A Rainbow of Oven Roasted Vegetables with Baked Salmon

As a family we love to eat all kinds of vegetables and this particular recipe has become one of our favourite ways of cooking them. We choose as many brightly coloured vegetables as we can find and they provide a great boost to everyone’s vegetable intake! The addition of a salmon fillet per person makes this dish into a meal suitable for all the family. It’s straightforward to prepare so is a useful supper if you’ve had a busy day at work. If need be you could prepare the vegetables beforehand.

The quantity of vegetables you prepare will depend on how many people you are serving. Choose as many as you can from this selection:

courgettes – green, or yellow if you can find them
sweet red and yellow peppers
spinach leaves, beet leaves or chard
garlic
lots of juicy red tomatoes – these help to provide moisture for the cooking of the other vegetables
small broccoli florets
sweet potato – peeled and cut into small dice
butternut squash – peeled and cut into small dice
sliced red onion

You will also need some extra virgin olive oil, which has a lovely fruity flavour, and a handful of basil leaves. If you like the heat of chilli you could also add some of this.

Method:

preheat the oven to 200°C
scatter the spinach leaves/beet leaves/chard over the base of a large oven proof dish
chop the other vegetables into fairly uniformly sized pieces and add them to the dish
tear the basil leaves and scatter them over the vegetables

if you are using chilli, add it to the dish at this stage
pour a generous glug or two of olive oil all over the vegetables
use your hands (or two spoons if you must!) to combine the vegetables and oil
place the dish into the preheated oven and roast the vegetables for 40 minutes, giving them another mix half way through the cooking time if you remember
after the vegetables have cooked for 40 minutes, remove the dish from the oven and place the salmon fillets on top of the vegetables, adding a pinch of sea salt and a grind of black pepper to the surface of the fish
return the dish to the oven and cook the salmon and vegetables for a further 10 – 15 minutes

We like this dish served with couscous, and a dollop of hummus, but as an alternative you could use rice, creamed potato or jacket potatoes. Whichever you choose, I’m confident that this dish will become a favourite!