Salmon Pasta

Good Afternoon Bloggers,

So sorry to have stayed away so long, I missed my blog, but $@*! got real over here for the last two weeks, lots to do and very little time to cook (the only wrong with being busy).  I actually ate a lot of crap that I shouldn't have, but I think I've gotten a grip on things, hopefully it wont be another two weeks before my next post.  

This dish started out as a craving, as usual, but I had to find a sauce recipe that would do the trick, didn't want to experiment without a guide.  I ended up turning to what used to be one of my favorite placed to eat Bahama Breeze, I've blogged about it before.  I still enjoy the food there, but I've eaten there so much and tried almost the whole menu that I'm overly critical of everything that arrives on the table. 

At any rate, the last time we went Sissy had the salmon pasta which I never order, but I always have a bite of someone else's so I'm familiar with it.  I didn't have any that day, which was a huge mistake because I've been wanting it ever since.  

What I ended up doing to make this dish was going to BahamaBreeze.com and tweaking the recipe for their Brandy Cream Sauce.  They traditionally use this sauce for their Lobster and Shrimp Pasta, but I decided it would do the trick for salmon as well.  If any of you check out the recipe I omitted the lobster shells, but they would have made a world of difference in the flavor.  As a substitute you can always use seafood broth or clam juice to give a similar seafood flavoring to the sauce to help the brandy and strong herbs blend better.

Here is the original recipe (which I didn't follow to a "T"):

Brandy Cream Sauce ¼ cup of White Wine 4 threads of Saffron 1 tsp Basil, Dried ½ tsp Thyme, Dried Shells from lobster (see pasta recipe) 1 cup Heavy Cream ½ cup of Chicken Broth 1 ¼ tsp Cornstarch 2 tsp Water, cool tap 2 Tbsp Brandy Salt and White Pepper too taste PREPARATION: Combine the cornstarch and cold water in a small cup and set aside. In a 1 quart sauce pan combine the wine, saffron, basil, thyme and lobster shells; bring to a boil and simmer until reduced by half. Add the chicken broth and heavy cream and return to a boil over medium heat. Slowly whisk in the cornstarch and water mixture then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and white pepper. Remove from heat and stir in the brandy, then strain out the shells with a fine mesh strainer. Note: If you are peeling your own shrimp for this dish, increase the amount you purchase to 10 oz weight. Also, to create an even richer flavor you can add the shrimp shells in addition to the lobster shells in step 2 above.

This was my sauce during the thickening process, it helps to taste as you go, cream sauces can be tricky and you don't want to taste it at the end and be unhappy with the result.

Once my pasta and sauce were all ready everything went pretty quickly, Salmon doesn't take too long to cook, especially when its cut into little bite sized chunks.

I started by seasoning the Salmon, nothing too strong and powerful,  just some Adobo and Old Bay.


Next I heated some Olive Oil over medium heat, enough to coat the pan, fish sticks to the pan very easily and will begin to shred apart when that happens so be generous.

If you put too much, you can always drain the pan of excess oil before adding other ingredients.  Each side only needs about 90 seconds, unless you want to kill the fish twice, then feel free to leave it in longer : ).

Once the fish is cooked on both sides add the sauce and pasta to the pan, remember the pan is still on the heat and the fish will continue to cook even if you turn the pot off, its called carry-over cooking time.
When you don't consider that extra time your likely to end up with overcooked food, FYI.

At this point your pretty much done, this is your opportunity to take one final taste and decide if you want to add anything to dish like more salt, pepper, or any veggie/condiment that doesn't require much cooking.  I think tomatoes and scallions are popular additions.  Just toss everything together and Voila...

I decided to add some crushed red pepper to my bowl, in case I didn't want that extra heat in my leftovers.

These types of pasta dishes tend to taste better a couple hours later or even the next day sometimes, when all the flavors are settled. I hope you all enjoyed my version of one of Sissy's faves.

Until Next Time ; )