dinner:

herb crusted salmon with roast beetroot and cauliflower salad

Published 29th May 2017

I try to have fish at least once per week, because it’s delicious and very good for you.  One of our favourites is definitely salmon, always with the skin on and always crispy, which means that we get all the Omega 3’s, the essential fatty acids, that are stored mainly in the skin, so if you don’t eat the skin, eat it! Usually if we are having salmon, I might get some white fish for the kids or give them some tinned tuna and inevitably they eat salmon off our plate. Tonight, the kids had some fritters, which they love, and we had our salmon once they were in bed. Everybody’s happy!

Tonight, I decided to make our salmon a little bit more interesting. Adding a crust to salmon is not only delicious, but also quite simple. I had coriander, dill and parsley, so decided to mix those with some breadcrumbs, garlic and lemon zest – a great flavour combination.

 
 
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We will also usually have mashed sweet potato with our crispy skinned salmon as we really like the flavour combination, so as far as that is concerned, we stuck to routine. However, the salad was a bit creative tonight as I have a fridge FULL of vegetables, so needed to clear some room and opted for a slightly Middle Eastern approach to pair with the salmon. The pomegranate really lifted the salad and provided sweet pockets throughout – delicious!

We were both really impressed with the meal as a whole and would be a good one to use if entertaining guests as it’s relatively simple and quite impressive.

 
 
 
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Ingredients:

Serves 2

  • 2 x 150-200g salmon portions, skin on

  • 1 tbs coriander leaves

  • 1 tbs flat leaf parsley

  • 1 tbs dill

  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed

  • 1 tbs lemon zest

  • 2/3 cup breadcrumbs

  • 1 tbs olive oil

  • Salt and pepper

  • 250g sweet potato, peeled

  • 1/2 tbs butter

  • 1/4 cup milk

Salad

  • 2 small beetroot, peeled and cut into 1-2 cm cubes

  • 4 large cauliflower florets, cut into small florets

  • 2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves

  • 2 tbs olive oil

  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin

  • 1/4 pomegranate

  • 1 tbs pine nuts, toasted

  • 1 tsp honey

 

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 160°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

  2. Place beetroot and cauliflower into a bowl, add cumin and 1 tbs of olive oil and stir to coat. Place onto the tray and cook for ~45 minutes or until beetroot is tender.

  3. Once cooked, remove from oven and increase the temperature to 180°C.

  4. For the salmon crust, combine finely chopped herbs, crushed garlic, zest, breadcrumbs and oil in a small bowl. Mix until it starts to clump together. Set aside.

  5. Drizzle some oil and salt and pepper onto the salmon skin and place skin side down onto baking tray. Press the breadcrumb mixture onto the top of the salmon and cook for 15-20 minutes.

  6. Peel and thickly slice the sweet potato. Place into a steamer and cook until tender. Once tender, mash then add butter, milk and salt and pepper to taste. Cover until needed to keep warm.

  7. For the salad, place the roast vegetables into a bowl with baby spinach, pomegranate and pine nuts. Gently mix to combine.

  8. In a small bowl mix 1 tbs olive oil with melted honey and dress the salad.

  9. Once the salmon is cooked, heat a small non-stick frypan over medium heat and add the salmon, skin side down to crisp up the skin. This will take 3-4 minutes.

  10. Serve salmon with mashed sweet potato and salad.