Who says healthy has to taste bland?: Red Pepper Pesto Sauce
I made this last night for dinner. Sometimes, I like to produce a fantastic meal for my family that tastes amazing and is very involved. Most of the time though, I just like easy, simple and tasty meals that are nutritional for my family. I happen to be a mom that is against the over-usage of over-processed foods, at least in my house and strives for well-balanced nutrition. So when I stumble across something that easily takes my boring and healthy protein, starch, vegetable combination to the next level with great ease, heck-to-the-yes, I am trying it!
I found this recipe in a recent issue of Cooking Light (which, by the way, is one of my new favorite recipe magazines). The red-pepper pesto sauce isn't spicy but rather warm and bright tasting. It is packed with enough flavor to make your healthy, low sodium food sing. It adds "BAM" to your bland. And best of all it takes 6 simple ingredients and less than a minute in a food processor to make. It tastes great with salmon, but any non-oily, flaky fish will do. It could even top grilled chicken breasts. I pair that with a healthy brown rice blend and some green beans cooked with chopped red onions, peppers, and almonds.
Red Pepper Pesto Sauce:
Ingredients:
1/3 cup Roasted red peppers in a jar, rinsed
1 Tsp Olive Oil
7 Almonds, blanched
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbs Tomato paste
1 pinch of salt
Instructions:
(Serves 4... enough to top 4 pieces of salmon, so if you are serving 4 and want to add on top of your starch too like I do, double the recipe)
If you are an experienced cook, take that sauce recipe and run with it. But if you want a couple more tips and how to put together the whole meal, timing and all... keep reading.
Red Pepper Pesto Sauce Salmon and Brown Rice with Red Pepper and Onion Green Beans:
Ingredients:
Red Pepper Pesto Sauce (See above)
4 Salmon Steaks
Pepper
Enough Brown rice to serve 4 (usually one cup unprepared)
Green Beans about 1-2 cups (I like extra thin, fancy frozen green beans)
White onion sliced 1/4 inch thick and roughly chopped, about 1/4 cup
Red onion sliced 1/4 inch thick and roughly chopped, about 1/4 cup
7 more blanched almonds sliced
Olive oil
Instructions:
Here it is in pictures:
I found this recipe in a recent issue of Cooking Light (which, by the way, is one of my new favorite recipe magazines). The red-pepper pesto sauce isn't spicy but rather warm and bright tasting. It is packed with enough flavor to make your healthy, low sodium food sing. It adds "BAM" to your bland. And best of all it takes 6 simple ingredients and less than a minute in a food processor to make. It tastes great with salmon, but any non-oily, flaky fish will do. It could even top grilled chicken breasts. I pair that with a healthy brown rice blend and some green beans cooked with chopped red onions, peppers, and almonds.
Red Pepper Pesto Sauce:
Ingredients:
1/3 cup Roasted red peppers in a jar, rinsed
1 Tsp Olive Oil
7 Almonds, blanched
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbs Tomato paste
1 pinch of salt
Instructions:
- Place ingredients in food processor and pulse until combined and almonds and peppers are in tiny pieces.
(Serves 4... enough to top 4 pieces of salmon, so if you are serving 4 and want to add on top of your starch too like I do, double the recipe)
If you are an experienced cook, take that sauce recipe and run with it. But if you want a couple more tips and how to put together the whole meal, timing and all... keep reading.
Red Pepper Pesto Sauce Salmon and Brown Rice with Red Pepper and Onion Green Beans:
Ingredients:
Red Pepper Pesto Sauce (See above)
4 Salmon Steaks
Pepper
Enough Brown rice to serve 4 (usually one cup unprepared)
Green Beans about 1-2 cups (I like extra thin, fancy frozen green beans)
White onion sliced 1/4 inch thick and roughly chopped, about 1/4 cup
Red onion sliced 1/4 inch thick and roughly chopped, about 1/4 cup
7 more blanched almonds sliced
Olive oil
Instructions:
- Start by making your rice since this will take the longest to cook if you are using unprocessed food. Try using a blend of wild and brown whole grain rice. I am a huge fan of the Lundberg Wild Blend (this can be found in Raley's bulk bin or packaged at Walmart Superstores) and Trader Joes's brown rice blend. And on a side note, if you happened to be used to instant rice-a-roni, I challenge you to take your healthiness one step further. Lower your sodium intake and increase your whole grains. If you don't like the flavor of whole grain rice, I don't blame you, it is quite "grainy" in texture and a bad blend can taste a bit like, well, cardboard, but studies show it takes your taste buds one month to "adjust." So, try it for one month. If I can't get you away from the boxed rice quite yet, try the "Far East" brand. They have lots of healthy options and their ingredients list includes only what you want to be inside that box... just dehydrated. And hey, if just simply cooking for your family is your challenge, by all means, use the Rice-a-Roni boldly without shame! Cook what you can and choose the un-processed food battle another day!
- Follow the rice's packaged directions. (For this meal, I just use water, a splash of olive oil, and a pinch of salt for my rice as the pesto sauce will add your flavor)
- While your rice cooks, check your facebook, love on your babies, read a magazine article, organize a cupboard, put the dishes in the dishwasher... do whatever pleases you until the rice has 15 minutes cook time left.
- Get out the rest of your ingredients, heat up your pans to medium heat for the salmon and your green beans, chop your peppers and onions, and blanch your almonds. (Blanching simply involves throwing the almonds in boiling water for a half a minute to soften them up so they can chop easily)
- Put oil (1 Tbs) in your pan, lightly sprinkle pepper over your salmon, and throw it into the pan.
- While the salmon is cooking (about 5 minutes on each side depending on thickness), make your red pepper pesto sauce. Place all of the ingredients for the sauce into the food processor and process until sauce is combined and almonds and peppers are chopped into tiny pieces.
- Flip your salmon after 5 minutes. Put a little oil (1 Tbs) in your second pan. Put your green beans, onions, and red pepper in the pan and cook for about 4 minutes. Add your almonds and cook for one minute longer or until done (done=vegetables should be hot, crunchy, and have some browned marks on them).
- Plate your food! Serve pesto sauce over salmon and rice. 10-15 minutes and you are done (plus the time it takes to cook rice)!
Here it is in pictures: