Baked Salmon & Quinoa Yumminess

Our standard salmon has just about reached perfection, and that happy moment when a recipe or way you make something becomes second nature - no double checking instructions.

I've purchased salmon at three places recently - our regular grocery store, a dedicated butcher/seafood market and a gourmet grocery store that brings in fresh fish daily.  My husband preferred the third, but I liked the butcher's salmon best.

I've been lining my baking dish with parchment paper, but last night tried a combo of foil on the bottom (to protect the dish from blackening and make cleanup easy).  It worked, but I didn't like the amount of waste.  I think parchment will remain the standard because by the time the fish is done, it is practically decomposing before my eyes, so I don't feel so badly about throwing it away.


I simply lay the salmon on the parchment and douse it with the combo above (all of it) and put it in the oven for about 25 minutes at 400 degrees.  You can't mess this up - just bake until the salmon flakes nicely.  In our house, we like very well done salmon with a bit of browning, so I usually turn it up to broil for the last 10 minutes while prepping some quinoa and warming some sourdough bread.  Delightful.  It makes the garlic cloves brown up nicely and deepens the flavor of the salmon.

A note on the quinoa - it's such a great item and so underused.  I grabbed a box and pulled some of last summer's diced bell peppers, onion and yellow squash out of the freezer (I flash froze them to cut down on retained liquid/frost).  I quick sautéed these in a bit of olive oil and then added about 1.25 cups of quinoa to a can of vegetarian broth plus water.  It was yummy and snuck our veggies into dinner.  Served it all up with a basic Barefoot riesling - it was surprisingly perfect on a cold night!  Kind of like craving ice cream in winter, I guess.  Enjoy!