Salmon with Garlic Lime Butter Sauce

With the season of Lent underway and fish being a popular Friday choice, I figured today was the perfect day to post another favorite salmon recipe.  This salmon recipe particularly caught my attention because it's incredibly easy and uses all ingredients that I usually have in the house.  Simple ingredients, but full of flavor (even my 10 month old loved it)!  Serve it with some rice and a side of veggies and it's a perfect, quick, weeknight meal full of omega-3s.

I love to broil my salmon as I find it to be a pretty fool-proof way for it to always turn out just right; however, feel free to grill it, bake it, or do what you wish for this recipe.  The garlic lime butter sauce is what makes this dish, and it doesn't get poured on top of the fish until after cooking!

As a side note, my husband and I like a little heat to just about everything we eat, so we actually added a dash of cayenne pepper to the sauce halfway through the meal on a whim.  It gave us the desired effect, but if I were to prepare it again and was in the mood for a little heat, I would mince up a habanero or 2 for more of a refreshing punch of heat.  The sauce is absolutely scrumptious as written though, so that is completely optional.  But if you also like a little heat, it might be worth trying.

Salmon with Garlic Lime Butter Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 frozen salmon filets, thawed


• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest


• 1 large garlic clove, finely minced (or pressed)


• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper


• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1.  Set oven to broil.  Make sure your oven rack is positioned on the 2nd highest rung from the top.

2.  Whisk together the garlic, lime juice, salt, and pepper.  Continue whisking while slowly adding the melted butter.  Set aside.



3.  Place salmon filets in a glass baking dish lightly greased with olive oil or cooking spray.  Season filets with a little salt and pepper.



4.  Use a foil "snake" (photo below) to prop your oven door open a bit while cooking (just do it...Alton Brown says so), and broil the filets for a total of about 7-8 minutes, flipping them once about half way through.  Test for done-ness by cutting into one filet.  Salmon should flake easily and be opaque in color. 





5.  Remove from broiler.  Serve with a generous sprinkling of lime zest and a tablespoon or two of garlic lime butter sauce poured on top.  (Whisk or stir up the sauce just before pouring as it will separate.)



Note:  You should have plenty of extra garlic lime butter sauce, so don't let it go to waste!  It's excellent on vegetables.  I served "clean out the freezer" veggies with our meal, so we served it over broccoli and cauliflower.  It was delish!  According to the original recipe, this sauce is also excellent on corn on the cob. 

*Adapted from this recipe.