Orange Ginger Salmon with Roasted Red and Orange Peppers and Butternut Squash.

Phew, that was a long title.

Here is an easy dish to prepare, very light and refreshing, and it matches autumn.


I'm using red and orange bell peppers (or capsicum, if you prefer) along with some butternut squash, because I think they make a lovely accompaniment, based not only on colour but also on their slight sweetness, which offsets the ginger and orange in the salmon.

For two people, you will need:
  • 2 filets of salmon
  • 2 oranges
  • A piece of ginger root* about as long as your little (or "pinky") finger, peeled. Use ginger powder if you prefer, or ginger paste from a bottle. Nobody is judging.
  • 1 red and 1 orange pepper; or any combination you wish. Don't use green, the taste won't go well with the rest.
  • Butternet Squash; I got two packets of cubed squash, about a handful each.

Begin by thinly slicing the peppers. I like them in long strips. Feel free to dice them up as you like.


Next, arrange them on a pre-heated baking tray, along with the cubed butternut squash, and drizzle some juice from one of the oranges. I just love the colour combination already!


Toss this in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about as long as it takes to make the salmon. If that makes you nervous, then lets say roughly 15 minutes, you can keep checking on it if you like.

The next step is to chop up the ginger. The picture below is not to show you how much ginger I used, rather how I chop my ginger. First, I cut the ginger piece I want to use, then I slice it in half to make it easier to manage. I then peel the ginger piece and slice it into "matchsticks". This makes it much easier to chop them into small cubes, then I finely dice them up further.


Raw ginger is really sharp, and we want to soften it a bit before putting it on our salmon. So I added it to a pan with a bit of olive oil to let it cook.


For the orange rind, I just use a grater. Some people like to peel the skin and finely chop it up. Either way works just fine.


Once the ginger is browned in the pan, add the rind of both oranges directly in with the ginger and mix them up. The orange helps to take that edge of the ginger without losing its own identity. The two go quite well together really, and I now I'm imagining other orange-ginger combinations ... stay tuned!


Next, squeeze out about two tablespoons worth of the juices from both oranges into the pan. When you add the juice, you want to be ready to toss the ginger and orange rind around so that they can absorb the juice, or it will just all sizzle away. It might make it easier to squeeze the orange into a cup, then pour the juice in.

Now reduce the heat and let this sit and absorb all the flavours. I added a bit of salt and pepper as well, but they aren't absolutely necessary.


We are ready to grill that salmon. Add a bit of oil to your griddle or any pan you like, the most important part is that you wait for it to become quite hot before you add your salmon, your salmon should sizzle when you place it in the pan.

If your salmon has skin, take your knife and cut some slits into the skin, then add it to the pan skin-side down.


The fun thing about cooking salmon is watching the heat cook the salmon, and seeing the salmon turn light pink up the side. When it is about halfway up the salmon, flip them.


About now, it should be time to get the vegetables out of the oven, we are almost ready to plate.

Add a bit of butter to your ginger and orange topping and stir it in.


Finally, plate the salmon and vegetables, and spread the orange-ginger on top of the salmon. Thats it!

You might have noticed that I did not season the vegetables at all. I personally feel that the wonderful flavours of the bell peppers and squash should stay just as they are, but feel free to season as you like.



*Tip: Don't throw away your ginger, refer to our "Let's not waste anything!" page, and check out few ideas on how to use your ginger.

As with all the other recipes we put on this site, this is meant to be easy to follow. We are hobby chefs who love to cook, and we are always up for learning new techniques. If you know of anything in this recipe which can be done a different way, whether for increased ease of preparation or better taste, please add a comment below!

Whipped up by Shyamal Addanki

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