Roasted Lemon and Dill Salmon with Purple Asparagus

The other day I was so exhausted after leaving lab and nothing at home sounded appetizing to me. I’m definitely one of those people that hates wasting dinner on something I wasn’t really craving much in the first place. Mind you, I forgot to eat lunch (which I never thought was possible for me before) and I was so hungry that I couldn’t keep my hands from shaking like a mad woman. But nooooo, I couldn’t just go home and eat leftovers like a normal person. So it turned into an awesomely stupid game of whether I could make it to the grocery store and cook dinner before fainting. Well, I did it! Barely. Niiice. Good job Bita…

I got my hands on 3 beautiful salmon fillets and roasted them in the oven with some equally beautiful purple asparagus. The clouds parted. I was a happy camper and back to life. By the way, why “a happy camper?” I’ve gone camping once in my life, and that was this summer. I shouldn’t be allowed to use that expression.

Aaaaand back to the dish. This is my favorite and go-to way to prepare salmon. It’s the way my Persian mama taught me and it’s the way I’ll always prefer it. It’s a perfect roast salmon with the simple, but perfectly complementing flavors of dill, lemon, olive oil, black pepper, and of course salt (which brings the world to life). When I cook Persian herbed rice with roasted salmon (sabzi polo baa maahi), this is the way I do it. It’s cooked just right and basically feels like butter when you’re eating it.

Then the asparagus. It becomes such a lovely, salty (yes, I’m in lurv), roasted sweetness that is so addicting.

So the moral of this story—I need to remember to always carry food in my bag for those dizzy times when my blood pressure and blood sugar have plummeted. Lesson learned? Well, at least until I eat the sort-of-smushed Larabar that’s sitting in my bag, it is.

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Roasted Lemon and Dill Salmon with Purple Asparagus

Course Main

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 3

Calories 374kcal

Author Honest and Tasty

Ingredients

• 3 salmon fillets skin removed
• 1 bunch of fresh dill chopped; or 1 ½ tbsp dried dill
• 1 bunch purple asparagus or white! or green! asparagus, rinsed, stumps cut to remove tough ends
• 3 tbsp ghee
• juice of 1 large lemon
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400º F (204º C). Spread out the asparagus and salmon in a large baking dish (or 2 medium baking dishes). I like to keep the asparagus at one end and the salmon at the other if they are in one baking dish. Add ghee, salt, and pepper to asparagus and salmon. Rub all over and under to coat and keep them from sticking to the dish during the cooking process. Add dill to the salmon and rub all over the fillets. Put in oven to roast for 20 min. Squeeze lemon on salmon and serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 374kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 132mg | Sodium: 75mg | Potassium: 833mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 108IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg