The 9 o'clock salmon dinner

More often than not I start my days at 6:30 in the morning but don't see them end until 8:00 at night.  And I don't mean I spent 14 hours having the time of my life, I'm talking about the days we spend 14 hours dragging ourselves around.

Waking up, commuting to work, being at work, going to the gym, running errands, etc, etc.

To do lists seem like they make time evaporate and the most exhausting part is crossing every task off only to realize you don't even have enough energy left to unwind.

In these moments I am often tempted to go home and eat a PB&J or bowl of cereal accompanied by a bottle of red wine before dragging my butt to bed, but I have found that ditching the late night sammy for a great dinner like this one not only matches the wine much better but also helps dramatically when you know you have to wake up in 8 hours to start dragging again.

Weeknight dinners should be super, super easy and good enough to make the day's weight on your shoulders melt right off.  This salmon takes about 10 minutes to throw together and all you need is a cutting board, a knife, and a baking sheet.

I always start by turning on the oven and getting my cooking supplies ready, in this case I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper then left it out of the way on top of the stove.  The things I prep first are the most annoying: peel and chop your garlic before you do anything else unless you want the stupid paper-skin-stuff to get stuck all over your hands!  A great way to get this done is to peel off the excess skin then place the clove on a cutting board, use your palm to crush the flat side of a knife against it, pick off the rest of the skin, then chop it up.

Rinse the garlic off your hands and wash the asparagus off while you're at it.  Chop the tough root ends off the spears, pour a drizzle of olive oil into your palm, then rub the spears thoroughly with oil before scattering them along the outer edges of the baking sheet and sprinkling with salt and pepper.

Unwrap the salmon and place it in the center of the sheet.  Sprinkle or brush with a little balsamic, so the salmon is just coated but not drenched and overflowing.  Rub the minced garlic, a healthy sprinkle of garlic powder and pepper, and a small sprinkle of salt on the salmon then toss in the oven. 

Pop open a bottle of wine while you wait for the timer to ring and stir some dill, horseradish, and feta into greek yogurt.  Fifteen minutes and one glass of wine later, your fancy weeknight dinner is ready to be enjoyed!

Garlic Salmon with Asparagus and Yogurt Sauce

Ingredients

For the Salmon

• 8 ounces of salmon
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
• 1/4 - 1/2 t pure garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• asparagus spears
• 1 T olive oil

For the Yogurt Sauce

• 2 T Greek yogurt
• 1 t horseradish
• 1 t dill, dried
• 1 t feta

Combine

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Coat the asparagus spears with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Spread around the edges of the baking sheet leaving a space for the salmon.
3. Place the salmon in the center of the sheet and slowly drizzle balsamic on the fillet, coating it completely.  Sprinkle the fillet with the garlic powder, salt and pepper, then cover the top with the fresh garlic.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the salmon is cooked throughout.
5. Whisk together the ingredients for the yogurt sauce and spoon onto the asparagus before enjoying!