Salmon with yogurt dill sauce and cucumber salad

Remember the commercial where the Mom relaxes in the kitchen after making rice krispy treats? Then she throws flour on her faces and comes out with a tray of them looking frazzled? This pretty much sums up my cooking philosophy and any recipe I'm going to post. So here you go, another minimalist fish recipe that is delicious and sounds like you worked hard to make.

Salmon Ingredients:

• Salmon (individual salmon steaks or a fillet, whatever works for you and your relative fear of your dinner companion's germs)
• 1 Lemon
• Olive Oil
• Kosher salt and pepper
• Fresh Dill

Preheat Oven to 350. Brush a baking dish with olive oil, brush salmon with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and minced fresh dill, then squeeze fresh lemon over the fish . Bake approximately 12 -15 minutes or until done. Baking time will vary with amount and thickness of the fish so keep an eye on it.

Dill Yogurt Sauce:

• Plain yogurt* (regular or Greek - I use non-fat or low-fat to keep things healthy)
• One English cucumber
• One red onion
• Some green onion
• 1 Lemon
• Olive Oil
• Fresh Dill
• Kosher salt and pepper

Do a fine mince on about a quarter to a third of the cucumber (adjust according to how much sauce you are making), a fine mince on a quarter to half of the red onion, and cut into moons the green onion. (Cut the ends off the green onion first, you can use the green onion up until you hit the leafy top). Chop up a lot of fresh dill. Once everything is minced you have some options*:

1) With regular plain yogurt, you can strain the yogurt by putting it on a clean dish towel or cheesecloth and letting the water drain through into the sink or over a container. This makes the yogurt thicker and will create a thicker sauce.

2) Greek yogurt is already thick, you don't necessarily need to drain it but can try if you want to.

3) You can choose to not strain the yogurt and have a thinner sauce. Whatever works for you.

Mix the red onion, cucumber, fresh dill, and green onion with about half a container of yogurt. (adjust the yogurt amount according to how many people you are feeding and their passion for sauce consumption) Squeeze the lemon in. A handy but painful trick with lemons is to squeeze them over your partially opened fingers. This way you catch any seeds while discovering every imperceptible cut on your hand. Add in about 2 tbsps of olive oil and then kosher salt and pepper to taste. Mix all ingredients together. For a smoother sauce you can take half of the mixture and run it through a blender then add it back in.

Cucumber Salad:

So now you've got 1/2 to 3/4 of a cucumber and red onion left. Rather than let it go to waste in the back of your fridge we're going to make a very simple summery salad that goes well with the salmon.

Thinly slice the cucumber and red onion. You can mince the red onion if you want. Chop up some fresh parsley. Mix cucumber, red onion, fresh parsley, some olive oil, red wine vinegar, and (you guessed it) kosher salt and pepper to taste.

Both the cucumber salad and the dill yogurt sauce taste better if you make them the day before and let the ingredients come together overnight.

Enjoy!