Fish | The Humble Onion

Sunshine Bowls with Lemon Dill Salmon and Cumin Cauliflower

September 2, 2022

I recently shared on Instagram how I was in Boston and had a ‘Sunshine Bowl’. I saw that they were so healthy (I’ve been trying to gently pay attention to macros to eat more protein and good carbs & fats) and I knew I would feel great after eating one.

Well, I did feel great, but I was bummed that the dish had very little flavor. After claiming to have marinated grilled salmon, pickled cauliflower, and sautéed greens, plus a cilantro lime yogurt dressing on top, I thought I was in for a flavor bomb.

But nope. Everything was bland and under seasoned, and the pickled cauliflowers were super tough.

I came home and started thinking about ways to increase the flavors.

I mixed a packet of dill dip seasoning mix, juice of 2 lemons and 1/4 cup of olive oil, and used half as a marinade and the other half as a creamy dressing for the top with mayo and sour cream.

I know this is unique to my local grocery store, but you can find other brands at your store or whip up your own with these ingredients:

2 tsp Dried Dill
1-1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Ground Mustard
1 tsp Dried Chives
1 tsp Parsley
1/2 tsp Dried Minced Onions
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp Onion Powder

2. Cumin Roasted Cauliflower – I sprinkled 1 tablespoon cumin and 1 tsp. salt on a head of cauliflower.

3. Oven roasted tomatoes – these get roasted with just a little olive oil and salt, and the flavor concentrates into a yummy tangy acidic note for the bowl.

4. Marinaded Greek Chickpeas from Trader Joes: These are amazing!

5. Edamame tossed with lemon juice, a little oil and salt.

You pile all of these yummy parts onto a bowl with quinoa and/or greens ( like both):

When you roast 3 of the main ingredients on a sheet pan, this dinner comes together in no time.

And to make it even faster or to help those people that don’t love fish, you can use your favorite marinated protein or rotisserie chicken tossed with some of the dill seasoning.

Even though there were a few skeptics in the bunch at the start, they all said it was totally delicious!

The leftovers kept so well in the fridge and make for the best lunch the next day. Hope these help keep you fueled, happy and healthy! I know what it takes to take on the knew school year, and trust me, you will need good fuel. But also, let’s make it yummy too.

Happy Eating! xoxo Katie

Sunshine Bowls with Lemon Dill Salmon and Cumin Cauliflower

Ingredients:

1 lb. salmon

1 packet dill dip (or see recipe above to make your own)

Juice of 2 lemons, divided

olive oil

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1 head of cauliflower, cut into even sized florets

1 Tbsp. cumin

1/4 mayo

1/4 sour cream

salt + pepper

1 cup quinoa, cooked according to package

mixed greens

1 cup edamame, seasoned with salt and lemon juice

Other ideas: chickpeas, pickled onion, avocado, lentils, sautéed greens or summer squash, roasted broccoli.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400.

Cook quinoa according to package.

Put salmon in a zip lock bag. Mix half of the flavor packet in a bowl with juice of 1 lemon and 2 T. olive oil, then put into bag with salmon, trying to evenly coat the fish. Refrigerate for 30 min or up to 2 hours.

Put cauliflower on large cooking sheet and toss with cumin and 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Add tomatoes and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Add salmon to baking sheet, and put it in oven for 20-24 min., until cauliflower is tender.

Meanwhile, mix remaining flavor packet with mayonnaise, sour cream, and juice of 1 lemon. Taste for seasoning and add any salt, pepper or water/milk to thin it to your desired consistency.

Assemble bowls by combining greens, quinoa, salmon, veggies, and dressing. Serve immediately.

Sheet Pan Lemon & Herb Salmon with Dill Cream Sauce

August 20, 2019

Hello00 food friends! If you are still reading this blog after the super silent summer here, thank you! I spent the summer being the general manager for a kitchen remodel and general move out due to floors being redone, as well as focusing on my super cute offspring up at our lakehouse (that doubles as a ski house in the winter). I spent a lot of time researching recipes and dreaming about all the food I’ll make this fall in our new kitchen, so I hope there are a lot of good things to come here on The Humble Onion. I want to make all the delicious but easy dinners with new flavors, so if you’re looking for that sort of thing, keep checking back.

