Dill-Crusted Salmon and Summer Herbed Couscous

Even though Peter and I are dyed-in-the-wool, card-carrying carnivores, there's times when he and I both just feel like having a light, healthy, largely vegetarian meal. I'm sure you've felt the same way yourself from time to time. It was Peter's turn to cook last week and when he asked what I wanted I told him something light and healthy. I came home to find this meal being thrown together. Let me tell you, folks, it was perfect.

Since I have a serious addiction to cookbook buying I've been checking out and researching a few healthy/vegetarian cookbooks from the library before I decide which one to purchase for my unnecessarily large collection. One candidate is Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty, which is choc full of delicious salads, pastas and meat-free main courses. Peter found this delicious couscous salad within its pages and it served us well for a number of days afterwards. The crunch of the toasted pistachios, the fresh green of the herbs, the spice of the peppers...this salad is quick, refreshing and the perfect accompaniment to a hot summer day.

The salad is also infinitely adaptable; I'd suggest using large couscous instead of small, adding feta or arugula (as indicated in the original recipe) or tinkering around with the herbs. It's a really nice compliment to the delicate, tender salmon but you could also tried grilled chicken or another protein of your choice.

Dill-Crusted Salmon and Summer Herbed Couscous (from Plenty)
(Serves 2 with some extra salad)

Salmon:
1/2-1 pound fresh salmon fillet (depending on how hungry you might be!)
1 tablespoon dried dill
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Salad:
1 cup couscous (pearl or small grain)
2/4 cup boiling chicken (or vegetable) stock
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 T olive oil,
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin

Herb paste:
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1 cup chopped cilantro
2 tbsp chopped tarragon
1 tbsp dried dill
2 tbsp chopped dried mint
6 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup unsalted pistachios, toasted and coarsely chopped
3 green onions, finely sliced
1 fresh green chile (or jalapeno), finely sliced
1 1/4 cup arugula leaves, chopped (optional)

Place the couscous in a large bowl and cover with the boiling stock. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fry the onion in the olive oil on medium heat until golden and completely soft. Add the salt and cumin and mix well. Leave to cool slightly. To make the herb paste, place all the ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.

Add the herb paste to the couscous and mix everything together well with a fork to fluff it up. Now add the cooked onion, the pistachios, green onions, green chile and arugula and gently mix (we forgot to add the arugula for our pictures, but it was still absolutely delicious). Let come to room temperature.

In a cast iron skillet, heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Coat the salmon with salt, pepper and chopped dill. When oil is hot, add the fish to the pan meat side down and cook for roughly six minutes, until the meat feels firm, then flip and cook for an additional 3 minutes or so until the fish is done. We like ours to be just a little bit undercooked right next to the skin but in the immortal words of Stevie Nicks you can go your own way.

Enjoy!