It’s true.
A light, healthy, fresh & summery meal for one (which can easily be adapted to 2, 3, 4 or more) in UNDER 15 minutes.
Wild Salmon with Lemon CousCous! 
This recipe was actually inspired by zee lovely husband, and is so quick and satisfying that this is the second time I’ve made it in a week (the first was during DC recaps!) Before we start this ridiculously quick cooking process, let me introduce:
The Cast…
Juice of 1 lemon, divided
1/4 cup golden couscous
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
Salt & pepper
1/4 cup chopped asparagus
1/2 cup fresh sweet corn
2 cups baby spinach
4oz wild salmon
The Crew…
1 small saucepan
1 small skillet
1 medium skillet
Mmmkay. Introductions are over. Ready? Let’s cook in 3…2…1!
First heat a teaspoon of olive oil in the medium sized skillet over medium heat.
Add the asparagus and toss to coat. Keep ‘em cooking, stirring every so often.
Meanwhile, bring the water and juice of half a lemon to a boil in the sauce pan.
Add in the couscous, give the pan a little swirl,
then pop on a lid, turn off the heat and remove the pan to a cool burner. No need to come back – the couscous portion of the program is done.
And we’re only 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the program! 
Next add the sweet corn and some salt & pepper to the asparagus. Toss to coat and let it continue to cook.
Then get the salmon ready. Ben and I prefer the taste of wild salmon over farm-raised. It’s a little – ok a lot – more pricey than it’s counterpart, but we feel it’s worth it. Oh yeah, we get our salmon at Costco. It’s SO fresh, believe it or not!
Heat 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil in the small skillet on medium-high heat, then drizzle the flesh side of the salmon with 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, salt & pepper.
Lay it skin-side down in the skillet and cook until it turns pink about half way up the filet. The time this will take depends on how thick your filet is but, in general, I just flip it when it turns pink about half way up.
Flip then cook for another minute or two,
then add in the juice of the other lemon half.
When the juice has all but evaporated, carefully lift up a corner of the skin with a fork and peel it off. You can totally leave it on, but I prefer it off. It’s a personal choice every person has got to make! 
Look, we’re not even at 10 minutes yet!
Meanwhile, in the veggie skillet, add the spinach and toss until it’s wilted.
It should only take a minute or so.
Next, pour the cooked couscous into the veggies, toss to combine…
then plate!
YEEHAW! From the fridge to the plate in less than 15 minutes!
Can we talk about how much I love the flavors in this dish? Super bright lemon, sweeeeeet, sweet corn and fresh & lemony salmon. Total feel good food!
The idea for this meal actually came after Ben and I returned from 4 days of eating out at restaurants in DC and needed something a.) healthy b.) light and c.) prepared at home.
I asked Ben what he thought would fit the bill and he said, “salmon…cous…vegetables…” Done!
If you don’t like salmon, you could easily make this with chicken or tofu. Give it a whirl – you can’t say you don’t have the time!
Plus I bet this would go even quicker for the sane person who isn’t taking rapid-fire pictures of their food while they cook – aka YOU!
In other news, I braved the heat for a 3.5 mile run this afternoon and nearly had to army crawl my way up the driveway 30 minutes later. HAHahaha….sob! AKA, this girl is down for the count for the rest of the evening, although I may need to hop up at some point to experiment with a no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookie idea that appeared to me in a shimmery, heat wave vision on my run…
See ya’!
~~~~~
Do you like seafood or shellfish?
I love salmon for its versatility but I ADORE jumbo scallops. MMM! Could eat them all day long!
Love the salmon recipe – I have been looking for something easy but great tasting for a while! PS. I made Peanut Butter babies with choc. chips this weekend and they taste amazing – even better after a couple days of sitting in the fridge.
That’s totally the flavor that I’m craving!!
LOVE the looks of this dish. And even better that its attainable in under 15 min. Something that good can’t be waited on.
What would be a good alternative to cous cous?
Brown rice would work great – it’d just take a little linger to cook. A small pasta like ancini di pepe would be good too!
I love couscous! It’s such a forgotten and underrated grain. Thanks for the great recipe!
I love ALL shellfish and seafood
This looks really good!
Good idea! I’m a single lady so this meal will work great for me!
Funny how you can be SO drained, yet always have enough energy for chocolate and peanut butter, right?!
I sure hope you’ll share the peanut butter treat your dreaming up!
I want to love seafood but just can’t!!!
I’m from MA and it’s abundant around here.
I love seafood and shellfish! I looooove the Peach Bourbon Shrimp & Scallops from Red Lobster… think you could create an at-home recipe for that??? Pretty please?!
