7 Fish Recipes for Easy Weeknight Dinners
Fish dishes are beginner-friendly because they use common ingredients, including lemon, garlic, Dijon mustard, rice, pasta, and quinoa. Dishes featured in this collection include baked and fried fish and shrimp dishes and creamy pasta and rice dishes, as well as a Mediterranean salad and raw salmon. Dishes in this collection can be prepared for everyday weeknight meals or as more special meals.
Reasons Why These Recipes Are Suitable for Fish Dishes
- Common Pantry Ingredients: Store-bought spice blends aren't needed to add flavor to foods, thanks to foods on hand, such as lemons, garlic, Dijon mustard, capers, rice, pasta, and quinoa.
- Preparation Methods: Baking, quick pan-frying, and bowl assembly are common preparation methods. No special equipment is needed to prepare most recipes.
- Meal Options: At-home meal ideas include salmon dishes, shrimp and rice dishes, pasta dishes, and grain-based salads. Choose meal ideas based on your preferences and schedule.
- Simple Textural Contrast: Rices and seafood offer contrasting textures, and leafy greens and carrots contribute crunch to easy-to-prepare, tasty dishes.
1. Baked Dijon Salmon
Weeknight meals can be memorable with the Baked Dijon Salmon recipe. Baked Salmon with Dijon Mustard and Garlic-Lemon Topping can be prepared and served in 20 minutes or less. Baked Dijon Salmon makes a nutritious, satisfying dish that is sure to please your dinner guests. Use this recipe for weeknight dinners or other occasions when you want to fix a quick meal with a gourmet flair.
2. Baked Salmon with Zesty Lemon Dijon Garlic Marinade
This baked salmon recipe for four family members takes 20 minutes or less to prepare. Fresh lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic, and parsley in both the marinade and sauce offer tart flavor. Baking at high temperatures makes naturally flaky salmon easy to flake with a fork. The recipe uses a 1 1/2-pound salmon fillet cut into four pieces and arranged skin-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Mix fresh parsley, garlic, extra-light olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper to create a marinade. Brush the salmon with the marinade and garnish with lemon slices before baking, uncovered. Serve the lemon slices with the salmon. Look for salmon that is opaque on the outside but just cooked through at the thickest point. In a very hot oven, thinner cuts of salmon may bake more quickly than thicker cuts. Mistakes to avoid include overcooking the salmon, which makes it dry, and leaving lemon sauce on the salmon too long before baking, which makes it tough. Serving ideas include mashed potatoes, quinoa, or rice with a salad or other vegetables such as roasted potatoes, green beans, cucumber salad, and asparagus. Leftovers can be served cold in salmon cakes and salmon Cobb salad. Leftover pieces of salmon can be reheated successfully to prevent drying.
3. Creamy Pasta with Salmon, Garlic, Capers, and Spinach
Ready in 25 minutes, this recipe includes baked salmon and pappardelle. The sauce requires minimal cooking and is prepared with heavy cream, garlic, dry white wine, lemon zest, capers, and spinach to make a tasty sauce that clings to the pasta. Bake the seasoned salmon while cooking the pasta. Prepare the sauce in a medium saucepan, adding butter and minced garlic. Pappardelle is suggested as the pasta for this dish because of its width and ability to hold cream sauce, but other pastas can be used. White wine and lemon rind are added to the heavy cream for flavor. Capers provide a salty flavor, and baby spinach can be added toward the end of cooking. The sauce should be only partly thickened after cooking briefly with cream, wine, and lemon zest, not fully cooked as a sauce before adding pasta. Of all the ingredients, garlic is likely to become overcooked; cook it in butter until fragrant. When you add salmon, pasta, spinach, and capers to the sauce, do not break up the salmon when stirring. Serve pasta hot with garlic bread or other bread for dipping in sauce. Leftovers can be reheated in a skillet over medium heat with a little olive oil, stirring until thoroughly heated, as directed in the recipe. This recipe serves four; it can be doubled or tripled to feed more people.
4. Spicy Crudo Made with Salmon and Crispy Carrots and a Citrus-Tamari Sauce
Choose sushi-quality salmon and buy from a restaurant or other establishment that sells food by weight. Salmon has a robust flavor that works well in a cold crudo appetizer. Crunchy carrots sautéed with spices provide sweet, sour, and spicy flavors to complement the salmon topping. The vinaigrette ingredients include the white portions of the scallions, tamari, mirin, rice vinegar, lemon juice, ginger, sesame oil, agave, Serrano pepper, and salsa macha or chili crisp. Other uses of these ingredients in the vinaigrette include enhancing umami flavor with tamari and sweetness with mirin and agave. Other ingredients add other fresh flavors to the vinaigrette, such as ginger and lemon. Fried carrots in olive oil add texture. Sliced green scallion strips reserved after their ice-water soak can be used as a garnish. Carrots should be roasted but not burned. Sauce should pool around fish on the plate after serving. Let combined sauce sit for 15 to 20 minutes, or as directed in the recipe, to allow flavors of green onions and Serrano peppers, as well as ginger and chiles, to meld. Tips to prevent errors, Do not overcook sliced carrots, as they may become bitter. Do not cook solids with carrots and sauce. Set aside to use as a topping. Serve the crudo right away with carrots and lemon and scallion slices to provide visual contrast with other elements. Salmon served on a plate can be accompanied by strained sauce or grated ingredients. This dish is an appetizer and should be prepared shortly before serving.
5. Thai Garlic Shrimp with a cornstarch crust
Serve Thai garlic shrimp and steamed vegetables and rice on weeknights. Large shrimp coated with cornstarch can be fried quickly in a pan. Stir in sliced shallots, ginger, garlic, red peppers, fish sauce, sugar, and sesame oil for flavorful, crispy shrimp with moist meat. Fresh garlic, ginger, shallots, green onions, and red chili peppers are added briefly after the shrimp comes out to add flavor and crunch. Fish sauce and sugar, as well as toasted sesame oil, are added toward the end of cooking to coat the shrimp. Fresh ingredients are recommended. The recipe suggests not using jarred garlic, which is less flavorful. Watch pan-fried shrimp for doneness, they are done in three to four minutes when they turn pink and begin to curl. Shrimp not dipped in water or other liquids will brown more when dipped in cornstarch. The most common mistake when cooking shrimp is overcooking them; remove shrimp from heat before the short final toss to avoid overcooking. Serve with steamed rice, vegetables, egg rolls, or spring rolls. Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container and reheat using a microwave or stovetop. Fresh shrimp is recommended because the crispy coating softens during storage and reheating.
6. Crispy Rice with Salmon
Crispy rice with salmon is a tasty dish that includes both crunchy and tender components from the salmon and rice. Leftovers can be used to prepare this dish. Some ingredients that add creaminess to crispy rice with salmon include mayonnaise and Sriracha and lemon juices. Crispy rice with salmon may be a suitable dish for regular or special meals and may appeal to consumers who enjoy crunchy and creamy foods.
7. Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl with Salmon
This Mediterranean Bowl with Salmon recipe features wild salmon marinated in lemon and herbs, a garbanzo bean salad with other vegetables, cooked quinoa, leafy greens, creamy feta cheese, kalamata olives, and homemade Tzatziki sauce. This dish is nutritious and hearty, providing protein and other nutrients and fiber, and it can be served as a meal or dinner dish. This dish includes common Mediterranean colors and flavors and would be a good addition to a menu.
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