Pan fried salmon with tomato and fresh herbs

The great thing about this dish is that it really is very, very quick to cook; it only takes minutes.

Credit: Great British Food Revival

• serves

  3

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

For the tomato salsa

• olive oil
• 25 gm (¾ oz) peeled prawns (brown shrimps)
• 1-2 plum or salad tomatoes, pre-blanched, peeled and diced
• handful of chopped herbs (parsley, tarragon, chives and/or chervil)

For the salmon

• 3 x 50 gm (1.2 oz) fillets skinned salmon
• 3 tsp (15 ml) of olive oil
• salt and pepper
• squeeze of lemon juice

For the spinach

• a generous handful of spinach leaves, picked and washed
• knob of butter
• salt and pepper

Instructions

For the tomato, warm the oil in a pan but do not let it become too hot.  Add the prawns and gently warm. Add the tomatoes and finally the herbs. Season, preferably using sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

For the spinach, melt the butter in a frying or saucepan. Once sizzling add the spinach leaves, stirring for just a minute or two until the leaves are tender. Season with salt and pepper and drain. The leaves can be spooned onto a clean cloth-topped plate. This will help soak up any excess water remaining in the leaves.

Meanwhile, season and pan-fry the fillets in a hot pan with a little olive oil, allowing to colour on one side before turning the fillets and repeating the same process. The fillets will only take 3-4 minutes in total, keeping a succulent moist centre. Is you like to season your fish in the pan, resiste the temptation to season until half way through cooking. If you salt it at the start, you can draw some of the juices from it, then it begins to stew in the pan, rather than fry in the pan.

Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Divide the spinach among 3 serving plates.

Top each with a fillet of the fish, spooning the tomato, prawn and fresh herb dressing on top of each.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.