Ingredients

• 4 salmon filletsthick centre-cut, and all a similar size
• 750 g baby potatoessmall and waxy; they crisp best after smashing
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 garlic clovesfinely grated
• 1 tbsp chilli sauce or 1/2 tsp flakes
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 20 g butter
• 1 tsp fine salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. 01

   Crisp the potatoes

   Heat the oven to 220 C / 200 C fan. Boil the potatoes in salted water for 15 minutes until tender, drain and steam dry for 5 minutes. Tip onto an oiled tray, smash each one flat with a masher, drizzle with the olive oil and season. Roast for 30-35 minutes, turning once, until the edges are dark and audibly crisp.

   750 g baby potatoes · 2 tbsp olive oil

   Smash, do not crush to pulpFlatten to about 1.5 cm so the edges split. Those ragged edges are the crisp bits.

2. 02

   Reduce the glaze

   Mix the honey, the chilli sauce, 1 tbsp soy and lemon juice in a small pan and simmer over medium-low heat for 2-3 minutes until slightly syrupy.

   3 tbsp honey · 1 tsp lemon juice

3. 03

   Add garlic and butter off the heat

   Take the pan off the heat and only now stir in the grated garlic cloves and the butter, swirling until glossy. Garlic simmered in a reducing glaze goes bitter and acrid; added at the end it stays sweet and fragrant.

   2 garlic cloves · 20 g butter

   Garlic off the heatBoiled in a sugary glaze it turns bitter within a minute, and there is no rescuing it.

4. 04

   Cook the salmon

   Season the fillets and roast them skin side down on a lined tray at 220 C for 8-10 minutes, or sear them skin side down in a hot pan for 4-5 minutes then 1-2 minutes on the flesh side. They are ready at 50-52 C in the thickest part, when the flesh flakes with gentle pressure but is still translucent at the very centre.

   4 salmon fillets

   Pull the salmon earlyIt carries on cooking off the heat. Uniformly opaque in the pan is already dry.

5. 05

   Brush twice

   Brush the fillets with glaze for the last 2 minutes of cooking so it sets against the heat, then brush again the moment they come out. The first coat cooks in, the second stays glossy.

6. 06

   Serve

   Rest the salmon for 2 minutes, then serve over the smashed potatoes with any remaining glaze spooned into the cracks.