Dinner in 15 minutes max!

Well, after successfully finishing my painting, I then prepared a well earned dinner, to be eaten on a tray, on my lap in front of the fire and X Factor. Heaven.

Sister Kate had given me a recipe for her favorite dinner, but as I couldn't get all of the ingredients in my local shop, I had to improvise, so this is the improvised version.

Stephen must have got wind that something tasty was going to be dished up chez Helen, as he text to say he'd be arriving in time for dinner and X Factor too, nice one!

Anyway, on to dinner:

Boil kettle and put the oven on to a low heat (just to keep things warm)

Chop and mash the following all together; half a green chilli, juice of half a lime, a garlic clove, handful of fresh coriander leaves and stalks, teaspoon of thai fish sauce and half a teaspoon of Chinese 5 spice mix (Kate's recipe had fresh ginger and mint leaves also and no Chinese 5 spice).

Spoon the fragrant mix over your flesh side up salmon (supermarket had a great deal on, so I bought a lovely load of salmon), again, as much as you fancy - but I used 2 large darnes.  Then just leave, flipping over after 5 minutes (don't leave too long, as the lime juice will 'cook' it).


Dissolve half a stock pot (jellied stock) into a pint of boiled water and add enough thick rice noodles to satisfy 2.  They'll be cooked in 10 minutes.

I had leeks in the fridge, so I chopped half a leek finely and a shallot (Stephen can't cope with Onions, but we wont go into that), half a bag of beansprouts and the other half of the bag of watercress, spinache and chard left over from lunch.  

Heat up your wok or frying pan, add a small amount of light oil (vegetable, sunflower or grapeseed) then add a couple of drops of sesame oil (not too much as it can be overpowering). Once it's nice and hot, add your leeks and shallots and toss around until they're nice and cooked a crispy.  Put aside on a warmed plate and leave to keep warm in the oven.

Make sure the pan is nice and hot again and add your salmon, skin side down, for 2 minutes, then flip over and put a lid on and turn the heat down and leave for 5 minutes.

Your noodles will be well ready by now.

Spoon your cooked noodles into your 2 bowls (the ones you'll be eating out of) and put those in the oven to keep warm too.

Remove the salmon (once cooked) and place on the leeks to keep warm in the oven.

Add the beansprouts and greens to the pan, toss them around to scoop up all the flavours, then add a little soy sauce and the stock from the noodles.  Cook for 2 minutes and hey presto, you're done!

Take out your noodle bowls and salmon from the oven and assemble.

Layer the leeks and shallots over the noodles, then the beansprout mix, then place the salmon on top and spoon the juices over.

Load up tray with food, white wine and water and don't forget napkins, as this is a bit gloopy and you don't want to wreck the sitting room.

Enjoy!

Hx