More Spelt & Fish | Salmon

My experiments with spelt continue. We're loving the nutty, chewy taste & it plays really well with nuts and beans. This is a little dish of loveliness I knocked up after scoring the most beautiful, fat, creamy avocado at the grocers. 

I think this recipe would also work with pearl barley which is a more hum drum ingredient & costs way less. 

Yummy Stuff 

Big cup of pearled spelt (it's the quickest to cook)

Stock paste or cube. I used chicken paste @1tspn.

1 red onion chopped

Handful of walnuts bashed 

Handful sunflower seeds 

Handful pumpkin seeds

8 black olives chopped

Packet French beans topped not tailed

Salmon fillets (I had four small ones @300gms for the lot)

Olive oil, rapeseed oil, soy  sauce, lemon juice.

Cooking it right nicely

Wash the spelt a few times before putting it in a saucepan with 3 cups of water. (have a kettle of hot water on standby to keep adding if the water gets absorbed - treat it like arborio rice). Put the pan on a medium heat, it'll take around 20 mins to cook. Which is plenty of time.

Put the onion in a large wide pan & sweat using some olive & rapeseed oil. Set aside. 

In the meantime, toast the pumpkin & sunflower seeds. Set aside to cool. 

In the onion pan place the fish skin side down & cook for@6 mins.

At the same time pop your green beans in a steamer or sieve over the spelt (top it up if you need to)

Flip the fish for a couple of mins. 

When the fish is cooked assemble the dish.

Mix the onion, toasted seeds & olives with the cooked spelt. 

Chop the beans & stir into the spelt. Spoon onto your plates. There's plenty for two big appetites with generous leftovers. 

Chop the avocado & divide between the two plates - on top of the spelty mixture. Add the fish & dress with lemon juice & soy.

Scoff!. 

I added oregano to the spelt & stock while cooking, I'm not convinced it added anything. I think chilli would definitely work.

I'm going to have the left over spelty, seedy, beeny mix with some crumbled feta & chorizo for lunch tomorrow.

This is packed with omegas & perhaps would be even better for you served on a bed of fresh spinach. 

I forgot to photograph it before we ate it