Okay, this was delicious. Especially the couscous. It gets a little golden and crunchy on top. Seriously tasty.
I was curious about making something that all cooks together like this. I figured it would turn out okay (I basically trust Tyler) but, as I’ve only ever made couscous on the stovetop, I was intrigued by baking it. It works. We had this with some pan-roasted asparagus.
Changes I made: I subbed broth for water, used Marcona almonds instead of pine nuts, olive oil in the dish instead of butter, and added feta to the top.
Salmon with a Couscous Crust
Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence
1 cup couscous
1/2 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup golden raisins, coarsely chopped
3 tbsp coarsely chopped green olives
2 tbsp capers, chopped
3 tbsp pine nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (almonds can be substituted)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 lemon, juiced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 (6-8 ounce) salmon fillets skinned
1 1/3 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large bowl, stir together the parsley, raisins, olives, capers, pine nuts, olive oil, and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper; stir in the couscous to moisten completely and season generously with salt and pepper.
Put the salmon in a single layer in a smallish, oiled baking dish; the fillets should not touch one another. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil.
Now spoon the couscous mixture over the top of the fish so that it completely covers them and fills in the whole dish at the same time. Pour over the broth and sprinkle with the feta. Drizzle with olive oil.
Put the dish in the oven and bake 25-30 minutes.
Use a large spoon to spoon out the salmon and the couscous.
So good!
Health AND delicious! This recipe is very original!
Cheers,
Rosa
Rosa: Thanks! It was delicious. And when I saw the recipe I was definitely intrigued by the couscous crust! 🙂
I am definitely going to try this. I am always on the lookout for recipes that include couscous. Love that stuff!
Making this for dinner tonight! Thank you!
We made this tonight. Despite some icky salmon filets (bad butcher), this was delicious! I look forward to making it again with GOOD salmon!
I just made this and it was delicious! I added thinly sliced zucchini and cut asparagus to the couscous mixture (whole wheat from Trader Joes) and used dill instead of parsley. I also excluded the raisins and capers (because I didn’t have any) and used less veg broth. I know I made a lot of changes to your recipe but I feel like I still preserved the main idea and we all LOVED it!!!
I acutally made this dish for dinner tonight. I followed the original recipe with chicken broth instead of water. I used 6 salmon fillets instead of 2 and it worked out pretty good. I have leftover for another night’s dinner. I was nervous while the dish was baking because it didn’t look like the couscous was going to get cooked, but when I removed the baked dish from the oven, everything looked good, just like your photo. I’m not a fan of feta so I omit the feta. There was a bit of chewy crunchy bits on the top, so next time I’ll just loosely lay a foil on top. My son didn’t care for the crunchy bits. Also, I’m thinking of adding some chopped shallots or red onion to the couscous next time. But overall, this is very good.
Excited to say my second night of eating the leftovers tasted better the next day. So I can make this dish the night before if I wanted to and microwave portions at a time when you are ready to eat. This is definitely a very good recipe. Thank you for your post. I had eye on this recipe for some time before your posting.