Sitting in my living room at the end of a hectic day’s work, looking out over the rooftops of London, enjoying the blue sky and the tiny outline of the London Eye in the distance, I could finally put my feet up and relax. In that moment it hit me: I live in London!!! Admittedly one of my favorite cities. Moving to a city of this caliber has been more tiring than I initially thought. The amount of people out and about each day is fascinating, yet exhausting. Even on sundays the streets are bubbling with life (back home your lucky to find an open supermarket within 20 minutes). Some evenings you need a break from the buzz going on around you, a quick, tasty home made meal, a glass of wine and time to switch off your brain. These moments are rare. Enjoy them!! This recipe is the result of my most recent one.

A quick note about the word salmon for all our swiss/german readers: the “l” is silent, no joke. Please engrave this newly won knowledge into your mind. Thank you.

As for the recipe: it is a Jamie Oliver inspired simple salmon dish prepared within minutes. Perfect if you don’t want to invest a lot of time, but still feel like a satisfying your taste buds. Considering its based on one of Jamie’s recipes, I thought I’d stick to his art of cooking and go with my gut feeling regarding the amount of ingredients.

Salmon with Beans, Pesto and a Herby Crust

Serves 1

You’ll need
1 salmon filet, about 180g
a handful of green beans
2 generous teaspoons of your favorite green pesto
half a lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper
a few basil leaves
garlic and rosemary breadcrumbs, enough to top your whole salmon filet (I bought mine pre-mixed at Waitrose, but you can easily make them yourself: just mix some breadcrumbs with half a clove of garlic and a few chopped fresh rosemary needles).

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Bring a pot of water to boil and add a pinch of salt.
2. Cook your beans for about 3 minutes in the boiling water.
3. Meanwhile chop your basil leaves and toss with the breadcrumbs.
4. Take 1 meter of aluminium foil and fold in half. Once the beans have cooked, place them in the middle of the foil. Lay the filet on top, skin side down and spread the pesto out evenly over the salmon. Top with your basil-garlic-rosemary-breadcrumbs (you can add any herbs of your liking to the crumbs).
5. Drizzle your creation with some olive oil and the juice of half a lemon.
6. Finally season with salt and pepper.
7. Fold the ends of the foil together to make a parcel. Place onto a baking tray.
8. Once the oven has reached the desired temperature, bake your parcel for about 18-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the filet.
9. Serve with a side of your preference: I was trying to be healthy and made a salad with a balsamic vinaigrette and added some chopped basil leaves I had left over, but it also goes well with potatoes or rice.

Rating: 8/10

Raw – salmon seems to be so much more visually appealing like this. But DO NOT eat this raw. I love my sashimi, but that would be disgusting.