If you don’t follow me on Instagram, here’s a picture of our kitchen – we are waiting on new counters and backsplash so I’ll wait until they are done to do a blog post about it but here is a sneak peak:

My first meal in our new kitchen was grass-fed burgers, and it was SUCH a thrill to hear the smoke alarm go off, then turn on our new blower in our hood…and hear the alarm shut right off. Any of you who have lived through this knows how stressful it is to set off your alarm all the time when you’re cooking. (Pro tip: we lived with a shower cap over our smoke alarm for almost a year and it kept it from going off when I cooked.) Also, here is where I remind you you don’t need a gourmet kitchen to make good food. I cooked at our camp kitchen all summer and was just as inspired.

Ok, my second meal was this Sheet Pan Lemon & Herb Salmon with Dill Cream Sauce. I wanted something easy, healthy, but full of flavor and I had been craving salmon. I love Ina Garten’s Roast Salmon with Herbs and had made it before, so I thought I’d make the fish in a similar way, but loaded with the fingerling potatoes, cherry tomatoes on the vine, and asparagus all on the same sheet pans. I was also craving something creamy – and this lemon dill cream sauce couldn’t be easier.

This sauce soaked into all the lemon, olive oil, and tomatoes juices and mashed into the potatoes nicely. Every bite was delicious and kept having to remind myself how easy this dinner was. The best part was it kept well on the stove so my husband and son could load up when they got home from football. Yup, conditioning has started, so goodbye lazy summer dinners and hello taking turns to eat, coordinating rides, and making big dinners for a hungry teenager.

This meal starts with salt and peppering your salmon, then adding lemon juice and olive oil and letting it marinate on the counter while you prep the rest of the food. Then you add herbs…you can add others that you like like parsley or chives.

I made two sheet pans to give the veggies room to cook. I tossed the veggies in olive oil, salt and pepper and then nestled in the filets.

One Note: If you prefer your potatoes crispy, you can cook them on a separate sheet pan, and place in the oven 5-8 minutes before the fish and veggies. I poured the lemon and olive oil marinade over everything which made them soft and able to mash with your fork to pick up all the juices on your plate, which I loved.

Then they roasted for…wait for it…12 minutes. It was super fast, just enough time to pull together the cream sauce. For my littles who don’t like salmon, I did cook a turkey kielbasa and they were thrilled.

The result was a super fast, super yummy dinner. It was seriously easy and restaurant level delicious. The tart acid from the tomato juices mix with the meaty salmon, fresh herbs, and creamy lemon dill sauce, so every bit is fresh and light and full of flavor. The potatoes help make this a stick the ribs comfort food dish.

I can’t wait to make this again, and neither can my husband and big kids. We loved it I hope you do too.

Happy Eating, Katie xoxo

Sheet Pan Lemon & Herb Salmon with Dill Cream Sauce

Ingredients

1 (2- to 2 1/2-pound) skinless salmon fillet

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup good olive oil

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (4 scallions)

1/2 cup minced fresh dill

1 pound asparagus spears, trimmed

1 pound fingerling potatoes, cut in half lengthwise

1 quart cherry tomatoes

For the sauce:

1/2 cup creme fraiche

1/2 sour cream

juice of 1 lemon (about 3-4 T)

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Place the salmon fillet in a non-reactive dish and season it generously with salt and pepper. Whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice and drizzle the mixture evenly over the salmon. Let it stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.

In a small bowl, stir together the scallions and dill. Scatter the herb mixture over the salmon fillet.

Divid vegetables on two sheet pans, and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper (about 2 T. of olive oil for each sheet pan). Nestle salmon in the middle of the veggies and then place in the oven.

Roast for 10 to 12 minutes, until salmon is almost cooked in the center at the thickest part and the potatoes are soft when you insert a knife and the center of the salmon is firm. Cook 1-2 more minutes if needed.

While it cooks, mix together the dill cream sauce by combining the creme fraiche, sour cream, lemon juice and fresh dill with salt and pepper to taste. Stir and set aside until serving.

