Curse-Free Salmon

This past week was my mother-in-law's 80th birthday, and we wanted to make a special meal for her.  She mentioned a few weeks ago that salmon was her favorite.  Great!  We planned to have salmon, fettuccine Alfredo, and a lovely Caesar salad.

Now for the tough part - we were going to have fourteen people for dinner.  A few filets or steaks are easy to cook in a pan, but we needed a lot of fish.  Grilling - that's never worked out for us.  Usually a few curses are spoken...or yelled.  I need a way to cook a lot of fish with a minimum of crankiness.  According to several sources, you should plan on about six ounces per person.  That's about five and a half pounds.  I bought two big sides of salmon, and then started to stress about how to cook them.

After searching through my cookbooks and several internet recipe sites, I came up with what I hoped would work.  There was no time to practice (and who wants to practice with $40 of fish?!?).  So I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

Last night was the dinner.  It was delicious!  And SOOOOO easy!!!!  I hope you enjoy the salmon!

This recipe will be easier with a thermometer, but you can do it without.
Lemons, sliced
Parsley
Shallots, sliced
Side of salmon (mine were about 3 lbs each)
Butter
Salt and pepper
Foil

Heat the oven to 425F.  Lay out two really big pieces of foil long enough to wrap around the fish and crimp tightly.  Butter the bottom of the foil and lay out the salmon.  You can tuck under the end of the filet (you know - that skinny part that will probably overcook otherwise).  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and lay out some slices of lemon and shallots, along with a few sprigs of parsley.  Crimp the foil closed, and then wrap it up with the other piece of foil - just to be sure nothing leaks out.  Carefully slide the packets into the oven (you do NOT want to rip the bottoms!!).

Cook for about 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the fish and your oven.  Poke through the foil into the fish with your thermometer.  You're looking for about 135F.  If you don't have a thermometer, you can check to see if it's done by seeing if it flakes with a fork.  Don't unwrap it yet!!  Keep it closed up for about five minutes just to let the fish come up to its proper temp (which ends up being around 140F-145F) and to let the juices redistribute (like you would a steak or a turkey).

Open and serve to many "oohs" and "aahs".