Pesto Sea Bass: A Healthy Midweek Fish Recipe

This vibrant pesto sea bass is a delicious and healthy way to eat fish. The nutty coriander pesto with chilli, garlic and lemon gives it a great flavour! It's perfect for a midweek fish supper.

A lighter fresher pesto recipe

Don't you just love pesto? I've made lots of different pestos over the years. Some of them have featured on this blog. Some of them haven't. Until now they have all had one thing in common. CHEESE!

This pesto is the first one I've made without cheese and it is so good. I was aiming for a lighter and fresher pesto recipe and I've definitely managed it.

Because it doesn't have cheese in, it's a healthier pesto recipe that's great for anyone who follows a vegan or dairy free diet.

Pesto is great for meal prep

When I first created this recipe I was focusing on recipes where I could repurpose the leftovers into another meal. The idea was to create a double dinner recipe.

Of course, pesto is just brilliant for prepareing in advance and because of that, it's also great for using in different recipes once you've prepared it.

Two ways to use coriander pesto

I chose to make two delicious dinners with coriander pesto. For my first meal of pesto crusted sea bass I wanted the pesto to have quite a thick consistency without too much oil so it would coat the fish like a crust. That way it keeps the fish moist but also adds lots of pesto flavour.

My second way to use the coriander pesto was one pasta. Yes I know, not very original but such a tasty and delicious dinner!

Ingredients for pesto sea bass

To make the coriander pesto you'll need:

• Coriander leaves and stalks - There is so much flavour in the stalks as well as the leave so there's no reason not to use them.
• Cashew nuts - Cashew nuts make this pesto really creamy but you can replace them with another nut or seed.
• Garlic - Nothing beats fresh garlic for pesto!
• Green chilli pepper - It adds a lovely kick which is brilliant in this pesto
• Lemon juice - I always prefer to use a freshly squeezed lemon as is so much more vibrant than lemon juice from a bottle.
• Extra virgin olive oil

And if you are putting it on sea bass then you'll also need:

• 600 g sea bass fillets

Do you need Cheese in pesto?

This pesto works brilliantly without parmesan, especially as it's served with fish. The fish stays moist as it cooks and the pesto makes it so tasty.

You just don't need any cheese in this pesto. The flavours from the lemon, garlic, chilli pepper and coriander are perfect for the sea bass. Or any other white fish you choose to use.

Can you adapt this pesto sea bass recipe?

If you can't get hold of sea bass then any other white fish would work well for this recipe. In fact, I think it would be great on salmon too!

If you want to adapt the pesto then please do. You can make a more traditional pesto with basil and pine nuts. Or just use different nuts. I often make variations of pesto and the recipe just depends on what I have in the kitchen on that particular day!

How to use the leftover pesto

There are all kinds of ways to use leftover pesto. As I said, I used the leftover pesto on pasta but here are a few other ideas:

• Swirl it onto soup
• Use it on a pizza
• Put it in a sandwich - with other ingredients too!
• Use it as a salad dressing - like in this quinoa and chicken pesto salad!

More Delicious Fish Recipes

You might also like this Moroccan spiced salmon with ras el hanout. It's delicious as well as nut-free so perfect if you are cooking for people with allergies.

Recipe

Coriander Pesto Crusted Sea Bass

Corina Blum

This vibrant pesto sea bass is a delicious and healthy way to eat fish. The nutty coriander pesto with chilli, garlic and lemon gives it a great flavour!

4.50 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course fish, Main Course

Cuisine Mediterranean

Servings 4

Calories 285 kcal

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

• 60 g coriander leaves and stalks
• 50 g cashew nuts
• 1 clove garlic roughly chopped
• 1 green chilli pepper
• 1 lemon juiced
• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 600 g sea bass fillets

Instructions

 

• Put the cashew nuts into a dry frying pan and toast them until they are turning golden.  Keep tossing the pan so they don't burn.
• Put all the pesto ingredients into a food processor and blitz until everything is well combined.
• Put a tablespoon of the pesto on each sea bass fillet and press it down so it coats the whole of the top of the sea bass. 
• Grill (broil) for 10 minutes.

Notes

Nutritional information is approximate and a guideline only.

Nutrition

Calories: 285kcalCarbohydrates: 5gProtein: 29gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 120mgSodium: 149mgPotassium: 544mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 1145IUVitamin C: 8.5mgCalcium: 37mgIron: 2.4mg

Keyword Pesto sea bass

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