There is nothing better than a bowl of nice and creamy pasta. This salmon pasta is all that and more. The seasonal addition of zucchini and fresh dill makes it an easy and quick dinner to make on a weekday and enjoy with a glass of white wine. To make creamy salmon pasta, you don’t really need any cream at all. I like to make my sauces with dollops of butter, pasta water, and some wine or spirit, this always gets me a silky sauce. If you want to go a little bit further, add a tablespoon of flour to get a richer sauce. I usually skip this and just use the starchy pasta water as a binder and be done with it.
How to make pasta with salmon?
First, you will need to boil your chosen kind of noodles, I went with fettuccine. I think long and thick noodles go really well with the pieces of salmon and zucchini.
The rest is simply frying some zucchini pieces in butter, but don’t forget the garlic.
Once the veggies have cooked nicely, I add a splash or more of white wine, I used a simple table wine, not very high in acidity since we are adding lemon zest.
After that, the fettuccine is added to the pan and tossed.
How to cook salmon and pasta?
The easiest way to cook salmon for pasta al salmone is to simply toss it in hot pasta. I always like to cube my fish so I don’t really end up with much cooking. This always results in moist and tender fish that is cooked all the way through simply from the heat of the rest of the dish. The pot or pan should be removed from heat before adding salmon.
This is a fool-proof way to cook salmon for pasta and not overdo it.
You could say that this recipe is a play on salmon alfredo. Which initially is creamy pasta with added protein, salmon in this case. The only difference is that this is made with white wine instead of cream. But it is comfort food for sure. Once the heat settles, it is nice to have a heartier and more comforting meal. Because during the heatwave, I swear, I run on cold salads, iced coffee, and an occasional sandwich.
This salmon pasta can be made in any season and the main veggies are swapped up for any other seasonal ones. But I do believe that even after the real zucchini season is over, all supermarket zucchinis are quite good too. So, let’s not start cooking up those pumpkins just yet. We will have plenty of time for that in the long and muggy winter that is for sure coming. This salmon pasta can be made during the cold months as a comforting bowl of delicious goodness.
I was planning on really working my ass off this summer and create tons of recipes so I could take it easy in the autumn, but the heatwave made it impossible and so did some other projects I have been working on. So, I guess it means that I will try and cramp a lot of work in autumn so I could take it easy during winter? But what else is there than work during winter? I guess it is that vicious cycle where we all wish we still had a summer break and could just run around, swim and play catch and unplug our brains for a few months. Okay, that is it on this topic, let’s get back to this creamy lemon salmon pasta with zucchini and white wine sauce. It is a true dinner staple and super easy to make.
Salmon pasta with white wine sauce
Ingredients
- 250 g pasta of your choice
- 500 g salmon fillet
- 1 zucchini thinly sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 50 g butter
- Zest from 1 lemon
- 250 ml white wine
- 150 ml pasta water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp sugar
- Bunch of fresh dill
Instructions
- In a hot skillet with some olive oil cook the zucchini for 4 minutes
- Add the butter, garlic, spices, and lemon zest, cook for 2 more minutes on medium
- Add in the wine and cook for 5 minutes until the wine reduces in half
- Add the pasta and toss, remove from the heat
- Add the pasta water and the salmon and toss
- Put on a lid and let sit for 5 minutes before serving, this will cook the salmon trough
- Serve with chopped fresh dill
Notes
For different seasonal comfort food, try these sheet pan gnocchi with veggies and goat cheese.