Roasted Wild Salmon and Asparagus with Double-Lemon Oil

By Lulubelle

(Makes 2 servings, but can easily be doubled; recipe adapted from Fine Cooking.)

Ingredients

• 1 large lemon
• 1 1/2 T + 2 tsp. + 2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb. fresh asparagus
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, both for asparagus and salmon
• 2 wild salmon pieces, about 6 oz. each (preferably with skin)
• fish rub for seasoning the salmon (optional, but good)

Details

Servings 2
Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 25mins
Adapted from 4.bp.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 450F/230C. Spray baking sheet with non-stick spray or brush with olive oil.

Using a microplane grater or small grater, zest the lemon rind into a small bowl. (I used all the zest, but if you're not that crazy about lemon zest you may not want it all.) Squeeze lemon juice into another bowl, then measure 1 T juice and add to the lemon zest. (You can freeze the extra lemon juice if you have quite a bit.) Whisk 1 1/2 T extra virgin olive oil into the lemon zest-juice, then set the lemon oil aside.

Hold an asparagus piece in both hands and bend until it snaps to see how much of the woody stem you should cut off. Then trim other pieces to that length and cut asparagus into pieces about 3 inches long. Put asparagus into a bowl and toss with 2 tsp. olive oil plus salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste.

Spread out asparagus onto baking sheet and roast for 5 minutes (or slightly longer if the asparagus pieces are extra thick.) While asparagus roasts, rub each piece of salmon on both sides with olive oil (about 1 tsp. per piece.) Season salmon with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, plus fish rub if using.

After 5 minutes, push the asparagus over a little so there is room to put the salmon pieces on the baking sheet. Put salmon and asparagus into oven and roast for about 10 minutes longer (or possibly 1-2 minutes longer if your salmon pieces are extra thick.) This is done when the asparagus is starting to soften and salmon feels barely firm to the touch. Drizzle desired amount of lemon oil over salmon and asparagus and serve.