Luke's baked salmon wrapped in vine leaves with fragrant couscous (Healthy Recipes)

Member Name: edinburgher

Product:	Healthy Recipes
Date:	11/01/09 (134 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very healthy, delicious, colourful and visually appealing

Disadvantages: Vine leaves can be hard to find

This is a delicious recipe and makes a very filling dinner for two, a good conversation starter and is a healthy option. The worst thing in it is the small quantity of butter used to flavour the couscous and you'll feel surprised that anything that tastes so nice can also be very healthy. A combination of flavours are used to add colour and taste to couscous and this is wrapped in wet vine leaves before being baked in a hot oven. Although it looks complicated, the only special skills required are being able to handle a sharp knife and a little patience.

I recommend serving this with steamed green beans (and a nice leafy salad, if extra sustenance is required). Diners can look forward to tearing into a moist parcel of steaming baked fish and the vine leaves are edible too (although I would recommend throwing away the baked-dry outer layer of leaves).

Ingredients:

6-8 Large vine leaves - These are typically sold pickled in brine from large supermarkets and speciality Greek/middle Eastern grocers. They're not too hard to track down (mine came from www.asda.com home delivery).
2 Salmon fillets - Two long, thin salmon fillets without bones or skin. The fresher the better.
100g couscous
1 Small red onion - Very finely sliced and pan fried with a little olive oil
2 Large cloves of garlic, crushed with a garlic press, or finely minced with a knife.
Grated rind of 1/3 of an unwaxed lemon - Make sure it's unwaxed!
Juice of 1/3 of a lemon
2-3 Queen olives, finely diced.
2 Tablespoons of pine nuts, crushed with the flat of a knife blade.
150ml Water, boiled
Black pepper to taste

Method:

1. Take the pickled vine leaves (should be enough to cover a medium sized chopping board) and soak them for 10-15 minutes in warm water in a covered bowl. Removing some of the brine and salt from them is essential for making the dish palatable. Be careful unwrapping the leaves - they are wrapped in tight bundles.
2. Put the dry couscous in a bowl and add the boiling water and butter. Stir gently and leave covered for 5 minutes to soften up.
3. Add the pan fried onion, raw crushed garlic, lemon juice and rind, olives and pine nuts to the couscous. Stir and leave for another 5 minutes to allow the flavours to blend.
4. Turn on your oven - 180-190 Degrees Celsius.
4. Rinse the vine leaves in gently running cold water and shake off the excess water.
5. Cover a clean chopping board (mine is ~14" in diameter) with the vine leaves. They should overlap by roughly 1" with the next leaf, making it easier for you to handle them during cooking.
6. Cut the two salmon fillets into two pieces and lay them along the centre of the vine leaves (they should overlap slightly to allow for a nice, fat parcel).
7. Carefully spoon roughly half of the couscous over the top of the salmon, trying to prevent it from spreading out too much.
8. Wrap the vine leaves around the salmon and couscous - I found it easiest to tuck in the ends and then wrap the larger area of vine leaves at the 'sides' over them.
9. Carefully invert the package into an earthenware baking dish (I use a lasagne dish), taking care that the parcel remains sealed. The edges of the vine leaves should remain tucked underneath the parcel, keeping things sealed for cooking.
10. Put dish into the oven and leave to bake for 25-30 minutes (if using thin fillets use the lower time, fat fillets the higher time).
11. Take the dish from the oven and carefully move the parcel back to a clean chopping board (I use a couple of fish slices for this!) Cut it in half with your sharpest knife and serve facing outwards so your diners can see a beautiful cross-section of baked salmon, vine leaves and colourful couscous).
12. Serve the baked salmon with the remainder of the couscous and a generous helping of steamed green beens with a slice of butter (everything else is healthy, so this can't hurt!)

Summary: Creative baked salmon with a range of colours and textures