Roasted Salmon and Green Beans with Lemony Mustard Sauce

By Catherine Newman

Makes: 4 servings

Total carbohydrates: 9 grams per serving

Hands-on time: 10 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

This is so ridiculously easy that you’ll feel like you’re getting away with something while you’re making it. And then, when you sit down to dinner, you’ll feel like you’re eating at a restaurant. A good restaurant, even. Just take care to err on the side of undercooking the salmon, since you can always pop it in for another minute or two, but the delight of the recipe really rests on perfectly cooked fish: silky and succulent and still a tiny bit rosy in the center. The mustard sauce is so easy and good that you might consider doubling it, since leftovers would make a great accompaniment to chicken or pork on some other evening. (In fact, you could definitely squeeze another couple salmon pieces onto the sheet pan. Cold salmon with mustard sauce is a lunch to brighten up even the dullest work day.)

Ingredients

1 pound green beans, stem ends snapped off

5 tablespoons olive oil 

Kosher salt (or table salt)

1 pound fresh center-cut salmon fillet, cut into four pieces

The grated zest of 1 small lemon and 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed juice
1 tablespoon coarse, grainy Dijon mustard (or plain Dijon, if that’s what you’ve got) 

1 tablespoon finely minced dill, parsley or chives plus more for garnish (if you don’t have any fresh herbs, just leave them out and it will still be excellent)

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 425° F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick foil.

2. Put the beans on the baking sheet, drizzle with one tablespoon of the olive oil, and toss well. Spread them out, sprinkle them with salt, and put them in the oven for 10 minutes.

3. After 10 minutes, scootch the beans over to one side of the pan and arrange the salmon on the other side. Drizzle the salmon with one tablespoon of olive oil, sprinkle it with salt, and put the pan in the oven for 8-12 more minutes, depending on how thick your salmon is and how well you like it cooked. (Use a paring knife to peek inside it: I like mine to be just a little bright and pink still in the center, but you might like yours more opaque and cooked through.)

4. Meanwhile, whisk together the remaining three tablespoons of olive oil, the lemon zest and juice, the mustard, and the herbs. 

5. Drizzle the salmon generously with the sauce, then drizzle the rest of it over the beans and toss. Garnish the salmon with herbs, if you like, and serve. 

About Catherine

Catherine loves to write about food and feeding people. In addition to her recipe and parenting blog Ben & Birdy (which has about 15,000 weekly readers), she edits the ChopChop series of mission-driven cooking magazines. This kids’ cooking magazine won the James Beard Publication of the Year award in 2013 – the first non-profit ever to win it – and a Parents’ Choice Gold Award. She also helped develop Sprout, a WIC version of the magazine for families enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), as well as Seasoned, their senior version. They distribute over a million magazines annually, through paid subscriptions, doctor’s offices, schools, and hospitals. Their mission started with obesity as its explicit focus – and has shifted, over the years, to a more holistic one, with health, happiness, and real food at its core. That’s the same vibe Catherine brings to the diaTribe column.

[Photo Credit: Catherine Newman]