Marinated in Smugness?

Grilled Salmon on a Bed of Spinach and Black Beluga Lentils

This is my first instalment of How I cheat on my husband, and this recipe was inspired by what I had l had to use up in the fridge and what I found in the cupboard when searching for something else. You know how it is...

Serves 2

bag of spinach (250g?)
small onion or 2 spring onions
olive oil, garlic, freshly grated nutmeg, salt & pepper

2 salmon steaks
dash of lemon juice
coarse black pepper

1/2 pepper, orange
1 spring onion
100g of black Beluga lentils (1/2 cup)

(I don't know the calorie count or points; it's at the higher end as far as diet meals go because salmon is an oily fish, of course. The lentils add 150 calories for each person.)

As you can see, the lentils are tiny in comparison to green ones, and in their dried state certainly do make you think of Beluga caviar.

There's no need to pre-soak, you simply rinse them in water, then bring to the boil and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes or so. For a few more vegetables and colour, I added the spring onion and the pepper during the last 5 - 7 minutes (add them earlier if you don't like them crunchy). In the meantime, salt the fish, then give it a squeeze of lemon juice and add plenty of pepper. Put under a pre-heated grill.

Wash the spinach and remove as much water as possible. Heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic, add the spinach in batches. Once wilted, add more. Season with plenty of nutmeg and some salt and pepper. Assemble when the salmon is ready. Wait for the response.

This is so tasty! This is the nicest piece of salmon I have eaten for ages!

I kid you not. Of course, I hadn't done much to the salmon at all. In fact, I had simply treated it in the heart-healthy fashion. I told him that it was probably the quality of the fish: line-caught, from Waitrose.

"Ah," he said, "marinated in smugness for a few weeks!"

But so was I...
Sure, he felt he needed a couple of mandarins straight after, he also ate an apple and a banana later - but that's what we want: more fruit and veg. If he hadn't then made himself a sandwich after midnight, we would have been winning.

Tie me up, tie me down!

When contemplating what to do for Valentine's Day - go out/ stay in? - it occurred to me that I couldn't remember at all what we did last year. Just before the gruesome spectre of Mr Alzheimer got hold of me (again), it came back to me: of course, it was half term, and I'd taken two 13-year olds to Germany.
In the evening, I had a flotsam threesome (1) with my girl-friend of 30+ years (or was that 40??) and an ex-boyfriend.
And the year before that, I spent Valentine's Day with another girl-friend (whose husband was also away on business) and Antonio Banderas.
Only on screen, of course; but a large one; in Pedro Almodóvar's 1990 film 'Tie me up! Tie me down!'.

We had a veritable Spanish feast to go with it. Spanish wine and olives, of course.
Cherry tomatoes stuffed with black olive tapenade,

kumquats and chorizo on skewers,
kebabs of stuffed dates, melon balls and serrano ham.

All very decorative, all very time-consuming. Very tasty, quick and a keeper, however, was the Tomato, Spinach and Garbonzo (chickpea) Salad. It's also healthy and not too calorific (probably ~ 270 calories per portion).Unfortunately, I didn't write down the recipe, but from looking at the various ones on-line, it was - as usual - a conglomerate, probably like this:

Tomato, Spinach & Garbonzo (Chickpea) Salad, serves 4

3 ripe tomatoes (chopped)
baby spinach
1 can chick peas (drained)
1 medium red onion (finely chopped)
2 or more cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
juice of 1 lime
coriander or mint
flat-leafed parsley (optional)

Sauté 1/2 the onion for a few minutes, then the garlic, then wilt the torn spinach, leave to cool. Place with the chopped tomatoes , can of chickpeas, torn herbs and the rest of the onion in a large bowl.
For the dressing, combine extra virgin olive oil, lime juice, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour dressing over salad and toss gently to combine.

Tonight we're going out, by the way. The dishwasher couldn't be delivered, so we want to avoid at least one lot of washing up!

Have a happy Valentine's Day, everyone!
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(1) The original German expression is 'ein flotter Dreier' and means quite the opposite, a 'racy threesome' (in his dreams!), but as neither of us are as 'perky' and 'zippy' as we once were (two of the many other meanings of 'flott'), and the fact that we had nothing better to do on a day like Valentine's Day, brought about the idea of flotsam....