I know several people who find cooking fish difficult and scary. For you, I have a suggestion: why not poach it?

Poaching is perhaps the easiest possible way to cook a thick fillet of fish. All you have to do is bring about two inches of water to a boil, reduce the heat to low, put in your fish, and simmer very gently for maybe five minutes, depending on thickness. That's it. Your fish stays moist and juicy, since you are cooking it in liquid. There's also no way you can possibly burn a piece of fish submerged in water.

If you want to up the ante, you can always poach your piece of fish in a pan of court bouillon or other light broth, but I think water is entirely adequate.

On this occasion, I poached half a fillet--maybe 6 ounces--of salmon. If you want to use some other kind of fish, be my guest.

For the vegetables, we chopped up a bunch of shallots, mushrooms, tomatoes, and zucchini, and sautéed them with olive oil and a little salt. We deglazed with vermouth near the end of cooking, scattered chopped parsley and capers over the vegetables, and finished with a squeeze of lemon juice and a couple grinds of pepper. Then we plated the finished salmon fillet and poured the vegetables over it.

This resulted in an entirely filling and delicious yet super fast and easy dinner. Bonus: since I was really only eating fish and vegetables, I felt awesome afterward.

Make some!