Salmon With Lentils

This was almost dubbed a dinner catastrophe, with the kids deciding to roll around right under my feet at the oven. Noah constantly picking on Eli, Eli constantly in every cabinet going for all the glass items. (Yay, we need to close those cabinets.) I also had some struggles with the ingredients, such as not knowing how to skin the salmon. But it ended up turning our pretty tasty, some how in the chaos, I seasoned the protein in a satisfactory manner.

I was attracted to the recipe because of the interesting flavor combination, honey, cinnamon, lemon, and salmon. I also like using a new veggie to me: chard. It’s green is vibrant.

Chard leaf.

I had prepped all the veggies while the little one was at daycare and Noah was busy with Bob the Builder. I thought I was ready to throw it all together.

Prepped veggies.

Enlightening moment: My biggest struggle was that the fish wasn’t prepped the way it should have been. I now know I should learn how to skin a piece of fish.

In the end, it comes down to the kid test. Noah was wanting to eat his salmon yesterday, so he was happy to finally get a piece of fish. He even wanted the skin on, so I didn’t bother taking the skin off his. He liked it.

Eating a light lunch makes anything for dinner taste great!

Salmon with Lentils

(Food Network Magazine Oct 2009)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 2 leeks, white and light-green parts only, halved lengthwise and chopped
• 2 carrots, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 pound (1 1/4 cups) French brown or green lentils
• 1 bunch Swiss chard
• 3 6-ounce center-cut skinless salmon fillets
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Juice of 1 lemon

Directions

1. Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks and carrots and cook until tender, 5 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook 1 minute. Increase the heat to high; add 4 cups water, the cinnamon stick and lentils. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-high, cover and simmer until tender, 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, remove the Swiss chard stems; reserve 3 leaves and chop the rest. Place the whole leaves over the lentils, cover and wilt, 1 minute. Remove the chard and cover the lentils. Season the salmon with salt and pepper and wrap a wilted chard leaf around each fillet.

3. Stir the honey and lemon juice into the remaining lentils and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the chopped chard. Place the wrapped salmon on top of the lentils, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until the fish is just cooked through, 6 minutes.

Remove the salmon and cut into pieces. (If the lentils are dry, add a splash of water.) Divide lentils among bowls and top with salmon.