No-stink, pre-going-out dinner

On Friday night I phoned Fifi Who Lives Nearby and invited her over for dinner before going out on Saturday night. We were both just in from our respective festive celebrations, and a tad tipsy, it has to be said. "I know", I exclaimed, "I'll make cheesy chilli!". Cue lots of snorting and smart remarks about stinking out potential suitors with eau de spicey meatyness. "Not at aaaaaaaaall" I retorted, hung up and toddled off to bed, delighted with my forward thinking and organisation. In a more lucid state on a visit to the shop the next morning I reconsidered my choice, bowed to the more practical mind of my neighbour and decided to go with the healthier and even speedier, more pre-going-out-friendly lemony salmon with cherry tomato couscous.



This is, of course, from Nigella's latest book Kitchen. Because I find it rather difficult to use my imagination when in a rush, and this immediately came to mind as something I could throw together without having to think too much and without feeling overly stuffed before heading out. I saw Nigella doing this recipe on her show, and it was one of many that convinced me to buy her book.

First, some ginger, salt and paprika into a bowl, where the cous cous will be soaked and absorb that delicious spicy heat.

I chopped up half a red onion as small as I could have been bothered to and thought that maybe there might a teeny ween bit of stinkiness involved in this dinner after all, although there was a fine squeeze of lemon juice there to potentially tone it down a little.

And then on a plate, the rub for the salmon: lemon zest, salt, paprika and garlic oil. Halved cherry tomatoes also get doused in a good glug of garlic oil.

After that, it almost makes itself and I'm practically left blinking, holding a plate of food and wondering how it managed to get from fridge to plate just like that. The salmon gets a good coating of that zippy mix, and hits the pan for a total of about five minutes.

The smelllllllllll of this coriander was a real perk-me-up. I have no idea why I'm not growing this in my garden - it's definitely on the list for next year.

Onions plus tomatoes plus cous cous plus coriander equals the salad - it may have involved a lot of bowls, but it was considerably simpler than that suggests.

And then, all of a sudden...what the?...how the?...who the?...see what I meant about the blinking and the food appearing?

Stocking up on the omegas, stress-free.