Baked Salmon with Pesto and Butterbeans

With Paul working up in Durham at the moment, we're having to adjust to a new routine. He comes home on a Friday night, in time for dinner. In theory. In practice he is at the mercy of the railways and dinner needs to be fairly flexible, in order to accommodate various delays. It also needs to involve a lot of vegetables and pretty punchy flavours, because the poor love is getting very tired of the menu at the pub across from his motel.

This dish fits the bill perfectly! It's a variation on a recipe that I got from a woman called Maureen, on a now-defunct food forum about 10 years ago. It's healthy, delicious and forgiving.

Baked Salmon with Pesto & Butterbeans (serves 2)

1 red onion, cut into wedges
1 can of butterbeans, drained and rinsed
1 red pepper, cut into wedges
1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup pesto (this can be a jar, but I made a simple one from rocket, basil, garlic and olive oil - left out the parmesan and pinenuts on this occasion)
2 salmon fillets
salt, pepper & olive oil

Put the wedges of onion and red pepper in a roasting tin and drizzle with a little olive oil. Roast for about 25 minutes at 180C. Remove from oven and add the butterbeans and cherry tomatoes, and toss with the pesto, adding a bit of extra oil if it looks too dry.

This is the point where it can wait. The last bit only takes a few minutes, so if you are making this for a dinner party, or a partner whose train is delayed outside Milton Keynes, this is where you can hold it.

When your tired, grumpy husband walks through the door, place the salmon fillets, skin side up, on the bed of vegetables, nestling them in a bit so their flesh gets a bit of the pesto on them, season with salt and pepper and put back in the oven. By the time he has changed and has a drink and has cuddled the cat (i.e about 20 minutes) dinner is ready to eat. Needs nothing else, but a glass of white wine or a light red is just the thing.