Saturday, February 20, 2016

Maple-Mustard Salmon with Quinoa & Roasted Broccoli

I gotta remember this one, 'cause it was super easy and the ingredients are all frozen/pantry items. Good healthy dinner even when you don't have fresh fish/produce. I was a little skeptical about roasting broccoli from frozen, but The Internet Said It Was OK - and it was. I still prefer fresh broccoli for roasting but this was decent.

I picked up cheap frozen salmon at Aldi, which I always forget to go to and have to be reminded that they have awesome cheap things. Their quinoa was only $3/bag, too.

About the air-dried shallots - this was a freebie from Penzey's in my last order and I love them! You could leave them out, or probably used minced dried onion, or not. Just plain cooked quinoa is fine.

I totally did not measure the sauce ingredients - this is a guesstimate and I also had extra sauce.

I cooked the broccoli in the regular oven, and the salmon in my toaster/convection oven (easy to see when it's done) - but you could do both in the regular oven. Also, if you foil-line the pans, easy cleanup!

Serves two, with leftover quinoa.

For the broccoli:
- Preheat oven to 425. Line a sheet pan with foil.
- Dump out 1 package of frozen broccoli. Drizzle with a couple tablespoons olive oil and some salt, pepper & garlic powder.
- Roast for about 20 minutes, until browned (broil for a couple minutes at the end if it's not browned).

For the quinoa:
- Rinse 1 cup quinoa & add to a pot with 1 1/2 cups water.
- Bring to a boil, add some salt and a handful of air-dried shallots (optional).
- Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

For the salmon:
- Thaw two frozen salmon filets (you can probably cook from frozen too, just takes a little longer) & place on a foil-lined sheet pan greased with a little olive oil.
- Mix sauce in a small bowl: 1 Tbl dijon mustard, 1 Tbl maple syrup, a dab of mayonnaise (I'll probably try this without the mayo next time; not sure if it made a difference), a dash of salt & pepper, and some smoked paprika.
- Spoon a thin coating of sauce onto each filet.
- Bake at 425 til just done (my filets were thin and only took about 7 minutes).

Serve the salmon over the quinoa and drizzle with more sauce.