What did the fish say to his fiancee? I need salmon like you.
This is my adaptation of the Jamie Oliver salmon tray bake recipe I found in his first cookbook The Naked Chef. I can’t find a link to the recipe on his website, but here’s a take on the original.
I’d make a version of this super versatile salmon tray bake at least once a month. I prep the whole meal in advance and forget about it until 15 minutes before dinner. And if anyone in the house thinks, “Boring, not again!”, just one mouthful and …
It’s light and tasty, mild but satisfyingly sweet-salty. And bitter, too, if you eat a little of the cooked lemon as a condiment as I like to (don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!).
The basic principle is that the salmon needs 10-12 minutes to bake at a high temperature (depending on size of your cut). All the accompaniments are chosen to cook in that time, even if they need to be quickly par-boiled first. Vegetables that retain crunch are a nice contrast to the soft buttery salmon. Lemon, tomatoes, brown sugar, anchovies and olive oil provide a very light sauce you can drizzle over the salmon.
Orrrrrr …
… you just bake the salmon end of the dish (fish, onion, lemon, oil, maybe some tomatoes), and serve with an aioli and salads like my cheats’ potato salad and mango avocado salad. Badabing badaboom.
“All I ever wanted to do was to make food accessible to everyone; to show that you can make mistakes – I do all the time – but it doesn’t matter.”
-Jamie Oliver
Super-Versatile Salmon Tray Bake
Ingredients
- 4 salmon fillets, skin on or off
- 1 punnet cherry or pecorino/grape/pear tomatoes, or a medley of all of these approx 250g. Cut about half of them in half.
- 250 g beans, top and tailed
- 1 handful of snow peas or sugar snap peas
- 1 lemon, sliced
- 6-12 green olives (optional) depending if you like olives (Jamie likes black olives)
- 2-3 anchovy fillets (Jamie uses 12 which is a bit whoah for me)
- ½ onion, thinly sliced
- 1 handful herbs of your choosing, basil or parsley or both. I've also used fresh mint & dill.
- ½ tbsp brown sugar (Jamie doesn't use sugar but I use it to balance out the sauce, where he then uses mayo for the sauce)
- olive oil, salt, pepper
Instructions
- Lightly blanch the beans in boiling water. Drain and run under cold water.
- Line a baking tray with two sheets of baking paper in such a way that sauce won't leak out.
- One on end of the tray, lay onion slices and lemon in single layer. Lay salmon (skin side up if using with skin) on top of the onion/lemon bed.
- On the other end of the tray, arrange your blanched beans, tomatoes, snow peas/sugar snap peas and olives.
- Generously coat the vegetables with a light olive oil, and mix through the brown sugar and herbs.
- Slice the anchovies and lay them over the vegetables.
- If preparing earlier in the day, cover the baking tray with wrap and put in fridge until required.
- Pre-heat oven to 240℃/464℉. Give the salmon fillets a very light drizzle of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook tray bake in oven for 10-12 minutes until salmon is just cooked through and slightly pink in the centre.
- Jamie recommends serving with mayonnaise or aioli, but I drizzle the salmon with the juices released in the roasting pan.
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