Salmon with Parma Ham and French beans..

I had to check that I hadn’t published this recipe already – it’s been part of my repertoire (Pretentious? moi??) for years, and may well be the dinner party main course that you never knew you needed. I’ve a notion that it might have been a Jamie Oliver recipe originally, but I’ve added my own bits over the years, until I got to this version.

The glorious thing about this is that you can have the whole main course prepped and on one tray the night before; then all you do is stick it into the oven, give it 20 minutes, and hey presto – Dinner is served!

Here we go.. I’m making this for 4 people today; all you need to do is bump up the quantities of French beans/olives as your numbers increase!

EQUIPMENT:

• A very large, shallow baking tray or two smaller ones ( see NOTES)
•  A large saucepan
• Clingfilm or baking parchment
• A medium-sized bowl

INGREDIENTS:                                                                                                 

• 1 boneless, skinless Salmon fillet per person (see NOTES)
• a packet of sliced Parma ham
• About 300g prepared French beans
• A big handful of Black olives, with the stone in
• A packet of baby tomatoes on the vine
• Olive oil

METHOD:

• Start off with the French beans – trim off the ends, then give them a quick wash, drain, and add about 250mls of cold water to the saucepan, and bring to the boil.
• Boil for about 2 minutes then drain, and put them into the bowl with a tablespoon of Olive oil and the black olives. Toss to combine. Put to one side until ready to cook.

• Spread a little oil over the baking tray
• Heat the oven to 180 degrees.
• Wrap each piece of Salmon in a slice of Parma ham, then place onto  the tray

• Give the French beans one more toss, the put them on the other side of the tray.
• Place the tomatoes, still on their vines, on top of the beans and olives.

• Put the tray into the heated oven and give it 20 minutes.
• Remove and serve – saying to yourself – ‘Hey Presto’!

NOTES:

• The ingredients in this dish can all be prepared a day ahead of time, so think of coming in from work, and simply having to throw it all onto the tray – all your work was done yesterday (or earlier today if you’re serving this evening)
• The Salmon really needs to be skinless – any fish counter will do this for you no problem. You can always do this yourself,  and it just takes you a little longer than the professionals.
• I also check each fillet to make sure that as many bones as possible have been removed. You can remove any stragglers with a pair of sterilised tweezers.
• If you’re preparing ahead, cover the beans and olives with clingfilm and store in the fridge.
• Wrap the Salmon in the Parma ham, then drizzle with Olive oil (this prevents the very thin slices of Parma ham from drying out) before covering with a sheet of baking paper, followed by some clingfilm. Store in the fridge until you’re literally ready to put it into the oven.

• If you’re catering for more than 4, I’d suggest dividing the salmon between two or more baking trays, then adding the French beans, etc. to each tray – it means that all the flavours will be combined.
• You’ll find some juices at the bottom of the tray when you’ve served it up – this has lots of flavour, so I usually spoon some over the French beans at the last minute.
• I love to serve either my easy and delicious Potato Gratin, or my Hot Crushed Potato with this dish.
•  https://eatingforireland.com/recipe/my-easy-peasy-potato-gratin-or-to-give-it-its-official-title-scalloped-cream-potatoes-with-rosemary-and-garlic/
• https://eatingforireland.com/recipe/crushed-hot-potatoes/