Oh me oh my, this Moroccan Salmon. Did you know I’ve been wanting to go to Morocco forever? Forever. I want to see the gorgeous architecture, sleep a night or two in the desert, and eat delicious flavorful Moroccan food. But taking a big trip right now is so far down on the priority (or spending) list. I’m going to what feels like a thousand weddings this summer/fall and I know it’s only the beginning. So I will have to just experience Morocco vicariously through this delicious tasting salmon until I save up enough to finally visit!
I don’t eat salmon (or basically any seafood) all that often because of how expensive it is. I get pretty frustrated with how expensive healthy food is and could rant to you all about it from a public health stand point…but I won’t do that to you.
BUT here’s the good news. I got this salmon from a delivery service called Sizzlefish. Sizzlefish delivers frozen, top quality, individually portioned fish straight to your door for a great price! I got the Paleo Prime Plus, which includes 14 portions of salmon, halibut, haddock, Atlantic cod, shrimp and scallops for a total of $91.95 resulting in about $6.50 per portion! I mean $6.50 for perfectly portioned scallops or Atlantic cod? That’s amazing. Way better than my grocery store prices. And, I love how you don’t have to weigh out how much to eat. They are already portioned into an individual serving.
Some of you may be skeptical by the idea that it’s frozen and not fresh but Sizzlefish flash-freezes their fish as soon as possible, ensuring top quality and delicious taste. And, after I thawed and cooked the fish myself, I can say that I really don’t notice a difference between theirs and fresh fish that I buy at the store. It still tasted great! I can’t wait to make more dishes with the other fish.
So let’s talk about this Moroccan Salmon. It’s rubbed in tasty and flavorful Moroccan spices, like cumin, cinnamon, smoked paprika, ginger, turmeric, and cayenne pepper. Then it is seared on both sides on medium high heat. Because, these salmons were perfectly portioned at 4 ounces each, it took almost no time to cook. I cooked this fish in about 7 or so minutes on a skillet. Squeezed with a little lemon juice, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and voila…delicious Moroccan Salmon.
To balance out the full-flavored salmon, I made a herb apricot couscous salad. The couscous is cooked and cooled and then mixed with apricots, mint, parsley, olive oil, lemon, and salt and pepper. Now that I’m thinking about it, I would totally add some feta in there too…because obviously everything is better with cheese. Okay, add feta cheese and you’ll thank me! It’s light and refreshing and honestly so delicious…I could eat it all the time. But like, that would be too many carbs, so I cannot.
The couscous that I use is Bob’s Red Mill Traditional Pearl Couscous. They have so many different kinds of coucous, it was a little overwhelming to go couscous shopping. So I just chose traditional, but any couscous will work!
Anyways, I am so in love with this dish. Knowing that I can go home and eat it after work is the only thing that is getting me through my 9-5 desk job today. I hope you feel the same excitement about this dish as I do! Enjoy the recipe 🙂
Moroccan Salmon & Apricot Couscous Salad
Ingredients
Apricot Couscous Salad
- 1 cup Couscous uncooked
- 1 cup Dried Apricots chopped
- 1/3 cup Mint Leaves julienned
- 1/3 cup Parsley chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper
Moroccan Salmon
- 4 4- ounce filets of Salmon
- 1 teaspoon Cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon Smoke Paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon Ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric
- 1/8 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- Juice of 1 Lemon
Instructions
Apricot Couscous Salad
- Cook the cup of couscous according to the package directions
- While couscous is cooking, chop the apricots and parsley, and slice the mint into thin strips
- Once the couscous is done cooking, let cool for 5-10 minutes
- Mix in the apricots, parsley, and mint to the couscous
- Drizzle with the lemon juice and olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper to taste
- Place in the refrigerator while you make the salmon
Moroccan Salmon
- Pat salmon dry
- Mix together all the spices in a bowl
- Rub each filet of salmon with the spices (on both sides if the salmon has skin removed) until evenly coated
- Heat olive oil in a skillet on medium-high heat
- Place each filet with skin down and cook on medium-high heat for 3 minutes
- Flip the salmon and cook on medium-high heat for another 3 or so minutes until the salmon is cooked all the way through
- Remove salmon from the skillet and serve with the apricot couscous salad
- Serve and enjoy!
Pat Heinrich
Can’t wait to try this – looks delicious. Encourage everyone to read the FAQs and specifically “Is your fish wild-caught or farm-raised?” section. The issue about the quality of your farm raised fish is important. I would not recommend buying from chain grocery stores as much (esp. shrimp) comes from China. I also suggest avoiding those that are “overfished”.
Anna
Just made this and WOW! It was delicious and I love how the flavors balanced each other out. I will definitely be making this again!
leangreennutritionfiend
Hi Anna, thank you for your comment and so glad you loved the salmon 🙂