BeyondPasta

Salmon for two and two salmon dishes in one!

I love salmon! I eat it raw in the sushi, I love it smoked on toasted bread spread with butter, I love it baked with roasted potatoes, it is great in pasta sauces, seared in a pan it acquires a crunchy top and there are many many other recipes. Here I am focusing on the way I most often prepare it, which actually makes two fantastic dishes: Baked Salmon and Salmon Linguine. You can have a main course of linguine and a second course of baked salmon, or have the backed salmon for dinner and prepare a quick salmon pasta sauce for lunch ;)

The following ingredients are for Backed Salmon for two and Salmon Pasta Sauce for two.

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb salmon fillet
• salt
• black pepper
• dry dill
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs butter
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

Preparation -Baked Salmon-

Heat the oven to 425 °F (200°C).

Place the salmon, skin facing down, in an oven proof pan. I use a pirex dish covered with aluminum foil because the skin tends to get dry and stick to the pan, making it hard to wash it clean.

Sprinkle the top of the salmon with a little bit of salt, ground black pepper and dill. You can use as much dill as you like, keep in mind it tastes quite strong. Now pour one tablespoon of oil on the salmon and using the back of the spoon, spread it all over (picture on top).

When the oven has reached the set temperature insert the salmon and bake it for 20-25 minutes.

When the salmon is ready plate a little over 2/3 of it and save the rest for the pasta sauce.

Preparation -Salmon Linguine-

If you save the salmon for the next day conserve it in the fridge and take it out when you are ready to prepare the sauce for the pasta.

The sauce takes just few minutes to prepare so start boiling the water for the pasta. I am posting another seafood based pasta sauce so the perfect marriage is with linguine (see Creamy Shrimp Linguine).

In a pan, I use a wok because it works best to sauté the pasta when the sauce is ready, melt 1 tbs of butter and add the piece of baked salmon.

Using a wooden spoon break the salmon in small pieces, as it heats and takes in some of the butter it almost melts on its own.

When the salmon is warm and reduced in small chunks (picture 1), add 1/3 cup of heavy cream and bring to a boil. Let it boil (picture 2) until reduced (picture 3).

When the linguine are ready, drain them and toss them in the sauce, mix well and serve. Wasn’t this easy? Enjoy!