Alun’s Microwave Salmon in a Spicy Tomato Sauce served with McCain’s Triple Cooked Gastro Chips
Hello, today’s recipe is a good one, even if I do say so myself. It’s dedicated to a good friend of mine Alun Williams, Alun was a big help and support to me both during my time in the Labour Party and since leaving.
I left the Labour Party in May for various reasons, none I’m going to bore you with now, but Alun has kept in contact, despite moving to the other end of the world… well ok not that far but it just feels like it sometimes lol. I know how bad I am at keeping in contact, I phoned him recently then never returned his call, I’ve got a GCSE in not getting back to people – I’m sorry!
Anyway I digress, during Lockdown he gave me the idea to cook salmon in the Microwave, he does it differently to me, but it’s where my idea came from. I’d never thought really of cooking much in the microwave, other than risottos and mug cakes lol. Now I’ve cooked soups, sauces and even a really nice cheat’s bechamel. I intend to do lots more microwave cooking, so stay tuned folks.
Alun, I hope you and the family are doing well, and you don’t mind being the inspiration for this recipe. Remember the kettle is always on… well not literally because that would be daft, and expensive, but you get my point lol.
Rightio let’s get in to the recipe, keep reading to the end of the blog for some new kitchen finds and also a new member of the Wheelie Good Meals team.
The Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 x onion (I used frozen onion)
2 Salmon Steaks
1 Tin of Tomatoes
A large squeeze of Chop Garlic (2 cloves I’d say)
A large squeeze of Purée Ginger (a small thumb sized piece I’d say)
A small squeeze of Chop Chilli (roughly half a teaspoon of fresh chilli in my opinion)
1tsp Ground Cumin
1tsp Ground Coriander
1tsp Ground Paprika
Salt and Pepper
Step 1 I made the sauce in a jug first, pour in the tinned tomatoes in, it’s easier to use the jug first as you can combine them all nicely.
Step 2 To the tinned tomatoes add the 1tsp Ground Cumin, 1tsp Ground Coriander and 1tsp Ground Paprika. You could stir it through at this point, but I was too flipping lazy.
Step 3 At this point you need to add the chilli, garlic and ginger. I added A large squeeze of Chop Garlic but you could add one or two cloves, I then added a large squeeze of Purée Ginger which was probably a small (my size) thumb sized piece of ginger. Lastly I added a small squeeze of Chop Chilli. I’m not sure how hot it is so I’d say it was probably about half a teaspoon of chili powder, or that’s what I’d have used if I had any. Again you know the score, I didn’t mix it in because I’m lazy!
Step 4 Lastly add the onions, I only had frozen onion but I think I added about the amount of one onion. At this point I did stir it, and season it with salt and pepper. You could use this sauce at this point for anything, to go over chicken or to top pasta…. or just eat from a jug like a weirdo me.
Step 5 pour the sauce in to a microwavable dish and cook on full power, I cooked it for 15 minutes, stirring every five minutes to amalgamate the flavours. You could add some capers and olives to this and make it more Mediterranean or put some turmeric in it and make it more curry-esque.
Step 6 Once you’ve cooked the sauce add the salmon, season and drizzle some oil (optional) and cook for 3 minutes on high.
Step 6 I love this recipe, the sauce is so tasty, and the microwave is a brilliant way to cook the salmon. It’s ideal for me because of my oxygen situation. *disclaimer here, I cooked the salmon for probably half a minute under what I should have, but it was still lovely, and I prefer salmon a bit under.
Like my previous post, you could eat this with mashed potatoes. I love this type of sauce on mash, tomato sauce with a bit of spice is ideal on a winter night.
I love these oven chips, as time has gone on we’ve stopped making real chips in my house. We have gone through lots of oven chips but we love McCain’s Triple Cooked Gastro Chips, obviously my mother cooks these in the oven. While looking on the McCain website I also found their Quick Chips Straight Cut which can be cooked in the microwave, I may give these a go soon.
Here’s me paying homage to Rick Stein, he does the whole empty plate shot in his cookery programmes. I see myself in Rick Stein, he was a mobile DJ, I was a mobile DJ, he loves fish, I love fish… ok that’s where the similarities end, I suppose.
Next week we’ll have a new recipe – and possibly a new feature, who knows, stay tuned folks.
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If you like tomato based sauce you can check out my Sausage Meatballs in a Spicy Tomato Sauce or if, like me you’re a Salmon fan, you can check out two of my favourite recipes Cajun Salmon on a Mediterranean Sauce or you could try steaming salmon by making my Salsa Steamed Salmon from my Strictly Suppers range.
You may notice my new spice pots, these are amazing. I ordered them from Amazon of course, you can buy them here – more on these to follow.
I also used these squeezy bottles for Garlic, Ginger and Chilli, they take up less space than the lazy jars I used to use, don’t get me wrong I’ll still use the lazy jars again.
I’m really loving blogging again, I hope you are loving the new recipes. This has been on the cards for a year or so and I’m glad to be able to write it.
Big thanks to Alun for his inspiration in this recipe, hopefully it wont be long until we see each other and can have a good catch up. I’d like to welcome my mate Lindsey, she’s going to be helping me with Wheelie Good meals, hopefully helping with the blog and some videos. She joins an illustrious line up of friends including the 3 G’s (Greg, Gemma and Ginge), Rhian and many others. You can keep up to date with my videos you can do so by visiting my Youtube channel.
I’m still going strong on my no-chocolate pledge, I’m missing it while I’m writing this as I’ve not been able to eat any food because I’m going for a capsule camera, believe me that’s not going to be fun lol.
I hope you enjoyed this post, I’ll be back some time in the next week with another recipe and possibly the launch of a new segment. Come back again soon and, together, we’ll make more Wheelie Good Meals!
See you soon
