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You are here: Home / Recipes / Dairy-free / Baked salmon fillets with beetroot and dill

Baked salmon fillets with beetroot and dill

by Jeanne Horak on November 13, 2013 13 Comments in Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Main course - seafood

NorwegianSalmonTitle © J Horak-Druiff 2013

Force of habit – it’s a terrible thing.  We shop at the same stores, wear the same clothes, eat at the same restaurants, walk the same route to work…  over and over and over again.  It’s easy, it’s familiar and we are all guilty of it to some extent – you wake up on Monday morning, fall into your week’s routines and habits and before you can wipe your eyes it’s Friday and five days of your life are irretrievably gone – flown by without you noticing.  But think about the last time you travelled to a new city by yourself; or went on a course with a room full of strangers – how did those days feel?  Did they fly by or did it feel as if time had telescoped out to become much longer?

It’s not just your mind playing tricks on you.  Well, in a way I guess it is.  Here’s a simple experiment  to show how your mind works:  look into a mirror and stare intently into your right eye.  Then, without blinking, move your gaze to your left eye.  Do this a few times.  Do you ever actually see your eyes move? Are there some blank frames in your vision as your eyes are in transit?  No. The reason is because your mind knows what’s coming – it knows your eyeballs are going to move and where they are going to move to, and because this is familiar territory, it edits it into a very simple visual for you, skipping out the boring predictable bits.  When your mind receives a lot of new information, it takes more time and energy to process it, making you more aware of passing time and therefore making time seem longer.  When your mind receives familiar information, it expends less energy and time on processing it and the hours just seem to fly by. So how can we slow down our perception of time and make our stay here on Earth seem to last that little bit longer? By ditching habit or routine and trying or learning new things as often as possible. (You can read more on this fascinating topic here. ) I often make salmon for dinner – it’s affordable here in the UK, it’s quick to cook, it’s healthy and it’s tasty. But out of force of habit,  nine times out of ten I will cook it in exactly the same way: basted in a mix of honey and soy sauce and then roasted.  So when I recently received two truly gorgeous Norwegian salmon fillets, courtesy of The Norwegian Seafood Council, I decided to give myself a few extra minutes in the day and slow down time by preparing it in a different way.

 

NorwegianSalmonRaw © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

The Norwegians are very proud of their sustainable ocean-farmed salmon, and rightly so.  The baby fish spend approximately the first year of their life in the safety of a hatchery tank, until they have grown strong enough for a life at sea.  They are then carefully transferred to spacious, protected ocean pens that allow them maximum freedom to grow and mature as nature intended, in the ice-cold waters of Norway. Because the fish live in ocean pens rather than a controlled environment, they are susceptible to the same diseases that affect the surrounding environment, but effective vaccination and better animal husbandry techniques have reduced the use of antibiotics in Norwegian salmon by 97% since 1990.  To reduce the environmental impact of farmed salmon, Norwegian farmers are careful in their selection of the wild fish used to feed the farmed salmon.  Norwegian feed producers demand that feed ingredients come from sources with scientifically regulated fishing quotas rather than unregulated and overexploited stocks, and contain species not suitable or in demand for human consumption.  And the best news?  This delicious fish, rich in  marine omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, vitamin B12, iodine and selenium is harvested and available all year round (unlike deliciously seasonal Norwegian skrei cod).

 

NorwegianSalmonBeetrootDiptych © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

So what did I do with my gorgeous marine bounty that I had not tried before?  Inspiration came from Nick’s allotment (as it has so often this year!) when he arrived home with a giant bag of gorgeous beetroot, ready for roasting. Initially I thought of a dish of farro with beetroot, salmon, kale and spring onions, until I remembered that our utterly insane cat had leapt onto the counter, ripped open the sealed packet of uncooked farro and licked a few grains before scattering its contents all over my kitchen floor.  So much for the farro.  But I knew I could rely on my old friend Pille (Beet Queen!) to provide some sort of beetroot inspiration, and I was not wrong.  I fell in love with her oven-baked salmon with beetroot – and I was not disappointed!  It’s such a quick recipe to put together, making it perfect for a weeknight, but it’s pretty enough to serve to guests, especially if you can get hold of a side of salmon. As it was a bit of a spur of the moment decision, I had to use dried dill but it would be even more fabulous with lots of fresh dill.

DISCLOSURE:  I received these salmon fillets as free samples from the Norwegian Seafood Council but was not required to write about them and received no further remuneration for this post.  All opinions expressed are my own.

