This incredibly easy to make and absolutely delicious Lemon Caper Pesto Salmon Pasta is a gourmet dinner ready in less than 25 minutes!
I am a lover of salmon. I live in the Pacific Northwest, which means that I am surrounded by salmon lovers. The problem is that I've never really been happy with the way I cook salmon. It usually ends up overdone or too fishy tasting. I know it sounds weird to say fish is too fishy tasting, but I'm sure you know what I mean.
I'm all about quick dinners as long as they taste really good and make me feel good as well. This dinner did both. Plus, it really did get completed from start to finish in about 25 minutes. While the salmon was baking and the water was boiling, I added a handful of fresh spinach to a couple of bowls.
I drained the pasta, set it aside, and then added butter, oil, and garlic to the pot where I cooked all those wonderful ingredients just until the garlic started to turn golden brown. Then came the capers, lemon juice and zest, the cooked pasta, and some fresh basil to the pot. You can see where this is going.
Right about the time the pasta portion was completely done and starting to wilt the fresh spinach, the salmon was done.
I topped each bowl with a filet and served with a wedge of lemon.
I'll never forget the look on my husband's face when he took his first bite. He said "wow, this salmon is really good!" and he had a total look of surprise on his face. Wanna know why? Because I had never made salmon that good.
Lemon Caper Pesto Salmon Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces salmon ((two 4-ounce filets))
- 4 tablespoons pesto
- 8 ounces pasta (I used peppered basil)
- 2-3 cups fresh spinach
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large clove garlic (minced)
- zest from one lemon
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons capers
- small handful of fresh basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place each salmon filet on a square of parchment paper and top with pesto. Wrap pesto around salmon like a present. Bake in preheated oven until flaky and internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F, about 20 minutes.
- While the salmon is cooking, cook the pasta in salted boiling water according to the instructions.
- Add the fresh spinach to two bowls.
- When the pasta is done cooking, drain it and set aside. Add the butter, olive oil, and garlic to the pot and cook the garlic until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. Add the zest, lemon juice, capers, and cooked pasta to the pot. Toss to combine.
- Add the hot pasta to the bowls on top of the spinach. Top with a hot salmon filet.
Jen
I've never cooked salmon this way before. Thanks for making it so easy to get a delicious meal on our table. Such a great change from our normal dinner routine.
Betsy
Delightfully delicious! Love the texture and flavor of the salmon. This was a perfect bowl recipe. The layers of spinach, pasta and salmon was absolutely perfect.
Matt Taylor
Can't go wrong with salmon and pasta! This looks amazing. 🙂