Salmon fillet wrapped in prosciutto with herby lentils – Jamie Oliver The Return of the Naked Chef

I think I’ve mentioned before I like Jamie Oliver’s style of cooking. I tried a couple of his recipe books before seeing him on television and for some reason I didn’t see him on tv for many years, not even in the Sainburys ads (recently I found out the mother of one of Conor’s school friends also liked his recipes so signed him to Sainsburys). Unlike Nigella he thinks about the vegetables and making them an integral part of the meal. I got his book The Return of the Naked Chef years ago and cooked a few things from it although I still have a number of recipes to try. From memory everything has been enjoyable but this is the recipe that we liked so much we can make it without the cookbook now. The prosciutto keeps the salmon moist and its salty taste complements the taste of the salmon and cuts through the oiliness of the fish beautifully, (it looks better if you leave a bit of the salmon exposed top and bottom of the prosciutto). I could eat the herby lentils and spinach quite happily as a meal on its own and sometimes do when the rest of the family are eating shepherds pie as I hate mashed potato. The yogurt seems like an odd addition on dinner but it absolutely works here.

The quantities here serve 4 (adults), and it takes about 1/2 hour to cook. Whilst our boys are great at trying different food getting them to like lentils and spinach has a way to go yet, so if you’re doing this as a family meal you may want to halve the spinach and lentils quantities and include some other vegetables. You don’t really need extra carbohydrates in this meal but if you have people with large appetites a small baked potato or plain boiled rice works well.

Ingredients

• 
175g/6oz lentils
• 4 x 225g/8oz salmon fillets, skinned and pin-boned
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 slices of prosciutto
• olive oil
• juice of 1 lemon
• 4 large handfuls of spinach, chopped
• 2 good handfuls of mixed herbs (flat leaf parsley, basil, mint), chopped
• 200ml/7fl oz natural yoghurt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 220c/425f/Gas 7
2. Put the lentils into a pan, cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer until tender.
3. Season the salmon fillets with a little pepper before wrapping them in the prosciutto slices. Leave some of the flesh exposed.
4. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven for around 10 minutes until the prosciutto is golden. Feel free to cook the salmon for less time if you prefer your salmon pinker.
5. Drain away most of the water from the lentils, and season carefully with salt, pepper, lemon juice and 4 good lugs of olive oil.
6. Just before serving, stir the herbs and spinach into the lentils on a high heat, until wilted. 
Place onto plates with the salmon and finish with a drizzle of lightly seasoned yoghurt.

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