SALMON PIZZA

I am always looking for different more exciting ways to serve fish, especially at the moment as I am trying to eat it every week without fail for the baby. However whenever I say I am cooking fish, I am always met with a distinct lack of enthusiasm!!

This recipe is from Fay Ripley's first book and I have made it several times - I do adapt it slightly as it suggests adding 300g of mushrooms but they are "poison" according to Arabella so I leave them out. Fay also says to use boned salmon fillets, I use boneless as I hate picking out bones!!

The recipe takes about 45 minutes and that includes making the tomato sauce however you could cheat by using a pre-made jar.

Ingredients for 6 people:

Tomato sauce
1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
700g tomato passata
2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar

Salmon Pizza
300g-400g tomato sauce
1 tablespoon of olive oil
6 salmon fillets, boneless and sliced in half horizontally
1 tablespoon of chives
25g of chopped basil
250g ball of mozzarella
50g of pitted olives, green or black

Preheat the oven to 200 C fan / 220 C / gas mark 7.

Start by making the tomato sauce. Chop the onion and then fry in the oil until soft - mine took around 7 minutes. Then add the garlic for a couple of minutes.

Add the passata, vinegar and season well. Then heat through for a further five minutes or so.

Meanwhile slice the salmon fillets horizontally and I also removed the skin. Lay out the salmon on a large pizza stone if you have one, I didn't so used a large roasting tray lined with baking paper. Fay creates a circle with her salmon, however I chose the easier option of a rectangle pizza!

Cover with tomato sauce - you should need around 350-400g (and then you can freeze the rest and use it for pasta, meatballs, sausages - the list is endless). Sprinkle with the chopped herbs (my basil had seen better days)! Then add the mozzarella and a few olives. Bake for 20 minutes.

Serve immediately, Arabella had her "pizza" with peas and I had mine with salad. Fay also suggests garlic bread which I think is a great addition and will definitely be adding next time.

Even though Arabella wasn't happy about the prospect of salmon for dinner, after a few mouthfuls she told me how yummy this was. I really enjoyed it too, it definitely jazzes up a simple salmon fillet! Arabella even wanted to put goat's cheese on her one……I personally think the portobello mushrooms would be a fantastic addition….but each to their own! I just wonder if I can fool my husband Pascal into thinking it was an actual pizza and not a fish one!!