Blackened Salmon

This is one of my sister's standby dishes with a delicious rustic pesto twist from my brother. It's relatively simple and fool-proof, yet totally satisfying and makes an impressive presentation for a special occasion. It can be scaled to suit one person or a large party.

Ingredients:
Salmon, de-boned, skin on. We used half a salmon and it was enough for five people.
2 lemons
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
Cajun seafood seasoning (she uses Chef Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish Magic)
Pesto*

Cooking times:
First 20 minutes at 425*f covered/wrapped in foil,
then 10 minutes under broiler to blacken skin.

*(use your favorite pesto recipe or see my instructable on my brother's Rough & Rustic Pesto we used here)

Preheat oven to 425*f

Now, using a piece of foil more than large enough to completely gift-wrap your fish, spread a layer of butter down about the size of your fish. Spread out a line of lemon slices.

Place the salmon on the bed of lemons and butter, and top it with a row of lemons so it is sandwiched between layers of lemons. Season liberally with sea salt, fresh ground black pepper and Cajun seasoning.

Fold the foil up to form a closed vessel for steaming.
The final result should be like a loosely wrapped package.
It needs a little air and space for a proper steaming, otherwise you will just be baking it.
Put it in the (preheated to 425*f) oven and set the timer for 20 minutes.

Carefully open foil packet, taking precautions to avoid being burned by escaping steam. Push lemons aside from top of fish. Rub fish skin with butter. Place under broiler for 10-15 minutes until skin is nice and black.

Once fish is sufficiently blackened, remove from oven and carefully move to a serving platter, or cut up and plate individually.

Smother with pesto sauce or Rough Pesto Rustico as we did here. Check my other instructables for the recipe.

Serve with some steamed deep green vegetable and a bed of rice or a side of pasta.