You all know by now that I’m pretty pro the cauliflower. Especially roasted, the texture is the best: tender on the inside, crispy on the outside. Plus, it’s a magnet for other delicious flavours. It’s so good that you can have this salad without the salmon and it’s still DELICIOUS. But the salmon is amazing too! This is basically the perfect warm winter salad.

So tandoori is a loose word for what I’ve done here. The marinade on the cauliflower is yoghurt based and filled with the traditional spices you’d use in a tandoori marinade. But it’s not bright orange as apparently that normally comes from food dye. No thank you. Unless you can’t be bothered making your own then add a store bought paste to the specified quantity of yoghurt, this is only an acceptable move if you don’t own a food processor of any kind. If that’s your deal, then I’ll allow it:)

If you want it to be more orange you could use shallots instead of the spring onion (I was keeping things a little more fructose friendly). The green from the spring onion did change the colour of my marinade. But the flavour was spot on so I’m not fussed. I feel like the final time I made this I got the quantity of marinade just perfect on the salmon and the colour of the marinade was amazing too, the recipe reflects that experience but the images were taken on a previous occasion due to timing. The lack of daylight in my available recipe testing hours is really making my imperfect photography an issue. I guess I could try and learn how to light things using artificial light. But I am by no means a photography so you’ll all just have to settle for these images for now!

If you read through the recipe you’ll notice something else that’s excellent about this recipe. Everything is cooked in one tray. Lined with baking paper. This means minimal cleaning required, you’re welcome. Also don’t worry about the cauliflower getting a little extra colour on the edges. It adds to the overall tandoori thing.

I’ve made this with the salmon cooked both medium (pictured here) and medium rare and both were delicious. I’m a big fan of medium rare but as some people don’t like it I thought I’d try it both ways. The marinade adds moisture and amazing flavour that stands up to the stronger flavour salmon tends to have when cooked medium. You can serve the salmon as a whole fillet or flaked through the salad.

You can substitute mint and flat leaf parsley for the coriander if you’re a hater. Or do a mixture of all 3 if you have them, I wanted to try the recipe with just 1 herb to cut down on waste.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 Tbs freshly grated ginger

2 garlic cloves (optional)

1/4 cup spring onion

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 birds eye chilli, seeds removed

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp cumin, ground

2 Tbs coriander stem and root

1 Tbs water

1 Tbs olive oil

2 tsps lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup greek yoghurt

2 x 180g salmon fillets

1/2 a medium cauliflower

1.5 cups coriander leaves

1/2 a cucumber, finely sliced into semi circles

2/3 cup spring onion, finely sliced

Yoghurt Sauce

1 cup greek yoghurt

1 cup finely chopped cucumber

2 Tbs coriander, finely chopped

2 tsps lemon zest

2 tsps lemon juice

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius, on fan grill (if possible on your oven, otherwise fan bake will work, but you might not get the little slightly charred bits that mimic a tandoori oven). Line a large baking tray with parchment/baking paper.

Marinade: In a small food processor combine the ginger, garlic, spring onion, coriander stems, all the spices, lemon juice, salt, water and olive oil and blend to combine into a smooth paste. Add the yoghurt and blend again. Take 1/2 cup of the marinade and put it in a small bowl with the salmon fillets. Turn to coat. Set aside. You want an even coating on all sides,  just a mm or two thick.

Break the cauliflower into bite sized florets. Toss in the remaining marinade. Spread in a single layer on the baking tray and roast in the oven for 25 minutes.

Remove the tray from the oven, make a space for the salmon in the centre of it and place the fillets skin side down. Return to the oven and continue to cook for 7 minutes for medium rare, 10 minutes for medium. Adjust times accordingly if the size of your fillets is different from that specified in the recipe.

Sauce: Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.

To serve: In a large bowl, combine the coriander leaves, 2/3 cup of spring onion and the cucumber with the roasted cauliflower. Place a couple of tablespoons of sauce on the bottom of each plate and top with the salad. Place the salmon fillets on top of the salad. Serve with lemon wedges and extra sauce on the side. Yumm.

HH. x