Salmon pesto pasta
This is definitely one of my new favorite 30-minute meals!
Pasta is one of my absolute favorite foods! I grew up in an Italian family so we had pasta at least once a week. On Sundays we had spaghetti, meatballs & salad, on Wednesdays we had chicken cacciatore, & Fridays we had pasta fagioli (delicious bean soup). I feel lucky that I grew up in a family with some pretty decent cooks!
These days I don’t eat red meat and hardly ever eat chicken so I like to try some new ways to make pasta dishes align with my diet & add more nutrients. I decided to cut out gluten for the next couple months to do a little experiment on myself for some GI issues but that’s for another blog post!
I have to admit I’m not a big meal prepper, aside from doubling the portion I make to have leftovers for the next day. When deciding on what to make for dinner, I hardly ever look for a recipe & then go shop for the ingredients. I normally just see what I already have in the house & find a recipe that includes most of the ingredients I have. It’s easy to do this when I have my main staples in the pantry:
Some of my pantry staples: Sea salt & pepper, fresh garlic or garlic powder, oregano, basil, parsley, cumin, turmeric, thyme, good quality olive oil, avocado oil, onion, bell peppers (fresh or frozen), dry or canned beans & lentils, tomato sauce (jarred or homemade), all kinds of nuts, peanut butter, pasta, oats, brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, banana, frozen veggies & berries - just to name a few!
I’m a huge Trader Joe’s fan... that’s exactly where all the ingredients in this dish happen to be from. Hardly any of their products have ingredients you can’t pronounce & they have some great sauces, dips, & frozen entrees. I’ll definitely write a post on my favorite TJ items soon! The highlight of this dish is their vegan kale cashew basil pesto.
Although this pasta dish isn’t authentic Italian (more of an American dish), it’s delicious & full of flavor, healthy fat, & easy to make! I searched for a salmon pesto recipe & found one that I liked but made a few tweaks. I made sure to only use a small amount of pasta to keep the proportion of veggies, protein, & carbs would still match the healthy plate method. (See my Instagram post on the HPM here)🌱
SALMON & OMEGA-3 FATS:
🐟 Did you know fish is high in omega-3 fats because they eat algae in the sea?! This is why I recommend taking algae supplements if you’re vegan & need to boost your intake of omega-3 fats. These help to reduce inflammation and support overall health, especially heart health, which is critical for people with diabetes.
🐟 You can definitely get omega-3 fats from a vegan diet from foods like walnuts, chia, hemp, & ground flaxseeds. I eat MOSTLY plant-based but I do have salmon once a week because it’s delicious & an easy way to boost my intake of healthy fats.
Now, here’s the recipe I adapted from Salt & Lavender:
SALMON PESTO PASTA RECIPE:
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
1 pound fresh or frozen wild caught salmon
½ red bell pepper, sliced
¼ yellow onion, chopped
1 ½ Cups broccoli florets
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon vegan butter
Sea salt & pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 garlic cloves, minced
Gluten-free flour for dredging - (I recommend Bob’s Red Mill - All Purpose Flour)
1/2 cup vegetable (or chicken) broth or dry white wine
1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Vegan Kale Cashew pesto
1 teaspoon lemon juice optional but highly recommended
Freshly grated parmesan cheese optional
8 ounces uncooked pasta ( I used TJ’s gluten-free brown rice pasta - tastes just like real pasta to me!)
Instructions:
Boil a salted pot of water for your pasta and cook it al dente according to package directions.
Sprinkle the salmon with the garlic powder and some salt & pepper. Coat it in flour on all sides.
In a skillet, heat the oil and butter over medium-high heat. Cook the salmon for about 3 minutes/side until lightly golden.
Take the pan off the heat. Remove the salmon to a plate and set aside.
Return pan to burner & add all of the vegetables to the pan, adding a little more oil if needed to coat the vegetables & cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes until starting to brown & soften a little.
Add the garlic & cook for 30 more seconds.
Add the broth and pesto and cook for about 30 seconds while scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add in the lemon juice and let the sauce bubble for about a minute. Add the salmon back in and break it into pieces with your spoon. Reduce the heat and let it gently cook for another 5 minutes or so (the sauce will thicken up as well).
Drain the pasta and toss it with the sauce.
Serve immediately with freshly grated parmesan cheese if desired. Enjoy!
RECIPE NOTES:
Don’t let the “gluten-free” name in this recipe turn you off. This pasta tastes just like the real thing! You can also just use regular or whole wheat pasta.
If you want to follow the Healthy Plate Method, make sure you only add 1/2 bag/box pasta so the proportion of vegetables & salmon is more than the pasta. You can adjust to your liking/dietary needs. - I recommend mostly veggies, ¼-⅓ salmon & ¼ pasta to make the dish balanced.
The lemon juice is optional because some jarred pestos already have lemon in it, and the sauce can end up too tangy. You can always add it at the end to be sure. The TJ’s vegan kale cashew pesto needed the extra lemon in my opinion.
Extra olive oil - If you use another brand of pesto or make it homemade, you may need to adjust the amount of oil you use in the recipe since some pesto can be much oilier than others. The one I used in this recipe has very little oil so I added an extra tablespoon.
Mangia!
x - Nicole