Quick, Healthy, Spicy, and just tasty. Thats what this week night meal is. Blackened Salmon and Sweet Potato fries over a quick simple salad.
Blackened Salmon and sweet potatoes was the first meal I cooked for my hubby, Jared. After that night, this meal has become a staple in our meal rotation, and it gets quicker and easier every time you make it!
“Salmon is our absolute favorite fish.”
Sometimes we like to feel like we are healthy – when that mood hits, we go for the fish! Salmon is our absolute favorite fish. I typically pair salmon with sweet potatoes and this is my go to method. Every meal needs something green, so for a quick week night addition throw together a quick salad. I was taught to cook by my grandmother and a lifetime of watching Food Network. Therefore, many of my recipes are not “recipes” that you follow to an exact science (aside from baking). Use seasonings to your taste preferences – that’s what I do!
Boiled Eggs
Use a medium size sauce pan boil water with a splash of white vinegar. After your water is boiling add your eggs carefully using a slotted spoon. The yellow can be cooked to you preference by using different times.
hard boiled – 12 to 14 minutesmedium boiled – 8 to 10 minutessoft boiled – 5 to 7 minutes
After your cook time is up take the eggs out of the water. To peel, I run them under cold water while gently cracking the shells. The water helps me make sure that all of the shells are off.
Simple Salad
For a quick and easy salad keep simple bases in your pantry and fridge. We alway have spinach and cheese on hand, so this particular night that’s what made up our simple salad. To balance out the spicy of the salmon we used creamy, cool rich dressing. Go ahead and use that Hidden Valley, no need for homemade if you don’t have time!
This salad/meal would be super tasty with some sliced avocado and cherry tomatoes added!
Sweet Potatoes
I love to roast sweet potatoes for a quick and easy side. You can customize the seasoning to go with almost any meal you are serving. For this blacken salmon meal I wanted to do a simple savory version.
Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees. Slice you potatoes into fries (you can also cube or cut into rounds), coat in olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. This is a time where I just season the potatoes to my personal taste without specific measurements. I like my fries extra salty so I put more salt than anything. I use the black pepper and garlic powder lightly for a subtle background flavor. Place your potatoes in an even layer on a foil lined sheet pan. Make sure to do one even layer that is not too crowded, because that can result in your potatoes steaming instead of roasting with crispy edges. This method can be used to roast almost any type veggie. Your potatoes are ready to come out of the oven when they are fork tender and have browned edges. This cook time can change depending on the size you cut your veggies – typically 12 or more minutes.
Blackened Salmon
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
Start by patting your Salmon filets dry with a paper towel – this helps your season to stick to the outside of the fish. Mix your seasonings up:
1/2 TBLS. salt1/4 TBLS. black pepper1/2 TBLS. italian seasoning1 TBLS. cayenne pepper1 TBLS. paprika
This seasoning mix ratio can definitely be altered to what you and your family prefer. I do not love the Italian seasoning like my husband does, so I put a smaller amount than the cayenne and paprika. If you do not like super spicy then you can reduce the other pepper spices. Sprinkle this seasoning mix on the outside of your fish. I do not pack it on simply to reduce the spice; I just sprinkle a nice even amount over the filets. If you want it to be packed with flavor (like my Jared) pat the spices on thicker. You will learn with a lot of my recipes that you can really control the flavor to your preference.
In a medium size, oven-safe skillet heat your oil (I prefer grape-seed oil for this recipe but olive oil works just fine) to a sizzle when your fish comes in contact (I told you I cook like a souther grandmother – no specific details). Place your salmon in skin side down first. Let the salmon skin crisp up and get some good browning on that side and then it is time to flip. After your fish looks almost cooked through on the outside with a brown crust, put it into your 350 degree oven to finish cooking the inside. This method will allow the fish to cook through without gaining more browning on the outside.
Serve your blackened salmon hot.
Left over fish
The left over fish is so good flaked and served cool or room temp. on a quick salad for lunch the next day.
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