Having a child with Sensory Processing Disorder which is on the Autism spectrum, and having been a picky eater myself . . . I know that trying new foods can be a hit-or-miss experience. When I find a recipe that is 1) simple, 2) nutritious, 3) tasty and 4) eaten by my picky eater, I HAVE to share it! At first glance as I was cooking, Sam announced, “I am NOT eating that!” When dinner was served, he took his required ‘no-thank-you-bite’ and before I knew it he had cleaned the plate and was asking his sister if she was going to finish hers.
Winner! Winner! Salmon dinner!
I may have even heard a heavenly chorus of angels singing “Hallelujah!” Maybe.
Salmon doesn’t have to be super expensive. I buy the family pack of individually-wrapped frozen filets from Aldi. I believe it was about $8 for five good-sized filets. The rest of the ingredients I already had on hand.
I like to serve asparagus with fish because I believe the flavors complement each other (and my kids love it!) Sometimes, I serve it with homemade Hollandaise sauce. On this occasion I simply seasoned it with a pinch of salt, butter and Parmesan. If you’ve never attempted making Hollandaise Sauce, it is one of the easiest things to make, you just cannot leave it or wait too long to pour it. You will note that patience is included in the list of ingredients. I say this only because our society has beome an “instant” or “busy” society — we want to multi-task. Hollandaise is not a multi-tasking sort of project. *Bonus — the recipe is below the Salmon recipe.
Baked Salmon
Ingredients
4 salmon filets, thawed if purchased frozen
4 slices bacon, raw
4 T. spicy brown mustard
4 T. honey
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400. Prepare the baking dish with a light spray of olive oil. Rinse and pat dry the salmon filets. Place in the baking dish, skin side down (if the skin remains on the fish). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Combine the spicy brown mustard and honey, whisking until blended. Spread 1 T. evenly across each salmon filet. Top with a slice of raw bacon. (I place the bacon in almost a V shape to cover the top of the filet.) Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Hollandaise Sauce
Ingredients
2 egg yolks (use the whites for an omelette the next morning)
1 T. lemon juice
5 T. butter (not margarine) cut in half
Patience
Directions
Using a small saucepan stir the egg yolks and the lemon juice together until smooth. Add one half of the butter measured above. On low heat, and I mean LOW, continuously stir the mixture until the butter is melted. Quickly add in the remaining butter, still stirring. As soon as the last half of the butter is melted, remove from heat. Don’t just turn the heat off, literally REMOVE the pan from the heat and still stirring, pour it over whatever you’re serving or pour it into the serving bowl. As it cools, it will develop a slight skin on it, but it just takes a quick stir.
I love to cook, and feeding folks is one of the ways I show my love and appreciation for them. I also believe that food brings people together. We ALL have to eat and food breaks down barriers and opens doors of communication. One of my favorite ads below expresses this visually — take 2.5 minutes to watch:
The Road Back Home 