Thursday Recipe - Orange Rice and Baked Salmon

My neighbor made a version of this years ago. I loved the taste enough that I tried to re-create the recipe. I think I'm finally close with this version. It goes really well with salmon.

Orange Rice

2 c. short grain rice, it cooks up sticky but you could use regular rice if you really wanted to
3 1/2 c. hot water
1 11-oz can of mandarin oranges
2 t. caraway seeds
2 t. salt

Mix everything in a 2-qt casserole dish. Bake at 425°F for one hour, or until the rice is tender. Stir gently before serving to distribute the caraway seeds. The oranges will fall apart, but that's supposed to happen.

Baked Salmon

2 lb frozen salmon fillets, more or less
1 t. dried dill weed
1/2 t. ground black pepper
1 lemon, optional

Don't bother thawing the salmon, it cooks quite well straight from the freezer. Arrange salmon in a baking dish. Sprinkle with the dill and pepper. Slice the lemon, if you want it, and arrange the slices over the fish.

Bake at 425° for 25-35 minutes, until the fish flakes easily when you take a fork to it.

I like these together because they taste great together and you can bake them both at the same time, just put the fish in after the first 20 minutes or so of rice baking time and they should finish at about the same time.

Add steamed broccoli and fresh fruit and you have a delicious, healthy dinner that's easy to throw together.