Salmon with orecchiette and horseradish cream sauce

Salmon and pasta with horseradish cream

The heat has been so brutal for so long now, that I think my brain has started to melt.  All my energy has been sizzled away and I find myself just laying around in a stupor, blinking at the foggy walls and ceiling.  Normally, I love to cook.  But lately, I've been too lazy to cook and too hot to eat.  My family has been forced to graze on salads.  Like these:

Salad with grilled veggies, salami, and goat cheese

Nicoise Salad with asparagus, new potatoes, and tuna fish

Cannellini and Fennel salad with roasted veggies

But, after a week of salads, I decided to drag myself out into the kitchen and cook up something a little more solid for dinner.  Feeling inspired by a recipe I found in an old issue of Bon Appetite, I cooked up a salmon and pasta dish that the whole family loved!  I think it was good enough to serve to company (my husband and I always rate a new dish by whether or not we'd serve it to company!)  I used salmon fillets (with skin on), baby broccoli (also called broccolini - it is a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale), caramelized onions, Parmesan cheese, and orecchiette.

Ingredients:


for the sauce

• 1 cup clam juice (one 8 oz bottle)
• 1 cup 1/2 and 1/2
• 1 cup cream
• 3 T prepared horseradish (not sauce)

for the pasta

• 12 oz orecchiette (or any other fun pasta shape of your choice)
• 1 1/2 lb onions, caramelized
• 12 oz baby broccoli
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 T olive oil

for the salmon

• 2 T olive oil
• 6 6oz salmon fillets with skin on

Method:

for the sauce

1. bring clam juice, 1/2 and 1/2, and cream to a gentle boil.  Let boil until reduced to about one cup
2. whisk in horseradish 
3. season to taste with salt and pepper.  set aside

for the pasta

1. bring a large pan of salted water to a boil
2. cook baby broccoli in salted water for about 3 minutes or until crunchy tender.  remove with slotted spoon
3. cook pasta in salted water for about 11 minutes.  drain, reserving one cup of pasta water
4. cut broccoli into pieces about 1 inch long
5. return pasta to pan along with broccoli, caramelized onions, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and about 2/3 c of the reserved pasta water.  Mix well.  (If pasta seems dry, add remaining pasta water)

for the salmon

1. heat 2 T olive oil in large pan
2. season salmon with salt and pepper
3. place salmon in pan, skin facing up, and cook for about two minutes, or until nicely colored
4. flip over and continue cooking for another 3 minutes or until skin is crispy and salmon is just opaque in the center

To serve:

• place some pasta in the middle of a serving plate
• place a salmon fillet, skin side down, on top of pasta
• drizzle sauce over fillet

Delicious!!!