Mary Berry has dished out a host of culinary hacks for mastering the art of cooking certain ingredients, including salmon. Salmon, a staple in many recipes, is often not given the treatment it deserves in the kitchen. It’s all too easy for this popular fish to end up parched when fried or oven-baked, but Mary has a golden rule that ensures your salmon stays succulent.
In her Foolproof Cooking cookbook, Mary shared that how you arrange the fillets on the baking tray can make or break your dish, as they can help each other stay “moist”. She advised: “Place the salmon fillets fairly close to each other on the baking tray so that they keep each other moist and don’t dry out during cooking.”
For solo cooks who wouldn’t usually need more than one salmon fillet, Mary suggests batch-cooking their salmon as part of their weekly meal prep.
This means you can use multiple fillets at once, plus it’s a time-saver as you’ll only need to reheat your second serving later in the week.
Plus, don’t forget to pack your salmon with flavour and moisture. Express.co.uk tried out a similar Mary Berry salmon recipe, and it was a hit.
Start by skinning the fish, then season generously with salt and pepper. Finally, crown your salmon with a blend of parsley, lemon juice and zest.
Cooking the perfect salmon fillets is a breeze with Mary Berry’s recipe, which promises succulent fish in under 20 minutes. The flesh “will become a matte pink colour all the way through”, Mary assures.
Ingredients
280g full-fat cream cheese
30g grated Parmesan cheese
One crushed garlic clove
Two tablespoons finely chopped chives
Six 125g salmon fillets, skinned
One large lemon, zest and juice
A small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
150g roasted red peppers from a jar, drained and thinly sliced
Salt and black pepper
Method
Start by preheating your oven to 200C °C and lining a baking tray with greaseproof paper. In a bowl, mix the cream cheese, parmesan, garlic, and chives. Season with salt and pepper and give it another stir.
Next, season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper and slather them with the cream cheese mixture.
Combine the lemon zest and parsley, then sprinkle this over each fillet, pressing gently to adhere.
Place the fillets on the lined tray and top them with the sliced red peppers in an attractive pattern.
Roast in the oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the salmon is just cooked through. Finish by squeezing over the lemon juice and serve alongside potatoes and a fresh salad.