This dish is an easy one to make for a light lunch or dinner. While there are a few steps, there is nothing really challenging, and it’s definitely not time consuming!
And you can always buy dukkah from a health food store or specialty grocer, rather than make your own.
Ingredients
Dukkah
30g skinned hazelnuts
6 cardamom pods, seeds removed
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon white sesame seeds
1 teaspoon black sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
The dish
1 bunch asparagus, about 6-8 spears
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 spring onions, tops trimmed
2 salmon fillets, skin on
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4-8 cherry tomatoes on the vine if possible
Method
To make the dukkah, put the hazelnuts in a heavy bottomed frying pan and lightly toast for a couple of minutes.
Add the spices and toast for a further 2 minutes.
Put this mixture plus the salt into a food processor and blitz. Don’t overdo it- you don’t want a powder, you want small chunks of nuts.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees fan-forced.
Cook the asparagus in the microwave for about 2 minutes just until slightly softened.
Pour 1 tablespoon of the oil into a baking dish. Lay the spring onions on the bottom. Place the salmon fillets, skin side up, on the spring onions. Scatter over some salt and ground black pepper. Place the asparagus spears and the cherry tomatoes around the salmon in the dish.
Place in the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven, and carefully peel the skin from each fillet. Scatter the dukkah over the fillets, put back in the oven and cook for 3 minutes longer.
Remove from the oven. You can serve as is, but I like to arrange the asparagus on top of the salmon. Sometimes I serve the tomatoes separately too.
Great with crusty bread, a green salad and a glass of wine!
The Quirk and the Cool 