My Go-To List of Things I Make When I Don’t Have Time to Cook

I love cooking, but I don’t always have time to indulge in a fully immersive culinary experience. It’s not for lack of planning or supplies, but simply a matter of the days being finite (especially with two young kids, now that the school year has begun). Still, I’ve learned that I much prefer to come up with something from scratch over ordering takeout. Because I have also learned that it doesn’t take that much time — or effort — to come up with some serious seafood delicacies.

After all, having a nourishing, flavorful meal is often just what the doctor ordered on days when I’m running errands, hurdling deadlines, and shuttling the kids to and from classes and activities. I also find it much easier to slow down and take a breath, once I’m sitting at the kitchen table with a home-cooked meal in front of me.

The quickest and most essential step? Getting seafood out of the freezer, out of its packaging, and into the fridge to defrost overnight. Mere moments that I’ve integrated as a part of my everyday routine. Perhaps the next quickest step is actually cooking said seafood, which in most cases takes about 10 minutes, maybe less. 

From there, the savvy addition of a sauce/seasoning, a clever pairing of pantry staples or ingredients from the fridge — these are the elements that turn a bare portion of protein into a proper meal, and they don’t have to take up much of your time. 

With this in mind, here’s my go-to list of things that I’ll make when I’m short on time:

1. Miso Sablefish. Although WAC recently began offering Sablefish with Miso Marinade that’s already ready to cook right out of the pack, making miso sablefish from scratch is still one of my go-to options. Three ingredients, 15 minutes of marination, and five minutes under the broiler — it was always a winner, even with my kids. Of course, now that I have a pre-marinated version in my freezer, more often than not I find myself choosing the path of least resistance and reaching for that easy option (especially since it’s so easy to cook from frozen). 
2. Pesto Baked Salmon. If I have breadcrumbs in the pantry and I have pesto in the fridge or freezer, I know I can make this dynamic dish without having to measure or chop a thing. Put the fish on a sheet pan, put the pesto on the fish, put the breadcrumbs on the pesto, then put the whole thing into the oven. It’s the trinity of flavor, texture and ease.
3. Smoked Salmon on Anything. Smoked salmon on the late summer tomatoes with a schmear of any sauce. Smoked salmon layered onto a protein-forward avocado toast. Smoked salmon torn over a bowl of leftover cooked veggies or a fresh green salad. Whether it’s hot smoked sockeye salmon (the firmer flakier kind) or cold smoked sockeye salmon (the one that we associate with bagels and cream cheese), smoked salmon can pull together even the most basic elements into a protein-forward meal. And since smoked salmon is always an “add-on” for your WAC box, I make sure to always have smoked salmon in the freezer for such no-cook occasions.
4. Creamy, Garlicky White Fish en Papillote. This one is for when I do have a little extra time to cook something from scratch, but want to make something with a culinary impact (that also doesn’t really feel like cooking). Minimal chopping, minimal mess — when cooking en papillote, at its most basic it simply requires you to assemble things in a pouch of parchment paper and then pop into the oven. The steam that gets trapped in the pouch will do the rest of the work. 
5. Seafood Arepas. Arepas are my home base. I was born in Bogotá, Colombia, so making them feels less like a culinary chore and more like indulging in a moment of gastronomical comfort. Arepas also happen to be quick to prepare, and they’re the perfect vehicle for any leftover/cooked seafood that I happen to have in the fridge. Mixed into the dough, piled on top, eaten with or without a sauce or other accoutrements — it’s an easy, endlessly remixable win for breakfast, lunch, snacktime, even for a light dinner.

My go-to list isn’t just a hack for efficient, practical wild-caught seafood meals. It’s also a little celebration of Alaskan seafood as a go-to protein that you can — and should! — enjoy as an everyday option, not just for when you “have time” to cook.

P.S. I am thrilled to share that for the third year in a row, Wild Alaskan Company has been nominated by USA TODAY for their 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Meat Delivery Service. Please vote to show your appreciation for wild-caught, sustainable seafood from Alaska — not just for the seafood, but for the community that you’ve helped us sustain over the years. You can vote once per day through September 29 using the link here.

Live Wild,

Monica

Pictured above: A broiled fillet of miso-broiled sablefish, crisp and charred on top, served over a bed of simply steamed rice.