Salmon Pasta

 

Forgive my mid-eating picture

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

This was a perfect Spring time meal - light, fresh and filling. The entire process took less than 30 minutes even when I forgot to thaw my Salmon. Plus, the cleanup is a breeze. Unless you don't like the taste of sour cream, this is a winner. The recipe is from Martha Stewart but I had to adapt it based on the ingredients we had on hand.

Ingredients
 
1 tablespoon fennel seeds (I used Penzy's Tuscan Sunset)
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley (I didn't use)
1 tablespoon light-brown sugar
Salt and pepper
1 one-pound salmon fillet with skin (about 1 inch thick)
1 pound corkscrew or other short pasta
10 ounces spinach, stems trimmed and leaves washed well
1/2 cup sour cream
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions
 
1. Heat the broiler. Put fennel seeds in a small, self-sealing plastic bag, and crush with a rolling pin (or in my case, scoop about 2 tablespoons of Tuscan Sunset into a bowl). Add parsley, brown sugar, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper to the bag, and shake to mix.

2. Press the mixture onto the skinless side of the salmon (I did both sides because we don't have a skinless side). Broil salmon, skin side down, until it is no longer red in the center, about 8 minutes.

3. Flake the fish with a fork. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions until al dente, about 13 minutes. Reserve about 1/2 cup cooking water, and drain pasta. Return it to the warm pot, add spinach, and toss.

4. In a bowl, mix together sour cream, lemon juice to taste, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons pasta water.

5. Simply toss pasta and spinach in the pot with the salmon and the sour-cream mixture, adding pasta water as needed, and serve.