Baked Salmon With Cheesy White Sauce

Hello, boys and girls!

Hello and welcome to another edition of Cooking 101 with me, Varun! (That's how I'm going to say it if I ever get my own TV show!)

The weekend is coming up and I'm sure a lot of you are itching to hit the kitchen and whip up something good but aren't really sure what. I can help you there. (Anyone catch the Harry Potter reference? Huh? Huh?)

So picture this. You've met the most amazing person. You want to spend every waking moment with them. You want to hold hands and go on long walks and have romantic dinners and snuggle up and watch movies. (That's where I stop. The blog is PG after all.) Maybe they have a birthday coming up. Maybe you just want to do something different to make them feel special. (Maybe you just want to cook something for yourself and are using them as an excuse.) You've scoured the internet from end to end and are confused. You're trying to think of something that's light yet filling and doesn't take hours of prep and cooking time. Well, think no more for I have the perfect dish! Yes, I know you know what I'm going to say. Title. Duh!

Now, when it comes to fish, a lot of people have reservations. Everything from too smelly to too many bones to too hard to cook and everything in between. Let me put your fears to rest. This simple (and absolutely gorgeous) dish takes less than 30 minutes to make. No bones. No smell. No fuss.

For my Baked Salmon With Cheesy White Sauce, you will need the following:

For the baked salmon:

Salmon	4 fillets
Garlic	4 or 5 large cloves
Salt	to taste
Pepper	to taste
Dill leaves	small handful (these look like grass and are called सोया in Hindi)
Olive oil

For the white sauce:

Butter	Knob
Onion	1
Flour	2 tbsp
Milk	1 cup (more or less, depending on how thick you want the sauce)
Mushrooms	4 large
Cheese	1 cup (or more)
Mustard	1 tbsp
Salt	taste
Pepper	taste
Dill Leaves	handful

Prep:

1. Mince the garlic.
2. Chop up the dill leaves. (Dill and salmon is a match made in heaven!)
3. Slice the onion.
4. Thinly slice the mushrooms.
5. Grate the cheese.

Method:

Baked salmon:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Lay the salmon fillets skin down on a board.
3. Sprinkle some olive oil on the fillets.
4. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on each fillet.
5. Massage in the salt and pepper. (Fingers! Show it some love!)
6. Add generous portions of the minced garlic on each fillet.
7. Sprinkle the dill leaves on each fillet. 
8. Get a baking tray.
9. Splash in some olive oil.
10. Lay the fillets in the baking tray.
11. Cover the baking tray with aluminum foil. (This will keep your fish moist and tender.)
12. Bung it in the oven for about 12-15 minutes. (Or until you can smell the fish.)

White Sauce:

1. Melt the butter in a pan.
2. Add in the sliced onion.
3. Cook for about 10 minutes on low to medium heat until the onion goes translucent.
4. Add in the flour.
5. Add in a splash of milk.
6. Mix like mad until the flour and milk make a paste.
7. Keep mixing until you've worked out all the lumps in the paste.
8. Splash in some more milk to thin down the paste.
9. Mix like mad. 
10. Stop to massage your aching arm.
11. Continue mixing.
12. Add in the salt and pepper. 
13. Mix. 
14. Taste test.
15. Add in the mushrooms.
16. Mix.
17. Add in the cheese.
18. Mix until the cheese melts.
19. Splash in some milk to bring the sauce to your desired thickness.
20. Add in the mustard.
21. Mix.
22. Taste test.
23. Add in the dill.
24. Mix.
25. Let it simmer for a few minutes.

Plating:

1. Put a fillet of the fish on a plate.
2. Drizzle over the sauce. 
3. Uncork a bottle of some nice white wine.
4. Stuff face.
5. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: Bake the fish and make the white sauce in parallel because you want both things to be hot when you serve them. You can get started on the sauce once you put the salmon in the oven. Also, since there are a lot of strong flavours in this dish, if you plan to kiss after dinner, pop in a breath mint.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!