Baked Salmon

I bought 2 pounds of salmon fillet recently and decided to cook this piece of salmon 5 ways! The only feasible way of doing this is by baking it. I have never baked fish before and so it was a good opportunity to learn a new skill. After a quick look into my pantry, I came up with these 5 combinations:

1. Dried fennel seed and lemon

2. Crushed raw almond and dried red chilies

3. Cumin and Coriander powder

4. Fresh garlic and ginger

5. Dried Rosemary and thyme



Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Place a sheet of aluminum foil at the bottom of a baking pan.
3. Arrange the fish on the baking pan and use a brush to apply a thin layer of oil over the fish.
4. Season the fish with crushed salt and fresh ground pepper.
5. Place the ingredients accordingly on the fish.
6. Bake the fish for 10-15 minutes.

I forgot to place the aluminum foil at the bottom of the baking pan. This caused my fish to stick to the bottom of the pan and when I lifted the fish up, they broke into pieces, which you might be able to detect in the photos bellow.



The crushed almond and red chili was my least favoriate. The almond, though provided texture, did nothing in terms of flavor. The chili, however, did provide a nice kick. I will use more chilis in the future and combine it with something else, say Garlic and Ginger, which was the dominant smell in my kitchen when I baked these salmon.



The fennel seed and lemon was "okay". Again, the taste of the fennel seed did not transpire. Either I used low quality fennel seed or I didn't use enough fennel seed. However, can't go wrong with lemon flavor on a piece of fish. My favorite is the cumin and coriander Salmon just because I like dishes with heavy flavor. I have lost count of the number of times where I pan-seared fish with cumin and coriander.

The winner