and pepper to taste
Mix well
Place in oven and cook for 20 minutes
Flip asparagus so it's cooked on all sides
Don't flip tomato
Reduce heat to 250 degrees and cook until finished = about 10 minutes

Serve and enjoy!