Garlic Roasted Salmon (with addendum added)

I have three, all-time favorite salmon recipes. And last night, I prepared one of those recipes. (Also noteworthy: the fact that I'm posting less than 24 hours after I prepared the recipe!!)

Suggested Menu:

Roasted Garlic Salmon

Angel Hair Pasta w/Garlic Butter

Honey-Glazed Sweet Potatoes and Baby Portabellos

Roasted Garlic Salmon

• 1 lb. or 1-1/2 lbs. fresh salmon, skins removed
• 3 T. butter, melted
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
• salt and fresh-ground pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut salmon into 4-6 portions; place salmon into a greased casserole dish.

In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, garlic, salt and pepper. Brush each salmon portion liberally with garlic-butter mixture (make sure to use it all up, too! You'll want all that savory, buttery goodness). Bake salmon, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes, or until it flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to overcook it...nothing worse than dried out salmon!

Honey-Glazed Sweet Potatoes and Baby Portabellos

I love the flavor of roasted veggies, and have made many variations using lots of different vegetables. I wondered how it would work to use a light, honey glaze, so this what I came up with last night. Although I overcooked it slightly and probably should've stirred it more often, because the sweet potatoes were slightly burned. But they still tasted good! And b/c this is a newly created recipe, the measurements are just approximations, so use your own judgement.

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1-1/2 inch cubes
• 1 (8 oz.) pkg. baby portabello mushrooms, thoroughly washed
• 1-2 T. olive oil
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1-1/2 T. honey
• salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 4oo degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, toss the potatoes with the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper; place on a greased jelly-roll pan or cookie sheet. Roast in the oven for about 25 minutes, stirring a few times. Then add the mushrooms to the pan, toss again. Roast for an additional 20-30 minutes, stirring a few times during the cooking time. It's done when potatoes are cooked through and slightly crispy.

**Addendum to previous post--In my previous post, I had responded to a comment, asking if my husband and son ate all the different types of foods I cook. I'd like to use this current post as an opportunity to assure all my readers that my child is not consuming liver and brussel sprouts on a daily basis. Like I said, he eats pretty well, but he's also 4 years old. And as many of you know, a 4 year has this delightful tendency to change what they like and dislike on an hourly basis! Just so I don't turn into the kind of parent who's constantly bragging about how brilliant and gifted their kid is...

Case in point: this salmon meal was NOT so well received by Calvin. Despite my darndest efforts of prodding and all my goofy "parental" exclamations ("Oh, salmon is sooo yummy, Calvin!"), he turned his nose up at both the salmon and vegetables. He's been offered salmon before and eaten it happily about half the time. And normally, he loves sweet potatoes and squash, so I'm not sure what the problem was last night...maybe the crispy exterior disguised the sweet potatoes too much, maybe it was the honey glaze, but most likely, it was just a 4-year old being a 4-year old. I digress.