Shrimp Scampi + THO Tuesday Dinners

August 18, 2015

I can’t believe how little of summer is left. I am holding onto it like a toddler holds on to a lollipop. Don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled to send my kids to school (for their sake and mine) but I am chaffing at the schedule that comes with the school year. September means football and soccer and a ton of family birthdays, so I am trying to savor you, August. You and your staying up past everyone’s bedtime playing games and sleeping in late, beach days and long runs, swimming in rivers and endless ice cream and gorgeous hikes in the woods.

So to help with this transition that can be brutal, I am starting a series before the school year is upon us.

THO Tuesday Dinners.

I find it helpful to have, in any given season, a repertoire of 5-7 meals that I know everyone will like. Using seasonal ingredients that we seem to crave, and that I will likely have most of the ingredients for in my pantry or my weekly shopping, that cooks fast. The new and exciting recipes I will save for the weekend, when I have more time. I hope that sharing these helps you to make your week easy peasy. And lemon squeezy.

I will publish them every Tuesday, so you can either jam it into that weeks line up if you didn’t meal plan or you can get all the ingredients together for it for next week.

This week I am showing you how I make shrimp scampi.

It is so easy, a five year old can do it.

Seriously, my five year old loves to help me peel shrimp. I usually soak them in a bowl of hot water for 15 minutes to thaw them, and then peel them. If your crew doesn’t love shrimp, you can use chicken tenders or cubed chicken breasts. Rotisserie chicken can be added at the end too. See, easy peasy.

I usually make this dish at the end of summer, when the parsley is overflowing in my herb garden and we are hungry from playing outside all day but still want something sort of light. My kids love it, it cooks super fast 10-15 minutes and I always have a bag of shrimp in the freezer and angel hair pasta in the pantry. If you have tomatoes overflowing you can add those too, they are traditionally in shrimp scampi but mine were still green when I made this last week.

I love how lemony and butter this meal is, and I add a ton of hot pepper flakes to my plate and lots of Parmesan cheese to their plates.

Hope this dish helps you ease into the school year while still tasting a little bit of summer. xoxo Katie

Shrimp Scampi (printer version here):

Ingredients

3-4 garlic cloves
4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb jumbo shrimp (headless)
3 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt, to taste
¹⁄₄ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter
Juice of 1 lemon
1 package angel hair pasta, cooked according to directions
Plenty of fresh parm for serving

Directions

While pasta cooks, chop the garlic together with the parsley until it almost reaches a paste like consistency.
Heat the sauté pan and, when hot, add the oil. Add the shrimp and toss. When halfway cooked, about 1½ minutes, add the tomatoes and toss for 30 seconds to 1 minute more. Add the garlic and parsley mixture, the salt, pepper, butter, and lemon juice and toss one last time.
Mix cooked pasta with scampi mixture. Turn out onto a plate and serve. Top with freshly grated parm and more fresh parsley, if desired.

Fish en Papillote

March 12, 2015

I can’t remember where I first heard of Fish en Papillote (Fish in Paper). It’s a classic French method for cooking fish and veggies but do not let that scare you. Ever wrapped a potato in tin foil and baked it? You’ve got the method down pat.

I am possibly the most excited to share this post of any that I’ve ever done, because I know once you know this method you will have a way to cook fish that is simple, quick (cooks in 10 minutes!) easy, rustic, elegant, and did I mention easy?

I used to make this a lot when I was trying to eat light after my third baby, and now that I remember how yummy it is, it will be on heavy rotation. Did I mention it is Whole30 compliant?

(You don’t care.)

But trust me, because with these flavors, can it possibly taste awful? {Yes, it can. If you use bad fish.} But if you use good quality fish from a trusted fish monger (love that word), this will turn out so yummy you won’t believe it, especially because you put little to no effort in. These beauties did all the work:

For the record, I made this before I ever did Whole30 because it is so so good. I feel like this is important to mention because I hate feeling deprived, I love flavor, and this is one of those great dishes that makes you feel indulged without any guilt.

