Sticky soy and honey roasted salmon with asparagus and sugar snap peas? Yours in just 30 minutes, madame!

There’s a lot of lunchbox envy going on right now at Muddy HQ when it comes to staffer Nancy’s lunchboxes – she’s forever casually popping a deliciously fragrant and fancy pasta bake, stew or casserole into the microwave. Not a soggy cheese sandwich in sight, thank you very much. Anyway, we gave her a Chinese burn until she ‘fessed up to the source of this daily deliciousness: Rukmini Iyer’s brilliant book, The Quick Roasting Tin. The lawyer turned food stylist has created a batch of all-in-one tin (note: minimal washing up), mega-easy, crowd-pleasing recipes that’ll feed your family and/or fill your lunchbox for a good few days.

They’re a total win for time-pressed cooks – you chop a few bits, chuck it all in the oven together and kick back with a glass of wine or, more likely, squeeze in 8,000 chores before the timer beeps.

We very much like the cut of Rukmini’s jib and will be interviewing her in the spring, and pumping her for advice, when her next recipe tome is published. In the meantime, here’s one of her midweek marvels which has speedy supper written all over it.

 

Sticky soy and honey roasted salmon with asparagus and sugar snap peas (serves 4)

This easy, flavourful dish is perfect for a quick work night dinner. If you’re serving fewer people, I’d think about making the full quantity and taking any leftovers for lunch the next day. Serve as it is for a carb-free dinner, or with rice or quick cook noodles.

 

Ingredients

200g tenderstem broccoli

125g asparagus spears

200g sugar snap peas

200g frozen peas

1 teaspoon sea salt flakes

1 tablespoon sesame oil

Quick cook noodles or rice, to serve (optional)

 

 

For the salmon

4 salmon fillets

1⁄2 tablespoon good soy sauce

1⁄2 tablespoon sesame oil

1⁄2 tablespoon honey

 

For the dressing

6cm fresh ginger, grated

1 lime, juice only

1 tablespoon sesame oil

3 spring onions, finely chopped

A handful of peanuts, roughly chopped

1 red chilli, finely sliced

 

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 6. Put the broccoli into a large bowl, pour over a kettleful of boiling water, leave to stand for 1 minute, then drain well.

Mix the broccoli, asparagus, sugar snaps, frozen peas, sea salt and sesame oil in a roasting tin. Put the salmon fillets in around the veg, then mix the soy, sesame oil and honey and spread this over each fillet. Roast for 20–25 minutes until the salmon is cooked through.

Meanwhile, whisk the ginger, lime juice, sesame oil and spring onions together. Once the salmon is cooked, pour the dressing over the vegetables. Scatter over the chopped peanuts and chilli. Taste and adjust the lime juice and salt as needed and serve hot.

NOTE: I’ve said to blanch the tenderstem as it improves the texture on roasting, but you can use ordinary broccoli instead if you prefer and skip this stage.

 

The Quick Roasting Tin: 30 Minute One Dish Wonders (Square Peg) by Rukmini Iyer is out now

Photos: David Loftus