Baked White Fish with Pine Nut, Parmesan, and Basil Pesto Crust
Mild white fish gets a savory pesto, Parmesan, pine nut and mayo topping that bakes into a rich, lightly crisp crust.
Prep 10 min · Cook 15 min · Total 25 min · Makes 2 servings
Ingredients
- 2 white fish fillets, about 6 oz. each
- 3 T pine nuts
- 2 T Parmesan Cheese
- 1/4 tsp. finely minced garlic
- 1 tsp. basil pesto
- 1 1/2 T mayo
Directions
- Heat the oven or toaster oven to 400F/200C. Coat individual casserole dishes with non-stick spray or olive oil, or use 1 large casserole dish if that is what you have. Take the fish fillets out of the refrigerator and leave them at room temperature while the oven heats. This step matters, because cold fish may not finish cooking before the topping gets too dark.
- With a large chef’s knife, chop the pine nuts finely and mince the garlic. Stir the chopped pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, minced garlic, basil pesto, and mayo together until evenly combined.
- Using a rubber scraper, cover the top of each fish fillet with the crust mixture. Spread it evenly, but mound it on so you use all of the topping.
- Bake the fish for 10-15 minutes, until it feels firm when touched and the crust has begun to turn lightly golden. The fish pieces in the photo baked for 13 minutes. Serve hot.