My friend Seiko whipped this up for dinner when she stayed at my place on vacation. It’s pretty simple: leftover salmon, crème fraîche (which makes an instant cream sauce), and pasta. Dill and capers add a bit of pop. If it’s summer, my recipe, “To Be Eaten Only in Season Tomato Salad” is lovely on the side.
Text excerpted from COOKING SOLO © 2016 by Klancy Miller. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. Photo: © 2016 Tara Donne.
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Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- salt
- 2 ounces linguine fini
- 1/3 cup cooked, flaked salmon (About 1/3)
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 1 tablespoon crème fraîche
- 1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon rinsed and chopped capers (preferably salt-packed)
- Freshly groung black pepper
Servings: person
Instructions
- In a large pot, bring the water and a healthy pinch of salt to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, 6 to 8 minutes.
- While the pasta cooks, put the salmon in a small bowl and douse it with the lemon juice.
- Drain the pasta and transfer it to a medium bowl. Add the salmon, dill, crème fraîche, olive oil, capers, a pinch of salt, and a grind of pepper. Toss with tongs to combine well. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if desired. Serve warm.
Not especially imaginative as a dish. It’s tasty enough (though the combination of lemon juice and any milk product does not sound like a great idea), and certainly easy to prepare (even though I’ve never managed to have leftovers when making salmon), but just not even special enough even for an ordinary solo meal. Try adding a bit of smoked Spanish paprika or sumac (both available from Penzey’s) for at least a bit more zing.
Respectfully disagree, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to try your addition of sumac (Faith tells me it’s slightly citrusy, which is right up my alley). Thanks for the idea.