PAN SEARED SALMON AND COUSCOUS

Pan Seared Salmon and Couscous image

A Cook's Illustrated recipe from "The Best 30 Minute Recipe". This one uses Israeli couscous, so take note. What's phenomenal is the lemon drizzle sauce. It ups the composition 10 fold.

Provided by gailanng

Time 30m

Yield 4 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 11

Ingredients

salmon fillet (skin on or off)
4 -5 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
1 1/2 cups of israeli style couscous
3 cups water (for the couscous)
2 tablespoons of grated lemon zest (use a Microplane grater)
1 -2 minced shallot
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons lemon juice (for drizzling oil)
1/2 cup minced fresh chives (for drizzling oil)
kosher salt and fresh coarse ground black pepper
1/3 cup frozen peas (don't need to defrost them)

Steps:

Preheat the over to 200 degrees. .
Season salmon fillets with salt and pepper.
Preheat 2 tablespoons olive oil to smoking over medium high heat in a nonstick 12 inch skillet.
Place the fillets in the skillet (flesh side down if skin is on) for five minutes. Don't move them around. Wait to form a nice caramelized crust.
Place seared fillets (flesh side "up" if skin is on) in a baking dish and put on the middle rack of your 200 degree oven for about 15 minutes. This will be long enough for the salmon to cook all the way through.
Carefully wipe out the skillet with paper towels and put back on medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and heat until it shimmers.
Add the couscous to the skillet and stir over the heat until the grains are toasted and light brown. (This is a little tricky. This can go from "raw" to "burnt" in about 2 minutes once the first grains turn tan).
When the grains are toasted, add the shallots, lemon zest and minced garlic; stir and cook until fragrant ( 30 secs to 90 secs).
Add the water to the skillet (slowly to avoid splattering) and let the mixture come to a boil. Cover the skillet and let cook for about 12 minutes (long enough for the couscous to absorb all the liquid).
Once the salmon is in the oven and the skillet full of cous cous is simmering, make a lemon scented chive flavor "drizzling oil" by whisking together 2 tablespoons olive oil, the lemon juice and the minced chives. (This sauce makes the dish.).
When salmon is cooked through and couscous has absorbed all the liquid, add the frozen peas to the cous cous and remove from heat. The peas will defrost in a couple of minutes (golden raisins work well, too).
Serve the salmon fillets on beds of couscous and pour a bit of the drizzling lemon-oil over each serving. Salt and pepper to taste.