Friday 5 April 2013

Really Quick Garlic Salmon on a Vegetable Mash


Holidays... To most women (and men?) who cook at home holidays are a divine space of time where you can finally get away from the kitchen and have a rest while having your food served to you. I am, however, not in that category. I cannot say that I don't like to have food cooked for me, especially by my mum or my almost-a-professional-chef boyfriend Hugo, but when it comes to holidays, I am terribly sad to have to leave my kitchen. I miss cooking, I miss realising my inspirations, I miss the excitement I get when something turns out unexpectedly delicious.

I just got back from a holiday in Israel, where the only cooking I got to do was getting together a few salads. I have to say, I will really miss all the fresh food you get in a country where the fresh produce is top quality all throughout the year, but there is something very special about living in cold and snowy (!!!!!) England, where cooking food takes a while, warms up the kitchen and slowly makes all the eaters more and more excited as the scents spread. I think it is fascinating, how food here earns such a comforting role. 


So obviously, as soon as I got back I went straight into the kitchen and cooked up some lovely dinner. It had to be quick as the man was hungry. The best reward was Hugo's remark after the first bite: "oooh Miss Nak, I really have missed your food!"


This recipe makes enough for 2 people.
Ingredients:

for the salmon:
2 salmon fillets
4 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp olive oil

for the mash:
4 medium-small carrots
2 sweet potatoes
a little bit of milk/cream
a handful of fresh parsley

a side of veg, we used a head of broccoli, you can do anything you like - green beans, peas, cauliflower, maybe even a green salad if you're feeling wild!

First of all, peel and chop up your mash vegetables in to small pieces that would boil relatively quickly. Put them in some salted boiling water. In the mean time prepare your other vegetables and put them to boil. 

Chop up the garlic and fry it on the side of a tilted pan in te olive oil on medium heat - this way the garlic doesn't get burnt and the olive oil infuses with the garlic. When the kitchen is full of smell (1 minute should be enough) put the pan on the stove properly and place your salmon on the garlicky oil. Give it a few minutes on each side, or until you can see that it's light pink on both sides.

While the salmon is doing its thing, drain the mash vegetables and mash them with the milk. Add in the chopped up fresh parsley and garnish with salt and pepper. Place it in the middle of the plate, put your other vegetables around it, by this time the salmon should be done. Place it on the top and put a branch of the parsley on top. Voila!! Beautiful, fragrant, crisped-up salmon on a colourful plate!!



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