Contrary to the impression you may have gotten from most of my posts, I do cook healthy food.  When I tell people about the high fat low carb diet we are on, most of them think we always eat fatty foods like bacon and cheese.  While bacon and cheese are indeed high fat and low carb, salmon and broccoli are also perfect for the low carb lifestyle.

Tonight, I baked salmon in a sesame, soy, honey sauce, with a side of broccoli.  It is a simple and quick dish to make, and only requires one pan.  It is also very versatile, and you can use whatever sauce, seasoning, and vegetable you want.  This is a good dish to make on the weekdays when you are just trying to chill after work, but still want a healthy and hearty meal.

I like to keep a pack of frozen salmon fillets in the freezer.  They sell these already cut and packaged individually so they are convenient and quick to defrost.  You can also use fresh salmon and cut it into pieces yourself.

I used to make individual foil packets for each piece of fish.  While foil packets make clean up easier, I don’t like how much foil is wasted.  So I started putting all the salmon on a baking dish, and covering the top of the dish with a piece of foil.  Here are four salmon fillets on a greased 9×13 baking dish.

I mixed up a marinade of soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, mirin, and honey.  For those of you who are not familiar with mirin, it is a Japanese sweet rice wine.  I poured the mixture over the salmon and marinated it for about an hour.  If you are short on time or patience, a 15 minute soak will be good, but 60 minutes is even better.

I used parboiled broccoli.  Sometimes I buy large family packs of pre-cut and pre-washed vegetables and end up not using it all.  If I know I won’t be using the vegetables up before they rot, I parboil and freeze portions for future use.  Parboil means I dropped the broccoli in boiling water for a few minutes until partially or fully cooked.  Then I drop them in ice water to stop the cooking process and to preserve that bright green color.  So basically, I am pre-cooking the broccoli, so the next time I use them for a dish, they don’t take so long to cook.

If you use raw broccoli or another vegetable, be sure to cut them into small pieces so they cook through and you don’t end up with crunchy raw chunks.

I kept the broccoli simple and just seasoned with salt and pepper.  Then I put them directly on top of the salmon.

Wrap the top with foil, then pop it in a 400°F oven and cook for 25 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through.

Tasty, healthy, and simple

Here are some other ideas:
– teriyaki salmon, top with green beans, carrots, and broccoli
– lemon pepper garlic seasoning, thinly slice a lemon over the fish
– miso paste, soy sauce, sesame oil, minced ginger marinade, top with diced tofu and spinach, sprinkle cooked salmon with sesame seeds and green onion
– white wine, lemon, herb sauce, top with diced tomato and mushroom

If you are not watching the carbs, this meal would be excellent with a side of rice, quinoa, other grain, noodles, or pasta.

Baked Asian Style Salmon with Broccoli
Ingredients
– 4 salmon fillets 
– broccoli florets 
– 2 tbs soy sauce
– 1 tbs sesame oil
– 1 tbs mirin
– 1 tbs rice wine
– 1 tbs honey

Instructions
– Place the salmon on a greased baking dish.
– Mix the soy sauce, sesame oil, mirin, rice wine, and honey in a small bowl, pour over the fish.  Let it marinate for 15-60 minutes.
– If using raw broccoli, make sure the pieces are small.
– Drizzle a little oil over the broccoli and season with salt and pepper, then pour the florets over the fish.
– Wrap the top of the dish with foil, then bake in a 400°F oven for 25 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through.