Recipe of the week: Roasted Salmon with Swiss Chard and Herb Butter

There’s something truly awesome about cooking a meal that looks and tastes as if it came from some fancy restaurant. The recipes from DK’s Seafood, as seen in our June cooking column, seem to specialize in both ease and style, and this next recipe could make it easy to fool your friends and family into thinking you had hired a toque-topped chef.

Roasted Salmon with Swiss Chard and Herb Butter

This would be equally delicious with curly kale or spinach instead of the chard.

The fish

• 4 salmon fillets, about 5 1/2 oz (150g) each
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 handfuls of Swiss chard, trimmed and chopped
• juice of 1 lemon
• pinch of chili flakes

For the herb butter

• 1/2 cup butter
• handful of curly parsley, finely chopped
• handful of dill, finely chopped

First, make the herb butter. Put the butter and herbs in a mixing bowl, and beat well. Spoon on to wax paper, then roll into a log. Twist the edges of the paper, and put the roll in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Sit the salmon fillets in a nonstick roasting pan, drizzle with the olive oil, and season. Bake for 15-20 minutes until cooked through.

Meanwhile, cook the Swiss chard in a large pan of boiling salted water for 5-8 minutes, until it still has a bite to it. Drain well, and transfer to a serving dish. Squeeze over the lemon juice, and stir in the chili flakes. Divide between 4 warmed plates.

Place the roasted salmon on top of the Swiss chard, lay a slice of herb butter on each piece, and serve immediately.

Prepare ahead

The herb butter can be made ahead, and stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days.

Excerpted from Seafood by DK Publishing Copyright © 2011. Excerpted by permission of DK Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Read our review of this book.