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This is one of those simple midweek dishes that is pretty adaptable, quick and easy to throw together. It feels pretty indulgent but you don’t need much salmon to make this work so it’s surprisingly cheap. I tend to buy a large side of salmon and bung it in the freezer so I can casually throw this together whenever I so wish. This one usually gets envious looks at the workplace lunch table.
This dish is suited to pasta that can hold both the flakes of salmon and the scrumptious pine nut morsels that make this dish so moreish. Rigatoni or Penne are great choices… Spirali works well too but if I’m feeling indulgent (And I tend to) then I shall use Spinach Trottole as in the pictures here.
In this particular version I have marinated the salmon but this isn’t necessary to make tasty quick dinner, but the flavour will be richer if you do. I find that I can give the salmon a quick marinade after getting home from work and by an hour later the quick marinade has done the job. Salmon is great for taking on flavours but I would suggest no more than 3 hours marinade or it may begin to overpower. Finally, you can easily add broccoli, peppers or courgettes to this dish if you want a veggie kick. What is listed below is the base recipe.
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 5mins
Cooking time: 15mins
Main Ingredients:
Salmon - 50g per portion
Pasta - Trottole
Onion - diced (white or brown onions)
Pine nuts - However many you can afford…
Double cream
Passata
Marinade:
Olive oil - a glug
Garlic - grated or crushed
Ginger - grated
Chili - finely chopped
Dill - roughly torn
Salt
Pepper
I tend to veer on the side of over-season when marinating as you can always rub off excess marinade later if you fear it's a bit much…
Method:
1) Add all the marinade ingredients together with the salmon and allow to marinade for 1-3 hours
2). Toast off the pine nuts in a dry frying pan and put to one side, ready to add at the end.
3). Add a splash of oil to the pan, turn up to a medium high heat and plop the salmon in, skin side down. Turn the heat to medium and cook for around 5 mins (try not to move it - just try to not burn it too). Flip over the salmon and lightly cook the other sides, adding colour.
4). Remove the salmon from the pan, let it cool a little before tearing it up into flakes and chunks (don’t worry if the middle is a little raw, you will put it in the pan later so it will finish cooking then).
5). Boil a large pot of water, a generous handful of salt and begin cooking your pasta until it is al dente. The timing should work out well.
6). Add in the diced onion to the pan, a sprinkle of salt and sugar and fry them softly until the onion is translucent - add the marinade during this process to add a dimension of flavour. Adding a dash of white wine is a good touch too.
7). Add 50ml of cream and around half as much passata to the onions and mix together. Add in the pine nuts and salmon flakes.
8). When the pasta is ready, drain most the excess water (keep a little) and add your pasta to the pan. Mix thoroughly - add a dash of the starchy pasta water to help bring the sauce together.
9). Serve - a sprinkling of chili's is great here, a touch of parmesan doesn't go amiss either.