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Pea, Mint and Poached Salmon Pesto Pasta

A fast, healthy weeknight pasta tossed with fresh smashed pea, mint and basil pesto and tender poached salmon. 

Ingredients
Poached Salmon
  • 3 cups of water
  • 2 bay leaves
  • teaspoon white or black peppercorns
  • 500 g fresh skin-on salmon fillets (I generally allow about 150-200g per person)
Pea and Mint Pesto
  • 1 cup peas + 1/2 cup extra (frozen is fine - just pour boiling water on top, leave for a few minutes then drain)
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 1/2 cups mixed mint and basil
  • 1/3 cup pine nuts or almonds
  • 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan
  • zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon
  • liberal freshly ground salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • a few tablespoons of water to loosen , as required
  • shell pasta , about 350-500g depending on appetites
Instructions
  1. In a small-medium frypan, bring three cups of water to the boil. Add the bay leaves and peppercorns and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the salmon, skin side down, cover the pan and turn off the heat. Leave for 15 minutes. Remove the salmon from the water and set aside.
  2. Bring another pot of water to boil to cook the pasta.
  3. Meanwhile, in a food processor, blitz the 1 cup of peas, garlic, herbs, almonds, parmesan, lemon, salt and pepper and olive oil. You can make this as smooth or as chunky/textured as you like (it’s quite smooth in the photos but doesn’t have to be).
  4. Cook the pasta according to packet instructions. Just before draining, save a bit of pasta water.
  5. Toss the pesto through the pasta with extra peas, using pasta water to loosen if necessary.
  6. Flake the salmon on top, and serve with extra parmesan and freshly ground salt and pepper.