Salmon Over a Salad

Growing up, I didn't eat a lot of salmon, and, to be honest, I didn't know what I was missing!  A lot of people will say that salmon has a very strong fish-y taste (which, I've always thought is pretty funny...it's a fish.  That's like saying, "I don't like chicken because it tastes too chicken-y"), but, yes, salmon that has been over-cooked will have a very strong fish taste; salmon that has been properly cooked will not taste fish-y.
There-in lies the problem, right?  How to cook salmon without over-cooking it?  Salmon is a pretty expensive fish, and I know that I, for one, don't want to mess it up!

We eat salmon once every couple of months in our house; it is expensive, but it is so good I just can't stay away!  One of our favorite ways to eat it is over a salad, which may sound a bit odd (it did to me, the first time we had it.  Fish over a salad?  Um....no, thank you), but it is amazing.  

There are tons of different ways to cook the salmon, and usually, my husband cooks ours, because he likes crispy skin, so he usually gets a really good sear, and then finishes it in the oven.

I don't like to eat the skin, so doing this directly in the oven is perfect for me!  The salmon is perfectly cooked, tender and flaky, and, best of all, no extra fish-y taste!  

Here's your grocery list for this one:

1 salmon fillet 

Kosher salt

Garlic powder

Olive oil, for drizzling

Salad fixings

*Nonstick spray

I'm not going to go into great detail about the salad, I just put together a plain salad: tomatoes, mixed greens, carrots, celery, cucumbers, dried cranberries, bell pepper and cheese.  Nothing fancy.  Although, I will say, that I like to cut my tomato up in the early afternoon, and sprinkle with salt.  There are few better things in the culinary world, than a nicely salted tomato, if you ask me.

Now that the tomato has been salted a couple of hours ago, let's put the salmon on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet.  Drizzle this beauty with about 2 Tbs of olive oil, 1 tsp of salt (as usual, I used Kosher), and 1 tsp of garlic powder.  We love garlic, so keep in mind, this is a lot of garlic powder.  If you don't love garlic that much, feel free to cut the garlic powder in half!  

Once your salmon has been prepped, place the baking sheet into a cold oven.  Turn the oven on to 400*, and start your timer for 25 minutes.  That's the trick with this recipe.  Leave your salmon in the oven while it preheats, and then after it hits 400*; for the full 25 minutes.  While my salmon was cooking, I went ahead and put the rest of my salad together!  I had just enough time to get it all together before my timer started going off.  After your timer has started beeping, pull the salmon out of the oven, and this is what you will have.  You'll notice the little pools of white seeping out of the fish; that's just protein in the fish, and is totally normal.  As a matter of fact, it is an indicator of the fish being done!  Give your salad one last toss, slice up your fish, lay it on top, and dig in!  This supper is super healthy, and tastes amazing!  It will quickly become a favorite in your house, too!

*The skin for my fish stuck to the foil, but that didn't bother me at all.  I don't eat the skin, anyway.  However, if you like to eat the skin, you may want to spray the foil with non-stick spray before putting your fish on it.