One Pot Salmon!

So I really love easy dinners, and I think I hit the jackpot with this one. this is a really healthy (and super tasty) one pot meal. It's really easy because the oven basically does all the work for you, and there's only one pot to clean afterward! Lately I've been trying to eat more fish because it's light and healthy. This dinner features salmon, but I'm sure you could use any fish you like. I was going to try it with tilapia as well. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it, because my dad took a picture on his camera. But here's how you make it!

Juice of one lime

zest of one lime

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped

4 tsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp olive oil

3/4 cup chopped shallots (you could use onions, but shallots are better)

1 1/2 cups basmati rice (I used Jasmine, which worked fine)

3 1/4 cup chicken broth

4 5-6 oz salmon fillets

1 bunch of broccolini, with the last inch trimmed off

First preheat your oven to 450F and make the sauce: whisk together the lime juice and zest, honey, cilantro, and soy sauce. Then set it aside for later. Heat up the tablespoon of oil over medium heat, and when your pot is nice and warm, throw in the shallots. I had never cooked with shallots before, but I love them. I'm definitely gonna use them more often! Anyway, sorry for the shallot product placement. After the shallots have softened for a few minutes, throw in the basmati rice and chicken broth. Stir it around a little bit so that the rice settles, and then bring it to a boil. Once it starts boiling, put the lid on the pot and put it in the oven for 10 minutes. (Oh yeah, make sure the pot is oven proof please!) After ten minutes, the rice should be almost cooked and have absorbed most of the chicken broth. If it's a little on the dry side, you can add more broth by 1/4 cup fulls. Add a little bit of salt to the rice, but don't stir it. Sprinkle the salmon with salt and pepper on both sides (yes, that means you need to take the skin off!) then lay them on top of the rice. Then take the broccolini and put them all around the salmon, with the stems tucked into the rice. Remember that sauce you made earlier? Pour that over the salmon fillets. You might need to use a spoon to spread it out, so all the salmon gets some. Then, put the lid back on and cook it for 8-10 minutes until the salmon is done. Since I'm home, I get to play with all my dad's cool kitchen toys, including his instant thermometer! he told me that for salmon, you want it to be at 135. So if you have a thermometer, that's what you're going for. If not, just make sure it looks cooked at the thickest part of the fillet.

Then serve it up! I loved this dish so much. The salmon is light and flakey, the broccolini is still slightly crisp, and the rice is so flavorful! And it almost has the texture of risotto, which I love. So eat this for dinner tonight!

XOXO

Natalie