Baked Salmon with Pea, Broccoli and Mint Mash

This is an easy-peasy recipe.... ready to eat in less than 20 minutes, it's nutritious and low calorie. Oh and of course it's delicious or it wouldn't be on my website. I've played around with the flavours a bit, to bring it up to just how I like it.

This is one of those recipes where you eat the food on the plate with your eyes first, then tuck in.

Mint is the perfect herb to add to the Pea and Broccoli mash base, however if you have heaps of parsley, that could be added as well, after all it is green, the greener the better. Please don't leave out the parsley though

Serves 2

440 kcals per serving, 34 g protein,7g fibre

15g butter, plus extra for greasing

2 x 125g. approx. fresh salmon fillets preferably with skin on, the skin can be removed later

150g frozen peas

150g broccoli, chopped up into small florets and with the stalks thinly sliced

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

lemon wedges, to serve

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200 deg.C/fan 180deg.C /Gas 6.

Select a small baking tray, and line it with foil and grease with butter. I chopped up about 1 tablespoon of butter into small pieces and spread it across the base of the pan, and that worked beautifully. Or you could use an olive oil spray to the same effect.

Place the salmon pieces on the buttered foil, skin-side down, and season with a little salt and lots of ground black pepper.

Bake for 12 minutes, or depending on the thickness until it is cooked.

Let's make the Pea and Broccoli Mash

Half fill a saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the peas and broccoli to the boiling water, and bring back to the boil.

Cook for 5 minutes , until the broccoli is tender. It won't take long. 

Reserve a small ladleful cooking water (around 75ml) then drain the vegetables and return them to the pan.

Add the butter, chopped mint, 3 tablespoons of the reserved cooking water, and the zest of 1 lemon to the vegetables in the pan. Grab your stick blender, and whiz the mixture until almost smooth. Season to your taste, and it's important to take little tastes until it is to your liking. 

Add  a little extra water if needed to loosen the mixture, I didn't need to. It still needs to be firm.

Divide the mash between your two warmed plates and top with your beautiful perfectly roasted salmon. Add some roasted pumpkin for added interest if you wish. See my Cook's notes below.

The salmon should lift off the foil leaving the skin behind, however I like the skin, and eat that as well. Mr. HRK doesn't. 

Serve with juicy lemon wedges.

This recipe is taken from The Ultimate Fast 800 recipe book, where some delicious low calorie and quick and simple recipes are to be found. Dr. Claire Bailey and Justine Pattison are the authors. The very clever Dr. Michael Mosley was Dr. Claire Bailey's husband before he died very tragically in Greece.

Cook's notes:

• If you don't have a stick blender, mash the vegetables up vigorously, or blitz them in a food processor and return to the pan to keep warm. You will find a way. It is worth it.
• It's very difficult to buy salmon with the exact weight you require, so a little over the weight specified is fine.
• The original recipe said the mint is optional, but for my tastes, it is essential.
• The Pea and Broccoli Mash can be made in advance and reheated before serving. However the colour may darken slightly.
• Cubes of pumpkin, tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with herbs of your choice (I love finely chopped rosemary or mixed herbs) could be baked in the oven at the same time, for another delicious vegetable to serve. Just place it in the preheated oven on a baking tray for 15 minutes on a lower rack, before you place the fish tray in the oven on the rack above.

This is one of the recipes I like to cook when I am trying to be good, and watching calories during the week. That's not easy when you are a foodie. However, it doesn't seem as if it is a low calorie meal.  In between some fun eating events, I try to serve meals which are kind to us, calorie wise. They can be fun as well.  Mr. HRK was thrilled with this the first time I made it. I really hope you enjoy it as well. 

Warm wishes

Pauline