Want to WOW your guests? Serve this fancy-looking, yet very simple Mediterranean Salmon Tray Bake!
This is a super-easy starter recipe for anyone not used to making fish. You just throw all the vegetables and salmon onto a tray, seal it with parchment paper, let the oven do its magic, and 15 minutes later you’ll serve a delicious Mediterranean Salmon Tray Bake. You can’t go wrong with this one.
‘En papillote’ is what you call this cooking method, in which you seal ingredients together with parchment paper or aluminum foil and bake them in the oven. It is mainly used for fish and vegetables and it’s such a simple technique for beginners, while also appealing to the more advanced, by offering a lot of space to experiment and mix in different ingredients.
To enhance the flavor of the salmon, and make the entire dish a tiny bit creamier, I slightly coated the salmon with horseradish cream cheese. You can easily substitute this by mixing mascarpone or any other cream cheese with fresh, grated horseradish. In terms of the vegetables, you can basically use or add anything that can be done within 15 minutes. Try peppers, broccoli, onions or any other of your favorite fast-cooking veggies.
Check out my Arroz Negro recipe if you want to add a side dish to this low-carb recipe. In this case, I recommend that you serve the black rice without seafood. You can follow all the other instructions, just leave out the seafood.
Sooo, for all those who are starting out with fish, have fun creating your first fish tray bake, and for all the pros, feel free to experiment with it by adding other ingredients.
MEDITERRANEAN SALMON TRAY BAKE
INGREDIENTS
Vegetables
- 3 zucchini cut into fine, long strips
- 300 g cherry tomatoes halved
- 2 spring onions finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves finely grated
- 3 tablespoons black olives pitted and quartered
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- A little black pepper
Salmon
- 4 salmon filets approx. 150 g each, skinless
- 1 tsp salt
- A little black pepper
- 200 g horseradish cream cheese alternatively mascarpone mixed with 2 tablespoons of fresh, grated horseradish
- 2 lemons
- 4 tbsp of fresh dill finely chopped for serving
- Vegetables
- Preheat the oven to 200° Celsius 390° Fahrenheit, and line a baking tray with parchment paper or aluminum foil. In a medium bowl, mix all the vegetables with olive oil, and season them with salt and pepper. Place mixture in the center of the parchment paper or aluminum foil.
INSTRUCTIONS
Vegetables
- Preheat the oven to 200° Celsius (390° Fahrenheit), and line a baking tray with parchment paper or aluminum foil. In a medium bowl, mix all the vegetables with olive oil, and season them with salt and pepper. Place mixture in the center of the parchment paper or aluminum foil.
Salmon
- Add salt and pepper to the salmon on both sides, coating the salmon with the horseradish cream cheese on one side, and place it on top of the vegetables, the coated side face down. Drizzle the salmon with the juice from half a lemon, cut the remaining lemons into thin slices and place them onto the fish.
- Place another parchment paper or aluminum foil, slightly bigger than the first one, on top of the fish and vegetables, and, together with the parchment paper underneath, fold in on all sides. Seal it well so that the steam cannot escape.
- Bake the tray on the middle rack of the oven for about 15 minutes, before carefully opening the foil to sprinkle in fresh dill. Serve directly on the tray or arrange on serving plates.
