The Perfect Salmon - Pioneer Woman Style

I've never been much of a fan of fish...unless it's not too fishy. I really like Halibut...when it's deep fried and served with french fries. I'm pretty sure I have the mature taste palate of a 5 year old. hehe.

Anyway, my husband BBQs during the summer and one day he BBQ'd some salmon for his mom. I tried a bite and discovered a new love in the seafood department: my husband's BBQ salmon. YUM! All he does is put it in foil, sprinkle salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice and a little lemon pepper on it and calls it good. And, boy howdy, is it ever!

During the winter, though, my fish intake decreases greatly. As I've said before, we are making an effort to go meatless on Mondays, so I decided to try my hand at baking salmon and seeing if it would be good. It was a success! The recipe, of course, as always, was from Pinterest with the link going to the Pioneer Woman's website. To check out the recipe (as well as a bazillion others), click here.

Photo from Pinterest

It turns out, this recipe is pretty much exactly the way my husband prepares the salmon other than not using lemon pepper and lemon juice (which I did use anyway) and it being cooked in the oven instead. I didn't put it in foil as The Pioneer Woman did not say to do that, and it seemed to be just fine. Here is a pic after it was prepped and ready to go in the oven... it certainly doesn't look very appetizing.

However, as you can see, it turned out as pretty as fish can be (without being deep fried) and it really was quite tasty.

It was a little more cooked than I would've liked so it lost a little of its moistness, but that was completely my fault since I forgot to set the timer when I put the salmon in the oven.

A little rice, broccoli and asparagus, and our dinner was delicious and I felt quite accomplished. Not too shabby for the first time making fish, if I do say so myself. Plus, I was quite happy that my house did not smell fishy at all, which I gravely anticipated it doing as I made this. My only recommendation would be to be sure to not have the fish in your oven longer than 25-30 minutes - it does dry out. Also, fresh fish is most definitely the way to go! I've had frozen salmon and fresh. There is nothing better than fresh. That pretty much goes for all food though, doesn't it?

If you aren't a fish fan, this probably wouldn't be your cup of tea, but if you are a fan of fish or of trying it from time to time - this is a good choice.