Salmon with Pesto Zucchini Noodles & Warm Tomatoes

Simple, simple, simple summer food, just fresh salmon cooked on a bed of zucchini noodles tossed in pesto with warm tomatoes on the side.

~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

This recipe is so quick and easy
that I'm adding it to a special collection of easy summer recipes
published every summer since 2009.
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True Story.

When I stopped at Whole Foods the other day for salmon (on sale for $9.99, total win), a single deer was knee-deep in landscaping in the island inside the traffic circle nearby.

Deer are common in our neighborhood. Still, this pretty little doe was surprisingly unconcerned about the cars circling around her. A few drivers, me included, stopped to watch.

And this girl, she was intent! Why?

She was gorging on day lilies!

One by one, she chomped on the showy yellow blossoms. Day lily flowers are a real find for a young doe. You see, around here, we usually plant only "deer resistant" plants in places accessible to deer.

And isn't summer like that? Finding something so sweet, so tasty, it "stops the traffic" in your head? Blueberries do it for me, so do peaches when they're good.

And our garden is just beginning to produce, late, we think because of Missouri's wettest June on record.

But when the tomatoes are still warm from the sun, the okra and tomatillos are so pretty and perfect, yeah, I'll be the doe in the traffic circle, happy in her summer find.

Sensational for Summer!

Aren't the zucchini noodles pretty?! In fact, the combination of Pesto Zucchini Noodles with Warm Tomatoes (without the salmon) would make a quick and easy side dish. So good! For anyone who's crazy for spiral-cut vegetables, be sure to check out my growing collection of "spiralized" vegetable recipes.

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QUICK SUPPER:
SALMON with PESTO ZUCCHINI NOODLES & WARM TOMATOES

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time to table: 30 minutes
Serves one or two or easily plenty more

JUST FIVE INGREDIENTS!
• Pesto, preferably Homemade Basil Pesto Without Cheese
• Zucchini
• Fresh Salmon
• Summer Tomatoes
• Salt & pepper to taste

Set oven to 400F/200C. If you're making homemade pesto, make it now.

ZUCCHINI Allow 1 medium zucchini (about 5 ounces) per serving. Use a spiralizer to cut the zucchini into noodles. Toss the noodles with 1 - 2 tablespoons pesto per zucchini. Spread zucchini noodles about an inch thick in a shallow baking dish.

TOMATOES Slice tomatoes and arrange on the zucchini noodles, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with a little pesto.

SALMON Cut the salmon into serving sizes and arrange on the zucchini noodles, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

BAKE Bake salmon until a digital thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the salmon reaches 145F/65C, about 10 minutes.

RESOURCES There are so many kinds of spiralizers for cutting vegetables. I ordered one early on but LOL, sooo like me, it took me a couple of years to actually use it. (Just ask me about my 18-month gifted InstantPot, used exactly once and even then by my sister who was visiting from out of town.) But once I used this Paderno Spiralizer, I was happy to make room for it in an accessible kitchen cupboard. (And that bodes well for the dusty Instant Pot, right?) There are pictures of how to use the spiralizer here, Zucchini Spiral "Noodle" Salad. Handy if you haven't used one yet! Salmon isn't cheap, most animal proteins aren't. So for me, I just want to cook them to the right temperature – the safe internal cooking temperature, the temperature that makes the meat most appealing taste-wise – each and every time, never under-cooking, never over-cooking. In my kitchen, that means using a digital thermometer. Honestly, I can't imagine cooking meat well without one. This is the model we currently own, it's from CDN and has been working fine for over a year now. My Disclosure Promise

ALANNA's TIPS No spiralizer? Dice the zucchini very fine, they make take a little longer to cook, I might give them five minutes in the oven on their own before adding the salmon and tomato. I love my serrated Tomato Knife! For tomatoes, yes, but also for all soft fruits, small baguettes. It's totally handy! I went back 'n' forth, whether to put pesto on the tomatoes before or after time in the oven. Either way? Excellent.

NUTRITION INFORMATION for SALMON with PESTO ZUCCHINI NOODLES & WARM TOMATOES Per Serving, assumes 4 ounces salmon and 2 tablespoons pesto total: 354 Calories; 24g Tot Fat; 4g Sat Fat; 58mg Cholesterol; 192mg Sodium; 8g Carb; 3g Fiber; 3g Sugar; 26g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 9 & Points Plus 9 & SmartPoints 10 & Freestyle 7.

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More Quick Supper Recipes for Summer

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

~ more salmon recipes ~
~ more easy summer main dishes ~
~ more "spiralized" vegetable recipes ~

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Seasonal Cooking: This Same Week, Across the Years

Light Tomato Basil Quiche Basil-Cream Cheese Dip Cottage Cheese Pancakes (<< protein-packed!) BLT Pasta Salad (<< this week's favorite savory recipe) Easy Fruit Sorbet Grilled Steak with Summer Tomato Salad Tomatoes & Fresh Mozzarella for a Crowd Cold & Creamy Cantaloupe Soup Summer Couscous with Mango & Tomato Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos (<< too hot to cook?) Salmon with Pesto Zucchini Noodles & Warm Tomatoes Cornmeal Muffins with Peaches Greek Chicken Dagwood Sandwiches

This Week, Elsewhere

~ Cauliflower-Broccoli Gratin from Three Flags Tavern
from My Weekly Column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ~
~ more St. Louis Restaurant Recipes ~

~ Pretty Ways to Serve Tomatoes ~
~ more Recent Recipes ~
A Veggie Venture

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ salmon recipes ~
~ zucchini recipes ~
~ tomato recipes ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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