Salmon with Lentils

 June 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2023

I learned about this classic French preparation, Saumon Aux Lentilles,  on a recent episode of America's Test Kitchen on TV. Salmon is our favorite fish and this recipe seemed to provide a new and easy method to prepare it. In addition, the lentils, which we had heretofore only had in soup, seemed a good pairing for the fish, so this recipe made it onto my list of things to try.

I made a few modifications to the ingredients: I cooked two rather than four salmon filets, used green lentils in place of French du Puy lentils (hard to find), and replaced sherry vinegar with red wine vinegar. 

First the lentils were prepared. Onion, celery, and carrot were diced fine and cooked with salt in olive oil until softened. Minced garlic, tomato paste, dried thyme, and pepper were added and cooked. Water and lentils were stirred into the mixture and simmered until the lentils were tender. Just before serving vinegar, Dijon mustard, and olive oil were stirred into the lentils. The lentil preparation, mostly hands off, took about 70 minutes. 

The salmon was brined for 15 minutes then patted dry with paper towels. It was placed, skin-side down, in a cold non-stick skillet that had been sprinkled with salt and pepper. Additional salt and pepper were sprinkled on the top of the salmon and the skillet was heated on medium-high. The salmon was cooked until the skin started to brown and the bottom ¼-inch turned opaque. The salmon was carefully turned over and cooked to 125°. It took about 15 minutes to cook the salmon. The total time to prepare lentils and salmon was about 85 minutes.

We both liked this dish. This simple method of cooking the salmon ensured that the flavor of the fish was preeminent with no distractions from a sauce or glaze. We also liked the lentils and can imagine fixing them again to go with other entreés. They provide a a strong earthy accompaniment to the rich salmon. For leftovers the lentils were simply reheated while cooking two new salmon filets.