Pesto & Cheese Crusted Salmon

This is another attempt at finding variety in cooking our beloved salmon. We can only eat so much Sinigang na Salmon or Grilled Salmons that I had to find an alternative way of serving it. Besides that salmon is one of our favourite fish, it's in season right now and abundant this time of the year therefore quite reasonable in price. I found this recipe, which I adapted from Delia Smith's How To Cook Book Two, very nice and quite tasty. I've tried it with both Pecorino and Parmesan cheese and they both did well in the medley. Cooked it also with and without the breadcrumbs. I favoured it with breadcrumbs because it made the crust very crunchy. But my husband preferred it without since he often mistake the some of the crunchy crust as fish bones and ended up not eating it. So whether you put breadcrumbs or not it's still very well recommended.


Pesto & Cheese Crusted Salmon

350 g  salmon fillets
2 Tbsp pesto sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp grated pecorino or parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp fresh breadcrumbs (optional)
squeeze of lemon juice
salt and freshly milled black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 230°C/fan 210°C/450°F/gas mark 8. Line a shallow baking tray with foil and lightly grease with oil.
2. Place the salmon fillets on the baking tray, skin side down.
3. Squeeze some lemon juice in each one of them and season with salt and black pepper.
4. Combine the pesto sauce and one-third of the breadcrumbs to form a paste and spread over the fillets.
5. Mix half of the cheese and the rest of the breadcrumbs. Spread this over the pesto.
6. Then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
7. Bake in the middle shelf of the oven for 10 minutes. Dish up and serve.