Baked chermoula salmon with roasted red pepper, lemon and mint couscous recipe

By Debbie Major

Serves 4
Ready in 40 minutes
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A North-African-inspired fish dish with zesty couscous.

Baked chermoula salmon with roasted red pepper, lemon and mint couscous

Ingredients

4 x 175g pieces skinned salmon fillet

For the chermoula

2 small garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp paprika
1 tsp harissa paste or 1/2 tsp minced red chilli (sambal oelek) from a jar
Pinch of saffron strands
1 tbsp lemon juice
Small bunch of fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
Small bunch of fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

For the red pepper, lemon and mint couscous

2 red peppers
350ml fresh chicken stock
275g couscous
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
15g butter
Finely grated zest of 1 small lemon, plus juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/ fan200°C/gas 7. For the couscous, place the red peppers on a baking tray and roast for 20-25 minutes. Seal in a food bag and leave to cool, then remove and discard the skin, stalks and seeds and chop the flesh into small pieces. Set aside. Increase the oven temperature to 230°C/fan210°C/gas 8.
2. Meanwhile, put all the chermoula ingredients into a mini food processor and blend to a smooth paste.
3. Line a baking tray with a sheet of baking paper. Season the skinned side of each salmon fillet with salt and pepper and then spread with some of the chermoula. Place chermoula-side down on the baking tray, season once more and spread with the remaining chermoula.
4. Cover the tray tightly with foil and bake the fish in the oven for 12 minutes. Meanwhile, bring the chicken stock to the boil in a medium pan. Stir in the couscous, cover and remove from the heat. Leave for 5 minutes, then uncover and fluff up with a fork. Add the oil and butter and stir over a low heat until heated through. Then stir in the roasted red peppers, lemon zest and juice, chopped mint and plenty of seasoning.
5. Remove the salmon from the oven and discard the foil. Spoon the couscous onto 4 warmed plates and place the salmon alongside. Spoon over the cooking juices from the baking tray and serve.

Comments

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jeremyholt999

October 8

This was very tasty. The combination of the slightly tart and spicy chermoula goes fantastically with the peppers in the cous cous. I like cous cous cold so, easy to make that first and then deal with the chermoula. Recipe looks a bit fiddly (for me anyway) but is not much more than throwing a lot of stuff into a mini blender. Girlfriend loved it as it was also low fat. Will cook again - recommended