But for those of you who do care about Whole30 ideas, or are simply eating light as spring is starting to ease its way into our open windows and sunlit doors and you are remembering you might need to put on a bathing suit in a few months, this one’s for you.

You can use any kind of fish – salmon, sole, mahi mahi, tuna, halibut, etc. Just adjust time for thickness – a thin filet less then an inch thick gets 8 minutes, a thicker one gets 10-12. I used halibut a little on the thicker side and 12 minutes was perfect.

Make sure you chop your vegetables thin so they’ll cook in the same time as the fish (my very bad attempt at julienned veggies). You can easily just slice them very thin crosswise too.

Oh, and what’s that? No clean up either since you just throw your paper away? It is almost magical how perfect this dish is, isn’t it?

Fish En Papillote (printer version here)

Preheat your oven to 425, then:

1. Chop your veggies. Pick any veggies you like – snap peas, asparagus, red pepper, zucchini or summer squash, carrots, onions, celery, leeks, mushrooms are all fantastic steamed with fish. You want to cut them very thin so they steam in the same amount of time as the fish. I julienned mine (badly) but you can just as easily slice them in thin rounds if you are in a hurry.

2. Lay out a rectangle of parchment paper, fold it in half, and lay your fish on one of the halves. Season with salt & pepper and add a pat of butter.

3. Pile on your veggies, followed by herbs – dill is so great with fish, but I’ve loved thyme with white fish too. I have even added herbed mayo to salmon. Season veggies with a little salt and pepper (being careful not to over salt – you can add more to taste after it’s cooked).

4. Drizzle with lemon and olive oil. (White wine is amazing splashed on here too. Just not whole30 approved as you probably know).

5. Starting at one of the corners next to the fold, start to twist the edges on itself so that the paper forms a seal, allowing the steam inside to cook the fish and veggies. You want to take your time and do it carefully because if steam leaks out it may not be fully cooked.

Tuscan Swordfish with Capers, Tomatoes and Onions

February 18, 2015

Hi Friends! Happy Lent, Happy Whole30, Happy Wednesday, or whatever you may be celebrating today.

I know I meal planned on my last post that I would start eating Whole30 after my wine party, but I honestly got so excited about all the Whole30 foods that I just went ahead and started it today even if a few events will mean I am drinking wine this weekend (it will be 30 days by the end of Lent!). I can’t wait to try all the recipes I am discovering with you that are healthy and delicious.

This dish is hopefully something for everyone, since it can be made Whole30 friendly if you cook it with ghee (which sounds weird but is just clarified butter). We eat a lot more meatless meals during Lent too and I am always looking for great fish recipes because we tend to cook fish at home for our dates night.

I adore rustic food, and this Tuscan dish is just that. Hearty, chunky, easy and full of flavor. It is healthy comfort food that still sticks to your ribs. The briney capers, tomatoes, and onions are the perfect base for the tangy swordfish.

I learned this butter basting technique from Rick Moonen’d cookbook, Fish. He was a Top Chef Master and owner of seafood restaurants in Vegas. I also just reviewed the cookbook Extra Virgin (by Debi Mazar and her husband Gabriele Corcos who grew up in Tuscany) for Coastal Home magazine, so I’ve been thinking a lot about the origins of Tuscan food.

The simple Tuscan flavors of tomato, capers, wine and lemon reflect a clean style of cooking that I love. Tuscan cooking leans more heavily on olive oil then butter, but the end result of butter basting fish is so flavorful I think they would make an exception. You can substitute any white fish for the swordfish and cook it the same way, adjusting the time for thickness of the filet.

Even though it looks like a lot of butter you are really just basting it, or poaching it almost in the butter – most of it stays in the pan.

The result, as you can imagine, is such a tender, butter piece of fish. You can’t believe it is as soft and flavorful as it is, even though it is deliciously browned.

I hope you like this as much as we did. I am dreaming about making this soon with Whole30 compliant ingredients. Lent is supposed to be hard, and it will be! But with food that is so delicious, this is the type of eating I know we’ll keep doing long after it is over.

