Ruby Salmon

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love Jamie Oliver. His mission to get the nation cooking good food is is exactly what this country needs. I could watch him and Gennaro delight over rustic food all day.

This doesn't however mean that I have to agree with all of his recipes. I have therefore tweaked some to my own tastes; taste is after all in the eye of the beholder.

The following is what I call 'Ruby Salmon' a.k.a. Asian Salmon with Beansprout and Mango Salad from Jamie's 30 Minute Meals cookbook.

Personally I find that the 30 Minute Meal layout can be slightly confusing, so I have written each recipe out separately, as opposed to intertwined.

(I have starred the ingredients which have been altered, so you can compare to the original if you want to!)

Ruby Salmon

Ingredients:

4 salmon fillets, skin on

2cm piece ginger

2 cloves garlic

1 small red onion

*1 + 1/2 large red chilli

1 tbsp soy sauce

*Squeeze of Honey

*1 large lime

Chinese five-spice

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C

2. Peel 2cm of ginger, then peel and cut 1 red onion into quarters. Put in the blender with the garlic, chilli, soy sauce and a squeeze of honey (not too much as there is honey in the salad dressing). Squeeze in the lime juice and blend until you have a relatively smooth sauce (it's better not to blitz it to a complete pulp). Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary- I like it to be sweet and sour, so would probably add a bit more honey to achieve this.

3. Pour the sauce into an ovenproof dish that will fit the salmon fillets snugly.

4. Now for the salmon. Score the skin about half a cm deep. Drizzle over some good quality olive oil and sprinkle with a generous amount of Five Spice. Season with Salt and Pepper.

5. Place in the dish on top of the sauce, leaving the skin untouched by the sauce. Cook in the oven for 18-20 mins depending on the size of you salmon pieces.

6. Once out of the oven- in theory the skin should be crispy- don't worry if it isn't it will still taste nice! Check the salmon, making sure it's opaque at its deepest point.

(It should look something like this)

Whilst the Salmon is cooking...

Beansprout and Mango Salad

Ingredients:

Large Bunch Coriander

400g Beansprouts

100g Cashew nuts

*1 tbsp + 1/2 Honey

1/2 Red Chilli

1 ripe mango

Soy sauce

Sesame oil

1 Lime

Recipe:

1. Roughly chop the Coriander and add the leaves and stalks to a large bowl along with 400g beansprouts.

2. Place a frying pan on a low heat then add a splash of olive oil and 100g cashews. Toast until the cashews are lightly golden.

3. Turn of the heat and drizzle 1 tbsp honey over the cashews, toss and make sure the cashews are coated. Leave to one side, allowing cashews to crisp up.

4. Finely slice ½ a red chilli and peel the mango with a peeler. Remove the stone from the mango, slice or cube it, then add to the salad along with the chilli and cashews.

5. Make the Dressing by combining about 2 parts soy sauce to 3 parts sesame oil and extra virgin olive oil. Whisk well with a fork or mini whisk. Add the juice of 1 lime and about 1/2 Tbsp of Honey. Whisk up again and taste. Make sure the flavours are as you like them. If you prefer it sweeter, add more honey, if you like it fresher, add more lime juice.

Serve the salmon on a bed of the salad with just a little salmon sauce and garnish with coriander. Make sure you get a bit of everything in there- cashews, chilli, coriander, salmon and beansprouts- they are excellent when combined!

Happy Days :)

All photos in this post are Emerald Kimono originals