Guests arrived early? Not sure what to serve? There is just time to pop down to the supermarket and pick the ingredients for this quick recipe (assuming you can get into the car park). Provided by Roz Denny, UKMA’s answer to Delia Smith.
Serves 6
Fish
- 6 salmon fillets, skin off, about 125 g each
- A little olive or vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Freshly ground white or black pepper
- 2 bunches watercress or large bag wild rocket or baby spinach leaves
- 1 lemon, cut in 6 wedges
Relish
- 250 g cooked whole beetroot (not pickled), diced small
- 4 tablespoons coarse grain mustard
- 2 tablespoons sugar or 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinegar
Preparation
- Brush salmon with oil and place in a non-stick roasting pan.
- Mix together the soy, ginger and lemon juice and pour over the salmon. Grind over pepper. Leave about 15 mins, whilst oven heats to 190 °C, Gas 5. Bake uncovered basting once with the pan juices until the flesh feels just firm. Do not overcook. Remove and stand for 10 minutes.
- Mix together beetroot, mustard, sugar (or honey) and vinegar. Arrange leaves on a large platter, place the salmon on top, spoon over beetroot and serve with lemon.
Metric Views 
One strength of the old imperial weights system in the kitchen was that much cooking is based on halves, for example one unit of flour and half as much butter for pastry. This works well when your base is 16 (lb and oz) as you can halve and halve again down to 1/2 oz. Many recipes get into problems trying to apply metric measures because they start with 250 g (about a 8 oz), halve it and you’re down to 125 g. What do you use next? Either 50 g and loose your proportions, or 62.5 g and loose your sense of proportion.
It’s far easier to start with 200 g (about 7 oz) or 400 g. Then you can halve and halve again till you get to 25 g, which is less than 1 oz, and quite sufficient for all practical purposes.
LikeLike