Homemade Italian Pesto with salmon - yummy!

My first home-made Pesto last Monday was a success! (though not as green as I hoped it would be). I was in the supermarket and saw that the Basilikum plant was on discount, so I figured out why not try making my own Pesto? It was quite easy actually and really yummy. My plant was young, so I didn´t have as many leaves as I´d hoped to have. All the leaves have already been depleted, which means that I would have to wait for the new leaves to grow again....

My Basilikum plant, fresh Italian Parmesan, pine nuts, extra virgin olive oil, onions

Grinding......my beanie helped of course

Into a green pesto 

Wala! The final product, complete with salmon, garlic bread and white wine..... 

     1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

     2. Place salmon in an ovenproof dish and season it with Italian herbs, salt and pepper.

     3. Grill salmon in oven for about 15-20 mins or until cooked.

     4. In the meantime, cook about 200 grams of pasta in slightly-salted water.

       
     5. Halfway through the cooking of the salmon, remove it from the oven and place the shallot and   garlic in the salmon oil.  Return the salmon into the oven.

     6. Using a pestle and mortar, grind a lot of basil leaves, pine nuts and a generous amount of olive oil into a smooth texture.

     7. When pasta is done, take it out and mix it together with the pesto, fried shallots and garlic.

     8. Taste and add more salt / pepper / cheese if necessary. 

     9. Serve pesto pasta with salmon. Garnish with basil leaves.