I’ll never understand why battered frozen fish pieces are considered a convenience food. How convenient are they, when they take 25 minutes in the oven vs. 10 for a fresh fillet of salmon? This is real fast food.

I adore asparagus, and my favorite way to cook it is to roast it until the tips turn dark and crunchy. It occurred to me that both could be done at once; the asparagus started (on a rimmed cookie sheet, drizzled with oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper) and then pushed aside to make room for the salmon during the last 10 minutes of cooking time. But we had lots of both, so after 20 minutes in the oven, we slid the salmon on its own sheet onto the rack above. Easy peasy. I threw some brown and wild rice in a pot to boil for 45 minutes (I always cook both together since they have the same cooking time, and in lots of water, like pasta, to make things easy) to be sure W would actually eat something on the table, but he scarfed down his third of the salmon filet before starting in on ours. The asparagus, however, was a no go. More for us.

Roasted Balsamic Glazed Salmon and Asparagus:

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Snap the tips off your asparagus wherever they naturally break. I used two small bunches. Drizzle a cookie sheet with canola or olive oil and spread the asparagus out on it, tossing it around to coat with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and pop in the oven.

Place your salmon fillet skin side down on a foil-lined sheet (or if it’s small, wait to put it on the sheet with the asparagus). In a small dish, stir together 2 Tbsp. brown sugar or honey, 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar, 1 Tbsp. grainy mustard and 1 tsp. sesame oil. Spread over the salmon.

After about 20 minutes (depending on how thick your asparagus is and how well done you want them) push them aside and add the salmon to the pan, or slide the sheet with the salmon on it onto the oven rack above (or below) it. Cook for 10 minutes per inch, until it flakes around the edges.

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