Well it's Monday once again. Wasn't it Friday like 5 minutes ago? I had a pretty great relaxing weekend as opposed to the last... I can't even remember how many which were packed solid with plans. I cooked, watched some movies, had a spa day, went shopping, laid out since the weather was perfect, tried out a new handcrafted cocktail bar and restaurant, had dinner with family, and got a lot done around the house! Next weekend we're heading out of town for the weekend, so it was nice to have a low key weekend for once. Today I thought I'd share with you a great weeknight recipe. This Basil-Walnut Pesto Baked Salmon & Veggies dish is extremely healthy, low-carb, and easy to make! And it's definitely not lacking in flavor. Salmon is actually one of the healthiest foods in the world. It's packed full of vitamin B12, vitamin D, potassium, selenium, protein, and omega-3 fatty acids just to name a few.
Have you guys noticed I love pesto? This one is slightly different than the pine nut basil/spinach version I've posted in the past. I use full on basil in this recipe and walnuts instead of pine nuts. It tastes very similar to my other pesto version, however it has more of a basil kick and the walnuts give it a slightly earthly, fruity, bitter taste. I like this version best with salmon. The rest of the ingredients are the same for this pesto: olive oil, Parmesan, garlic, salt, & pepper.
Add all ingredients except for the olive oil to a food processor and pulse until ingredients are well combined. Add olive oil and process again until smooth. Place aside.
For the rest of this recipe all you'll need is your prepared pesto, a couple salmon filets, fresh green beans, grape tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and aluminum foil. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Steam green beans for a few minutes then drain and place in a medium-sized bowl. Toss with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place half of the green beans on the bottom of one large piece of aluminum foil and the other half on another.
Prepare salmon filets by drizzling each side with a little lemon juice and then sprinkling with salt and pepper.
Place the salmon filet on top of the green beans and spread with pesto. Halve the grape tomatoes and add to the same bowl used for the green beans. Toss with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Place tomatoes on top of the salmon then wrap the entire stack up completely in the aluminum foil. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Once your Basil-Walnut Pesto Baked Salmon & Veggies is cooked to perfection, remove from the oven. Unwrap and transfer each to a plate. The vegetables and salmon are so tender they fall right apart and the flavor is to die for! If I get a big enough salmon filet sometimes I'll eat half for dinner and bring the other half for lunch the next day! Enjoy! I'm off to binge watch Scandal season 5 on Netflix!
- Homemade Basil-Walnut Pesto:
- 1 cup fresh basil
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ cup Parmesan
- ¼ cup walnuts
- ⅔ cup olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- Salmon & Veggies:
- 4 tbsp. Basil-Walnut Pesto
- ½ - ¾ lb fresh green beans, ends trimmed
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
- 2 4-6oz salmon filets
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. olive oil, divided
- salt & pepper to taste
- Two large sheets of aluminum foil
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Prepare Basil-Walnut Pesto: add basil, garlic, Parm, walnuts, salt and pepper to food processor and pulse until combined. Add olive oil and process until smooth. Place aside.
- Steam green beans for a few minutes. Drain.
- Add green beans to a medium-sized bowl. Toss with ½ tbsp. olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Place half the green beans on the bottom of one large sheet of aluminum foil and the other half on another.
- Drizzle salmon filets with 1 tbsp. lemon juice each and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Place salmon filets on top of green beans.
- Spread 2 tbsp. of the pesto on top of each salmon filet.
- Add tomatoes to the same bowl used for the green beans.
- Toss with the other ½ tbsp. olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Place tomatoes on top of the salmon filets.
- Wrap each stack completely in the aluminum foil.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from aluminum foil and serve.
Warez
Thanks!