I love salmon because of all the good stuff in it -- it is packed with Omgea-3 fatty acids, it's high in protein and a single serving delivers your daily requirement of Vit. D. But the flavour can be quite, err, assertive. In this recipe, I called in the pesto troops to temper that "salmon-ness."
Why walnut pesto? I didn't happen to have pine nuts handy. But it turned out well, even if I do say so myself :-)
Baked salmon with walnut pesto
Serves two.
Make the pesto. Throw in a handful of walnuts, 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil and four cloves of chopped garlic into a food processor and pulse until it is blended but still chunky. Add two cups of fresh, washed basil leaves in batches until the mixture is smooth and thick. Blend in one-fourth cup grated Parmesan cheese. Add a little brown sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice -- the sugar balances the flavours and the lemon juice keeps the basil from turning brown upon exposure to air.
Meanwhile, wash one large salmon fillet and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper. Grease your baking dish (I used a shallow, oven-safe ceramic fish plate) with some olive oil. Lay the fish on top and pour the pesto over. Bake in a preheated 350 F oven around 20 minutes.
2 comments:
I love salmon, too. My sis-in-law drizzles it with extra virgin olive oil and bakes it with a plently of halved cherry tomatoes, onions, chopped parsley, salt, pepper and lemon slices. This is one of her specialty meals but I think this is the usual way to do it. Your walnut pesto however looks like a delicious alternative. Yum.
With tomatoes? Oh yes, that's wonderful too. And now that the tomatoes in the garden are threatening to swamp me with fruit in a few weeks, I reckon I'll be cooking with toms pretty much constantly...
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