Flavourful baked salmon fillets stuffed with a rich and creamy mix of soft cheese, hearty spinach, and parmesan, with a buttery flair. Salivating already? I don’t blame you!

If you love salmon and would like to prepare it in a slightly more elaborate way than plain fillets, then you’ll love this recipe. It’s not only super delicious, but incredibly easy to make.

This has always been one of my favourite ways to prepare salmon. There are days when you can’t be bothered cooking anything complicated, but still want to make something special. This recipe ticks the box – it’s the ideal mid-week meal that will leave you filling accomplished, without the effort.

The mix for the salmon filling is as simple as combining a handful of ingredients: cream or soft cheese, spinach, shallots, and parmesan cheese, seasoned with salt and pepper. Then it’s a case of making pockets in your salmon fillets, stuffing and placing in a pre-heated oven with some butter and lemon for 15 minutes.

For the main event; go for fresh quality salmon fillets. For this recipe, I used skinless and boneless salmon fillets from Bradley’s Fish, they have a fantastic range of fish and seafood products!

Usual accompaniments to salmon can vary from simple to more complex. I’d recommend mash potatoes, or healthy Mediterranean vegetables to bake along with your fillets in the oven (roasted veggies take longer to bake than salmon, so just put them in the oven before your fillets). On this occasion, you can see I went for some basmati rice and asparagus, keeping it healthy! Asparagus are made in as little as 5 minutes in a pan with some butter, and they are a perfect match with salmon.

Creamy stuffed salmon fillets

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 2 fresh skinless salmon fillets
• Slices of lemon to garnish
• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 Thin slices of butter
• 60g Soft cheese (Philadelphia or supermarket brands work well. Use full fat for a rich creamy flavour, or use light if you want to reduce calories)
• 2 cup Spinach or baby spinach at room temperature
• 1 small shallot or red onion
• 3 tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. Combine shallots and spinach in a food processor (or chop very finely).
2. Add to a bowl with soft cheese and parmesan cheese. Mix well with a spoon. Add salt and pepper to taste
3. Take a sharp knife and cut a pocket right in the centre along each of the salmon fillets, then stuff with 1 or 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture. Be generous, but don’t overstuff the fillets – you don’t want the filling oozing out everywhere when cooking.
4. Preheat oven to 170°C. Top stuffed fillets with a tablespoon of olive oil, a slice of butter and pepper, and place on a lightly greased baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes or until salmon is cooked through. Half way through baking, add a slice of lemon on top of the fillets. Serve with your choice of sides, and devour!

Tips

• Make sure you are using fresh salmon, so that they are easy to cut and can bake to perfection. If you buy frozen salmon, just transfer the fillets you will prepare to the refrigerator to defrost overnight. Make sure you cut the pockets right in the centre of the fillets.

• Are you left with some cream cheese mixture? Ideal, lunch sorted! You can turn your remaining creamy mix into a yummy sandwich filling, use it as a dip or even use it in a soup recipe. I added it to a pan with some sautéed onions, vegetable stock and spinach, for a nutritious and rich spinach soup.
• I like using shallots in the cheese mixture for their delicate and mild flavour, but if you like sharper flavours, you can use minced garlic or red onion.