I’m a bit of a sucker for sprouts.. I may well have sent an excited snap chat to my fellow sprout lovers when I saw my first lot back in November. I just can’t get enough of them.
So when I found purple sprouts I’m happy to admit that I was far more excited than I should have been over little coloured veggies. But come on! Purple sprouts!
I will concede that sprouts of our childhoods often weren’t the most appealing of veggies. The little crosses Granny dutifully cut into them did little more than turn them into mush. So often were they lovingly boiled to baby food. What a waste! Done correctly sprouts are delicious!
Stir frying is one of the easiest ways to cook sprouts well and these are great, cooked with a little chilli, ginger and garlic and served with salmon and a teriyaki sauce. Stir frying shredded sprouts allows you to retain some crunch whilst removing the bitterness which is a win win.
When it comes to the salmon I tend to pan fry it as I like the crunchy skin but here the salmon could easily be cooked in the oven (180 for 20mins). If you do want to cook it on the hob salt the skin and use plenty of oil to stop it sticking – to avoid using excess oil I tend to heat the oil and place the first fillet skin side down directly onto it, wiggling it around to expel the excess oil which I place the next fillet onto and so on cooking for around 5 mins on the skin side, until you can see it’s cooked 2/3 way up, before flipping and finishing for 3 mins.
All in all this meal took me 20mins to prep and cook and I served it with brown rice that I put on at the very beginning. I’ll definitely be having it again after Christmas when sprouts are still around and I’ve eaten too many mince pies.
Recipe
Serves 2
Takes less than 30mins
2 salmon fillets
150g brown rice (optional)*
2tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp cornflour
2tbsp mirin
1tsp rice vinegar
1tsp sugar
Thumb sized piece of ginger (approx 30-40g), grated
1 glove of garlic, minced or grated
1 red chilli (I deseed mine)**, finely sliced
250g brussel sprouts, shredded/ finely sliced
Oil
- If you are cooking your salmon in the oven preheat it to 180C and then pop the salmon in to cook for 20 mins. If you are having brown rice begin to cook it now, according to the pack instructions
- To make the teriyaki sauce mix together the soy sauce with the cornflour, before stirring in the mirin, rice vinegar, half the ginger and the …
- If you are pan frying the salmon heat a frying pan with a good splash of oil (1-2tsbp) over a high heat. When the oil is hot (don’t touch but hold your hand above) place the salmon fillets skin side down, turn the heat down a little to medium/high and cook for 5 mins, until the fillets are cooked 2/3 of the way up. Flip the fillets, turn the heat down to medium, and cook for a further 3 mins, until cooked through
- Meanwhile heat a wok (or large frying pan) with another splash of oil over a medium/high heat (if your salmon is being cooked in the oven only start this when it has approx 7 mins left to go). Add the remaining ginger, garlic and chilli and stir fry for 30 secs being very careful not to burn it, throw in the sprouts and stir fry for 4-5mins until they are cooked but still retain some crunch
- Finally heat the sauce in a small pan until it has thickened and serve poured over the salmon, sprouts and rice.
*Or white rice
**Only use half if the chilli is large