Salmon Skewers with Lemon-Parsley Pesto

I have quite a bit of parsley from my CSA share. I mistakenly bought a bunch of parsley two days before also, oops. I don’t want to waste it, so I looked for a recipe that included pesto (an easy way to use a lot of parsley). Cooking Light had a great-sounding recipe for salmon skewers with lemon-parsley pesto over orzo.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/8 cup fresh basil leaves
1/8 cup capers, drained
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 smaller garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 pound skinless, boneless salmon fillets, cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
2 cups hot cooked orzo

Preheat your grill. Boil water for the orzo and cook as directed on the package. Drain, mix with 1/4 teaspoon salt, and set aside. Combine the first 7 ingredients (up to garlic) in a food processor (I used a magic bullet).

Add 1 tablespoon oil to the mixture and process until smooth.

Not all that smooth..

Set the pesto aside. Cut the salmon into 1 inch pieces.

 

Thread fish evenly on two skewers. Brush fish with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

 

Coat the grill with cooking spray. Place skewers on grill and cook for 1 minute on each side, or until desired degree of doneness.

 

Remove from grill and wrap loosely in foil to keep warm. Add orzo to a bowl. Place skewers on orzo and top with the pesto.

Whew. I used way too big of a piece of garlic. Definitely make sure to use one of the smaller ones; you aren’t cooking the garlic so it really retains its flavor.  Past my new ability to ward of vampires, the other flavors were really nice. If you have a food processor, I’d suggest using that over a magic bullet. I wish the pesto was a bit more chopped up. I ended up mixing the pesto into the orzo, flaking the salmon, and adding a bit more lemon. Really delicious!

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