Easy Salmon

I love seafood..unfortunately, it is expensive, and not all that easy to make. That is why I have to sometimes "cheat" a little so I can still have it as part of my diet.

One of my favorite types of fish is salmon. I just think it has the perfect taste and texture, and can be prepared in multiple ways. Again though, it is not cheap, so as I said, I "cheat" a bit so I can eat it. I usually go to a grocery store and by a frozen bag of salmon fillets....not the highest quality, but in my experience it works.

What I do with it is pretty simple actually. First, you obviously need to defrost it. The fillets are usually small enough that they defrost in the fridge in 12 hours or less. Open up the sealed package for the fillet, and drain it. Set it aside for a second and melt a generous amount of butter in a small frying pan. Now, you can season the salmon just about anyway you like...there are two ways I usually go. One is to season it with lemon and pepper, or a lemon pepper seasoning blend. That is a nice light flavor and allows the salmon to stand well on its own. My more aggressive seasoning is to put garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika, and a little bit of chili powder on the salmon. That is a bit stronger, but still good

Now, put the salmon in the pan with the melted butter...be careful with it though. Salmon is delicate, and will fall apart easily. For the packaged fillets out of the freezer, I usually cook 3 minutes or so on each side. The general rule is 4-5 minutes for each inch of thickness for salmon. When you flip the salmon, I like to add bread crumbs to the pan. That will absorb up the butter, and make basically a scampi sauce if you add garlic to it.

The salmon is done when it starts to flake apart. When you take it off, you want it to be slightly under done, as the fish will continue to cook while you let it stand for 5 minutes.

-Matt

Zucchini on the side

One of my favorite vegetable to cook with is Zucchini. You can do so many different things with it. It can be deep fried, used in a vegetable medley, or stands well on its own just pan fried or sauteed.

I was cooking for a couple friends last night, and one of my professors had given me a fresh piece of zucchini from his vegetable garden. What I did with it was very simple. First, I cut the zucchini into fairly thin strips (you can cut as thick or thin as you like), and layed them out on a cutting board. I put a little bit of olive oil in a frying pan, and set it down on the stove to heat up, I also drizzled a bit of olive oil right onto the zucchini to let it absorb in. You could always use vegetable oil if you don't have olive oil.

For seasoning, I put on a little salt, pepper, and a touch of garlic powder directly onto the slices, just to give it a little extra flavor. Then all you have to do once the oil in the pan is heated up is throw in the zucchini and let them cook until tender, maybe 5-10 minutes, or until tender. It all depends on how thick you sliced them.

Even if you decide to not go with any spices on it, the zucchini stands very well just cooked in olive oil. It is one of the easiest and most tasty vegetable to prepare.

-Matt