This is the sort of dinner that will make you look like a real pro in the kitchen, yet no one needs to know how easy it is to prepare. The combination of red curry paste and coconut milk is a magical one. The salmon gently cooks in the sauce, resulting in supremely tender fish that is as pretty to look at as it is tasty to eat.

2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 lb. fresh salmon
1 (13.5 oz.) can lite coconut milk
1/3 cup water
2 Tbsp. red curry paste
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. Asian fish sauce
1 large sweet potato (about 8 oz.), scrubbed and cut into ¾-inch pieces
1 medium zucchini, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
Large handful baby spinach
2 cups cooked brown rice

In a Dutch oven or large, heavy pot with a lid, heat olive oil over medium. Add onion and sauté until tender and translucent, about 4 minutes. While onions cook, pull any tiny bones from the salmon (tweezers can be useful for this). Cut into four equal pieces. Set aside.

When onions are tender, add coconut milk, water, curry paste, brown sugar and fish sauce; stir until well-blended and smooth. Add sweet potato; stir and turn heat to high. When the liquid boils, drop heat until it simmers, put on the lid and cook the sweet potato until it is just tender, about 8 minutes.

Nestle the 4 salmon pieces, skin side up into sauce, surrounded by the sweet potato. Return the lid to the pot and simmer for 3 minutes.

Use a spatula to gently turn salmon over. Add zucchini to the pot, nestling it into the sauce. Return lid and simmer until the salmon is completely cooked through (it will be opaque in color and easily pull apart), about 3 minutes more.  Scatter spinach over the curry and cover again with the lid until spinach wilts. Serve in shallow bowls over brown rice. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition per serving: 536 calories, 22 g total fat (5.7 g saturated, 5 g monounsaturated, 3.5 g polyunsaturated), 65 mg cholesterol, 654 mg sodium, 48 g carbohydrate, 4.5 g dietary fiber, 36 g protein

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