HEALTHY FOOD so TASTY you'll
want to eat it EVERYDAY.
SALMON WITH A PESTO DRESSING
Make the pesto dressing ahead of time (it keeps for while...click here for other uses) and you have an amazingly tasty meal with very little effort, making this a perfect recipe for busy week nights or meal-prepping.
Salmon cooked with a pesto dressing a topped with pine nuts.
PESTO PREP TIME: 5 min
SALMON PREP TIME: 5 min
COOK TIME: 12 min
SERVES: 4
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE PESTO DRESSING
🌿 1 cup (240 ml) olive oil
🌿 3 cloves garlic
🌿 1 cup (20 g) fresh basil leaves
🌿 2 TBSP (20 g) pine nuts
🌿 2 TBSP (20 g) parmesan cheese
🌿 2 TBSP (30 ml) fresh lemon juice
🌿 ½ tsp salt
FOR THE SALMON
🐟 4 salmon filets
🐟 Salt to season
🐟 2 TBSP (30 ml) sunflower or olive oil
🐟 Prepared Pesto Dressing
🐟 Pine nuts to garnish
MAKE THE DRESSING
Blend all the dressing ingredients together, pour into an air-tight container and set aside to let the flavors infuse (can be made days in advance…it will keep!).
COOK THE SALMON
(TIP: Remove salmon from the fridge at 15-20 minutes before cooking so it can come closer to room temperature)
1) Preheat oven to 350F/180C
2) Season salmon with salt on both sides.
3) Heat a large frying pan over med-high heat, add oil and sear salmon (top side down), 2-3 minutes until a golden-brown crust starts to form.
4) Remove the salmon from the pan, place (top side up) in an oven-proof baking dish and pour a generous amount of pesto dressing over the browned salmon.
5) Cook in preheated oven 8-10 minutes, until the white protein starts to bubble and leak out the sides.
Season salmon with salt on both sides.
Heat a large frying pan over med-high heat, add oil and sear salmon (top side down), 2-3 minutes until a golden-brown crust starts to form.
Remove the salmon from the pan, place (top side up) in an oven-proof baking dish and pour a generous amount of pesto dressing over the browned salmon.
Read to go into the oven...
Cook in preheated oven 8-10 minutes, until the white protein starts to bubble and leak out the sides. This is what it looks like when it comes out of the oven.
SERVE
Spoon some of the pan juices over the fish, top with pine nuts and serve next to veggie of choice (pictured with asparagus)
Spoon pan juices over the salmon
Recipe & Photo Credit: Cathy Menees
COOKS NOTES
OVEN COOK TIME
The cooking time will vary by the thickness of your salmon filets. The best test of ‘doneness’ for salmon is when the white protein starts to bubble and leak out the sides.
PAN-SEARING IN BATCHES
The salmon filets you see pictured where quite large, so not all 4 fit into the pan at one time. No worries, if you have the same issue, just work in batches to brown them before transferring to the oven-proof dish.
