Another busy week done. There was a moment of last minute high drama when IT came to confiscate my laptop because apparently I had a virus on it. Don't you hate that. No time to clean your browsing history and shut the non-workrelated windows like Fuck you Friday or the halibut en papillote recipe.

While hoping the virus was not related to that time I accidentally clicked a traffic source link from my blog which took me to a Russian porn site (I seem to get more traffic from Russian porn sites than anyone interested in cooking) and trying to remember if it was on my work laptop that I googled "Leonardo di Caprio raped by a bear" (trying to prove to husband that he really wasn't) I was feeling very lonely without my laptop and not really sure what I should do.

Go talk to a colleague. But they would think it's strange someone loitering around purposelessly. Maybe call someone, but that would also be weird, you don't just call people nowadays without scheduling it in outlook with them, or at least dropping a warning email that you're going to give them a call. Pondering on this sad state of modern work communications the nice fresh faced young man from IT came back with my laptop and didn't say anything about Russian porn sites, just confirmed that it was clean now. He didn't even smirk or anything so I think maybe he's seen worse or has better things to do that check up on people's browsing history.

If he had checked though he might have anticipated that there was going to be basa served in our house sometime soon. I think I've only had basa once before. My sister cooked it for me. She dusted them with rye flour and shallow fried them. They were really good. I think it's such a mild flavoured fish that it needs something to make it a bit more interesting. I decided to modify my Finn-Crisp and pesto salmon recipe and it worked beautifully.

Basa fillets with red pesto, basil and olives (serves 2)

4 basa fillets (or you can use cod)
Oil
Salt
Pepper
4 tsp red pesto
4 tbsp breadcrumbs (panko or crushed Finn-Crisps)
Handful of fresh basil leaves
Handful of pitted black olives
1 spring onion
Handful of cherry tomatoes

Preheat oven to 200C.

Season the fillets lightly with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil on top and place in an oven dish. Spread 1 heaped teaspoon of pesto on each fillet and sprinkle on top the chopped fresh basil, breadcrumbs, olives, chopped spring onion and halved cherry tomatoes.

I used crushed Finn-Crisps for breadbrumbs, but you could use panko or normal breadcrumbs, just something to give the dish a bit of crunch.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes until fish is done and flakes easily.