February 17, 2015
This is a recipe I have been making (and adapting) since 1987 when my friend Karen gave me The Silver Palate Cookbook (c 1982, Workman Publishing by Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso) for Christmas. It is a dish our daughter Katy requests almost every time she is home. And, one of her friends Haley has requested the recipe to be included on this blog.

finished dish last night. I used half and half with a small amount of almond milk for the sauce base.

The recipe is wonderful and very elegant prepared just as the recipe was originally published. It is rich with heavy cream, butter, fresh pasta, dill and flaky salmon. The bright green pasta and the beautiful orange/pink salmon make a great visual presentation too. It is unusal to add cheese to a fish and pasta dish. The small amount added just brings the sauce together well but doesn’t add too much cheesy flavor.

I have found many substitutions to make it less expensive, less fat laden – and really no less delicious! I have used 1% milk, half and half, even canned condensed milk. If you choose the lower fat options you will need to thicken the sauce with a slurry of cold milk and cornstarch. I recommend 1/2 c extra milk with 2 TBS of cornstarch added to the hot simmering liquid so it thickens up. You may have to turn up the heat on your burner for a few minutes to get it to boiling and thickening. It can scorch easily, so watch carefully and turn back down to simmer once its thick. The pasta does not have to be fresh – and it really doesn’t have to be spinach. We have several options of dried spinach pasta in our grocery stores and I prefer a little wider noodle like fettuccini. You can use dried dill or nutmeg in a pinch and still get basically the same taste – but not quite the same visual.

sauce just beginning to simmer with nutmeg and butter.

You can easily use canned salmon for this recipe. It just takes quite a bit of work sorting bones and skin from the good fish. It has a much more dull color – but the flavor is just fine. We typically purchase frozen salmon to thaw and grill before flaking it and adding it to the sauce. I really like the added texture of some crunchy and slightly charred pieces of fish in the sauce. Another good idea is to buy a large piece of fresh salmon to grill for a meal, then save enough to make this a few days later. It’s economical and ready to make a quick meal. Last, the butter can be reduced in the recipe, but it really helps to toss the pasta in butter – or olive oil before adding the sauce. It mixes together much easier this way.

sauce ready to toss with the pasta.