Pantry-friendly fish in a flash

Shelter-in-place cooking doesn’t have to be all pasta and cheese all the time. When you’re feeling ready for something a bit more like, well, regular life, consider a quick and easy fish dinner.

I originally wrote this recipe to work with a large, fresh skin-on salmon fillet, roasted whole and topped with a zesty, punchy mix of olives, capers, parsley and lemon right before serving. Most of the recipe’s cooking time is taken up simply by heating the oven — once it has hit 450, you’re only about 10 minutes to dinnertime.

But getting out to the grocery store for fresh fish is likely not a priority for most of us right now, so I’ve adapted the recipe slightly to work with those individually shrink-wrapped blocks of fish I always have stashed in the back of the freezer. Frozen and thawed salmon is ideal here, but you can easily swap in arctic char or trout — even a white fish will work in a pinch, but you’ll want to keep a close eye on it to prevent overcooking.

The fish topping is made mostly of pantry ingredients — olives, capers, lemon — plus a couple of tablespoons of parsley, which can easily come together while the fish cooks. You can absolutely use a different green herb if you don’t have any parsley at home; dill would work particularly well, and I’ve used carrot tops as a parsley substitute many times in a pinch. Even thinly sliced scallion greens would work fine. Worst case? Just skip the greenery.

Since the olive topping is so salty and briny, it’s best to serve this dish with relatively mild sides. Lightly cooked frozen green peas tossed with butter would pair well, as would any other green vegetable, such as asparagus or broccoli. I also like to add in a starchy side here, such as quick-cooking couscous or orzo. If you’ve been foraying into home bread-baking (or ordering from one of the many great local bakers), a thick slice of sourdough would also be a perfect finishing touch.

Roast Salmon with Olives and Lemon