Salmon with Spinach and Chickpeas 

Salmon with Spinach and Chickpeas

Food styling: Clare Lewis. Styling: Sue Radcliffe

This is based on the delightful Spanish tapas of spinach with chickpeas, served here as a main with buttery strips of salmon, pine nuts and currants.

serves 4

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

25g pine nuts

25g currants

500g spinach

½ tsp ground cumin

a small pinch of saffron filaments (around 10)

400g chickpeas, drained and rinsed

sea salt, black pepper

400g skinned salmon fillets, cut across into 1cm-wide strips x 7cm-10cm long

lemon wedges, to serve 

  • Heat a teaspoon of oil in a 28cm nonstick frying pan over a medium-high heat and stir-fry the pine nuts and currants until the nuts are lightly golden, then transfer them to a bowl. Add another teaspoon of oil to the pan and fry about a third of the spinach until it wilts. Transfer this to a large bowl and cook the remainder in the same way. Add a tablespoon of oil to the pan, and stir in the cumin and saffron and then the chickpeas. Season and heat through. Mix into the spinach.
  • Spread the salmon strips over a plate and season them on one side. Lay half these over the base of the pan (without adding more oil) and sear for about 1 minute on the first side and 30 seconds on the second until lightly coloured and cooked through, then remove to a plate and cook the remainder. Serve the spinach with the salmon strips on top, scattered with the pine nuts and currants, accompanied by the wedges of lemon (you could char these in the pan at the end, if you like) .

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