Day 143: Pesto Salmon and Israeli Couscous with Tomatoes, Garlic and Feta
Today, I wanted to demonstrate (to myself as much as anyone else) that dinner in under 15 minutes does not have to involve take-out or be previously frozen. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Well, sometimes there is.)
We stopped at the grocery store on the way home from a long meeting with our accountant. Tired, with our heads full of numbers and our car in the shop, I was determined to not give in to the lull of the rain and the security of my baggy sweater and pick up fast food – something perfectly excusable on a day when you find out your car, taxes and dental work are going to cost more than a trip for two to Europe.
So I picked up some fresh wild salmon (I’ve never understood why frozen battered fish sticks were considered convenience food, when they take 25 minutes to cook, and a fresh fillet of salmon takes only 10) and when we got home, I told Mike to time me. I turned the oven on to 425F, put the kettle on, slapped the salmon on a cookie sheet and spread each piece with a spoonful of pesto (sorry for the recurring ingredient, but I know W will eat pesto salmon). Then I rummaged through the fridge and found almost a full pint of wrinkly grape tomatoes, so cranked up the heat under my cast iron skillet and glugged in some olive oil, then dumped in the lot of them. (Had I been in less of a hurry, I might have spread them on a cookie sheet and roasted them, then pulled out the sheet, put the salmon on it and returned it to the oven for 10 minutes.)
The kettle whistled. My plan was to pour boiling water over plain old couscous, which takes under 10 minutes to morph from dried to edible, but discovered that someone (most likely me) had poured cornmeal into the couscous jar. Damn.
So I think the timing stopped at that point as I did some damage control and put a pot of water on instead, thinking I could do up some sort of simple/rustic Italian pasta tossed with olive oil, garlic and tomatoes (this is the way Giada does it, right? and she’s a goddess). When it came to boil, I remembered the package of Israeli couscous I found at Bite in Inglewood on the weekend – big, slippery, pearl-shaped nuggets of pasta that just might work out. I’ve never made Israeli couscous before, but it was easy – you cook it just like pasta, but for a bit longer. The salmon went in and out of the oven (10 minutes per inch of thickness) as it boiled, and when it was finished the tomatoes were soft and starting to blacken. I threw in a few squished cloves of garlic for a minute or two, along with the teeniest pinch of dried red pepper flakes, then drained the couscous and dumped it in and tossed it about to coat it with the garlicky oil and nudge the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
It looked fantastic as is, to be honest, but when I remembered that there was feta in the fridge, I had to crumble some of it in. If you don’t have Israeli couscous in your cupboard, and I don’t expect you to, this would work equally well with ordinary couscous, or orzo, or probably any shaped pasta.
Yum-O.
[print_link]
This looks soooo good! The couscous looks like a cross between chick peas and tapioca.
More importantly….did W eat it?
No, unfortunately W thought it was weird. He ate the salmon though!
Stumbled across this from Google search, looked amazing, prepared it – tasted amazing too. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
This is a theme which is near to my fundamentals… Many thanks! Quite where can I lay one’s hands on the connection details an eye to questions?
With thanks. Loads of expertise!
buy cheap generic zithromax – order ciplox online cheap buy flagyl 400mg online
semaglutide drug – buy generic cyproheptadine order periactin 4 mg without prescription
domperidone pills – where to buy motilium without a prescription cost cyclobenzaprine
clavulanate tablet – atbioinfo acillin without prescription
coumadin 5mg drug – https://coumamide.com/ order cozaar 50mg without prescription
order meloxicam 7.5mg generic – mobo sin meloxicam 15mg for sale
prednisone 20mg pills – https://apreplson.com/ buy deltasone 5mg
mens ed pills – https://fastedtotake.com/ buy ed medications
cheap amoxicillin sale – https://combamoxi.com/ amoxicillin canada
how to buy forcan – flucoan order diflucan 100mg online
buy cenforce 50mg pills – https://cenforcers.com/# cenforce 50mg drug
buying cialis generic – https://ciltadgn.com/ where to buy cialis over the counter
buy zantac without a prescription – buy ranitidine where to buy zantac without a prescription
cialis 20 mg duration – on this site is tadalafil from india safe
viagra buy canada – https://strongvpls.com/# viagra 50mg price
The depth in this serving is exceptional. https://gnolvade.com/
I’ll certainly return to skim more. https://buyfastonl.com/furosemide.html
Greetings! Extremely productive advice within this article! It’s the little changes which liking obtain the largest changes. Thanks a portion for sharing! https://ursxdol.com/amoxicillin-antibiotic/
More articles like this would frame the blogosphere richer. https://prohnrg.com/product/get-allopurinol-pills/
More posts like this would add up to the online elbow-room more useful. https://aranitidine.com/fr/acheter-fildena/
Thanks for sharing. It’s outstrip quality. https://ondactone.com/product/domperidone/
Thanks towards putting this up. It’s well done.
https://doxycyclinege.com/pro/meloxicam/
Thanks towards putting this up. It’s understandably done. http://www.cs-tygrysek.ugu.pl/member.php?action=profile&uid=98491
buy xenical sale – https://asacostat.com/ buy generic orlistat
You can conserve yourself and your dearest by being alert when buying prescription online. Some pharmacopoeia websites control legally and offer convenience, solitariness, rate savings and safeguards to purchasing medicines. buy in TerbinaPharmacy https://terbinafines.com/product/lamisil.html lamisil
Greetings! Extremely useful advice within this article! It’s the crumb changes which will make the largest changes. Thanks a portion for sharing! prix levitra bo?®te de 12
Facts blog you procure here.. It’s severely to on elevated quality writing like yours these days. I honestly comprehend individuals like you! Withstand care!!
I absolutely love how you turned a potential disaster—the cornmeal in the couscous jar—into an opportunity to make Israeli couscous instead! Your point about fresh salmon being faster than frozen fish sticks is so true and really changed how I think about quick dinners. The detail about roasting the tomatoes if you had more time is a great tip I’m definitely going to try next time I make this. If you enjoy exploring diverse culinary themes, you might also appreciate the holiday-themed coloring pages available at Holidays.
canadian pharmacy online canada