Buttery Blackened Salmon with Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus!

In my earlier blogs, I listed the ingredients and provided prices to show the low cost of 'brainy' cooking at home. To be more contemporary, I stopped doing that and just wrote out what I used and how it was cooked. But, today, just because this is so inexpensive yet so elegant and delicious, I am going to tell you what it cost.

A package of two large fresh caught Atlantic salmon fillets cost 7.75; that means for two people the cost was 3.87. Roasted potatoes for two people (six rustic cut skin on potatoes) cost only .90 cents. Half a package of fresh green asparagus cost 1.50 cents. Do the math and you will see that this dinner cost less than 6 dollars per person. There is no restaurant in America where you can get this dinner for that price. Cooking at home is Brainy delicious and frugal!!!!

Of course, I did buy a 2 lb bag of potatoes @ 2.49 and using only about 6 out of that bag was figured somewhere around the amount given above. The full package of asparagus cost 3.00; hence, half used gave us 1.50. I did not include the cost of the white wine which was six dollars for the bottle and we each had one glass so about 1.00 dollar there per person. A squeeze of fresh lime @ .25 cents and half stick of butter is another .50 cents. We are still not over eight dollars per person.

 ... food like art

You will need to buy two salmon fillets; unless you want to feed the family. Then you may want to buy an entire side fillet at the cost of 15.00 divide that by 4 and you have 3.75. Begin by roasting as many rustic cut potatoes as you need in the oven on 375. Use a cookie sheet drizzled with olive oil, garlic powder and rosemary. Top the potatoes with Himalayan pink salt (or any kosher salt or sea salt) and bake for 35 min. As the end of that time approaches, sear on high heat the fillets in olive oil and spices: garlic powder, red pepper flakes, Himalayan pink salt and black pepper.

Once seared to blackened, you can turn down the heat and add 2 pats of butter and let simmer while you prepare the asparagus. Next, wash and cut the asparagus, push aside the salmon and add the spears. The potatoes should be finishing up, ladle onto a serving plate, lay on the salmon fillets. Take a quick minute now to blacken the asparagus.

~ Tutti a Tavola!