The catch of the day is a pink-fleshed, heart-smart cold-water salmon.  Salmon is how in calories and saturated fats, and delivers a hefty serving of protein. It also brings a whole new, essential type of fat to the table:  omega-3 essential fatty acids.

While we are quick to reach for grilled salmon as a salad-topper, a surprising number of students shy away from cooking with salmon at home. I took to the kitchen to come up with a salmon dish boasting only three ingredients, excluding your salt and pepper, that delivers on flavor, cuts down fat and will have your dinner guests begging for more.

Lemon-Baked Salmon

Ingredients

• 1 4-6 oz salmon steak
• ½ a lemon
• Italian seasoning (available at your friendly campus Metro)
• Salt
• Pepper

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 400F.
2. Place salmon flat on a piece of aluminum foil big enough to fold over your fish in all directions.
3. Sprinkle salmon with salt and Italian seasoning.
4. Thinly slice half of the lemon and lay the slices flat on top of the salmon steak. The slices should overlap.
5. Squeeze the juice of the other lemon half over the salmon steak.
6. Add salt, pepper and seasoning to taste.
7. Fold aluminum around salmon to create a “package”
8. Bake for 10-15 minutes. A good tip to go by is 10 minutes of cook time per inch of thickness.

Photo by Stephanie Maris