Basil-Wrapped Salmon and Zucchini Pesto Tagliatelle

Description

I made this "zucchini pesto" because I had a leftover zucchini, but actually it tasted pretty good. Wrapping the salmon in basil is a really healthy method of poaching the fish whilst giving it a flavour kick.

add to shopping list Ingredients

**For the zucchini pesto**

1 zucchini, sliced
1 red chilli, de-seeded
2 cloves garlic, peeled and whole
handful of basil leaves
squeeze of sun-dried tomato puree
olive oil
salt and pepper
juice of half a lemon

**For the salmon**

one boneless, skinless salmon fillet
handful of basil leaves
olive oil
salt and pepper
juice of half a lemon

Preparation

First, make the pesto.

1. Brush the zucchini slices, garlic and chilli with olive oil. Grill or griddle on a low heat until they have softened and have a little colour.

2. Blitz the above in a blender. Add the basil leaves, tomato paste and lemon juice. Blitz. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add olive oil to your preferred consistency.

This makes enough for at least 2 servings. Simply stir it into cooked pasta.

Poach the salmon.

1. Score and season the salmon with salt and pepper. Lay a large piece of cling film on a clean work surface. Drizzle the center with olive oil and lay some basil leaves flat - enough for the salmon to lie on.

2. Put the salmon on top of the bed of basil. Lay more basil on top of the salmon and drizzle with olive oil. Squeeze over the lemon juice.

3. Wrap the salmon in the cling film tightly to create a beautiful green parcel. Put some water on the boil.

4. Keep the water gently simmering and lower the parcel into the water. It will need 10 - 15 mins, depending on the thickness of your salmon fillet.

5. Remove from the water and let cool for a minute. Unwrap the parcel carefully so as not to pull off any basil leaves. Let the fish rest for another minute. Get a sharp knife, slice and serve.

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Reviews

8/14/12

ABlakRum says:

1" fillets, 9 minutes still a bit long...
The firmer the flesh the easier to get that nice presentation. We cut out the pasta and just went with cubed zuch, mush, and onions. What ingenuity and inspiration.... Je vous remercie

8/14/12

junkiepop says:

This is a dumb question: won't the cling film melt? or have its plasticky taste transferred to the leaves/salmon?

8/14/12

piranhasushi616 says:

This is great!

8/14/12

MikeDrawback says:

this is making me drool buckets

8/14/12

saint says:

I made this, it was delicious. The pasta was pretty much perfect. My basil did not stay as bright as yours and was a little difficult to cut as neatly as you did (I have good knives). I left it in for 11ish minutes, I think I will aim for around 9 next time.

8/14/12

sintaks says:

I gave this a go last night. Didn't look as pretty as yours, but it tasted great. Kudos.

8/14/12

islandg19 says:

My God, this looks superb

8/14/12

Mariska says:

i love pasta love salmon too, and the basil add more fragrant to it, yummy

8/14/12

wokkingmum says:

Wow! This looks awesome!!

8/14/12

Judy2 says:

oooooh! this looks like the Ultimate Pasta!

8/14/12

yongfook says:

it was just normal pasta :)

8/14/12

Vivren says:

Looks fantastic! Did you use regular pasta and the zucchini pesto dyed it green or was it a spinach pasta?

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