Just thought I'd share a little culinary simplicity that is inexpensive and delicious.
Firstly, Check out the seafood section of your local Whole Foods/Giant Eagle/etc.. What you are looking for is wild caught Coho, Sockeye, or Copper River Salmon. At this time of year these seem to pop up frequently as specials. You should be able to immediately notice the difference between the "farm raised" "product of Chile" "color added" salmon as it is pale pink while the wild caught varieties are bright dark orange, almost red. I found Sockeye at Whole foods on Friday at $7.99 a pound. Buy a whole side (skin on) and have the fishmonger cut it into 4 equal pieces. these will be much larger than the portion you get at the top-end restaurants.
To Prepare:
Set Oven to 350 degrees F.
Crush up about 10-12 Ritz crackers in a baggy. Add Onion powder, Garlic Powder, Dried Parsley, Salt and Pepper to the bag. Delete salt if using garlic salt or onion salt. Pour mixture onto a plate.
Pre-heat an oven safe pan over medium heat with a teaspoon of oil in it.
Trim the thinner, outer portions, of each filet so that they are close to uniform thickness. The thinner portions will cook through and dry out long before the thick areas.
Dredge the top of the filets in the herbed cracker mixture pushing down to adhere plenty to the fish. Drop the Salmon, skin side down, in the hot pan and cook for 1 minute.
Place pan in oven for 8 minutes.
(I dredged the trim pieces and put the in the oven for 3 mins as a little chef's treat)
Meanwhile, Steam some fresh broccoli, edamame, cubed new potatoes. or whatever vegetable you like. Or you could make some mashed with garlic and Parmesan. All simple and quick.
Remove the fish from the oven and plate. If it looks a but underdone, don't put back in oven. Carryover heat will finish it while you plate the veggies.
You will not have a better Salmon dinner at any restaurant in town, It's Quick, easy, and CHEAP!
Salmon = $16.06 FOR 4 large servings (2.03#s). I froze 2. Yes, you can freeze it for up to a month without ruining it.
Edamame = $1.69 (Frozen in pod) 1 bag is more than 2 servings
New potatoes = $2.79 for a 7# bag.
For under $22.00 you can feed 4.
My almost identical individual meal at Bonefish last week was over $25. The Fish was farm raised tasteless and the portion was just over half of what I ate tonite.
And....It's really easy to do in under 30 mins.