Having the privilege to stay at a friend’s house on the Oregon Coast, we decided to take advantage of some of the local delicacies for one of our first homemade dinners.  We purchased some salmon, but the rest kind of got thrown together out of items we already had in the fridge.

The first step was to prep the salmon.  I made some thin slits in the salmon and pressed in skinny slices of green onion. Next, Jason shredded some ginger root over the top. (I also put some of the ginger into a garlic press to see what would happen. Pretty good results – mostly the juice came out and it left the pulp behind. I liked that since it added moisture to the fish as well.) A little squeeze of lemon juice and a few grinds of sea salt, and the salmon was ready to go.

The vegetable for the night was brussel sprouts.  If for some reason you’ve always snubbed your nose at this delicious green veggie, shame on you.  When cooked right, these things are really yummy.  And they are really easy to cook.  Rinse them off, and then just trim the ends of them. A few leaves on the outside will naturally peel off.  If the leaves look old or have some brown spots, then just throw them away. If they look green and fresh, leave them in the baking pan.  They are delicious when they toast up.  I was focusing this meal on things I could just throw in the oven, so I threw those babies right into a pyrex dish along with a spoonful of butter and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.  (B.Sprouts really are yummy with nutty spices – think “Thanksgiving” when you cook them up.)

The other side dish we chose was whole-wheat couscous. SO EASY!  For couscous, you just measure even amounts of water and couscous. I used one cup of each, but we definitely had leftovers (which I love)! You boil the water (feel free to add a little oil or butter and a dash of salt), and once it boils throw in the couscous. Then just take it off the heat immediately, pop a lid on it and consider it cooked. After a few minutes, you can just fluff it with a fork.

So, a few twists to the meal now:

I added roasted peppers to the couscous. This was really easy since the oven was already on. I had a bag of little mini sweet peppers, so I just threw 4 of them in a pyrex with a few garlic cloves (peeled). Tossed in a light amount of oil and a dash of salt, after about 10-15 minutes they were browned a bit on all sides and really soft to the touch. I just cut the top off, cleaned the seeds out and cut them in small pieces. Voila – stir them into the couscous with the roasted garlic, and you’ve just stepped the meal up a notch.

For the salmon, I took a handful of local bing cherries, took out the seeds and stems and put them in an oven-safe dish.  I put a few dashes of balsamic vinegar, another dash or two of cinnamon and lightly stirred it all together.  I wish I had put them on the salmon, but it cooked faster than I had realized. So, they just cooked for about 5 minutes by themselves and were thrown on to the meal at the end when it was put together.

The salmon and the brussel sprouts went into a 350º oven at the same time, and they cooked for about 15-20 minutes (uncovered, in separate oven-safe glass dishes). I prefer the salmon just slightly under cooked (medium well) – a little pink in the middle makes it so moist and tender. But if that makes you uncomfortable,  just don’t cook it until it’s too dry.

Once the meal was all assembled on the plate, I just garnished with the toasted brussel sprout leaves and a dash of cinnamon.  This was the first time I’ve made this dish, and I have to say it was a hit!  Super quick to make, super easy to clean up and the blend of ingredients made it seem oh-so-gourmet.