Superb salmon pesto and asparagus bake

This salmon pesto and asparagus bake is a great dish idea for parties but not only. It is absolutely quick to make with almost no preparation at all.

Of course you can juggle and play with the sauces (on the fish) by choosing one you love and use for a long time or you can try something new.

You can also juggle with the vegetables. If you don’t have or like asparagus, you can choose a whole range of different vegetables that you can either easily bake and don’t take long to cook such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, swede, carrots, celeriac or, choose vegetable that you can quickly do a stir fry with, like a nice pak choi, kale, spinach, cavolo nero and so on. The choice is greatly dependent on what you like, what’s the seasonal availability or simply what your fridge can offer at that particular time.

The only secret to this recipe is to get a nice and plump asparagus. That’s all. 👍

This dish looks pretty impressive and needless to say, it is super, super healthy too!

It’s good to try new recipes because it opens that little gourmet creativity channel that shows what a great chef lies within. 😜

I strongly believe that we can all cook, and cooking is a skill that we are all born with. Courage and a little practice is necessary for that boost of confidence which is sometimes needed to send us in the kitchen, or even ……perhaps a glass of wine too?! 😂 😂

All that attitude of “I can’t cook, I can’t be bothered” needs to be abandoned completely. This is entirely my view as a keen cook. Give it a try and a chance, you woud never know what’s coming out of your hands otherwise.

I remember being just 7 or 8 years old when I have had my first unaided go in the kitcken and that was my first attempt to show myself and my parents that I could cook; it was only a polenta, a simple recipe to try for a 7-8 year old, but in reality….the outcome was…as you’d expect, far too inedible 😂.

Despite all of that, I do recall my parents getting prepared to take their ‘brick eating’ teeth out and give it a try, in a true effort to show their support 😁😄. Awwwww bless!!

Well, I gave it a go and a try and for them, that was all that mattered and for me was almost the same (I would have been a lot more pleased with a better polenta outcome ;-)) but ….what I was reaIly left with and what really got imprinted in my little head and remember even now was what that praise and encouragement meant for me and I have to say it did stay with me for quite some time. It was ‘The Fuel’, ‘The Wings’ to carry on and try again.

This is where I wanted to get I suppose that I strongly believe we do need to encourage our kids to learn all about cooking and eating healthily. Being able to discern between healthy and not so healthy food is greatly important. The earlier the better, it becomes a tabu, a routine and is not going to be a novelty which could later be misunterpreted and taken to all sorts of different hights. You know what I mean… but yes….

Getting back to this gorgeous dish, it needs no particular skills to prepare it at all, it is super convenient and really tasty, so please do give it a try and please do let me know what other fish toppings or sauces you’ve used.

Here’s the recipe! ☝️ 📢

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Superb salmon pesto and asparagus bake

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 1 salmon fillet (skin on)
• 3 tbsp pesto sauce
• 500 g plump asparagus
• soya sauce (optional)
• 1 lime (needed for its juice)
• 2 cloves garlic (finely grated)
• 2 tbsp macadamia nuts (grated or blended)
• 1/2 tsp mustard (wholegrain) (optional)
• 4 tbsp Parmesan cheese (optional) (finely grated)
• cherry tomatoes (on vine)
• 1/3 tsp Worchester sauce (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven at 190 C, 475 F, Gas Mark 5.
2. Take out the tray you wish to use for baking this beauty, place a sheet of parchment paper and then arrange the salmon fillet on that nicely. Season well with salt and pepper but careful, not too much salt as the pesto sauce has its own fair amount of salt.
3. In a small bowl mix the pesto sauce, garlic, macadamia nuts and the lemon juice. Mix well until well incorporated.
4. Spoon or brush the sauce over in a thin layer and top up with some thinly cut lemon slices.
5. Wash and place the asparagus around the fish fillet followed by the cherry tomatoes.
6. Drizzle some soya sauce and olive oil or sprinkle some finely grated Parmesan if you prefer over the asparagu. (I like both, so I alternate). In this recipe I have chosen a dash of soy sauce with few drops of Worchester sauce and the wholegrain mustard ).
7. Place the tray in the oven, covered with foil for the first 15 min of the cooking time, then remove and let it bake for another 10-15 min depending on the thickness of the fish fillet.
8. Serve hot along with some plain rice, lentil, crushed potatoes.

Recipe Notes

Recipe notes:

If your asparagus isn’t one of the plumpiest one you mught have to cook for less time as it will get too dry. You may choose to put it in a bit later.

Also, choose to sprinkle the asparagus with some nice parmesan cheese and it is just fab!