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Roasted Seeded Salmon with Green Lentils

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This deliciously tender, roasted seeded Salmon with Green Lentils is protein-rich green lentils in a soffrito base of red onion, carrots and celery plus added fresh tomatoes, some herbs, aromatic vegetable stock and you have a healthy, filling, warming meal.

Roasted seeds such as Pumpkin (Pepita), sunflower, flax/linseed, sesame, etc are a great snack on their own. Try them dry roasted, sprinkled with sea salt and chilli flakes. Not only delicious but packed with health-giving nutrients. Check out the nutritional info links below for more on their health benefits.

Roasting the fish is the easiest, simplest and fastest, hands off way to cook salmon in the oven.

For this recipe we are using Salmon, but cod and haddock also make great roasting alternatives.

Salmon is a protein-rich food, high in omega-3 fatty acids and an excellent fish to roast. And with the addition of the pumpkin, sunflower, sesame and flax/linseeds gives the dish a great extra nutrient boost as well as adding a crunchy texture.

Green Lentils

Lentils are pulses from the legume family. They are one of the best meat substitutes and a good addition to vegetarian and vegan diets as they are a great plant-based protein food that is rich in nutrients and has a filling, dense texture.

Ingredients for roasted seeded salmon with green lentils:

Salmon fillets
Olive oil
Dried mixed herbs
Mixed seeds, Pumpkin (Pepita), Sunflower, Sesame, Flax seeds/Linseeds or your favourite blend.
Green Lentils, canned/tinned
Red onion
Carrot
Celery
Garlic
Fresh tomatoes
Vegetable stock
Sea salt and black pepper

If you don't have these exact ingredients, don't worry! Don't have red onions, substitute for white/brown onions, no fresh tomatoes, use half a tin of chopped tomatoes, no mixed herbs, just use any single herbs of your choice.

How to prepare the green lentil base

Finely chop and dice the vegetables into small pieces. Try to keep them the same size, more or less, it will help to cook them evenly. We like ours a little larger, dice to your own liking. Just remember the vegetables will shrink somewhat during cooking.
Place the prepared carrot, celery and onion into a frying pan (with or without a little olive oil, see faqs below) and sweat down on a gentle heat for around 10-15 minutes. Be careful not to brown the vegetables. This makes the soffrito part of the green lentil base.
Add the minced garlic to the pan and stir in well. Garlic is delicate and can burn fast, especially if it’s sliced or minced. Only cook for a further 2-3 minutes, keeping the heat low.
Add the finely sliced fresh tomatoes with the vegetable stock and cook gently for a further 15 minutes until the tomatoes are softened.
Season with sea salt and black pepper to your own taste.
Add the tinned/canned green lentils, stir until thoroughly combined, cook gently until heated through.

How to make roasted seeded salmon

Whilst the green lentil base is cooking, prepare the salmon fillets. Place in a suitable oven-proof dish and coat/brush each fillet with olive oil.
Sprinkle each fillet with the mixed herbs, we use herbes de provence that has a wonderfully aromatic blend of bay leaves, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Or use any of the herbs separately to your own taste.
Mix the pumpkin (pepita), sunflower, sesame and flaxseeds together in a bowl (or choose your own seed blend).
Coat the salmon fillets generously with the seed mix.
Sprinkle with sea salt.
Roast in the oven at 180C/350F for around 10 minutes. Even thicker fillets of salmon will cook quite quickly so stay close to the oven!

The Soffritto base

The soffritto base typically made with a combination of carrot, celery and onion does take a few minutes to prepare but the ingredients can be doubled or tripled to make a batch that, once cooked, will keep in the fridge for several days where the flavours will become richer and deeper.

This wonderfully flavoursome, very versatile base can then be used as the foundation for many other dishes such as soups, casseroles, pasta sauces, etc.

How to sweat vegetables

Sweating vegetables involves using a gentle heat to slowly soften them to draw out their deeper flavours.

There are 2 ways, with oil and steam-frying. Both need slow cooking without browning or caramelising.

Place the finely diced vegetables in a pan on a low heat with the lid on. Allow them to sweat/steam to bring out the moisture from the vegetables and release their flavours.

What is Soffritto?

Soffritto is an flavourful, aromatic base made with finely diced onion, celery and carrot that is then sweated down. It can then be used as a base for many dishes.

There are also French and Spanish variations too, Mirepoix and Sofrito.

What is the difference between farmed and wild Salmon

Simply put, wild caught Salmon has less fat than farmed Salmon because they eat plankton and other organisms found in their natural environment, the sea.

Wild salmon is also rich in Astaxanthin, a powerful anti-oxidant that gives the Salmon its rich, red pigment colour.

Farmed salmon typically has more fat stripes due to their processed high-fat, high protein diet.