From Rukmini Iyer’s The Roasting Tin: Super Simple Salmon a’ la Pesto with Giant Cous Cous, Watercress and Lemon.
I knew I already had pesto in my fridge, but what I didn’t know was that it went out of date in 2021. Suffice to say, I binned it and had to substitute it with garlic and herb sauce from Aldi. Innovate to masticate.
Turned out quite nice, although I forgot to pour on the lemon juice at the end. Should have been 25 mins, took me 65.
I didn’t feel like I’d properly succeeded with the recipe, and I’m not one to be defeated by a cookbook, so I made a second attempt. This turned out possibly more disastrous than the first: I finally found some pesto, only to find that salmon fillets were then out of stock. I substituted it with a couple of trout instead. I’ve cooked with these before and they were delicious, so surely…
This time I made the error of cutting the lemons before grating the zest off. Hard work. At least I had actual pesto this time. It occurred to me, halfway through cooking, I could simply have gone to another supermarket to look for more salmon. There are 3 places near me.
This time the whole prep and cook took 58 mins.
Verdict: disaster. Trout might be a good fish for certain recipes but this combination just didn’t work. I ate a small amount and binned the rest. Grim.
Hence, I made *inhales* a THIRD attempt, this time with a good portion of salmon fillet that was much bigger than asked for. While assembling the ingredients I realised I’d actually used up the last of the couscous, so went back to Tesco as I knew they’d definitely have it in stock (no matter how dear it is, which even with a Clubcard, is dear enough).
Then I started again.
The process was getting easier. I definitely had all the ingredients *this* time; the process went smoothly and the finished meal was much nicer.
‘Super simple…’ if the supermarkets allow it to be.
