Baked Salmon with Honey Glaze & Veg

Ingredients

• 4 salmon fillets, skin on
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 300 g tenderstem broccoli
• 200 g sugar snap peas
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• basmati rice, to serve
• Buttered new potatoes, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve
• Fresh dill, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan. Whisk the honey, soy sauce, crushed garlic and ground ginger in a small bowl until you have a glossy, pourable glaze. The garlic goes in raw here — it'll cook gently under the glaze in the oven rather than catching in a hot pan, so no risk of it turning bitter.
2. Pat the salmon fillets dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means the glaze slides off instead of clinging. Season the fillets generously with salt and pepper on both sides.
3. Line a large baking tray and lay the salmon skin-side down with a good thumb's width between each fillet. Crowd them and they steam each other; give them space and the glaze caramelises at the edges. Spoon the glaze over each fillet, letting it pool around the bases.
4. Toss the tenderstem and sugar snaps in the olive oil with a good pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Scatter them around the salmon in a single layer — single layer is the rule, otherwise they'll sweat instead of char.
5. Bake for 20–22 minutes. You're looking for salmon that flakes easily under a fork, glaze that's gone sticky and mahogany-dark at the edges, and broccoli stems tender with a little char on the florets. If the glaze looks pale at 18 minutes, give it another two.
6. While the tray rests for a minute, taste a piece of broccoli — adjust for salt now, not at the table. The salmon's seasoning comes mostly from the soy, but a final pinch on the veg ties the plate together.
7. Spoon any glaze pooled on the tray back over the fillets so they go to the table glossy. Plate the salmon over the rice, pile the tenderstem and sugar snaps alongside, and finish each plate with a lemon wedge — a squeeze of lemon at the table cuts through the sweet glaze and lifts everything you've just built.