If You Have Salmon & Rice, Make This Easy One-Pan Dinner!

Hey everyone, yasas, kekalo sisate to another episode of Dimitra's Dishes. Today I got you covered with a quick and easy dinner idea that's ready in one pan and in no time so that way you can have it on hand for the busy weeknights that are coming up. I know that school's around the corner if it hasn't already started where you are and you're going to need these quick and easy and delicious dinner ideas. Today I'm going to show you how I make my lemony rice, potatoes, and salmon casserole. It all comes together in one pan. It cooks in the oven and it's ready in about an hour. Let's get started. Okay, we're going to begin with the potatoes. So I have these baby potatoes here but you can use Yukon gold instead. This is just what I have on hand and I like to use whatever's in my pantry so nothing gets wasted. Since these potatoes are small I'll just cut them in half. If you're using the larger potatoes then you can cut them in wedges and put them in a baking pan. This is a 9 by 13 inch baking pan that withstands a good amount of heat. So I'll drizzle the potatoes with a little bit of olive oil, season them with salt and freshly cracked black pepper, a teaspoon of oregano, and about 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice. Toss everything all together so that way the potatoes are coated. My oven is preheated to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. These are going to go on the center rack for about 25 minutes. They're going to get nice and crispy all around and they should be fully cooked at this time but even if they're not it's fine because they're going to continue to cook for another 30 minutes later on when we add the rice and the salmon. So while the potatoes are cooking we're going to want to rinse the rice really well with some cold water. I have two cups of basmati rice that I've soaked in water and I've rinsed it really well. The rice should soak for 15 minutes and then carefully drain it into a little strainer. Once the potatoes come out of the oven I'm going to add the basmati rice. I'll also season it. Since it's two cups of rice I'll season it with two teaspoons of salt, some freshly cracked black pepper, a heaping teaspoon of dried oregano, and then two teaspoons of dried dill. If you're not a fan of dill, I know there are some people that don't like the flavor of dill, you can completely leave it out. If you prefer fresh dill you can finely chop some fresh dill and put it in here or leave it out altogether. Then I'm going to pour four cups of really hot chicken broth on top. I've warmed the chicken broth up a little bit, this is going to help cook the rice better. So pour the chicken broth on top, give everything a nice mix, and then carefully cover it with some aluminum foil. You do this using oven mitts. Sometimes when I'm multitasking and cooking I will forget that the pan just came out of the oven and if you go to put your hands over the foil I don't want you to burn your hands so use oven mitts for this. Carefully place the baking pan back on the center rack in the oven and let this cook covered for 20 minutes. While the rice is cooking let's get the salmon marinated. So to make the marinade it's really easy, I combine about six garlic cloves that have been grated, you can make this as garlicky as you like, you could add less or more, and then I'll add two three tablespoons of good quality olive oil, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, I like Dijon mustard because it has a little bit of a kick to it, fresh lemon juice, two to four tablespoons or even more if you like, a little bit of salt and freshly cracked black pepper, a teaspoon of dried oregano. Whisk that all together and then pour it over the salmon fillets. As soon as the rice tray comes out of the oven we're just going to nestle the fish on top with all of that marinade as well. You can season the salmon a little bit more with some salt and pepper if you didn't already do that before. We're going to cover this once again with aluminum foil and return it to the center rack, let this bake for 15 minutes covered, take the aluminum foil off and return it back to the top rack of the oven and this time I want you to set the oven to the broiler setting so that way the fish can get some color on it, so keep an eye on it about three to four minutes is all you need. Once it comes out of the oven let it rest for a little bit and I just like to serve this with some more lemon juice squeezed on top, you can finally chop some parsley if you want and garnish it but it's ready to serve. So as is our lemony potatoes, rice and salmon is a full meal on its own, it's a complete meal. You have the potatoes which is the veggie, the rice and then the salmon of course as the protein but this tastes delicious with a marula salata which is a Greek lettuce salad, some tzatziki on the side, maybe some feta and olives and you'll be in heaven. This is so delicious and loaded with flavor. I hope you guys give this recipe a try, you can print it out on the website and I have lots of different options on how to make this a little different, a little better. Let me know how you're making it down in the comments below, let's take the taste test too because it smells so good and the salmon is perfectly cooked, so is the rice. I love using basmati rice because it's light. Of course once it's done even though it's pretty lemony, I love to squeeze even more lemon on top of this. The potatoes are also really fork tender and perfectly cooked. If you decide to give this a try let me know how it comes out in the comments section down below. Thank you so much for spending time with me today, I'll see you all next time.