Simple Meals: Salmon Sheet Pan Dinner

I am back with another simple meal. Salmon is packed with nutrients for your brain. It is brain food in the truest sense of the phrase! Salmon is packed with healthy fats, protein, and Omega-3's! With finals around the corner and all the dullness of being at home, brain food is more important now than ever.

I know seafood is intimidating to new cooks often times, but salmon is a great way to start getting into cooking fish at home. At my local Whole Foods salmon is priced at $5.49 for the piece you see here. It isn't super cheap, but it isn't expensive either. I paired it with carrots and shallots that I already had lying around the house for an easy meal.

Here's what you need to pull this meal together:
1 Portion of Salmon
2 Carrots
1 Shallot
1 Lemon
1 Sprig of Rosemary
Fresh Parsley (optional)
1/2 Tsp of Minced Garlic
1 Tsp of Olive Oil
Lemon Pepper
Salt
Pepper

1. First heat your oven to 425 Degrees and line a sheet pan with foil. Lining with foil will save you time with clean up, and I almost always recommend doing this step. 
2. If you plan to serve this with rice or pasta, as I usually eat it, I would put that on to cook now as well. 
3. Chop your carrots and your shallot. Put them on the pan, along with your salmon. 
4. Season everything generously with salt and pepper.
5. Drizzle everything on the pan with olive oil. I recommend always measuring your oil. A huge mistake people make when trying to eat healthy is not measuring the amount of oil they are putting into their food. Oil is calorie and fat heavy, so if you track macros, not measuring your oil can hinder your progress immensely. 
6. Take the garlic and smear it over your salmon filet to create a nice coating. I buy pre-minced garlic in a jar from the produce section at my supermarket. If you only have fresh, chopping it finely by hand is fine. Alternatively, throwing it into the food processor helps get smaller pieces. You can do this with several cloves at a time and save your prepped garlic for later use. 
7. Add lemon pepper to make a little crust on your salmon. The garlic, salt, lemon zest, and pepper will caramelize a bit in the oven. Be generous with your season, and extra generous if you have a thicker portion of the salmon filet. 
8. Pop all this in the oven for 20-25 minutes, depending on how done you like your fish. 
9. Top with a little fresh parsley and serve over rice (or noodles, or with some other starch to make the meal balanced).