Welcome to kidscookdinner.com, a website I (Max) started with my sister (Alex) 5 years ago to document our cooking adventures, encourage kids to cook more (and not just re-heat junk in the microwave) and make people aware of the huge issue of world hunger.  To learn more about why we started the site, and the hunger-relief charities we support, scroll down a bit. Otherwise to learn what we cooked this week, stay right here.

Tonight I wanted to cook something healthy…it’s the New Year and with COVID surging, I thought that our family should focus on “good” food.  Since Covid, The New York Times has had a weekly section called At Home that suggests a variety of coping mechanisms, lock-down survival recommendations, and delicious recipes.  One of those was for Sheet-Pan Salmon Broccoli with Sesame and Ginger, and I decided to try it out, along with some brown rice. Here’s my final plate.

There are a lot of ingredients but everything cooks on one sheet so it was a surprisingly simple recipe.

Here’s what you need to have on hand:

• 4 Tbs. toasted sesame oil
• 2 Tbs. soy sauce
• 1 Tbs. rice vinegar
• 1 Tbs. honey
• 1 Tbs. finely chopped fresh ginger
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 pound broccoli florets
• 3 scallions: 2 of which should be peeled and cut into 1-1/2 inch segments and the other finely chopped for garnish
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 4 Six ounce skin-on salmon filets, or as we did 6 Four ounce filets
• 1 Tbs. Sesame seeds (optional, for garnish)

The first step was to pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees (the NYT recipe says 425 degrees but I am always worried about overcooking fish so I lowered the pre-heat temperature to 400 degrees). Meanwhile, while the oven is heating, I rinsed 2 cups of brown rice and started the rice in our rice cooker.  I’m not sure why but whenever we rinse rice until the water runs clear, it is much fluffier. But if you don’t have time…just cook it.

I also peeled and chopped the ginger and garlic.

Once everything was prepped for the salmon glaze, I whisked  3 tablespoons of the sesame oil with the soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, ginger, and garlic ingredients until smooth, and set aside.

Then I chopped the scallions into 1-1/2 inch segments and tossed with the broccoli and the remaining tablespoon of sesame oil, along with the olive oil and salt and pepper, and put in the oven to roast for 10 minutes.  (NYT says 5 minutes, but that’s not enough time, the broccoli just won’t be cooked enough.)   Once the broccoli and scallions were in the oven, I chopped the remaining scallion into small slices for garnish.

After 10 minutes, it was time to add the salmon to the sheet pan. Salt and pepper the fillets, brush with glaze, and then position them in the center of the sheet pan.

Here’s the beauty shot of the sheet pan going into the oven:

And here’s the shot of the pan coming out of the oven:

(And here’s our dog Koko chasing her tail because she thinks she might get some salmon leftovers…she loves salmon.)

Ultimately, we plated the dinner and it was both delicious and healthy (and we did give Koko some salmon). Here’s to a happier and healthier 2021!