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Chili Garlic Salmon

Simple Salmon Elegance

While grocery shopping a few weeks back, my daughter commented that she wanted to eat more fish. Well, this is not the typical tween comment, so I figured I better act fast! Salmon is her favorite, so when I searched on the web site and found Chili Garlic Salmon, I was pretty excited. It looked simple enough for a weekday night, yet created quite an elegant dish that included the fish and a green vegetable. The recipe serves two, but I found it could easily be doubled for a family of four.

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While grocery shopping a few weeks back, my daughter commented that she wanted to eat more fish. Well, this is not the typical tween comment, so I figured I better act fast! Salmon is her favorite, so when I searched on the web site and found Chili Garlic Salmon, I was pretty excited. It looked simple enough for a weekday night, yet created quite an elegant dish that included the fish and a green vegetable. The recipe serves two, but I found it could easily be doubled for a family of four.

Chard is one of my favorites, but the kids don't always like it. Preparing it with light butter in this recipe added a little sweetness, and cutting off the bitter stems helped too. Most of the time Swiss chard has red stems, but the chard at my local co-op had lovely orange and yellow stems. It's so colorful!

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Start this recipe by first preparing the pan so the fish doesn't stick. I used a little olive oil and lined the pan for easy clean up.

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Then cut your salmon into pieces. Since I doubled the recipe, my fish was more than 8 oz so I cut it into four pieces.

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Place the salmon pieces on the prepared pan, tucking any thin ends under for more even cooking thickness.

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Then, mix up your chili garlic sauce ingredients -- I melted my light butter in a metal one-cup measure, then removed it from the stove and stirred in the garlic and spices with a tiny whisk!

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Since you are using some of the sauce after the fish is baked, be sure you don't touch your spoon to the raw fish and return it to the sauce -- just drop a tablespoonful on all of the filets, then use the back of the spoon to spread it around so it covers the tops of the fish, and then toss the spoon into the sink for cleaning.

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While the fish is baking, chop up the Swiss chard. Start by removing the stems below the greens. I saved these to sauteé with eggs in the morning, but not everyone likes chard stems so you may decide to toss them.

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Cutting greens into small strips makes them easy to eat. Gather up the greens and slice thinly across. Of course watch your fingers!

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Then I like to give a few cuts lengthwise so it's not long and stringy!

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Now toss it into the pan with your light butter and spices, cover and let it cook for about 5 minutes until it's nice and tender. If it finishes before your salmon is ready, just move it off the heat and keep it covered so it stays warm. Smells divine!

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About this time your salmon will be ready -- wow, that went fast! Flake with a fork to make sure it's done.

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Serve it up while it's hot! Put a generous scoop of the greens on a plate and top with a steaming salmon filet. I used a spatula and a fork to support both sides as I placed it on the greens.

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A little extra of that chili garlic butter and -- voila! -- dinner is served.

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The fish and chard were cooked perfectly, and the sauce was simple yet delicious. Flavorful and spicy, but not hot. I used a chipotle chili powder which gave it a nice smoky edge. My daughter gobbled up the salmon, and seemed OK with the buttery greens. Perhaps next time I'll give her brocolli or green beans, and keep the chard for myself! I loved it.

Try this Chil Garlic Salmon anytime. It comes together in less than a half hour, which is amazing, especially considering how wonderful it is. If you try it, or have comments on my blog, please share!

Stop back in a few days when I share about a Saturday morning special recipe - scones.

Liz is paid to write for the Land O'Lakes Recipe Buzz™ Blog.

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