Salmon with lentils
Crisp-skinned salmon on warm French-style lentils with carrot, shallot and a mustardy vinaigrette, a bistro dinner at home.
- 50 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 2
- About $5.23 a serving
- 820 calories
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- ¾ cup lentils, rinsed
- 1 carrot, finely diced
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 salmon fillets, about 6 oz each, skin on
From your pantry
- 3 cups water
- 1 bay leave
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 820 calories, 54 g protein, 53 g carbs and 44 g fat, and costs about $5.23 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the lentils, water, bay leaf and ½ teaspoon of the salt in a medium and .
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
over medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes, until tender but not falling apart, then and remove the bay leaf.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Medium heatTimer: 22 min 30 sec
Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a small over medium heat and cook the carrot and shallot for 5 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic for the last 30 seconds.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
1 tablespoon of the oil with the vinegar and mustard in a large bowl.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
the warm lentils, the carrot mix and the parsley in the dressing. Taste and add of salt if it needs it.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
the salmon very dry, especially the skin, and with the rest of the salt and the pepper.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Dolly’s tip: Dry skin is crisp skin. Damp skin sticks to the pan and steams.Heat the rest of the oil in a large nonstick over medium-high heat until it . Lay in the salmon skin side down and press each fillet flat with a spatula for 10 seconds.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Medium-high heat
Turn the heat to medium and cook without moving for 5 to 6 minutes, until the skin is and the flesh has turned opaque most of the way up the sides.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Watch the sides, not the top. The cooked part turns pale from the bottom up.Flip and cook 1 to 2 minutes more, until the thickest part flakes easily.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Food safety: Fish is done at 145°F, when the middle looks opaque and flakes apart easily with a fork.
Spoon the lentils onto plates and set the salmon on top, skin side up.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
