Baked salmon with sweet chilli and basil

Baked whole salmon is quite the wow factor meal. Beautiful green basil and red sweet chilli add the festive, summery feel. Enjoy with a cold glass of beer or white wine.

Ingredients

Serves 6

1 tablespoon peanut oil
3 shallots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 large mild red chillies, seeds discarded, finely chopped
5cm ginger, finely chopped
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons rice or white vinegar
1 side of salmon, about 1kg
1 large bunch fresh basil leaves

How to Make

Heat the oven to 200C.

Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan over a medium heat and sauté the shallots, garlic, chilli and ginger for five minutes to soften but not brown, then add the sugar, vinegar and two tablespoons water then bring to the boil and cook a few minutes to dissolve the sugar. Set aside (this can be made in advance).

Place the salmon skin down in a roasting tray that has been lined with baking paper (to make it easy to remove) sprinkled with oil and flaky salt. Smear over the chilli paste. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes for rare and 20 – 25 minutes to cook through, depending on the thickness of the fillet.

Serve scattered with the basil leaves.