Welcome to my Tuesday Trout Diaries! It’s a series of emails I sent my dad after our Charter Fishing Trip to Duluth last summer. I was trying out approximately one new recipe each week since I’m not in the habit of cooking fish and I wanted to make sure nothing went to waste!

Each week, after the diary entry, you’ll see how I adapted the recipe I tried to make it my own and to cook just for me.

In case you missed them, here are the past installments:

• Fire-Roasted Tomato Poached Trout for One
• Creamy Baked Trout for One
• Trout with Garlic Lemon Butter Sauce for One
• Foil-Packet-Grilled Lake Trout For One

But I have something different in store this week!

While the rest of us on that Charter Fishing Trip caught lake trout, my husband caught a nice Coho Salmon! This is what I was cooking up this week…

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Date: 8/9/17
From: Carrie
To: Dad
Subject: Trout Recipe of the Week

This week I had the girls over for dinner. We plan a dinner night in once a month, taking turns who has to do the cooking so that at least once in a while someone cooks for us! I knew I wanted to make the salmon that Rob caught!

Tomato Basil Coho Salmon

I don’t have a true recipe this week, but took some cues from a couple of other recipes. I knew I wanted to make pesto with the basil in my herb pot. I made this Skinny Pesto version – really freaking easy. I covered a baking sheet with foil and spread the pesto over the top of the salmon and then topped it off with some grape tomatoes from the farmer’s market. (I halved the tomatoes first.) I got my inspiration from this Salmon with Pesto and Tomatoes recipe and this Pesto Salmon with Asparagus & Tomatoes recipe. I set the oven for 450 degrees and… 

As I was making it, I got nervous that there were bones because Kim was bringing over her 6-year-old daughter. I decided to cut up a chicken breast and zucchini, tossed it in some Fat Louie’s Tuscan Olive oil and put it on the foil baking sheet with the salmon because there was plenty of room. I put it in the oven for about 20 minutes.

The salmon came out perfectly, the chicken a little dull and dry. (I cut the chicken in tiny pieces because I didn’t want it to come out under cooked.)

Kim said that although tedious, I can always remove the bones before cooking – they are all in a little row. I might think of that next time if I have more time.

Until next week!

Carrie