Vickie’s Bacon Ranch Salmon

I’ve never been one for fish as a kid. But your taste buds change as you get older. Sometime in my late 30s, a friend of mine invited me to a special dinner on the lake.

From their party boat, her husband was going to grill salmon steaks on a little portable grill. He used traditional butter and lemon to saute the salmon. I’m not a fan of lemon either. So I’m pushing my foodie adventures here. Give me a little credit 😉 . It was ok, for my first test taste.

During dinner I dropped a piece of salmon in my salad, which was lightly draped in Ranch dressing. Oh man, did it greatly improve the fish! The following week I tried the new concoction on my husband. Ranch salmon isn’t an original idea of course. But it was new to me and I wasn’t sure how it was going to go over in our house. Thankfully he liked it. Even our 8 year old at the time liked it. Now that the boy is a teenager, he can’t stand Salmon. But taste buds change as you get older.

Over the past 2 decades, we’ve tried variations on the ranch recipe. We’ve added various topings, such as diced onion, diced tomatoes, various types of herbs. But Bacon Ranch has become one of our favorite salmon dishes. 

Preparation Time: 5 minutes, plus 6+ hours in the fridge
Cook Time:  30 to 40 minutes (depends on the size of your fish)
Serves: Varies

Ingredients:

• Salmon Filet- thawed
  Best when fresh from the meat/fish section of your grocery store.
  Choose your size. You can use individual salmon steaks (about 3″x5″) to a full salmon filet.
• Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
• Heinz Bacon Bits

Directions:

• Prepare a sheet of aluminium foil that will cover the salmon steak twice.
  Imagine you’re making a large folder to place the salmon in. So fold the foil in half, to create a top and bottom piece to the foil.
• Lightly butter the inside of the foil folder, to help the create a non-stick surface around the fish.
• Place the fish on the bottom sheet of the foil. Then cover it heavily with the dressing.
• Top the dressing covered fish with bacon bits. You can cover it lightly in bacon, or heavily. We like somewhere in between.
• Using 2 toothpicks: stick the toothpicks into the fish to hold up the aluminium above the toppings. Lightly fold the top of the aluminium over the fish. Then fold the edges of the foil over onto itself to seal the envelope.
• Place the enveloped fish in the fridge for at least 6 hours. This helps flavor the entire fish.
  I usually prepare the fish after dinner the night before. And place the salmon in the fridge to sit overnight and until we’re reading for cooking.For Cooking:
• Pre-heat oven to 350° F
• Remove the Salmon, still in it’s pouch, and place it on a cookie sheet.
• Place the fish in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
  Most salmon steaks are about 1 to 1½ inches thick. If your salmon steak is thicker than this, you may need to add more cooking time. Rule of thumb is, 15 minutes per ½ inch.
• Remove your steak from the oven.
• Be careful when opening the foil pouch, the steam released upon opening will be HOT.
• If you cooked a filet, use a stiff spatula to cut the steak into individual servings. Then lift the servings from the foil to the plate and enjoy.

Serve:

• Serve Hot
• Serve with Rice Pilaf, or baked potato.
• Add your favorite veggies as a side dish to add some color to your table.

Alternatives:

• You can use varying cream dressings, such as blue cheese. But Ranch works best.

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