I’m finally settling back into my routine after a lovely week away in the always beautiful Turks and Caicos. No, I am not exaggerating that it is always beautiful. It literally rained for an entire day, and was cloudy and windy for most of our time there, and it was still one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I wish I could say the same of my cold, snow-dusted Massachusetts suburb, but I would be lying if I did.
I mean, look at it:
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| Cloudy, but beautiful. |
Whenever I go on a warm vacation, I return home with the desire to eat healthy. I’m not sure if it’s just that the island weather reminds me of summertime, or if it’s a gut response to wearing a bathing suit 24/7, but I’m back in Boston, cozy in my sweater and boots, dreaming of salads and seafood. Since there are worse things than wanting to be healthy, I’ve decided to go with it and continue this “beach diet” that I started on vacation (sans pina coladas). It seems like the right time to post this salmon recipe with the hopes of inspiring everyone to eat a little more lightly this week.
In all honesty, I made this salmon a few weeks ago when I received my awesome box of Meyer lemons in the mail (thanks, Mom and Dad B). In my last post, I used the lemons to make lemon curd. I still had a whole bunch of lemons left after that, so I had to find more ways to use them. Since lemons and fish pair so well, I decided to try this out, and Lemon Roasted Salmon and Kale was born.
One of the many upsides of this meal is the practically non-existent prep time. In less than 10 minutes, I had all of the ingredients in the baking dish and it was in the oven. It does take a while to cook, but if you have the time to wait, you can easily make this on a weeknight with no advanced preparation needed. As a bonus, you only have one dish to clean! How great is that?
Slice 1-2 lemons. The slices don’t have to be super thin.
Add a bunch of kale to a baking dish. Add about half of the lemon slices, a few cloves of garlic, olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper
Place the salmon on top, and then top the salmon with olive oil, salt and pepper, and the rest of the lemon slices
Bake for 40-50 minutes until the salmon is opaque and flaky
Serve the salmon and kale together. It’s an entire meal that cooks in one dish!
Lemon Roasted Salmon and Kale
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lemons sliced
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- About 4 cups kale chopped
- 4 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 1/2 lb skinless salmon filet
- salt and pepper
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 275F. In a large baking dish (large enough to hold the salmon fillet) place lemon slices (set aside 3-4), garlic, kale, and 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and toss to coat the kale. Sprinkle with some salt (about 1/2 tsp).
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Place the salmon filet on top of the kale. Drizzle the salmon with the remaining olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place the remaining lemon slices on top.
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Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through and flaky.
Ways to change it up:
- Use Meyer lemons, or a mixture of lemons and oranges
- Substitute brussels sprouts or broccoli rabe for kale
- Play around with proportions: more or fewer lemons, more or less garlic, a mixture of veggies. Anything goes here, people.
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