Broccoli and Salmon Bake

Ingredients

• 1 red onion, chopped

• 1 tsp olive oil

• 25g/1oz butter

• 25g/1oz plain flour

• 150ml/5fl oz milk

• 50g/2oz parmesan, grated

• 150g/6oz salmon steak

• 150g/6oz broccoli, cut into florets and steamed

• 2 carrots, cut into batons and steamed

• 6 cherry tomatoes

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

2. Gently fry the onions in the oil in a saucepan and cook until soft. Stir in the butter and the flour. Mix thoroughly, cooking on a low heat for one minute.

3. Pour in the milk, gradually, until everything is combined. Cook for two minutes.

4. Add half the cheese to the sauce and reserve the other half.

5. Meanwhile, pan-fry the salmon steak for one minute on each side.

6. Lay the salmon steak in a small oven-proof dish.

7. Add the broccoli, carrots and cherry tomatoes to the dish.

8. Pour over the sauce and top with the rest of the cheese. Bake in the oven for ten minutes or until bubbling and golden.

Broccoli is an edible green plant in the cabbage family whose large flowering head is eaten as a vegetable.The word broccoli comes from the Italian plural of broccolo, which means “the flowering crest of a cabbage”, and is the diminutive form of brocco, meaning “small nail” or “sprout”.

Broccoli is often boiled or steamed but may be eaten raw. Broccoli is classified in the Italica cultivar group of the species Brassica oleracea.

Broccoli has large flower heads, usually green in color, arranged in a treelike structure branching out from a thick, edible stalk. The mass of flower heads is surrounded by leaves. Broccoli resembles cauliflower, which is a different cultivar group of the same species. Broccoli is a result of careful breeding of cultivated leafy cole crops in the northern Mediterranean starting in about the 6th century BC. Since the time of the Roman Empire, broccoli has been considered a uniquely valuable food among Italians. Broccoli was brought to England from Antwerp in the mid-18th century by Peter Scheemakers.