Lemon Garlic Salmon with Asparagus

Hello there!  Suffice to say its been a while, and we've been really busy around here.  I will post some pictures of my 8 day trip to New Mexico with my Dad and Sister.  It was fabulous.  The scenery was breathtaking.  And the New Mexican Cuisine was inspiring.  I will definitely be looking for ways to incorporate some truly inspired dishes into my lineup.

But last night, I pulled out a beautiful huge salmon filet that we picked up at Costco this week.  I cut it in half, to make two large filets (they filled up an entire cookie sheet...that large).  And I began dressing it with finery...

Lemon Garlic Salmon with Asparagus

Here's what I used:

1-2 large Salmon Filets (about 4-6 oz per person)

juice 1 lemon

4-5 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

S&P

1 lb fresh asparagus

Here's what I did:

Preheat oven to 500/Broil, with oven rack at top level (this should allow for 2-3" space for salmon to sit while broiling).

Line a cookie sheet with foil, to save on cleanup.  Place salmon, skin side down, and then drizzle with lemon juice.  Add garlic and softened butter, evenly distributed.  Finally season with salt and pepper.  Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes at room temperature - this will give the lemon juice a bit of time to marinate the fish.

Meanwhile, prepare the asparagus.  In order to remove the stemmy, tough ends of the asparagus, take each spear between your hands, and snap them in two.  The spear should break at the point where the stemmy/tough part begins.  Discard the tough, stemmy end.  Set medium sized saucepan to boil with asparagus spears and a little salt. Allow them to simmer for 6-8 minutes, or until tender, but still al dente. 

Once salmon is in the oven, allow to broil for 6-10 minutes, depending on thickness of filets.  Mine were only about 1/2 - 1" thick, so I cooked them for 7 minutes.  You're not looking for a crusty brownish finish here, but more of a soft frothy one.  The edges may brown more than the center, but that's fine.

Allow salmon to rest for a few minutes, while removing asparagus from heat.  Blanch the asparagus in the pan by running the pan under cold water for 1 minute.  Then remove asparagus to a serving dish, and dress with 2 small pats of butter, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Serve salmon alongside asparagus.  This would go wonderful with a nice Chardonnay.  :)