Easy and Healthy Sockeye Salmon Dinner
You don’t need to be a 5-star chef to create gourmet meals...
You just need a 5-star recipe!
Whether you’re planning a date night with your special someone or wanting to treat yourself to a nice meal, it is so easy to make gourmet-quality dinner in the comfort of your own home.
At Table & Thyme, we know what makes a high-quality meal. We specialize in creating high-end culinary experiences. We experiment with a variety of flavors and dishes so we can determine the best ingredients for the events we cater. Some of the combinations we find are too good to keep to ourselves, which is why we are so excited to share some of our favorite recipes!
Delicious and nutritious? Yes, please!
This is an easy, fast and healthy recipe that is loaded with great protein, carbs and fats! Sockeye salmon is packed with nutrients like Vitamins D and B12, potassium, phosphorus, omega-3 fatty acids, and so much more that are great for improving bone, muscle, and immune health! On top of that, homegrown tomatoes, fresh asparagus, and chickpeas are also an amazing trio for a healthy meal. Truly, these ingredients create a well-balanced and flavorful dinner you’ll surely love!
Let’s go over how to make it...
First, you’ll need to gather your ingredients. This is what’s called a “mise en place” or “setting up.” It’s a French part of cooking that essentially means that getting all of your ingredients and tools in one place where they can be easily accessed before beginning any cooking or baking is going to result in more efficiently made meals. It includes preparing produce and other ingredients as they are called for in the recipe, which in this case means it’s best to prepare the asparagus, garlic, potatoes, and lemon before “Step 1” of this recipe!
For this meal, you’ll want some fresh, wild-caught sockeye salmon. A big and tender cut is going to work best, and the fresher the better. You can get a really great selection at your local Aldi, and you’ll want around 1 ½ pounds of fish for 2-3 servings.
Other fresh ingredients you’ll want to include: 1 pound of asparagus, 10-12 cherry tomatoes, 1 golden tomato, and garbanzo beans. The asparagus will need the ends removed for this recipe, so make sure to prep them before cooking! For best results, homegrown tomatoes are going to produce the most flavor. The cherry tomatoes are best prepared by being sliced in halves while the gold tomato can be cut into 1 inch chunks for this recipe. If you don’t happen to have a vegetable garden at the ready, the Alabama Farmers Market is a great alternative for fresh and flavorful ingredients and produce!
Pairing the natural flavors of the main ingredient with other seasonings and tastes is essential to making this meal taste gourmet. 1 lemon, freshly minced garlic, butter, and olive oil are going to make this recipe divine!
You’ll start by preheating the oven to 400º F so it can be ready by the time you finish preparing everything to be baked. As it’s preheating, melt the butter in a skillet on a medium-high heat. Cast-iron is always a great tool to use in the kitchen because it is so versatile and almost always results in delicious food, but any non-stick skillet will work!
Melting the butter won’t happen instantly, so while you’re waiting, rinse the garbanzo beans thoroughly by placing them in a strainer and running under water for a minute or two. The more the beans are rinsed, the better for this dish!
Making sure to not burn the butter as it’s melting, take a moment to prepare the asparagus. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and place the asparagus in a single layer so that the heat can cook each stem evenly. Drizzle the asparagus with olive oil, making sure it is completely saturated so it ends up perfectly roasted. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper and toss it into the oven while you get the salmon cooking!
The salmon is the main component to this dish, so you’ll want to put most of your effort into making it perfect. Before placing the filet on the heated skillet, give it a chance to take in some extra flavor by seasoning it generously with salt and pepper. Salmon has a naturally strong flavor that is best when prepared with minimal alterations, and luckily salt and pepper are great for enhancing salmon’s natural taste. Place the salmon (skin side down) onto the skillet and let sizzle for about 90 seconds. Once it’s been seared, flip to the seasoned side and sizzle for another 90 seconds and set the filet aside (but leave the skillet on, you’ll need it again).
After it’s had a chance to sear, spread some butter over the filet on the seasoned side. The butter will begin to melt due to the residual heat in the salmon, and it will inevitably create a film that gives the salmon an almost-basted level of moisture. Now is when you’ll want to add some of the minced garlic and juice of a lemon to the dish. As the butter gets absorbed into the filet, it will take the additional flavors of garlic and lemon as it cooks into the fish itself! Once it has all its ingredients, the fish will join the asparagus and go back into the oven for a few more minutes of cooking.
While the skillet is still hot, add olive oil to the skillet as well as your rinsed garbanzo beans. Simmering the garbanzo beans in oil is going to give them an immaculate texture that pairs perfectly with roasted asparagus and salmon! You’ll simmer the beans for about 1-2 minutes, adding salt and pepper, before adding the chopped and halved tomatoes. If you can, add a hint of garlic and lemon juice to make this dish’s flavors blend even more, but know that it will taste amazing even without that addition. Saute the beans and tomatoes for about 1-2 minutes together and finish off with a final sprinkle of salt and pepper before removing from heat.
Finally, all of the components of this dish are ready to be plated! Presentation is key to making any meal feel gourmet, so feel free to play around with how you plate this dish! We first laid out the medley of garbanzo beans and tomatoes onto the place first, and added a few stems of asparagus on one side to give the dish an asymmetric flair. Finally, the salmon is placed on top of the bed of beans and tomatoes. For more color, try adding one or two thin slices of lemon rounds on top of the fish!
Make this recipe yourself!
This recipe is very easy and with the right ingredients, you can have a high-quality dinner perfect for a date night-in or treating yourself!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs Sockeye Salmon
- 10-12 fresh cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 fresh gold tomato, chunked
- ¼ fresh lemon, juice
- 1 can garbanzo beans
- 1 lb asparagus with bottoms cut off
- ½ teaspoon or 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 3 Tablespoons butter, divided
- 4 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400º
- Melt 2 Tablespoons of butter in skillet on medium-high heat.
- While that is heating up, drain and rinse your garbanzo beans by running them under water 5-6 times and set aside.
- Place asparagus on a cookie sheet, drizzle and toss with 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 6 minutes. Remove and set aside after the 6 minutes (leave oven on since you will be using it again).
- Season salmon with salt and pepper on the skinless side. When skillet is hot, place the salmon skillet with the skin side down for 90 seconds.
- Flip the salmon over and saute the seasoned side of the salmon for 90 seconds. If you skillet dries, add more butter to keep things moist.
- Remove salmon from skillet, and place on a plate skin side down, but do not turn the skillet off.
- Spread 1 Tablespoon of soft butter and ¼ teaspoon of minced garlic on top of plated salmon. Then, squeeze ¼ of a lemon on the salmon.
- Place salmon in the middle of the sheet pan with the asparagus and bake for 4 additional minutes.
- Drizzle 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in the hot skillet and add garbanzo beans and let simmer for 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Saute the garbanzo beans for additional 2-3 min and add the cut up tomatoes for about 90 seconds and season with salt and pepper.
- Plate your ingredients and enjoy!
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