The Best Salmon Dinner Ever

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A few days ago my boyfriend, Reggie, and I decided to make salmon. Where did I come up with this idea? Well I held a poll on the Rookie Cooky Instagram page and I had a few suggestions for Salmon. I pondered the idea as I read through other suggestions and then oddly enough my mom made salmon that night. She sent me pictures of her Salmon in the oven with bacon covered brussel sprouts and bacon covered scallops… YUM. That pretty much sealed the deal for me. My mom is a slightly more advanced chef than I am (ok, a lot more advanced) So I chose to make something a little more up my alley: I still purchased the salmon, but instead of bacon covered brussel sprouts and scallops I decided to make a side of sweet potato hash (I’ll explain what that is a little later), and baked broccoli. Oh, and we also added shrimp to the menu because we had to make it before it went bad, so what better time make it then now?

Step one: Whats on the List?

I have never worked with fish before in my life. I haven’t worked with a lot of food honestly. As you all know, I’m new to this. Hence the name Rookie Cooky. The most I know about fish is that they live under water and I like to eat them. Last recipe I cooked with my roommate, Rachel, and she was a fantastic wing man. This time my boyfriend, Reggie, took the time to help me make this delicious meal. Tilapia, haddock, trout, there are many different fish to learn how to cook but salmon has always been my favorite so I figured it’s a good place to start. This time my grocery list was fairly short. I wanted to make Salmon with sweet potato hash, and baked broccoli. Here’s what I picked up:

• 2lb Salmon
• Montreal Steak Seasoning
• Garlic Seasoning
• 2 heads of Fresh broccoli
• smoked paprika
• 2 sweet potatoes
• Red onion
• Red and Yellow pepper

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I was on FaceTime with my mother all through the grocery store. She says she enjoys mentoring me through these processes, but I think she gets annoyed by the amount of times I call her for help while I’m cooking. One thing I have learned so far through this process is to be curious and ask a lot of questions, because if you don’t then you won’t find new and creative ways to make different meals. When I went to the fish section to grab the Salmon for the nights meal, the guy behind the counter was extremely helpful. He actually thought it was comical that I had know idea what I was doing and even inserted himself in the conversation I was having with my mom on FaceTime. He told me a few ways I could marinate and season the salmon, which I would share with you all if I hadn’t forgot, but they sounded pretty good. One way involved honey and the other lemon pepper, so the next time I make fish I’ll look into it. I just decided to keep it fairly simple and season the salmon with Montreal Steak seasoning and some garlic seasoning to add some extra flavor. Compared to my very first blog post, making Red Velvet Cookies, this grocery trip was fairly short.

Step two: The cooking Process

Salmon

I purchased a 2lb salmon from the store and holy moly, I didn’t realize fish even came in that size. I had never cooked fish before but it had me a little squeamish. A huge skinned, pink fish just laying on a tray waiting for you to cook it. Sorry to place that image in your head, but yeah pretty much. First, I pre-heated the oven to 425 degrees and then I placed the fish on a decent size tray and seasoned it generously with Montreal Steak seasoning and Mrs. Dash garlic powder. We cut up some red and yellow peppers and onions and placed them on top of the salmon before we put it in the oven. I don’t know why we did that, but Reggie said he had seen his dad do it before so no harm no foul. I looked on Google to see how long you cook a 2lb salmon for and it gave me an estimate of around 30 minutes. My mom said it would be ready when it starts to get flaky. I did a combination of both and checked on the fish periodically. Our salmon cooked roughly over 30 minutes before it started to get that nice golden brown color and it flaked off when I touched it with a fork. Thats when I knew it should be good to go.

Sweet Potato Hash

The sweet potato hash consists of two sweet potatoes, a red and yellow paper, and one red onion. Just a tip: if you are going to buy sweet potatoes and plan on cutting them into little pieces, make sure you have a decent knife because those suckers are a bitch to cut. I ended up getting so frustrated cutting these potatoes I almost threw one at the wall. I even cut my finger a little, but Reggie came to the rescue with a makeshift band-aid made out of paper towels and tape. But I digress. I cut up the sweet potatoes into little squares and did the same with the peppers and onion. Once I had successfully finished cutting I kept the peppers and onions together and put the sweet potatoes in a separate bowl. I then put the potatoes in the microwave for a minute or so to let them soften a bit because, like a said, those vegetables are hard as hell. After the potatoes are softened up a bit, I put some vegetable oil in a skilled and put the sweet potatoes, onion, and peppers in together. You cook those together for about 10-15 minutes or until you notice it burning. I added just simple salt and pepper to season it up a little but you can add whatever you like honestly. I got this simple recipe from my mom (shocker). She used make it this for me for breakfast, but it actually went really well with this meal for dinner.

Baked Broccoli

I bought two heads of broccoli for two people, but I didn’t use all of it. I would recommend getting two heads for around 4 people or more. The broccoli was easy! I just broke them off into little individual trees, as I like to call them, and placed them on a cooking sheet. After I filled the sheet with broccoli, I drizzled vegetable oil over the delectable vegetables. Then I sprinkled salt,pepper, and a generous amount of paprika on the broccoli and into the oven they went. I kept them in the oven until they were golden brown. That took about 15 minutes, but that is an estimate. I just checked and taste tested ever couple of minutes to see if they were up to my liking.

Shrimp

Shrimp wasn’t invited but they made it to the party. We had some left over shrimp in the fridge that we hadn’t cooked yet so we figured we might as well make it before it goes bad. Reggie took the lead on the shrimp. He had bought the shrimp from the frozen food aisle, so before he got started he let them thaw awhile in hot water. After, he pealed about 12 shrimp ( 6 for each of us) and placed them in a bowl. He seasoned them with cajun seasoning and mixed them up. When they were ready to cook, he put butter in a small sized skilled and put the shrimp in. They cooked for about 7-8 minutes. Definitely one of the easier ingredients to cook from that evening.

Step three: How Did I Do?

I have to admit, we did the damn thing! That shit was good, I was highly surprised. The salmon was cooked really well, but I think next time I would season it differently. Not because the seasoning we chose was bad, but because I just did the basics so I didn’t mess up too terribly my first time. I think next time I would try a more advanced approach, maybe I’ll go ask my friend from the fish market. The broccoli was absolutely delicious but if I could go back I would evenly distribute the seasoning better. So far, I am learning a lot through these cooking experiences. I learned that I am not very good at multitasking. I focus on one thing at a time, but while you’re cooking it’s like you need to focus on five different things at a time. Its really a good life skill to have. I am learning to listen and follow directions and to just figure things out on my own, which I haven’t had to do much of. I’ve also learned that cooking can be frustrating if you don’t have the necessary tools a.k.a a decent cutting knife! I think if I could go back and tell myself one thing while cooking this meal It would be to be patient with myself and to enjoy the process. I had gotten so frustrated and down on myself through this specific process because I felt like I was doing everything wrong and I cut my finger, but in the end it still turned out pretty amazing. No one becomes a cook over night, one learns by DOING.