Ohhh, looks yummy! I love scallops and shrimp! I have a weird thing though about only eating fish in the spring/summer because I can’t stand making it inside for fear of a fishy smelling house.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE fish and have been craving it… this post didn’t help that! LOL
Shellfish I kinda have to be in the mood, sometimes I love shrimp other times… eeew. Lobster on the other hand….
That is a huge, beautiful piece of salmon. I could actually eat salmon for the rest of my life and be satisfied <3
That looks soo good!!
I totally went for a run after CrossFit today and thought (okay knew) I was crazzzzy! It was hot here in Alabama… love the meal! Look forward to trying it… I am a seafood lover. Loving the freedom I get with Salmon (it is good plain or with ginger or whatever) and love the shrimp
both…i like both.
I cannot stand the taste of any fishy food. I would rather eat dirt (not oreo crumbs, but actual dirt) than eat fish/seafood! I just cannot do the bones or the smell!
I have so much CousCous… time to dig it out and make it work! Maybe tomorrow.
This looks delicious! I always shy away from cooking fish because I never know how long to cook it, but clearly it doesn’t take long at all. Definitely making some salmon this week
I love seafood, but do not eat it enough! I made a dish with couscous in it tonight too! http://wealthshealth.blogspot.com/2011/05/chocolate-granola-sw-couscous-salad.html
I absolutely adore seafood,like crayfish or calamari,but I don’t enjoy eating fish for some reason.I think it’s because I never feel full after eating it.
Yum, delicious and healthy! You know, I’ve been meaning to try couscous forever but it seems intimidating to cook because I’ll probably make it way too dry… but then I suck at cooking, really. =S
The only seafood I will eat is shrimp, scallops, clams, crab, lobster tail, and smoked salmon. I don’t like fishy fish. So I guess I’m more of a shellfish person.
I’m loving that lemon couscous!
Ahhh! LOVE me some jumbo scallops! I make a summer succotash with edamame and scallops–TDF!!!
Weirdly, I don’t really like salmon, but I do enjoy wild salmon now and then. Copper River Wild King Salmon is the best–if you can find it. I worked at a high end seafood restaurant in college and we only got the Copper River in for a few weeks in the summer. It is the BEST, but it goes for about $32 a plate! Yowsa!
I love the simplicity and quick preparation of this meal! Great post
Yum- I <3 all of those ingredients and love me some salmon. I LOVE your blog IGE, it's inspiring me to experiment more with cooking!
Thanks C.!
It’s so true, Costco has the best Salmon! Thanks for the quick and easy recipe.
What a great dish! I have been trying to come up with more quick ideas of what to make my boyfriend for dinner (he is lactose intolerant) and this is a great one! I love how I could easily switch it up by using chicken or different veggies too. Thanks for sharing!
I’m bookmarking this! Salmon is my favorite fish, and all of this looks awesome!
I can’t believe you did all of that in less than 15 minutes. You are soooo ready to be on chopped! If you can make a meal like that in 15 minutes, even this busy New Yorker has no excuse for not cooking a balanced meal!
HAHAHA! I seriously have to watch Chopped peeking through my fingers because it gives me SUCH anxiety to see those poor souls try and make amazing dishes out of dirt, maraschino cherries, and trout…or something like that!
Oooh, I might have to try this! I don’t love salmon, but can deal with it on occasion. Shrimp I could eat on a daily basis. Cannot WAIT to hear what this PB/choc cookie treat is!
Yummy! I loved that you timed this!
Can’t wait to make this dish! It looks yummy, plus it’s so pretty! Thanks:)
Love salmon and shrimp! Will definitely try this recipe…love anything easy. Please share your no bake chocolate pb cookie idea soon!! I have been eating the oatmeal/pb/honey and chocolate chip no bake cookies that you posted awhile ago. Can you say addicted??!!
WOW! Beautiful dish and I’m seriously impressed by the short time it took to make and plate! The timer pictures are awesome, gotta love iPhones
i made salmon last night…i wish i had seen this recipe before i made mine! Yours is a great mix of fun and taste. Ok, next time.
[...] after recently gussying up Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes and Wild Salmon with Lemon CousCous with the jazzy juice, I mainlined it into tonight’s dinner of Lemon Chicken & [...]
I made this tonight and it was AMAZING!!!! I’m a new reader of your blof and I am already addicted. Trying another one of your recipes tomorrow night!
Oops—bloG, not blof! Haha!
I am already a self-professed lemon addict, and couscous is one of my favorite grains. Needless to say I made this, it was DELISH (thank you Kristin!), and it’s now a side dish staple for me. It’s really good with some already cooked, cubed up chicken breast tossed in, too…
Adding spinich with coucous- I will have to try that.
I made this tonight. YUM! It was really good, and so fresh and light. And made enough for the husband plus extra couscous+veggies for tomorrow! Thanks for posting it.