Recipe - baked marinated salmon (or any other firm fresh fish) - Time (30mins) - Skill (easy) - Eating (easy)

Morning.  This is last week's recipe.  I wasn't feeling great last week, so ate it without thinking (again) that it might be a good idea to take a photo.  I shall have to find a stock one from the interwebs.

this pic is from someone else's blog HERE - they have good suggestions for what to put with your fish.  This is what the folded up packet of fish looks like when you put it in the oven

Anyway - fish.  Easy to eat but quite stinky to cook and if you're smell sensitive - urghhh! Which is why I like to bake it in a little paper & foil packet. And to make it more tasty with a marinate.

What is it? A salmon fillet (or any other fresh fish you fancy) marinated in a sauce, then wrapped in a greaseproof paper & foil parcel and baked in the oven. Can be eaten hot or cold.



Time required?  I find it easier if I get the carer to put it in marinate the night before (if it's frozen fish it can defrost in the marinade in the fridge which is useful time & energy saver). So that's 5 minutes there, then it takes about 5-10 mins to parcel it up and preheat the oven, then about 20 mins to cook.  So, 30 - 40 mins in total.

If you don't like strongly tasting foods or are feeling a bit cautious, you could get the carer to put the marinate on just before it goes in the packet on the day of cooking, it will still taste, but not as strongly.

Cooking Skill required?  Easy. Needs to be able to open fish packet, wash under tap, spoon sauce over it, then make a parcel with paper & foil, put it in & take it out of oven.

Eating ability required? Easy. Get the carer to 'flake' the fish once it's cooked (see below) and it's naturally in bite size pieces.

BAKED MARINADED SALMON

Portion size - minimum 1 fillet = 1 or 2 portions, but as many as you want

Ingredients

Salmon fillet - skinless is easiest  - as many fillets as you want to cook. I find 2 decent size fillets does 4 meals if I have rice & vegetables with it.

Marinate of your choice - supermarkets sell these in packets & jars, I like plain Teryaki Sauce, and this week (by mistake) we found that using a jar of Char Sui (normally for roasting pork) is also very nice.  See below for a variety of marinade ideas/ recipes.

greaseproof paper (I use greaseproof sandwich bags that we cut open so they're flat)

kitchen foil

Preparation

1. If your fish is frozen - take it out of the freezer the night/ few hours before, and marinade it in a bowl in the fridge whilst it defrosts.

Depending on how long the fish has been in the freezer this may make it taste quite strongly, so you might want to let it defrost a bit, then wash it under the tap, then marinate it - but it depends how much time your carer has and how organised they are (they could take it out at the beginning of the call, and leave it out uncovered for a bit, then wash it & marinade it at the end of the call - without giving you food poisoning as long as it goes into the fridge for the majority of the marinating time!)

2. If your fish is fresh - wash it under the tap.  Then add the marinade making sure it's well coated. Leave to marinade for about 30mins minimum, but less if you want a milder flavour.

3. Pre heat the oven to about 185 degrees (370 farenheit, gas 4).

4.  Lay out a piece of kitchen foil with greaseproof paper on top that is a bit more than twice as wide and twice as long as the fillet - if you're not sure, have more foil/ paper than you think you need - roomy packaging is good!  Each fish fillet gets it's own package!

Put the fillet with some of the marinate spooned over the top in the middle of the paper.  Bring the long sides of the paper & foil together and fold them over again & again (to make a seal) but NOT tightly against the fish, leave a bit of space for it to 'breathe'.  Then fold over the two ends in the same way, again not tightly against the fish. Ta da! You have a packaged up piece of fish.  Put it on a baking tray

Why? the package needs to be a bit loose so steam can move around. And the greaseproof paper stops the marinade/ fish juices from eating through the foil & tainting the flavour.  If you use foil then it 'holds' the folds and you don't need anything to stop the package falling apart.

5.  Repeat for each fillet, put in the oven & leave for 15 - 20mins to cook.

6.  Take out of the oven, open the packet VERY CAREFULLY there will be steam and no-one wants to be burned!  If the fish was on the skin, it should be easy to 'push' the flakes of fish off the skin in bitesize pieces with a fork (if you want to eat the skin you can but it won't be crispy).  Another reason to 'push' the flakes apart is to check for BONES.

Serving Suggestions

• HOT - with steamed rice, or boiled potatoes and green beans or soy beans or any other vegetables you fancy.
• COLD - with a rice salad, or a green salad or as a sandwich filling. 
  
  I like it marinated & baked with Teryaki Sauce, flaked, eaten cold, with cold sushi rice dressed with rice vinegar & soy sauce, and I pile it into quarter sheets of Nori Seaweed the way Japanese do at home as 'scattered sushi'. 

Marinating Alternatives

Not sure what you'd like your fish marinated in? Here's some ideas:

• Lemon juice, olive oil & herbs (fresh are best but dried works too). You could add fresh chopped tomato to the marinade or the packet. This works particularly well with mackerel or white fish.
  
• Soy sauce and minced ginger/ juice from grated ginger (or defrosted cubes of ready grated ginger from supermarket). This is good with salmon or white fish and excellent for those suffering with nausea.
  
• Teryaki Sauce Buy it in a bottle from the World Foods section in the Supermarket, or make your own - Wagamama restaurant cook book has this recipe, put 110g (4oz) sugar, 4 tablespoons light soy sauce (if you can't find light just use 3 tbsp instead, in a pan and simmer for 5 mins until it thickens, then add 2 tablespoons sake (or DRY sherry) and 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce (if you don't have light soy sauce, omit this last bit).  Allow to cool. Will keep in the fridge for a few weeks. Personally, I reckon you could use that as a marinade without faffing with the simmering bit, particularly if you used soft brown sugar.
  
• Char Sui Sauce this comes in a jar from the supermarket - it was a (thankfully) happy accident this week to find out that it works just as well on baked salmon as it does on roasted pork (which is what it's supposed to be used for! What can I say, the carer & I were both tired and not paying attention.... giggle)
  
• Tomato or Basil Pesto good way of using up the last of that jar cos you're fed up of it on pasta.

BUT MY CARER HAS NO TIME TO MARINATE THE FISH????? (or you don't like any of the suggestions)

Fret not, you don't need to marinate it at all! Cooking it in the packet makes it stay moist.

You could add a decent knob of butter and a couple of screws of freshly ground pepper to the packet , or just a salsa made of chopped tomatoes (even tinned ones) with herbs. Or just a little bit of milk or yoghurt. Or a few leaves of fresh spinach (or defrosted frozen chopped spinach) as a bed for the fish to lie on when cooking - makes the vegetables easier that way too.

Or if there really isn't time to do anything extra, or you don't have any extra ingredients, just get them to sprinkle a bit of salt & pepper on both sides of the washed fish and package it up. Still tastes delicious! And can still be eaten hot or cold as suggested above.

Finally, you know what the best thing is about this? The paper & foil packets go in the bin, and the baking tray & the oven stay relatively clean. Which is a bonus if you can't monitor how clean your carers are keeping your kitchen and saves them work too!