Wednesday, March 20, 2013

15 Minute Meal - Fo Real - Roasted Salmon with Asparagus and Potatoes

Roasted Asparagus and Rosemary Potatoes
There are days, there are days, I'd be perfectly happy having a bowl of brown rice and Brussels sprouts.  Believe you me, while D was travelling for work this past summer, that would have happened alot if it weren't for the stifling Toronto summer heat.  D wouldn't have that.  He could be exhausted and come through the door at 8pm and still insist on eating something substantial.  I usually let him indulge himself to make it then.  I can usually scrounge up that energy for lil T but not myself.  Toddlerhood during winter is certainly draining. 

For those days, strategic shopping and stocking can make sure that the laziest and most tired of us all can make a nice meal in 15 minutes. 

D texted he was leaving work.  It was 7h15pm.  I sighed.  T had slept late through his nap and his Grannie nannie had left him sleeping on the couch.  My rather diminutive mother watches him on Mondays and Tuesdays when I work from home. She finds it difficult to lift him into his crib so more often than I like, she lets him fall asleep on the sofa.  I have to sit there in the dim light reading my Kindle because waking a lil T before he wants too is simply not worth it.  So here he was eating dinner a full hour late, groggy and not terribly interested in his Meatballs and Spaghetti.  *sigh* I guess I should think about dinner.  I knew we had some Salmon defrosting in the fridge.  We like to buy whole Salmon on sale and portion them out into 120 g portions and freeze what we don't eat in the first couple days. 

D had placed a couple in a bag to defrost with an marinade of Soy, Mirin, Sesame Oil, Garlic and Fresh Ginger.  I find that marinades soak in well during defrost.  You could easily use your favourite Asian sauce as a marinade if you don't have fresh Garlic or Ginger..... but you should ALWAYS have fresh Garlic and Ginger in the house.  I remember one of my favourite cook shows from my teenhood, the bearded gent said he would check the cupboards for a bag of Onions of a lady he was courting.  A lady should always have a bag of Onions, he believed.  I think you should always have Garlic and Ginger.  I watched lil T pushing his Spaghetti around his plate painting a Tomatoey picture with his fork when I reluctantly decided I should make dinner.  It was 7h30.  D would be home in about 10 minutes. 

I took the Salmon filets out of the fridge and let them sit at room temperature while, I dealt with the veg.    I turned the Oven to 450F.  I washed 4 medium sized White Potatoes.  Looked at them and decided they were pretty big so put one back.  I cut them into inch sized cubes and spread them out on a dinner plate and microwaved them for 3 minutes.  I then washed and trimmed all a bunch of Asparagus.  You can either, grab them by the bottom and break them where they naturally want too, where the bottom is too fibrous to eat.  Or, as Alton brown does, cut off the bottom third of them all.  I snap them and then nibble the bottom if I think they broke off too far up the stalk.

I took out a large baking tray and lined it with Parchment paper.  D had left some burnt Flour on it from his last Pizza night.  I dusted it off but didn't have the energy or motivation to wash the gigantic thing tonight.


I spread the Asparagus out on half the baking tray.   I placed the parcooked Potatoes on the other.  I trimmed some Rosemary and Thyme from our window winter garden and tossed them onto the Taters.  I drizzled light Olive Oil over the lot and mixed it in with my hands.  I sprinkle with some coarse Salt over.

Place the Salmon Filets side by side right on top of the bed of Asparagus.

Bake for 12-14 minutes in the bottom third level.  D likes 12, I like 14.  

D got home and changed.

Serve.




3 Leave a / Read COMMENTs:

ahnvictoria said...

What is mirin? Also, do you microwave the potatoes dry?

Yummo said...

Mirin is a Sweet Rice based wine/vinegar, slightly thicker than water. You can buy it where you see Rice Wine Vinegar, which different. It is one ingredient in Sushi rice prepping. The Potatoes were a bit moist since I had just washed them. Enjoy! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002YB20Q/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0002YB20Q&linkCode=as2&tag=365dayofeatan-20

ahnvictoria said...

What amounts of mirin, soy, ginger and garlic do you use? Are the ginger and garlic minced?