A big reveal, people. I'm about to reveal my favorite (and a very easy) way to bake a big bad filet o' fish.

I usually do this with salmon or steelhead trout (which is the same as rainbow trout, by the by — thanks, Internet), but I've tried it with white fish as well and it held up alright.

It might sound strange at first, but you basically smother the filet with an herb mayo, which evolves into this savory, golden, creamy crust in the oven. 

This is a riff on the salmon that my aunt-in-law's makes every Christmas Eve. It involves mayo and Lipton onion soup mix. If you haven't tried this, I'm telling you: it's weirdly delicious. However, I try to avoid onion soup mix in my daily life, so this is a slightly freshened up fish.

I love this method because it's very adaptable depending on what herbs I have in the fridge or pantry. It can be done with all dry herbs or all fresh or any combination of the two. 

Easy Paleo Herb Baked Salmon

paleo, whole30-approved, gluten-free | serves ~2

Ingredients

• ~1 lb salmon filet (or filets)
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 2 green onions, sliced (or sub 2 T chopped chives or 1 tsp onion powder)
• 1 large garlic clove, minced (or sub 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• optional: 1 T chopped fresh dill, tarragon, cilantro, whatever you want! (or sub dried herbs)
• lemon juice, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
2. Mix up the mayo, green onions, garlic, salt, pepper and a little bit of lemon juice.
3. Dry each filet with a paper towel and place on the baking sheet. Spread an even layer of the herb mayo on top of each fish filet.
4. Bake the fish for about 15-20 minutes, depending on the thickness. The filet I made for these photos was about 1.5-inches thick and cooked in about 18 minutes.

Notes

• When you are at the store, I'd suggest choosing a piece (or pieces) of fish that are relatively consistent in thickness. That'll ensure an even cook all the way through, and make it easier to predict the timing
• If you like more of a crust on top, you can broil for a minute or two at the end. It's really tasty, but I didn't do this on the one pictured because it doesn't always come out very photogenic.
• Serve this with a lemony salad or lemony green beans (or whatever you want).