Panko-Crusted Salmon and Warm French Lentils

Greetings from the barren hinterlands of northern Westchester County!

Yes, I am still banished to the Timbuktu of the Tristate area, the Siberia of the Northeast, completely lacking cell service, and now in addition to forced family bonding and merriment in the form of St. Patrick's Day celebrations my parents are making me prepare all of their meals. (Translation: I've had a really relaxing couple of days up here doing absolutely nothing and happily utilizing my parents' kitchen which is almost the size of my entire NYC apartment). I'm heading back to the city tonight, but lucky for me (and my parents, and you) I had time to cook one last meal before I go. I was actually supposed to make this dinner last night but ended up going to see The Artist instead.

BTW what did you guys think of The Artist- did it actually deserve Best Picture? I thought it was cute. Not great, but very good. The sound editing and special effects were pitch-perfect. And I now have a petite crush on Jean Dujardin. Like, his forearms contain more sex appeal than the entire male population of my law school combined. But I digress...

~le sigh~

This time I gave the Barefoot Contessa a try, making a couple of recipes from her book "How Easy Is That?": Warm French Lentils and Panko Crusted Salmon.


Just how easy WAS it? Meh, not too bad. I had to go out and buy a few ingredients we didn't have (French Le Puy lentils? Really, Ina? Not all of us are so classy as to just *happen* to have French AOC lentils lying around), but the prep itself was relatively simple. And I only set off the smoke alarm once.


Both recipes were relatively simple and helped create a meal with fantastically complex flavors despite the limited number of ingredients. I highly recommend both, although my mother commented that the mustard flavor in the lentils was "quite strong" so you might only like them if you like mustard (but I generally dislike mustard, and I liked the lentils, so go figure). There was actually dijon mustard in both dishes, creating some continuity on the plate.

And now, onto the documentary evidence of my culinary adventures!

The lentils dish was started by sauteeing leeks and carrots in olive oil for 6 minutes (normally you would add chopped garlic in at minute 5 but ma mère is allergic).

Meanwhile, 6 whole cloves were stuck into a peeled onion and brought to a boil with one cup of lentils and 4 cups of water.

Once the lentils started boiling, the carrots and leeks were added.


Once the lentils were almost tender, the onion was removed and discarded and the lentils were strained and put into a bowl with 1 tsp of butter. Meanwhile, I mixed olive oil, dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl.


This mixture was then poured over the lentils, and the dish was allowed to cool slightly before serving.


For the salmon, I mixed 2/3 cups of Panko breadcrumbs with 2 tbsp of finely chopped parsley and 1 tsp lemon zest. The crumbs were drizzled with 2 tbsp of olive oil and tossed thoroughly.


The salmon, cut into filets and skin-side down, was smeared with dijon mustard and sprinkled with salt and pepper. The Panko mixture was pressed onto the top of the fish.


2 tbsp of vegetable oil were heated in a large saucepan on the stove. I placed the salmon in the saucepan for 3-4 minutes to create a nice sear (unfortunately at this stage some of the breadcrumbs fell off and burnt on the pan, leading to the fire alarm incident. Oops). The entire pan was then moved to the preheated-to-425-degrees oven for 5-7 minutes, until the fish was almost cooked through and the breadcrumbs started to turn golden brown. The pan was removed from the oven and covered with aluminum foil for 10 minutes to let the fish set.

oh heyy there, charbroiled breadcrumbs

I served the salmon with the lentils, some plain white rice, and a lemon wedge. Yum scrum! Thanks, Ina. You just won a point in your battle with Nigella Lawson.