Pesto Risotto with Baked Salmon Recipe

This pesto risotto with peas and baked salmon is the perfect weeknight summer dish that the whole family will love.

Disclosure: This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group ® and C&W ® , but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #premiumveggies http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

My kids absolutely love pesto, and it’s quickly become a staple in our house. It’s so easy just to throw over pasta for a quick weeknight dinner and makes for a perfectly healthy meal option for the kids.

I prefer to make it from scratch though, then I can throw a few extra things in there and they will never know the difference. They even loved the sundried tomato pesto I made a while back.

This meal is great because you can make the pesto ahead of time, make it in large quantities if you like and refrigerate it, or make a small batch in the morning as I did here, and then use it later in the evening when it’s time to make dinner.

And if you don’t have a lot of fresh ingredients on hand, you can use frozen vegetables to whip up this delicious dish, which is what I often do.

Pesto Risotto with Baked Salmon

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Serves: 4 Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 40 Minutes 40 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 2 cups Arborio rice
• Salmon
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup frozen spinach
• 1 cup basil leaves
• 1/4 cup parsley
• 2 tsp crushed garlic (for pesto) + 1 tsp (for risotto)
• zest and juice of 1 lemon + lemon wedges for serving
• 1 carton vegetable stock (approx 1 liter)
• 3 tbs olive oil (pesto) + 2 tbs (salmon) + 1 tbs (risotto)
• salt & pepper
• Shaved or grated Parmesan for serving

Instructions

PESTO

1. Cook peas and spinach in water according to the package directions. Drain and set aside. 
2. Add half the peas to a food processor, along with the spinach, basil, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, parsley, olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Blend until combined.
4. Refrigerate your pesto for later, or use immediately.

RISOTTO

1. Heat olive oil in a large pan and add the garlic. Toss in the Arborio rice and stir until completely coated in oil.
2. Add 1 cup of vegetable stock at a time, stirring constantly until completely absorbed before adding the next cup until the risotto is cooked. It will probably take around 20 minutes in total.
3. Pop the frozen green beans into the water and cook according to the package directions while the risotto is cooking.
4. Once the risotto is cooked, stir in the pesto, add the rest of the peas and the green beans.
5. Transfer to a serving dish and top with salmon and serve with freshly shaved Parmesan cheese and lemon wedges.

SALMON

1. Brush the salmon with oil, season with salt and pepper and bake on foil in a baking dish in the oven on 425F for about 15 minutes until it flaked with a fork.

Make sure you add C&W Vegetables to your shopping list and don’t forget to take advantage of the $.50 off of 1 package of C&W vegetables Ibotta coupon good at select Walmart stores. (while supplies last)

You can find C&W Vegetables at Walmart, which is where I did my shoppin

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