Papardelle al Salmone

It is winter and I am craving pasta…all the time. If it was not for the gym and swimming pool that I make myself attend semi-religiously, I would look like a hippopotamus…no joke. But, alas, my fitness torture is effective and I can keep eating pasta in all possible variations. Today it is Salmon Papardelle, the simple recipe I came up with five years ago and love to this day – for its simplicity yet mouthwatering taste.

Papardelle al Salmone

Ingredients:

·      1 package of Papardelle pasta (preferably fresh)

·      1 table spoon sour cream

·      1 package of grape tomatoes

·      1 piece of fresh salmon

·      1 teaspoon of olive oil

·      Salt and pepper

Directions:

Since I am only cooking for myself tonight, I will be using ½ package of 10oz. pasta, 1 piece of salmon and about 10 grape tomatoes. By increasing all the ingredients proportionally, you can obviously change the serving size based on your dinner/lunch needs. 

Since bringing water to boil takes some time, start your cooking by heating it (salted) in a medium pot. While you are watching the water, why not get our pan ready as well? While your pan is preheating on the stove with a few drops of olive oil, cut the tomatoes into halves or quarters. Mince 1 garlic clove and add it to the pan. Keep an eye on it since it burns pretty quickly and can potentially ruin the taste of the whole dish for its taste is rather delicate. When the garlic gets slightly golden in color, add tomatoes. When tomatoes get soft (usually in a fast 1 minute or so) add salmon. Salmon cooks pretty quickly as well, just toss it around in the pan until it is consistent pink color from all the sides. That usually happens in less than 5 minutes and it is important not to overcook it since it will get pretty dry then. Add 1 spoon of sour cream and season with salt and pepper. Stir everything for a minute for consistency, turn the stove off and set aside.

While we were cooking the sauce, the water came to a boiling point. Add pasta. Fresh pasta usually gets ready in 2-4 minutes, while the dry kind can take up to 10 minutes. 

When the pasta is soft and ready, pour the salmon sauce mixture over it and enjoy!

P.S. Another pasta variation I have enjoyed lately is the same Papardelle but with pesto sauce. I will admit that for pesto, I used the organic pre-made store version and cooking the whole thing took exactly 5 minutes. I promise, however, that soon I will post the recipe with pesto made from scratch. I am actually curious to see if it will taste better than the store version… I sure hope so : /