This quick and delicious salmon recipe was inspired by Michael. The first dish he ever made for me was salmon baked in parchment paper. He piled chopped tomatoes, garlic, and onion onto salmon fillets and wrapped them up with parchment paper. This allowed the fish to steam in the oven, creating moist and quick-cooking fish fillets. I’ve continued to use his recipe and cooking method, but simply changed a few things ;). I added herbs and spices to the recipe, and use foil instead of parchment paper. I find that it’s easier to fold and wrap, and is less expensive than parchment paper.

What I love about baking fish in foil or parchment paper is you could use almost any type of fish fillet and toppings. We eat a lot of fish during the week, and this cooking method allows me to make healthy dinners in a short amount of time. Besides this salmon recipe, I’ve also made codfish topped with shitake mushrooms, scallions, ginger, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil. YUMMY!

Recipe
Yield: 2 servings

INGREDIENTS:
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 large shallot, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 lemon, juiced
pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 salmon fillets

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, combine tomatoes, shallot, garlic, herbs, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, oil, and salt and pepper.
3. Place each salmon fillet onto individual large pieces of foil. Drizzle a little oil onto both sides of salmon and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spoon tomato mixture over salmon.
4. Fold the sides of the foil over the salmon and tomato mixture, covering completely. Wrap the ends of the foil to form a spiral shape and seal the packets closed. Place packets onto a baking dish. Bake until salmon is just cooked through, about 20 minutes.
5. Carefully open packets as hot steam will come out. Use a large spatula to transfer salmon onto plates. Spoon cooking juices over salmon and serve immediately.