Pesto salmon with roasted pumpkin is a wonderful idea for a light and healthy meal. You can make it either for lunch or dinner. It won’t take you much time to make it. In fact, pan-fried salmon fillet, delicious pesto and creamy roasted pumpkin can be on your table in only 30 minutes.
At least four healthy ingredients are awaiting you in this recipe. Fish, nuts, spinach and pumpkin just make a great and delicious dish. But let’s start with fish. I love fish, in particular, salmon, trout and gilt-head bream.
For instance, here you can check my other fish recipes: whole baked trout with carrots, a delicious grilled salmon with avocado mayo, a stunning bacon-wrapped trout, a light salmon in tomato fennel sauce, unusual caramelized garlic salmon or the cute salmon egg cups.
However, I used salmon. I love the pink colour and the taste is just amazing. Moreover, salmon is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are actually good for your body. In other words, salmon is healthy.
Instead of potatoes, I used pumpkin. Do you like pumpkin as much as I do? I love the creamy texture and let’s not forget the stunning vibrant colours. In this occasion, I decided on Hokkaido pumpkin. The bright orange colour is absolutely fantastic.
Consequently, I use Hokkaido most of the times; amazing truffle pumpkin pizza, a classic with a twist mac and cheese, soft pumpkin buns, sweet pumpkin churros and roasted risotto filled butternut squash.
In addition, I made a spinach pesto, too. I wanted to use as many different ingredients as I could. For example, for a surprise effect, I picked pomegranate. I love those small popping seeds. As a result, you’ll get a lovely dish packed with textures and flavours. Sounds delicious, right?
I love making pesto myself. Usually with basil, rocket or Savoy cabbage. This time I made one with spinach and sunflower seeds. The taste will amaze you. In fact, spinach and sunflower seeds are not the only two ingredients. Besides them, there’s also, soy sauce, black pepper, cilantro and some other little things.
Ingredients for 1 portion of pesto salmon with roasted pumpkin:
- 150 g of salmon
- 1/4 of a small pumpkin
- 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
- 2 handfuls of fresh spinach (keep some leaves on a side)
- 1-2 branches of cilantro
- ½ lemon (juice)
- salt and black pepper
- 1 tsp of dark soy sauce
- 1/4 pomegranate
- olive oil
Start by preparing the spinach pesto. Wash well the spinach leaves. Try to remove all of the small sand grains. Once washed and drained, transfer them in a plastic container where you can use the immersion blender.
Moreover, add the cilantro, lemon juice, sunflower seeds, soy sauce and olive oil. Season well and blend until you get an almost smooth consistency.
After the pesto is ready, start with the pumpkin. As mentioned before, I used the Hokkaido pumpkin. I simply love it! If you don’t find a pumpkin, sweet potato will work just great.
Preheat the oven at 200ºC. Take half of the pumpkin, wash it and scoop out all of the seeds and the stringy insides. Then cut the pumpkin (skin on) into 3 cm big cubes. Place the pumpkin on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and drizzle it with some olive oil, season with some salt and roast it for 20-25 minutes or until tender.
In the meantime, take a frying pan and prepare the salmon. Since I wanted a crispy skin, I had to wait the pan was really really hot. Drizzle some olive oil in the pan and after it gets hot, lay in the salmon (skin side up). You’ll see the salmon colour will start changing and becoming paler.
Only when the pale colour it reaches one centimeter high, you flip the salmon on the skin side. Fry for about 4-5 minutes or until the skin becomes crispy.
At this point, you have just the time to clean the pomegranate seeds. Try to be gentle, since they can be very delicate and pop at any time.
Serve the pesto salmon with roasted pumpkin together with some fresh spinach leaves and some lovely red pomegranate seeds sprinkled over the plate. I hope you will enjoy this combination of textures and flavours.
Enjoy!
PS
If you like the recipe, if you make the recipe or if you have any new ideas how to improve or change it, let me know in the comments section below or alternatively share your photos and reactions with me on Instagram (@Passionspoon), Facebook or Twitter (@PassionSpoon1). Simply use the hashtag #passionspoonrecipes in your posts. I would love to see them! (wink)
