Salmon with Lime Butter

When you marry the pickiest man on earth (okay, not quite) you don't expect him to like fish. When he does, you take advantage of that as much as you can, or at least a couple times a week. Salmon is a favorite of ours. We're perfectly happy to eat it with lemon and a bit of dill, but occasionally we try to jazz it up a bit.

The other great thing about fish? You can cook up some fillets in ten minutes or less.

This lime butter sauce adds only 2 more minutes to the cooking time and turns a regular old weekday fish into something that feels decadent and fancy. We eat it with rice and broccoli, and dinner's on in 20 minutes or less. (P.S. If you don't like fish, you can use this sauce on chicken to very good effect as well.)

Salmon with Lime Butter
Adapted from 365 Ways to Cook Chicken
Serves 4
Prep and cook time: 15 minutes
Cost: $5.75
(salmon: 5.00, butter: .25, lime: .50)

1 Tbsp olive oil
4 salmon fillets
6 Tbsp butter
juice from one lime (about 2 Tbsp)
zest if desired
dill and chives for garnish

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add fillets and cook about 4 minutes on each side. When fish is cooked through and can be easily flaked with a fork.

Remove the salmon to a plate and keep warm (I usually just put another plate over top of it.) Wipe out pan. (This is necessary. If you leave the drippings from the oil, the butter-lime concoction will separate.) Now remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for a minute. If you don't do this as soon as you add the lime juice it will bubble up and evaporate.

Return your pan to the burner on low heat. Add the lime juice. When it begins to bubble, stir in the butter (and zest if using). Raise the heat a bit and stir until the butter runs clear (or nearly so). This takes a couple of minutes. Remove it from the heat. If you let it get much hotter, the butter will separate.

Pour it over the salmon. Garnish with chives and dill and serve.

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