One dish to cook that has always intimidated me is fish–especially salmon. While it is one of my favorite foods to order, making it at home seems more complicated than it is.
A couple of years ago, chef and social media influencer Emily Mariko made cooking a delicious fish dish easy with her viral salmon bowl. The recipe blew up for a good reason: It made preparing salmon accessible but still flavorful.
But 2021 isn’t the first time a chef has made a foolproof salmon recipe. Far from it. Another classic fish dish comes from one of our faves—none other than the Barefoot Contessa herself.
Ina Garten’s Simple Salmon and Melting Cherry Tomatoes
In her cookbook, “Barefoot Contessa Foolproof,” Ina Garten shares one of her best main meal recipes: simple salmon with melting cherry tomatoes.
Because it only takes a few minutes to put together but yields a gorgeous result, it could easily be the star of a last-minute dinner party. At the same time, it is low enough on ingredients, so it could also be an excellent way to upgrade your weeknight routine.
Due to its classic simplicity, this dish looks impressive without requiring much work. Turns out restaurant-quality salmon isn’t as complicated as I thought.
I first stumbled upon this recipe while searching for easy recipes on a busy weeknight. As a college student who cooks only for herself most of the time, I immediately saved this recipe when it popped up on my TikTok feed because it is easy to customize the amount you prepare.
In the video, this recipe is the “only to eat salmon.” As it is so easy to make, I can see why and have a few minutes to prepare.
How to Make Ina Garten’s 6-Ingredient Salmon Recipe
If following the recipe for Garten’s classic salmon recipe seems intimidating, the dish was featured on her television show a few years back. You can still easily watch Garten teach you how to turn six ingredients into a show-stopping meal.
For the sauce, she sautés chopped onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and butter in a pan before adding her sliced cherry tomatoes. To this mixture, she adds fresh basil and balsamic vinegar.
She coats her salmon in olive oil for the fish and season it with salt and pepper. She sears it on the stove in a cast iron skillet for around 5 minutes and then finishes it in the oven for several minutes. Once it is ready, she spoons the sauce and serves it up.
I recommend adding pasta or serving it with rice to upgrade this dish. You could make this recipe even simpler by cooking your salmon in foil packets instead. While I’m mostly cooking for one right now, this dish is the perfect excuse to invite a group of friends over for dinner.
Or, I could always prepare salmon ahead of time and rotate this dish with the viral TikTok salmon bowl. Mariko’s dish would be the perfect use of leftover salmon from this meal, and with salmon prices these days, I don’t want to let any of this precious fish go to waste.
With these two dishes, I’ll never be intimidated to make fish again. Now, you don’t have to be, either.
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