Fresh Market Salmon

Fresh Market is like therapy.  Well, Dorignac’s and Winn-Dixie are like therapy, too.  Now that I think of it, just about all grocery stores produce some sort of good-feeling-hormonal glow in me.  It wouldn’t take Sigmund Freud long to figure out this has something to do with the fact my father owned a grocery store in Anniston, Alabama called Foodtown.

Dorignac’s is a family owned business that resembles Foodtown, and where they play really good “old school” music loud enough that half the people in the store are singing the chorus to “Jeremiah was a Bullfrog,” as they pass each other in the aisles.  The cashiers there pretty much all agree that I work too hard and my ex is a cad.

Winn-Dixie is the great equalizer on Lake Avenue, where they sell the best chili peppers and tomatillos, and the manager makes sure someone gets the blind guy who lives in the neighborhood home safely.  Gotta love Winn-Dixie.

And then there’s Fresh Market.  The place smells good, like some new age-y person walked through it with burning sage.  Everything is clean and shiny.  The sushi looks really good.  All the cashiers have braids and big smiles.  And although to me, it seems a bit too antiseptic and too “cool for school,” Fresh Market does have a great selection of good olive oils in pretty bottles.  And excellent fresh salmon.  And a calming ambience.

And that’s where this Sheet Pan Salmon recipe comes in.  I’ve seen SO SO many sheet pan recipes in magazines lately!  But the simplicity of the recipes almost turned me off.  I really didn’t think something so easy could be so good.  I tend to enjoy cooking dishes that take a long time.  My personality is more of a braiser than a broiler.  I am more a stewer than a searer.  Sheet Pan Anything and Everything seemed a little gimmicky.  Until I found myself wandering around in Fresh Market on a Tuesday night trying to recover and regroup from the day I just had.

I wasn’t that hungry but I wanted (okay, needed) something to do.  Something that did not involve trying to solve someone else’s problems.  But not a long drawn out process or a complicated recipe.  I knew I couldn’t focus on a souffle.  I wasn’t sure I even had the mental bandwidth required to make a Bechamel.  The Barbie pink salmon fillets on ice in the back of Fresh Market reminded me of those Junior Varsity Sheet Pan Recipes I had been seeing so much of lately.  With only the slightest of sneers and entirely on impulse, I bought two fillets even though there is only one of me, and went home.

So, there were no big expectations for my Tuesday night salmon dinner.  I pulled out a red sheet pan that I got at Home Goods and which actually cheered me up a bit (in its utter “redness!” which if you don’t understand, I can’t explain).  And then I laid the fillets on the pan, seasoned them heavily and poured olive oil over everything, including a side of asparagus and cherry tomatoes.   In the oven at 450 degrees for about 12 minutes.

OMG.  This was so good.  The pictures I took are not very good because I was too busy enjoying dinner to take pictures.  The salmon was perfectly cooked and seasoned.  The olive oil and salty vegetables were deliciously comforting.  I lingered over dinner and realized I felt better.  In fact, I felt good.  Empowered even.  I called my mother to tell her good night.  I had a long day but at the end of it I was happy and snug in my own home, eating something good, enjoying my dogs and watching something good on t.v.  Okay, okay, I was watching Family Feud which is oddly calming to me on weeknights.

Food nourishes the body and the soul.  Ergo, Sheet Pan Salmon.  This is a Be Nice To Yourself Dish if there ever was one.  Peace out!