A few years ago we had a house full for Christmas. Our boys are not too keen on roast turkey so we decided to follow the KISS principle (Keep It Simple and Stupid). Since our guests were from overseas and did not visit us often we thought it would be sensible to keep cooking to a minimum. We therefore decided to go for roast salmon, roast potatoes, roast parsnips and other vegetables. This would all cook within an hour; so not longer than the roast potatoes.

It was a success as we enjoyed it and had plenty of time to socialise with our guests. So we have had a few Christmas salmons in recent years.

 

We quite often can get a whole salmon at a reasonable price. Usually it is 4.0-4.5 kg and we usually get it filleted at the fish counter - the head, tail and bones take about 40% of the weight. If we have had a lot of people we have roasted the two sides with lemon and herbs between the sides. The roast takes about 20 minutes per kilo at 190 Celsius, but we always check that the thickest part of the salmon is roasted through; the side of salmon varies a lot in thickness so the head end takes longer to cook through.

For a family meal (see above) we might do a single side.

Serves 5

750 g side of salmon (if we buy a whole salmon we will get through it in approx 3 portions)
2 medium onions
1 whole lemon
sea salt
pepper
rosemary or other herbs (optional)
honey (optional)

Method

1. Slice the onion into slices of about 3 mm. Lay them in a tray or baking dish.
2. Lay the salmon side skin downwards on the onion slices
3. Rub sea salt into the salmon flesh, sprinkle a litle pepper, add herbs if required
4. Slice lemon into slices of about 3 mm. Lay them on the salmon flesh
5. Cover with foil and put into a pre-heated oven at 190 Celsius
6. After 30 minutes check the thickest part of the salmon to see if it is cooked
7. Remove foil and spread a little honey on the surface and return to oven for 5 minutes.

I like rosemary but we usually drop it as my boys don't like it. Dill also goes well.

A variation we have tried is to put mustard seed and honey on the salmon before it goes into the oven at 220 Celsius. The taste is good but it is a lot of work to clean the baking tray as the honey runs off and burns onto the tray.

Whatever your favourite Christmas food, Happy Christmas to all in Blogland!