This is a very Spanish way to serve fish. I spoke about this way of cooking on Lyric FM with Marty Whelan recently and a lot of people mentioned it to me in the restaurant. The salt mixed with egg white bakes into a hard crust, trapping the juices of the fish and steaming the flesh and intensifying the flavours. The fish absorbs very little salt because the skin acts as a barrier. Remove the skin when you serve the fish if you want to. Instead of one large fish, you can make this with four small ones and reduce the cooking time to 12-15 minutes, depending on their size.

Clare Island farm salmon organically near Achill and they are very good quality. Or you could try sea trout instead. To add a little zing, drizzle some of the lemon-flavoured Donegal rapeseed oil over the fish. It would work well either before cooking or after.

For the Eton mess dessert, rhubarb and ginger are a classic combination and this is a very easy dessert to make. It is a slight variation on the traditional strawberry dish. The tender pink stems of summer rhubarb are perfect for this recipe and add a wonderful tartness to the finished dessert.

And thank you for all of the great comments about our Home Chef TV series. Wasn’t Mary Kennedy fabulous? She is always great to work with and really enjoys her cooking.

Happy cooking.

Neven Maguire’s Complete Baby & Toddler Cookbook is published by Gill & MacMillan

Salmon in lemon salt with roasted fennel wedges

Serves six

2 lemons, rind from both, 1 sliced

1 large salmon, cleaned and scales removed (weight 2.8kg (6lb))

Handful fresh rosemary sprigs

2 tsp soft fresh thyme leaves, plus 2 sprigs

1kg (2lb 4oz) coarse sea salt, plus extra if needed

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

4 egg whites, lightly beaten

For the roasted fennel wedges

2 large fennel bulbs

2 tbsp Donegal rapeseed oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Lemon wedges and melted butter, to serve

1 Preheat the oven to 2200C (4500F/gas mark seven). To prepare the roasted fennel wedges, trim the hard round stalks at the top of the fennel bulbs and discard the outer layers. Cut the remainder into thin wedges and place in a large, shallow roasting tin. Drizzle over the rapeseed oil and toss to coat, then season to taste.

2 Place the fennel in the bottom shelf of the oven and roast for 30-40 minutes until it has softened and lightly browned, stirring once or twice to ensure even cooking.

3 Meanwhile, prepare the salmon. Chop the lemon rind and set aside. Fill the belly cavity of the salmon with the sliced lemon. Remove the leaves from half the rosemary sprigs and set aside. Stuff the remaining whole rosemary sprigs into the belly cavity with the thyme sprigs. Then season with pepper.

4 Mix the thyme leaves in a bowl with the reserved chopped rosemary and lemon rind, then stir in the salt, chilli flakes and beaten egg whites. Put a handful of the mixture on to a large baking tray, sit the salmon on top then cover with the remainder. The mixture should completely encase the fish.

5 Place the crusted salmon on the top shelf of the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes – the salt casing will turn lightly golden and set hard.

6 Remove from the oven and carefully break away the salt and discard. Transfer the salmon to a large dish and serve with the roasted fennel wedges, lemon wedges and melted butter.

Rhubarb &

ginger Eton mess

Serves four

550g (1 1/4lb) rhubarb

75g (3oz) golden caster sugar

2 pieces stem ginger in syrup, drained and finely chopped

450ml (3/4 pint) cream

3 tbsp sifted icing sugar

225g (8oz) meringues, broken up into bite-sized pieces (shop-bought is fine)

1 Preheat the oven to 200oC (400oF/gas mark six). Trim the rhubarb and cut into 2.5cm (1in) pieces.

2 Tip the rhubarb into a shallow baking dish and sprinkle over the sugar. Cover with foil and roast for 15 minutes.

3 Remove the foil from the rhubarb and check that all of the sugar has dissolved. Give it all a good shake and sprinkle over the stem ginger and roast for another five minutes until the rhubarb is tender but not mushy, and the juices are syrupy. Leave to cool.

4 Whip the cream and sugar in a bowl until soft peaks form. Spoon some of the sweetened cream into the bottom of a serving bowl, scatter over some of the meringues and then spoon the roasted rhubarb and ginger mixture on top.

5 Repeat these layers until the bowl is full, finishing with a layer of cream. Serve immediately.