Baked Garlic Tomato Salmon

Salmon with green beans and mushrooms

Salmon is one of those things that’s pretty hard to screw up. If you have a good quality fillet and don’t overcook it, you can’t go wrong. Even so, I decided to get a little fancy this time.

You don’t have to go to an expensive natural food store to get wild caught salmon. You can order it online from Vital Choice or watch the sales for good prices. You can buy a whole salmon and cut it up into steaks and fillets for later. It freezes well!

Baked Salmon

Ingredients

Baked tomatoes and garlic make a bed for the salmon

fillet of salmon
homemade mayonnaise
blanched tomatoes (I used ones we had in the freezer from last summer)
4 cloves garlic
lemon juice
2-4 Tbsp ghee
paprika
salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F. Put the ghee, tomatoes, and most of the chopped garlic into the baking dish and place in your preheating oven.
Salmon slathered in mayonnaise
While those flavors are blending, rinse your salmon in cold water then pat it dry. Cut your fillet of salmon so that it will fit into your baking dish. It’s best if the thickness is pretty even. Since our kids like their salmon more cooked than Kelsy and I do, I like to have a piece that’s thicker for us, and a piece that’s thinner for them.
Place your salmon skin-side down. Rub the top with your remaining garlic and leave it on. Sprinkle lightly with salt, then drizzle a touch of lemon juice on it. Spread your mayonnaise over the fish, in up to a 1/4 inch layer. Sprinkle paprika (and dried basil if you have it on hand) on top of the mayo.
Kelsy attacks the salmon
When the tomatoes are soft and you can smell the aroma of the garlic (take care not to burn it!), place the salmon on top of the tomatoes, skin side down. Return to oven.
Check for doneness at 10 minutes. It may need to cook up to about 20 minutes, depending on how thick your fillet is and how cooked you like it. It will flake when you poke at it and shouldn’t be bright pink or translucent any more when it is ready.