Harissa salmon with roasted squash and bulgur wheat
Description
Packed with veggies and full of flavour, Rukmini's baked salmon with roasted squash and bulgur is cooked completely in the oven – leaving you free to do other jobs! It looks really stunning, too, and would make a great dinner party dish without too much effort.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 6 green cardamom pods, seeds only
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2cm/¾in wedges
- 2 red onions, cut into quarters
- 5cm/2in piece fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- 200g/7oz bulgur wheat, rinsed
- 400ml/14fl oz vegetable stock, just boiled
- 250g/9oz tenderstem broccoli
- 15g/½oz fresh coriander, finely chopped
- ½ lime, zest and juice
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 200g/7oz pomegranate seeds
- 4 salmon fillets
- 1½ tbsp rose harissa paste
- 1 tbsp pine nuts, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ½ tsp sea salt flakes
- 60g/2¼oz tahini
- 1 lemon, juice only
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes, plus extra if preferred
- freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- To make the squash, preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
- Use a pestle and mortar to crush the peppercorns and cardamom seeds to a consistency between coarse and fine.
- Tip them into a roasting tin with the squash, onion, ginger, cumin, sugar, oil and salt and mix well to coat.
- Roast on the top shelf of the oven for 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, to make the bulgur wheat, mix together the bulgur wheat and vegetable stock in a small roasting tin. Add the broccoli, cover tightly with kitchen foil, then transfer to the lower shelf of the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, to make the salmon, line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Place the salmon on the tray, skin-side down, and spread evenly with the harissa.
- Mix the pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, breadcrumbs, oil and salt in a bowl. Sprinkle evenly over the salmon.
- Cook the salmon in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the salmon is just cooked through.
- To make the dressing, add the tahini, lemon juice, oil, 4 tablespoons of water, salt and a good grinding of black pepper to a jug and whisk really well. Add more water if needed until it has the consistency of single cream. Taste and season with more salt if needed.
- Remove the bulgur wheat from the oven, leave to stand for 5 minutes, then fluff through with a fork. Stir through half of the coriander, the lime zest and juice, oil and half of the pomegranate seeds.
- To serve, mix the bulgur mixture with the butternut squash mixture. Drizzle over the tahini dressing and scatter with the remaining pomegranate seeds and coriander. Serve with the salmon on top.