Cheers friends – Happy cooking! xoxo Katie

Tuscan Butter Basted Swordfish with Onions, Tomatoes and Capers (printer version here):

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 ripe tomatoes, diced

Salt & pepper

½ cup white wine

Juice from 1 lemon

2 tablespoons of capers

2 swordfish steaks

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided (this is for the butter basting; don’t worry, you leave most of it in pan)

Directions:

To make the Onion, Tomato & Caper Sauce: Heat olive oil in pan on medium heat. Add sliced onions and a small pinch of salt and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add tomatoes and another 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, then add wine and lemon juice. Cook for 10 minutes, then add capers and stir. Keep warm in pan to until ready to serve under fish.

To make Butter Basted Swordfish: Have a large spoon, spatula, and paper towels next to pan. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a pan on medium-high heat (watch closely so butter doesn’t burn, but you are looking for a nutty browned butter flavor so browning is good). Pat dry swordfish and season with salt and pepper. When the butter has melted, place in the far side of the pan and, using a spatula, press down on fish for the first 30 seconds, which helps the fish start to brown. Cut the other 4 tablespoons of butter into pieces and add to the pan. Tip pan toward you and using large spoon, continuously spoon butter on top of fish. Continuously tip, baste and set down pan again over heat, so that butter becomes nutty brown and top of fish is cooked, for 6 minutes. Then turn fish over, turn off heat, and let it sit in butter for 1 minute. Set on paper towels and use another to blot the top. Serve on a bed of the onion-tomato sauce, and sprinkle lemon and salt, if desired, on top of fish.

Sriracha-Lime Salmon

November 14, 2014

So, it turns out that Gwyneth Paltrow does have a thing or two to teach us about quick whole food meals that are really yummy.

I guess that means I should buy her new cookbook, doesn’t it? Because this Sriracha-Lime Salmon is from it and it is amazing. Her by-line for the book is “Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great.” And, I’m gonna have to vouch for that tag line because this is delicious, and easy, and I felt great after eating it and the scale was my friend this morning.

So, do you want in on all this goodness? All this health? No? Then go strait to this recipe for Salted Carmel Sauce that uses Sea Salt and Salted Butter from the French Food writer that I love, Ann Mah. I am making it as soon as my Arbonne cleanse is over in a week and a half. (And I reposted it on Twitter and she liked my tweet, so we’re pretty close to being BFFs I would say.)

But if the answer is yes, then I will show you the easiest prep in the world.

The hardest part really is getting to the store to buy fresh salmon (wild caught is healthier and more flavorful, I think). Once you get it home, preheat the oven to 425, mix together a little maple syrup, sriracha sauce, lime juice and zest, and sea salt. Pour it over the filets and cook for 15 minutes. That is all my friends.

Add some chopped cilantro (pickled ginger or a corn relish would be good too – maybe even chutney?) to top and I added sea salt and squeezed lime.

It is such an easy dish but so flavorful. I will be making this again. Even though I tried to make some for the kids without sriracha sauce (I even tented a little tin foil as you can see above so the spicy juices didn’t flow down to theirs) they didn’t love it. More for me for lunch the next day. Good thing I discovered this Horizon organic mac & cheese with protein and served it on the side of theirs. And this really is a dish that would be so easy to flake into a tossed combo of quina/wheat berries/pasta with some stir fried veggies. I love those kind of one bowl meals.

But I served it with this sautéed bok choy recipe with ginger and garlic from Guy Fieri (he appropriately titled it the best bok choy recipe):

I tweaked it by adding carrots and deleting the mushrooms for my non-mushroom-loving husband. And added some quina/brown rice on the side and sort of mixed it all up and ate it together and I slept happy.

Hope you get to try it too!

Sriracha-Lime Salmon (printer version here)

INGREDIENTS

Juice and zest of 1/2 lime

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 1/2 teaspoons tsp sriracha sauce* (Gwyen has her own recipe in her book)

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1 1/4 lbs pounds salmon fillet, skin removed

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro

PREPARATION

Heat oven to 425°. In a bowl, whisk together juice, zest, syrup, sriracha and salt. Place salmon in a baking dish lined with parchment paper; pour lime-maple mixture over top. Roast salmon until cooked through and flaky, 15 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro; serve.