One of my favorite food bloggers is Ree, a.k.a. The Pioneer Woman.  She occasionally has a guest blogger by the name of Pastor Ryan visit her site.  He made this Bronzed Sea Bass with Lemon Shallot Butter a few months back — but said it works with salmon and other fish as well.

Right about now, you are probably asking yourself: “Why is there a random lemon and fish recipe during love week?  It should have been chocolate truffles with lemon, or lemony pound cake with raspberry drizzle since red is the color of love.”  Am I correct?  Do I truly have ESP?  Well, the real reason for this recipe is because my husband loves fish, and I love him.  So a fish recipe seemed fitting for Valentine’s Week.

What you need for this delectable dish for two:

• Two 6-7 oz. Salmon, Fillets
• 6 T. Butter
• 1 Medium-sized Shallot (minced)
• 1 whole Lemon (zested and juiced)
• 6 T. Canola Oil
• Kosher Salt And Fresh Ground Pepper
• A Splash White Wine

Ready to cook this fish? Okay, so first preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  (If you were Pastor Ryan, you would have seasoned both sides of fish with salt and pepper right about now. If you were me, you would still be trying to get them to thaw and forget about this step.  Ugh.)  So next heat up your oil to a nice and toasty temp in an oven safe pan (not really sure if my pan is, but I used it anyways!) and then throw them fishies in.  Try not to touch them and do not let them touch each other.  After 2 minutes, move the pan into the oven and cook for 8 more minutes. Make sure you set your timer, or you will leave them in the oven too long and overcook your fish.  It’s edible, but not light and flaky –  and yes, I am speaking from experience.

So while you are NOT overcooking your fish, make some lemon shallot butter sauce.  Melt your butter and then add a splash of wine to make it tasty.  If you happen to use a pan that had parsley in it about 2 minutes before, you might get some extra tastiness. Now add your shallots and lemon zest.   Cook for a few minutes and then add the lemon juice. Do this over a strainer so you aren’t pulling out seeds.  Cook until it smells nice and tasty, to your preference. Spoon over your finished fish.  Make sure you check for bones.  It hurts to bite into one.

Note: I’m just now realizing just how fast I made this recipe and just how much I messed it up!  If you are going to spend time making a meal for the one you love, make it right.  But if you mess things up, it will still taste good.  Matt loved this meal, and didn’t know how much I messed it up.  So, take time to cook, as well as the time to enjoy it.  [case in point, Matt came home while I was cooking this and my outfit was workout clothes, including mid-calf socks that I hadn’t taken off after work and an apron. I was one hot mess.  I should have slowed down just a bit and maybe even put on a matching outfit. And again, check out Ryan’s recipe for the original way to do things. I changed the recipe to my own preferences.