Dilled salmon with leek parcels: An easy Fish Friday meal

We don’t eat a lot of fish. Yes, I know we should. But the challenge is chef in training: it’s at the bottom of his “foods I like to eat” list. So because I’m not a short-order cook, fish doesn’t often make it into my meal plans. But the mini and I are fans, so I recently declared we'll be having the odd Fish Friday, starting with Chatelaine’s dilled salmon with leek parcels.

Now Friday nights are probably my least favourite night to cook. After a long week and countless meals already under my chef’s belt, I generally only feel like picking up the phone and making dinner someone else's problem. But because we're on a take out freeze, Friday night meals have to be fast and easy. And these salmon parcels fit the bill perfectly: they are prepped in under five minutes and come with minimal clean up thanks to the foil packets, which do most of the work for you.

I bought frozen skinless and boneless salmon fillets, and thawed them overnight in the fridge. Each parcel (this recipe makes two) is prepared by taking a large piece of tinfoil, placing the cleaned and cut leeks in first, topping them with 1 tsp of butter, tarragon and salt, and then laying the piece of salmon on top. You spread 1 tsp of Dijon on the salmon fillet, sprinkle with dried dill, and wrap the fish and leeks up into a parcel by bringing the edges of the foil together. How could that be any easier?

While the salmon parcels baked (25 minutes), I made mushroom rice for a side dish, and poured a couple TGIF glasses of wine. The salmon and leeks were delicious – moist and fragrant, and I’m happy to report chef in training ate the entire thing. Not a piece of leftover. So I guess our first Fish Friday was a success – thanks Chatelaine!

Try this recipe: Dilled salmon with leek parcels