Batch cooking for Baby: Asian Salmon

I discovered Pinterest a few months ago. You can see my boards here. One of the first collections of recipes I found was a link to freezable dinners at What's Cookin, Chicago? This is a really good collection of recipe links which can be organised in advance and put in the freezer for when you need them.

One of the recipes I tried was Asian Salmon. You put the salmon fillets in a Ziploc bag, add the marinade ingredients, and then freeze it. When you're ready to eat it, you defrost it in the fridge, thereby marinading the salmon, and bake in the oven. Easy, but most importantly, delicious. I rarely make recipes where you have to marinade things, because I don't have the time, and I'm not organised enough to sort it out in the morning. 

Of course, you don't have to make this just for the freezer. You can let it sit in the marinade for 20 minutes or so before cooking straight away. You can also make this with frozen salmon, just don't let the salmon defrost before you put it back in the freezer in its marinade.


Asian Salmonrecipe adapted from What's Cookin', Chicago.
2 salmon fillets, skinless and deboned1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard2 tablespoons soy sauce3 tablespoons olive oil1 clove garlic, crushed

Put the salmon fillet into a Ziploc bag. Add the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil, and garlic. Mix it up a bit, but don't worry too much. Place the bag in the freezer, clearly labelled and dated.
To cook:
Place defrosted marinated fish on parchment lined baking sheet, and bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, or longer depending on thickness. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 2-5 minutes. before serving. Serve with rice and steamed vegetables.

Batch cooking for baby: Salmon and Dill Potato Bake

We're expecting a baby in August. We're also having our kitchen completely redesigned and re-fitted. All of this upheaval, not surprisingly, turns my mind to meals. I'm quite good at meal planning now, but I also know how invaluable it can be to have something convenient stashed away in the freezer, ready either to be cooked from frozen, or defrosted without any additional preparation needed.

I've done a fair amount of cooking now, and the freezer is gradually being stocked up. So I thought I'd collect some of these recipes together.

This was adapted from a recipe from deliciousmagazine.co.uk, and the first batch was absolutely delicious.

Salmon and Dill Potato Bake


Ingredients:

4 skinless salmon fillets
600g potatoes
200g baby spinach
1 onion
1 lemon
50g butter
50g flour
500ml semi-skimmed milk
15g dill

Method


Peel and slice the potatoes. Put them in a large saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil. Allow to boil for 10 minutes. Drain and set to one side.

Chop the salmon fillets into small chunks. Chop the onion, and combine in a bowl with the salmon. Wilt the spinach, by pouring boiling water over a colander full of the spinach. Drain well, and add to the salmon and onion. Zest and juice the lemon and add to the salmon mixture.

Make a white sauce, by melting the butter and then whisk in the flour. Cook for one minute, stirring well. Gradually add the milk a little at a time. Bring to the boil, whisking, and allow the sauce to thicken. When the sauce has thickened, add the dill, finely chopped.

Pour the sauce over the salmon mixture and stir gently to combine. Transfer to an ovenproof dish - I used the foil take-away style dishes from the supermarket.

Layer the potatoes on top of the salmon mixture. You can freeze the dish at this point. To cook, make sure the bake is thoroughly defrosted, and dot the potatoes with butter. Bake in a preheated oven at 200C, for 45 minutes, or until piping hot throughout.