Herb-Crusted Salmon with Lentil Salad and Bliss Potatoes with Sour Cream and Caviar

We had guests for dinner so the group was up to 9 including our grandchildren and 10 counting Charlie's friend Alec who came in when we were all sitting around talking after dessert and ate a big plate of salmon, lentils and potato. Ellie made dessert which was the banana mango napoleons and just as yummy as the first time we made it.

The salmon was really good and worked fantastically with the lentils. Both were prepared with a lot of parsley and basil. I was skeptical about putting the salmon over direct heat because the other recipe I use a lot for salmon (Salmon with Brown Sugar and Mustard Glaze) rests in a tray made of aluminum foil and cooks on indirect. But this turned out just right. I had a little trouble determining when it was done but the consensus seemed to be that I guessed right. Any hints from the readers would be appreciated and don't tell me - when it gets flaky. I know that. The trick is when is it JUST right? The book says - "until just opaque at the thickest part" but that is also hard to figure out. Maybe I will look at YouTube and see if there is an old video of Julia Childs giving a demo.

The lentils were a surprise. Everyone from our grandson (age 7) on up ate 'em up. Even our Goddaughter Mary (age 16) said the food was rad. I have never cooked lentils before so when the directions said to "remove any small stones" I was glad Ellie was there to take a look and tell me there weren't any. She also told me to cut more of the scallions than I had been. She said to keep cutting up the green stalk until "you get up to where it starts to get scuzzy (or maybe it was funky)." The salad is a mixture of herbs, lentils and couscous and is very good and not that hard to make. Highly recommended.

The potatoes did not start well but turned out great. If you ever make these, I would recommend doing the boiling and cutting part ahead of time so when your guests are arriving you can just pop them on the grill for a few minutes and then they are ready to serve. I was rushing around doing other things so I just brought the grilled potatoes in on a plate and let everyone add their own sour cream, caviar and chervil leaves. They had a little contest to see who could make one that looked the most like the one in the picture. I think Mary was also adding touches to hers like making it look like a smiley face. Anyway, they were yum. The caviar was brought to us over the Christmas holiday by a colleague from Russia! It was red caviar and really fantastic! Thanks Svetlana!

Did I mention the banana-mango napoleons for dessert? We didn't move from the table for hours.

Mark