Lemon Garlic Salmon with Herby Couscous

Ingredients

• 4 salmon fillets, about 140g each, skin on
• 3 cloves garlic, 2 finely grated, 1 for couscous
• 2 lemons, 1 zested and juiced for couscous, 1 for serving
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 240 ml hot vegetable or chicken stock
• 200 g instant couscous
• 150 g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 20 g fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• 20 g fresh mint, roughly torn
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 150 g Greek yogurt
• Dressed green salad, to serve

Method

1. Tip the couscous into a bowl, pour over the hot stock, stir once, then cover with a plate and leave to steam for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork until every grain is light and separate — no clumps, no claggy bits.
2. Stir the halved cherry tomatoes, lemon zest, lemon juice, parsley and mint through the warm couscous. Season generously with salt and black pepper, then taste — couscous drinks salt, so don't be shy.
3. Pat the salmon dry with kitchen paper and season all over with salt and black pepper. Water on the skin means steam, and steam means no crisp.
4. Heat the olive oil in a stainless or cast-iron frying pan over medium-high heat. Lay the salmon skin-side down, away from you, and press gently with a fish slice for the first minute so the skin stays flat against the pan. Cook undisturbed for 4–5 minutes until the skin is deeply golden and releases on its own — if it sticks, it isn't ready.
5. Flip the fillets. Drop in the butter and the grated garlic; it'll foam straight away. Tilt the pan and spoon the foaming butter over the salmon for 1–2 minutes, until the garlic is pale gold and nutty and the flesh is just opaque through the middle. Watch the garlic like a hawk — once it tips past gold it turns bitter and takes the whole pan with it.
6. While the salmon rests off the heat, stir the Greek yoghurt together with the remaining grated garlic, a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust now — sharper, saltier, your call.
7. Spoon the herby couscous onto plates and lay a salmon fillet on top. Drizzle the garlicky pan butter over the fish, spoon the garlic yoghurt alongside, scatter the extra chilli flakes over the yoghurt, finish with torn mint and parsley leaves and tuck a lemon wedge on each plate to squeeze over at the table.