 

NorwegianSalmonPrepared © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

For more salmon recipes from the blogs, have a look at:

  • Barbara’s salmon with a mustard and brown sugar glaze
  • Miichelle’s teriyaki salmon with stir-fried noodles
  • Meeta’s salmon kedgeree

 

 

 

5.0 from 5 reviews
Baked salmon fillets with beetroot and dill
 
Print
Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
40 mins
Total time
50 mins
 
This simple dish of baked salmon with beetroot and dill is so simple to make and full of Scandi flavours.
Author: Jeanne Horak-Druiff
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: Scandinavian
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 medium beetroot, roasted or boiled
  • 2 fresh salmon fillets
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp dried dill (or use fresh if you can)
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat the oven to180C.
  2. Slice the beetroot very thinly.
  3. Brush the skin side of the fish lightly with olive oil and place skin side down in an oven-proof dish.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and half the dill.
  4. Cut each beetroot slice in half and then lay the slices all over the salmon like fish scales till the fish is totally covered.
  5. Sprinkle with olive oil and then with the rest of the dill.  Cover with aluminium foil and bake for about 40 minutes or until fish is just cooked.
  6. Serve hot, with potato salad.
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  1. [email protected] says

    November 13, 2013 at 6:53 pm

    Those salmon fillet incredibly fresh! I typically don’t prefer cooked salmon (too flaky and dry for me) but love raw salmon. And I really like your flavor combination. Perhaps I should try this as a quick double sear…

    Reply
  2. Andrew says

    November 13, 2013 at 9:02 pm

    Right, that’s enough with the top-notch photos thank you very much!

    though I should say thanks for inspiring me to grow some beetroot in my neglected allotment next year (when I say grow, I probably mean think about growing…)

    Reply
  3. Urvashi says

    November 14, 2013 at 9:35 am

    Yet another gorgeous idea for my stash of beetroot. Have you tried the beetroot cured gravadlax in the Diana henry book. That is also stunning.

    Reply
  4. bellini says

    November 14, 2013 at 11:17 am

    The beets with their earthiness would compliment the salmon vey well. I must admit it is not something I would have bought of but now that is under my radar I think the paring is perfect.

    Reply
  5. Pille @ Nami-Nami says

    November 14, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    Awww, dear Jeanne, I’m flattered that I managed to inspire you. And what a lovely dish you’ve created! This particular recipe is an old favourite, I always make it at Christmas time!
    BTW, Alanna’s the Beet Queen, I’m the Beetroot Princess 😀

    Reply
  6. Robin O says

    November 14, 2013 at 3:09 pm

    Nordic, vibrant orange against the dark beet. Taking a note from your post, do something different, slow down and enjoy. Great advice and a new to me idea of combining beets, dill and salmon. I would have never come up with that combo. Thanks Jeanne!

    Reply
  7. Rosa says

    November 14, 2013 at 7:28 pm

    I am a creature of habit and feel comfortable with my “routine” – change (unwanted) tends to stress me…

    A wonderful way of serving salmon. I really love the idea. Beets and salmon are two of my favorite things.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply
  8. Krista says

    November 15, 2013 at 12:54 pm

    Living in Washington State for so many years, I grew up on masses of fresh salmon. 🙂 I’ve had it so many different ways but never like this! It looks scrumptious. 🙂

    Reply
  9. Jonker - Firefly says

    November 19, 2013 at 10:39 am

    I don’t think I’ve ever made salmon. I’m curious to the taste.

    Reply
    • nida says

      July 1, 2014 at 5:59 am

      not sure why i need to roast beets first seperately???

      Reply
      • Jeanne says

        July 3, 2014 at 11:04 am

        Hi Nida – I find that if I put the beets in uncooked then they are still not soft by the time the salmon is cooked – so I end up with either overcooked salmon or undercooked beets, neither of which I like. You can also buy and use ready cooked beets if you want to save time 🙂

        Reply
        • Angela Sander says

          November 9, 2020 at 4:15 pm

          I buy ready cooked beets. This would make a quick meal. I was looking to cook salmon and beetroot for my supper but have no dill. Any suggestions for substitute? Thank you. I’m in London.

          Reply
  10. Courtney says

    July 17, 2017 at 10:04 pm

    I’ve made this twice now and have it in the oven (for the third time! ) as I type. Like you, I always used to resort to a honey- soy sauce glaze, but this beet pairing has become one of my favorites. I love the combination of flavors, and somehow the sweetness of the beet comes out.

    Many thanks for the recipe and inspiration!!

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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