Sauteed Salmon over Jalapeno Potato Mash – $3.50

Here’s a thought: Don’t go to the grocery store after you get your paycheck and when you’re hungry… at the same time. This meal is still relatively cheap, but it could have been a lot cheaper if I didn’t get such a nice piece of salmon. This is the most expensive meal I’ve posted on here, but think about how much you’d be paying at a restaurant for this? Also, just substitute for the cheap salmon or any other piece of meat for that matter.

First, let’s start on the base, which is something between mashed potatoes and hot potato salad. Anyone know the right name for this?

Start by chopping up 2 medium sized potatoes in small to medium sized cubes (not pictured). Add to a boiling pot of water with some salt.

Now finely dice a large onion, or two medium onions.

Add the onions to a heated, greased skillet with a big fat pinch of sea salt.

In the meantime, chop up one jalapeno (without seeds if you don’t like it spicy) and a few cloves of garlic.

Continue cooking the onions until they become soft and start to get a little color on them.

Add your jalapeno and garlic.

By this time your potatoes should just about be done. They don’t have to be fully cooked, since they’re going to keep on cooking in the pan AND the oven for a while. Oh yeah, go ahead and get your oven preheated to about 400*.

How mashed up you get it is up to you. I intended to have it a bit mashy so I was a little rough with the mixture. Go ahead and turn off the heat after a minute or two of stirring.

Pack into a baking dish and put it in the oven at 400* until the edges are crispy & brown.

Now we’re at the good part. Just take a minute and look at this salmon. Again I ask, how was I supposed to resist this? This piece cost about $3, which is obviously more than my Aldi $1 salmon… but the flavor of this was so much better and it looked better too.

I want you to disregard the white bubbles in the pan. Why? Well… because I really really really wanted some butter flavor to this. You may use butter, but it’s much healthier to use olive oil. So I’m going to refer to this as “oil” for this recipe.

Put the “oil” in a heated pan and drop the salmon in skin down.

2 options:

1) Put your oven safe pan right into an oven or toaster oven on broil. Cook it till the white fat starts seeping out the sides. Don’t flip it. It’s amazing this way.

2) Or do it this way. I’ve never done it this way and I wanted to try it out. Basically you’re going to drizzle that hot oil on top of the salmon for quite a long time until it’s done cooking. Every 10-30 seconds or so, just reach over, get a spoonful of the oil and put it right on top.

I don’t think you’re supposed to flip it, but I got impatient. It can take a while unless you flip.

I tend to like my salmon quite well done, but cook it to your preference. Let it rest a minute before you eat it.

By this time, your potato mash should be about done. The edges should be brown and crispy.

Preferably more carefully than I did here, cut out a piece of the mash and lay it on the plate. (It was supposed to be a perfect pretty circle, but that didn’t really work out.)

If you’ve got a green leaf, like spinach (cooked or fresh), put that on top.

Then put that beautiful piece of fish right on top.

I served it with a handful of cherry tomatoes as well. YUM! It was absolutely worth the money!

1 Large Potato – ~$.25

1 Large Onion – $1.10

1 Jalapeno – $.08

4 Servings Potato Mash – $1.43

1 Serving Potato Mash – $.36