Seared Salmon with Lentil Tabouleh

A few days ago whilst browsing in David Jones food section I stumbled across a Lebanese salad which was essentially a cross between tabouleh, lentils and couscous, I bought a small tub to try it out and had about half of it for lunch. That night I came across the recipe below which was featured on Tastespotting. Feeling inspired I used the remaining Lebanese salad to make my own version of the Lentil Tabouleh below. I didn’t follow their directions for the salad, but here’s the link to the original recipe.

I found the salmon very delicate, it definitely needed the salad to carry it. I would not recommend preparing the salmon this way if you’re having it with roast vegetables as it’s not strong enough. To counteract this you could always add different spices or make a sauce so it to avoid the fish being lost in the dish. If you like it to be medium or well done add either another 1-2 minutes.

The following is for one person.

Ingredients:

I’m afraid this will not be very accurate, as it is a matter of taste, plus I don’t know exactly what was in the Lebanese salad, here goes anyway. However I cooked the salmon according to their directions.

Salad

green lentils

cous cous

mint

parsley

lemon juice

I added 

3 asparagus sticks 

1/4 cucumber

1 tomato 

few thin slices of red onion

squeeze of lemon juice

Salmon

drizzle of olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 salmon fillet, skin removed

Method:

Preheat oven to 180℃.

Pour about an inch of boiled water into a steamer and add the asparagus with their ends broken off, cover and allow the steam until cooked - about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the steamer and cool for a few minutes. Make a small cut through the asparagus lengthways at the base of it. Turn the asparagus 90 degrees and make 3-4 cuts lenghtways. This is so the asparagus will curl through the salad. Toss together the salad ingredients and top with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Brush salmon in oil and rub in the seasoning to your taste. Place in a oven proof frying pan  on a medium-high heat top side down for 2 minutes to sear the top of the fillet. Turn the salmon so it’s the right way up and transfer to the heated oven for 8 minutes. 

 Remove salmon from the oven and allow it to stand covered for 5-7 minutes, this lets the juices settle. Give the salad a final toss and serve.