What do we have for dinner? There are three hundred hot answers to that question, as Mark Bittman, our popular food journalist, thinks every mood deserves a corresponding dish.
Bittman’s cookbook, “Dinner for Everyone” features easy dishes we all love in different versions. The philosophy of the cookbook is that we should all be able to have a dish we desire, no matter the kind of day we’re experiencing. Busy? Have mac and cheese with Bittman’s half-hour stove-top version. If you plan to invite friends home, no problem. Serve your 3-cheese mac baked with chives and nutmeg. Or, have a healthy version with cauliflower sauce. Having these 3 ways means, from home cooking, one can prepare different food types that are resto-worthy. The book by Mark Bittman shares updates on 100 food classics that had been there so long it needed some renewal. It gives us new versions of, say, the traditional chicken noodle. The gist is that we should cook what we desire, or what makes us happy. Here’s an uncomplicated version of preparing a pan-roasted salmon (4-ingredient) that’s easy to master.
Good for 4 servings, with a cooking time of 15 minutes.
Ingredients:
- unsalted butter (4 tablespoons)
- pepper, salt to taste
- salmon fillets or steaks, 4 slices, of about 1 1/2 lbs all in all), skin on
- grape tomatoes, or 1-pint cherries, optionally halved
- 1 tbsp of drained capers
- lemon wedges
Directions:
- Set the oven at 475°F. In a large skillet of medium-high heat, lay the butter with a touch of salt/pepper. Wait for the foam to subside before you add the salmon and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.
- Let the salmon sizzle, cooking it unperturbed. Observe the butter for 2-3 minutes as it darkens. With capers and tomatoes on hand, spread it around the salmon, then transfer the pan to the oven.
- Without turning it, roast until the fish slice shades brown on its surface. Peek on the insides and cook it as desired, from three to eight minutes. Wait for a max of 8 minutes to achieve an opaque texture.
- Remember that overcooking the dish will make it dry.
- Spoon the tomato/caper sauce on it, then serve. Pass around lemon wedges and enjoy!