Guest recipes with Yvoni Nicolaidou and Vasilia Kouppanou

Pan-Seared Salmon with Sweet Potato Mash & Wilted Greens

This pan-seared salmon with sweet-potato mash and wilted greens is weeknight cooking at its most honest and most satisfying: a genuinely complete, beautifully balanced plate that arrives on the table in 20 minutes and requires no particular culinary skill beyond a steady eye on the frying pan.

Sweet-potato mash is one of the great underrated side dishes. It cooks faster than regular potato, its natural sweetness is an instinctively correct partner for the richness of salmon, and its deep, burnished amber colour gives the finished plate an immediate visual warmth!

Wilted spinach or kale completes the plate with minimum effort and maximum nutritional value. Once the salmon has been lifted from the pan and set aside to rest, the residual heat and the small amount of fat remaining are entirely sufficient to wilt a generous handful of greens in under two minutes. A sliced garlic clove softened briefly in the pan beforehand adds fragrance and depth, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the very end keeps the greens bright, clean, and lively.

Together, the three components create a plate that is visually striking, deeply satisfying and genuinely exceptional in nutritional terms!

Salmon is also one of the single richest dietary sources of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, consistently associated with reduced systemic inflammation, improved cardiovascular function, and support for long-term cognitive health.

2 salmon fillets (approx 150g each), skin on

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 tbsp unsalted butter

A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

150g baby spinach or kale

1 lemon, halved

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely sliced

Salt and black pepper

Cook the sweet potato cubes in boiling well-salted water for 12-15 minutes until completely tender. Drain thoroughly, then mash with the butter, nutmeg, salt, and pepper until smooth. Keep warm.

Pat the salmon fillets dry with kitchen paper and season generously on both sides. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat until shimmering.

Place the salmon skin-side down and press gently with a spatula for the first 30 seconds. Cook undisturbed for 5-6 minutes until the skin is deeply golden and crisp. Flip carefully and cook for a further 1-2 minutes. Remove and rest.

Reduce the heat. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for 30 seconds, then add the greens with a small splash of water. Toss for 1-2 minutes until wilted. Squeeze over lemon juice and season.

Divide the mash between two plates, lay the salmon alongside, add the wilted greens, and serve with a lemon wedge.

Created by clinical dietitians Yvoni Nicolaidou, Pediatric and prenatal dietitian [email protected] and Vasilia Kouppanou, Oncology dietitian [email protected]