Salmon on Spinach

Back home from a road trip to Victoria, Tx to celebrate the marriage of friends, Hubby and I were home by noon on Sunday. Our Starbucks banana nut bread had worn off. The weather was perfect, so I went straight to the back yard to see what was blooming. My big bushes of Rosemary already had lots of fresh stalks, and smelled heavenly when I stroked some of the leaves. Suddenly, I had grilled fish on my mind and taste buds, so we dashed off again to our nearby HEB grocery - they usually have the best fish market. Ten minutes later we were at the check out counter with a nice wild alaskan sockeye salmon, a bag of spinach, some toasted almond slivers, a big semi-firm avocado. At home, I pulled out a small package of crumbled goat cheese from the fridge, and a box of Cous-Cous from the pantry. Luckily I had some fresh garlic and lemon juice on hand to start the marinade for the fish.

THE FISH
I drizzled the whole fish with olive oil.
I finely chopped a few buds of garlic. I wanted the garlic to really seep into the fish quickly, so I warmed the garlic in a teaspoon of olive oil in a tiny bowl in the micro about 15 seconds. Then spread it all over the fish with my favorite tiny spatula.

After shaking some garlic powder, ground salt, fresh ground pepper, and a dash or two of Tony's, I pierced the fish all over with a fork. Then I drizzled the whole thing with lemon juice.

I pulled the leaves off of a stalk of rosemary from the garden, and chopped it up into small bits. Earlier when I warmed the garlic it smelled so good when I pulled it from the micro, I wondered how good the rosemary would smell if I did the same to it. I tossed the rosemary bits into the same little bowl with another teaspoon of Olive oil, and zapped it for 10 or so seconds. MMMMM the smell was fabulous so I spatula-ed the rosemary onto the fish. WA - LA..... the fish was ready to marry itself to the spices, while Hubby was alerted to start the grill.

ACCOMPANIMENTS
Cous-cous
The Master Grill chef (aka Hubby) predicted the fish would cook in 12 - 20 minutes. So when the fish went to the grill, I started the water to boil for the Cous-Cous. It was the "basil-tomato" flavored type, so I thought "Oh, Good, even more spices!" When it began to boil, I tossed in the grains and a small bit of butter, stirred it up - then put on the lid, turned off the fire. DONE! How could that be easier???

SPINACH
I rinsed a whole bag of fresh spinach and towel dried it. I put the whole thing straight onto a grill pan - no water - no nuthin' - then sprayed it with atomized olive oil, sprinkled it with S&P - garlic powder, Tony's, and a few shots of Tabasco. Turned up the heat to medium and tossed it a bit for a few minutes. Just when it was about to get wilty, I removed it from the fire.

THE FINISH
Well, it took a bit longer to cook the fish. No worries, the cous-cous was getting extra fluffy, and I put the spinach on warm.
I sliced up half of the avocado and spread a few slices on each plate. Sprinkled it with lemon juice, garlic powder, and S& lots of P. Master Grill chef presented a beautifully grilled fish on a platter, while I served up a scoop of cous-cous, and a nice bed of spinach across the plate. I sprinkled the spinach with crumbled goat cheese and the toasted almonds. Then served a third of the fish on top of the spinach.

Again, it was such a pretty, bright, non-humid day, we ate our scrumptious meal out on the patio. I looked at my watch. Our meal including shopping took just a bit over an hour. SO worth the time, SO Tasty and SO easy. I estimate the whole thing cost under $30 mostly due to the nice fish: $18. However, one third of the fish will be part of our quickie supper tonight. I love the weekends.