Quick & simple soup & salad

I put together this meal when I got back late at night last week from Vegas. I was tired from traffic and the long drive so I didn't want to cook anything too complicated and I also wanted something light because of all the crap I had eaten that weekend.

I threw together spring mix lettuce, baby kale, bell pepper, celery, red onion,  already cooked mini shrimp, and raw tofu sprinkled with furikake and drizzled with soy sauce to flavor. I made a salad dressing out of sesame oil and rice vinegar that I let sit and infuse with garlic and ginger while I prepared the rest of the salad.

The Asian-inspired flavors of this salad worked well with this Trader Joe's Miso Ginger Broth that I had on the side.

I really just wanted something light, so I had this broth plain and it was pretty yummy on its own. But I could see this making an amazing simple soup with some tofu, mushrooms, and/or green onions added to it.

Baked Salmon

I was at Fresh & Easy the other day and they had a really great price on wild, fresh, never frozen salmon fillets with the skin on! I hadn't planned anything for dinner that night yet, so it was perfect.

Once I saw that it had the skin on, I was immediately craving crispy, delicious salmon skin. Here's what I did to make this simple, quick, and yummy salmon!

Baked Salmon with Crispy Skin:

Ingredients:

- salmon fillet with skin

- 2 tsp capers, chopped

- 1 garlic clove, chopped

- 1 tsp dill

- lemon slices

- olive oil

- salt pepper

- lemon pepper (I used Trader Joe's lemon pepper grinder bc it also has garlic and onion in it)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and start heating a pan with a little olive oil and butter over high heat.

2. First step is to pat down the fish with paper towels. It is important to dry it, so you get a nice browned and crispy skin.

3. Rub a little olive oil over entire fish (both meat and skin side) and season with salt, pepper, and lemon pepper.

4. Start cooking the salmon skin-side down on the pan. You don't want to cook the salmon through. We are only cooking the salmon on the pan to crisp up the skin. Keep a careful watch on the salmon and remove from the stove-top once the skin is lightly browned. Do not flip the salmon over!

5. While the skin is crisping up, sprinkle dill, garlic, capers, and lemon slices on top of the salmon. Squeeze a tiny bit of lemon juice over the salmon (not too much because you don't want a lot of liquid in the pan) and do a final light drizzle of olive oil.

6. When the skin is nice and browned, throw the entire pan in to the oven and finish off the cooking in there! It will be done when the thickest part of the salmon flakes easily. I check mine often because I hate overcooked salmon.

Salmon and toppings in the pan after crisping the skin and before baking.

After baking... Look at all the delicious, healthy fats (the creamy-looking, white parts) that came from the salmon!!

These toppings/seasonings add nice flavor while still allowing the salmon to be the star. The salmon is moist and the skin is nice and crispy! Salmon skin is very healthy for you too - lots of Omega-3s!

Quick & simple, healthy meal: Blackened Hake Fillet with Seasoned Italian Squash

I used to make quick, simple, and delicious meals like this all the time in college. But for some reason, in the past few years I've started trying to get all complicated with my cooking. But a lot of times, simple meals made on a whim are the best - quick to cook, less cleanup, more time to relax, and still tasty food.

This was a simple meal I made with things I found in my fridge. My mom and I almost always buy frozen Hake fillets from Costco. They aren't the most tasty fish... just a pretty plain, white fish... but they're cheap (under $10 for a large bag of frozen and individually wrapped fillets at Costco; sometimes they have a coupon and it's around $7), have very low levels of mercury, easy to always have in stock (because they are frozen), and Costco always has good quality products. I blackened the fish (blackened as in the method of cooking rather than the typical spice blend) then lightly sauteed some seasoned squash in the same pan to pick up some of the flavor - plus easy clean-up. For some freshness, I topped the squash with fresh cilantro and the fish with pico de gallo salsa I found in my fridge (my mom makes AWESOME pico de gallo). Dinner done in about 10 minutes!! You can tell this was a fast meal because there's actual sunlight in the picture. I usually get home from work so late because of working extra and of a long commute.... then on top of that, long prep/cooking time = eating dinner late and dark, bad quality pictures (and these are all pics from my iPhone, so they already aren't the best).

Blackened Hake Fillet with Seasoned Italian Squash (serves 1)

Ingredients:

- 1 hake fillet, thawed (or any simple, white fish)

- chili powder

- 1 yellow italian squash or zucchini, sliced

- taco seasoning blend (check for no sugar in the ingredients)

- a few stems of fresh cilantro, chopped roughly

- pico de gallo salsa

- olive oil

- butter (I used Earth Balance buttery spread with Olive Oil for a healthy option that still has the buttery flavor)

- salt

Directions:

1. Dry the hake fillet thoroughly with a paper towel. It is important to dry the fish, so you get a nice browned crust on the outside of the fish.

2. Season both sides of the fish with a little bit of salt and a generous sprinkling of chili powder. After sprinkling, press the seasoning in to the fish with your hands to make sure they stick well.

3. Heat a heavy, cast iron skillet to medium-high.

4. When hot, add a light drizzle of olive oil and a pat of butter. Move the pan around so that the melted butter and oil mix together and coat the pan evenly.

5. Put the fish fillet in the pan and cook until each side has a nice, dark-brown crust and the thickest part of the fish flakes easily. Remove from pan and set on a plate.

6. Add a little more olive oil in the pan and throw in the squash.

7. Season with store-bought taco seasoning and salt (if salt is not already an ingredient in the taco seasoning blend).

8. Sautee until squash is just barely soft, remove from pan, and add to your plate.

9. Top the squash with cilantro and the fish with pico de gallo.