Salmon with Pesto Cream Sauce

Cooking fish always intimidated me. My dad was the one who always did our fish, and when it came to the table it was always flaky and moist, and not too "fishy" fish. I got up the nerve to spend a little more moolah on some fresh salmon, and now I realize just how easy it is to do.

Get a nice fresh filet from the local grocery store or market. It should smell like fish, but not "fishy" if that makes sense. If the odor is too strong, it's old and probably yucky.

If you want to scale the fish more than the market already has, take a knife and run it against the grain of the scales at about a thirty to fourty-five degree angle.

(Preheat oven to 375 degrees)

Lay the filet in a double sheet of aluminum foil. Sprinkle course salt, dried parsley, dried onions, garlic powder, and a bit of pepper. Also scatter chunks of butter evenly across the top. Add another sheet of foil on top, and twist the edges together to create a sealed packet.

Place in the preheated oven and bake for 35-45 minutes. When the fish flakes off in pieces, it is done.

(I don't know how people take pictures of moist and mushy-looking things that are delectable without making them look disgusting. I promise that the picture below does not do any justice to this meal.)

Place on top of this Pesto Cream Pasta and toss together.

Aaaand pardon me while I totally freak out about Foley wine. Oh. My. Goodness. This particular bottle was given to us by a good friend, and it is the best wine I have EVER had. This particular Cab Sav went great paired with this whole meal. Typically, cab sav's don't go well with pasta because of the bitter tannins frequently in these dark red wines. But with age comes a more mellowed and smooth flavor, and it just worked.