Whole baked salmon with kale, squash and pomegranate salad recipe
Traditional Norwegian whole baked salmon with a kale, roast butternut squash and pomegranate salad on the side. Roasting a whole Norwegian salmon makes a spectacular festive feast. Signe suggests using Norwegian salmon, a sustainably-sourced and delicious fish.
If you don't have herbamare, use a little salt and herbs of your choice - dill might suit. If you have time, consider massaging your kale leaves in a light dressing of olive oil and lemon juice.
Serve the salmon with the kale and some buttered new potatoes. This meal is great as a lighter alternative to a traditional British Christmas dinner.
Ingredients
For the salmon- 2 kg (approx. weight) whole salmon, descaled, gutted and cleaned
- 75 g butter
- 2 small red onions, thinly sliced
- 2 unwaxed lemons, thinly sliced
- 1 large carrot, thinly sliced
- 1 bunch fresh parsley
- 1 sprinkling herbamare (sea salt with herbs)
- 1 pinch salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 butternut squashes
- 2 bunches of kale
- 2 pomegranates, shucked open and de-seeded (place the seeds in a bowl)
Details
- Cuisine: Scandinavian
- Recipe Type: Main
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 90 mins
- Serves: 8
Step-by-step
- Preheat the oven to 150C.
- You will need an oven large enough to place the butternut squash on one level and the salmon on another. Alternatively, you can choose to cook the butternut squash first and then follow this with the salmon if your oven has less capacity.
- You will need two long sheets of extra-strong aluminium foil a roasting tray. Butter both sheets to avoid the fish sticking. Place one sheet on top of the roasting tray and season with herbamare and pepper.
- Wipe the salmon dry and make three incisions into each side of the salmon. Stuff all six incisions with a piece of red onion, lemon, fresh parsley and carrot.
- Close the salmon and sprinkle with a little lemon juice to taste.
- Place the second sheet of foil on top of the salmon and crimp the edges inwards to create a parcel. Once sealed, place the salmon in the oven and roast for 1½ - 2 hours.
- For the butternut squash, kale and pomegranate salad. Chop up the squash into bitesize chunks, place them on an uncovered tray and place in the oven. Allow 30 minutes for the squash to roast in the oven. Once the butternut squash is cooked, remove from oven.
- Finely chop the kale and add this to the pomegranate seeds. Toss together, cover and set aside until the salmon is ready to be served. Garnish the salad with the roasted butternut squash.
- Once the salmon is cooked and ready to serve, remove the top foil from the roasting tray and simply move a whole fish onto a presentation plate or board to place at the centre of the table.
- To serve, gently scrape off the skin (and assorted cooked vegetables from the incisions) and start portioning up the fish. Serve along with the salad and buttered new potatoes.
This recipe was devised by Signe Johansen for the Norwegian Seafood Council
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