Both salmon and saffron are popular in Sweden and as a result there are numerous recipes for salmon with saffron sauce, but this version, adapted from Mat Magasinet (The Food Magazine), is one of the easiest!

Mat Magasinet recommend serving lax i saffranssås with potatis och stekt gemsallad (potato and fried gem lettuce, as shown above), which I thought worked well, but it would also go well with rice and a side salad.

Summary

Serves: 4
Level: Very Easy
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes
Total: 15 minutes

Tips

• Ask your fish monger to skin and cube the salmon for you.

• If preferred, the sauce and salmon can be cooked separately with the fillet cut into individual portions: melt 1-2 tablespoons of butter in a pan, add the salmon skin-side down, season with salt, pepper and lemon juice, fry for 2-3 minutes, then turn the salmon over and fry for a further 1-2 minutes until cooked through. Remove from the pan and keep warm.

• To fry gem lettuce, simply quarter them lengthways and fry in a tablespoon or so of olive oil for about 5 minutes, turning regularly to brown evenly.

Ingredients

500 g (1¼ lb) salmon fillets

200 g (7 oz) cherry tomatoes

200 ml (¾-1 cup) half fat créme fraîche

200 ml (¾- cup) water

1 tbsp tomato purée

0.2 g saffron, half a packet

1 tbsp cornflour (corn starch)

1 fish stock cube

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp finely chopped dill

Method

1. Cube the salmon and halve the tomatoes.

2. Mix the créme fraîche, water, tomato purée, saffron and cornflour in a saucepan. Crumble in the fish stock cube and then bring the mixture to the boil.

3. Add the salmon and tomatoes and let simmer gently for 5 minutes with a lid on the saucepan.

4. Season to taste with salt and pepper and then stir in the finely chopped dill just before serving.

Recipe courtesy of John Duxbury, founder and editor of Swedish Food.