Colorful Roasted Veggies with Salmon

It was supposed to be a baked chicken and rice casserole recipe, but surprisingly I couldn't find canned cream of mushroom nor onion soup. Onion soup, that I can understand, after all, not that many locals use such ingredient in everyday cooking. Cream of mushroom on the other hand, was commonly found next to canned chicken stock. Not sure about the reasons behind it, but I can only find cream of mushroom with 30% chance when going to a grocery store.

I guess no more baked chicken and rice casserole until I manage to source these two key ingredients, or till I prep them from scratch. So I completely steered away from the original plan and changed to roasted veggies with salmon fillets, at least I can find all the ingredients needed at that moment.

Colorful roasted veggies with salmon -

Ingredients?

• 1 to 2 salmon fillets
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 small broccoli
• 1/3 small purple cabbage
• 1 handful peas
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves
• Some salt
• Some black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/4 teaspoon all spice

How?

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/200 degrees Celsius. Add the unsalted butter to a baking sheet, into the oven till butter just melted. Remove from heat.

Sprinkle some salt and black pepper on both sides of salmon fillets. The fillets are going to be baked as a whole first, then cut into bite size chunks after cooking.

Cut the tomatoes into chunks. Peel the purple cabbage into smaller pieces. Destem and remove the pits from yellow bell pepper, then cut the remaining section into larger chunks. Peel and roughly chop the garlic cloves.

Break broccoli into smaller florets. Do not discard the broccoli stem. Simply trim off the outer tougher layer then cut the remaining stem into larger pieces, it'll be just as tender and delicious.

Transfer prepped veggies to the baking sheet. Add in 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, and 1/4 teaspoon all spice. Mix well and make sure all the ingredients are coated with melted butter and powdered seasonings.

Top the mixture with seasoned salmon fillets. Drizzle some olive oil on top of the salmon and veggies. Into the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or till tomatoes are slightly burst with juice. No need to over-bake these ingredients till slightly burnt. Just a touch of heat should be enough.

Meanwhile, prepare a small pot of water. Add some salt along with peas. Bring to a boil, cook for one minute. Drain well.

Remove the baking sheet from heat once ready. Transfer baked salmon fillets to cutting board and cut into larger chunks. Give the other baked ingredients a few tosses then transfer to serving plate. Top with salmon bites and garnish with peas. Also sprinkle some freshly grind black pepper all over.

That buttery touch is essential. Melted butter, together with some olive oil and salmon fat, all these provide a moist touch to roasted veggies.

It works nicely as a healthy lunch or weekend brunch. There're a good variety of veggies with different colors too. Truly a healthy meal without sacrificing taste.

So from rice casserole to colorful roasted veggies with salmon, at least in the end I still get something baked and something delicious. Until then, let me try to stock on cream of mushroom and onion soup if I see any.


Other salmon recipes:

• Edamame and smoked salmon toast
• Salmon and egg donburi
• Salmon avocado shiso rice