If you have been following my little blog here, you might have noticed that I’m a huge fan of pesto. It’s quick, easy, versatile and so very delicious. I started with the classic genovese pesto and over the years I tried out some more exciting variations. You can basically stick to a basic recipe and then go crazy with it. Every pesto needs olive oil, permesan or peccorino, garlic, salt and pepper, whatever nuts you fancy and some kinds of greens or dried tomatoes. In this little number I used a killer combination of roquette with cashew and pistachio nuts. The outcome is beyond amazing. If you have a little food processor it’s done in the time the pasta is cooked. So you see, there is no excuse at all to buy ready-made pesto in the supermarket (which sucks anyway most of the time…)
The combination of the nutty roquette mixed with the delicate nuts is just beyond amazing. You could easily enjoy this dish just with the pasta, but I like to add a little something more to it. Usually I add a couple of juicy king prawns to my pesto dish, but this time I went with some steamed salmon. It looks fancy, tastes amazing and it doesn’t add a minute to your overall cooking time.
Roquette pesto with linguine and steamed salmon
Ingredients
- 280 g linguine
- 250 g salmon filet
For the pesto
- 100 g roquette
- 2-3 stalks of basil
- 20 g cashew nuts
- 20 g pistachios
- 2 cloves of garlic
- A handful grated parmesan
- olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to package.
- When you put the pasta in the water, place a sieve or a mesh splash guard on top of the pasta pot.
- Season your salmon with salt, rub it with a splash of olive oil and place it in the sieve or on the splash guard. Cover with tin foil. The steam from the cooking pasta will do wonders to the salmon and it will be done the same time as the pasta.
- While the pasta is cooking, mix all the ingredients for the pesto in a small food processor.
- Add olive oil to the pesto until it's creamy.
- After 10 minutes take off your salmon and set aside.
- Drain the pasta and put it back into the pot.
- Add the pesto and mix well.
- Serve the pasta with the salmon crumbled over it. Enjoy!