Salmon

Often when I cook, I like to tackle all my mise en place before I turn on the stove or oven, but this salmon sheet pan dinner is different. With this recipe, you have just enough time to prep each step as ingredients each take their turn in the oven. Get the radishes, carrots, and shallots going while you work on the mustard glaze (which takes less than a minute!) and season the salmon, and then prep the asparagus and snap peas while the fish cooks. If you’re not used to roasting radishes—get used to it! They take on an entirely different character when roasted, becoming juicy and soft, not at all sharp like they are when raw. Now, let’s talk equipment. Having the right tools in your kitchen is as important as having the right ingredients. Even if you’re short on money or space, I promise that having the right items on hand will up your kitchen game, making you a more adaptable cook. A prime example of this is a restaurant-style sheet pan. If you don’t have one, get yourself one. They are perfect for this dish, and myriad other easy one-pan dinners. They’re just a smidge bigger (about 18 x 13 inches) than the cookie sheets you might already have, which can crowd ingredients, causing them to steam instead of brown. They are also a bit heavier, which helps with browning. You can easily adapt this party-ready recipe to feed a larger group—just double the recipe and use two sheet pans instead of one. Of course, you can also adapt to what you have in the refrigerator: Just follow the recipe, dividing vegetables into the slow-cooking (first to go into the oven) and quick-cooking ones (the last to go into the oven). Try leeks or garlic scapes or green garlic instead of the shallots; use baby potatoes cut into coins (they’ll cook faster that way) in place of all or some of the radishes; use Broccolini instead of asparagus. Have fun with it, and just make sure not to crowd the pan too much!

Floral and lightly acidic salsa brings out the buttery, rich flavors of grilled King salmon. Salmon is meaty enough to stay intact on a grill and gets meltingly tender as it cooks. Serve leftover salsa with grilled lamb, chicken, or pork.

Originally served at Seattle’s Hotel Sorrento by chef David Pisegna (and published in The Best of Food & Wine collection from 1988), this throwback salmon dish stands the test of time. We simplified the original recipe, but didn’t change a thing about the velvety, wine-blushed beurre blanc; keep it warm and serve it immediately for the best results.

As the workday fades and I begin to build dinner in my mind, I’ve come to realize that my most creative and delicious weeknight dishes are born from what’s on hand waiting to be used. My dinner plan begins with one ingredient and expands from there as I consider what’s lingering in my cupboards and crisper. As a resident of the Pacific Northwest, it’s my self-imposed duty to eat the local wild salmon on a regular basis. Over many years of cooking the jewel-toned fish, my go-to method has become a low-heat roasting technique, which yields a delicate, buttery texture throughout. You’ll want to be sure to adjust the cooking time according to the thickness of your fillet. While a sizable Chinook, or king, salmon can be quite thick, sockeye salmon are relatively smaller fish with thinner fillets. I prefer them for their stunning carmine color and moderate fat content. This rich fish deserves a bright foil, and the blood oranges and mandarins that fill my fruit bowl right now are the perfect pick. Shingled slices underneath the salmon impart flavor during roasting; carefully cut supremes come together with the remains of a bunch of parsley to create a tart and bright salad for topping the finished dish. I like to lean on one or two robust pantry staples to build flavor; in this case, a bottle of pomegranate molasses and a nearly-forgotten tub of Castelvetrano olives. Tart and just barely sweet, the pomegranate molasses cuts through the richness of the fish while creating a gorgeous, shimmering glaze; the olives balance the bright flavors of the salad with their soft salinity and luxe butteriness. One good pairing for wild salmon is Oregon Pinot Noir, but here, a dry or slightly off-dry Oregon Riesling is perfect. Replete with zingy acidity, it perfectly counterbalances the richness of the fatty, flavorsome fish and stands up to the bright salad and tart, fruity glaze.

I like to keep things simple for dinner prep because I don’t always feel like making a large, intricate meal—especially during the week. Depending on the day, I may be developing recipes, interviewing someone for a profile, going to the market to buy ingredients to test recipes, or writing a few thousand words for a cookbook chapter. By dinner time, simplicity is my mission. If I’ve been running around all day, I come home and change clothes, pour myself a glass of wine, put on music I want to cook to, and begin to prepare my supper. This recipe combines three simple things that I enjoy and turn to again and again when I’m cooking solo: seafood, an assortment of vegetables, and a mini sheet pan. Fish is a great main ingredient for a solo dinner—it’s inexpensive to buy in single portions, and it cooks quickly. I’ve trained myself to love vegetables and now I genuinely enjoy them—on an aesthetic level I like the color they add to a meal and the different textures they provide. In this recipe I pair salmon with three vegetables: brussels sprouts (because it’s wintertime and they’re everywhere), red bell pepper (for color), and red onions (for flavor and a little crunch). Using hoisin as a base, I made a quick and simple spicy sauce by adding minced ginger, garlic, cayenne pepper, lime juice, and olive oil. I get excited making this dinner because it’s easy, full of flavor, and a good balance of sweet, sour, and spicy—depending on how much cayenne pepper you add. Start with a small pinch to start, then add more if you prefer a spicy kick. That’s the great part about cooking for yourself—you can crank up the heat as much as you want! But the true beauty of the recipe is that it all cooks on one sheet pan and just takes about 20 minutes. So when dinner’s done, there’s just one pan to wash. Then you can get back to unwinding with your favorite tunes and that well-deserved glass of wine.

Double-pronged skewers give delicate, flaky proteins like salmon a bit more stability so they can be turned repeatedly without spinning around or falling apart. A soy sauce, mirin, and brown sugar glaze caramelizes on the fish and baby bok choy as it grills, and also serves as a dipping sauce. Slideshow: More Salmon Recipes