Pasta with Salmon and Gorgonzola
Whip Up this Sensational Dish in the Time it Takes to Boil the Pasta
Here's a pasta dish that goes together fast enough for a weeknight, but scrummy enough for guests. Add a simple spinach side salad and you're all set.
Transform simple pasta with a bit of salmon and blue cheese for one of those memorable meals. So easy that you'll want to whip up on a regular basis.
The Pasta:
- 4 oz pasta shells or bowtie pasta
1. Start the pasta water boiling.
The Salmon:
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
- 1 salmon filet, ~1/2 lb
2. In a skillet over medium flame, heat olive oil and toss in the garlic pieces. Stir them around with a wooden spoon to flavor the oil, but pull them out and set them aside before they start to brown. Otherwise they will get bitter.
3. Add the Salmon filet and cook until it’s almost cooked, 4-5 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the filet. Meanwhile start your pasta cooking (for dried pasta that is; if you’re using fresh don’t start it until you start the sauce.)
4. Remove the salmon and break it into bite-size pieces. Add the pieces back into the pan.
The Sauce:
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2 Tbsp capers
- pinch of salt
- ½ cup Gorgonzola, crumbled
5. Add the wine, capers, salt and the reserved garlic to the pan and let it simmer 4-5 minutes.
6. Add the Gorgonzola and stir until the cheese melts and incorporates into the sauce.
7. Drain the past well and stir it into the pan.
8. Serve in individual bowls topped with parsley and a good grind of black pepper.
Serves: 4
Notes:
This is one of those really flexible recipes where you can use what you have on hand. This is super on any kind of pasta. This is a great way to stretch a leftover salmon filet into another meal. Even smoked salmon will substitute nicely. (If you’re using salmon that’s already cooked, you just want to heat it up, not cook it any more in step 3.) Make it a one dish meal by adding steam asparagus tips or broccoli flowerets.
About the Cheese:
Any good blue cheese works in this recipe, too. You can read about some other great ones in Eleven French Blue Cheeses Compared and Blue Cheese from Tasmania?
You may find that “Mountain” Gorgonzola (also labeled "Gorgonzola Piccante") will become your go-to blue because it has been aged long enough to be full-flavored but it's more economical than most blues. Another plus is that it’s almost always available, even at most neighborhood supermarkets.
The French and Italians will go back and forth as to which came first, Roquefort or Gorgonzola. Both have somewhat similar folk tales of their accidental discoveries (although the French version is wrapped in a love story, quel suprise), how the cheese was left too long or in the wrong cave and blue mold grew on the cheese. Somebody dared eat it and the world is glad they did.
Most blue cheeses are still aged in caves. The blue is edible mold: either Penicillin Roquefortii or, as with Gorgonzola, Penicillin Glaucum. Instead of depending on the naturally occurring mold in the caves, almost all varieties of blue-veined cheeses are injected or mixed with the mold before they go into the caves to age. How long they are aged makes one difference between different cheeses. The longer the stronger. Gorgonzola that is aged much less is called Gorgonzola Dolce or Dolcelatte. Its milder flavor may be just right for your guest who is unsure about the bliss of blue. Probably the biggest factor distinguishing the scores of varieties of blue cheeses is the kind of animal whose milk is used and what they eat, drink and breath. Roquefort is made from ewe's milk. Gorgonzola is primarily made from cow's milk. Cabrales and some other Spanish blues are made from a mixture of cow, sheep and goat's milk. Buffalo Blue is made from, you guessed it, buffalo milk!
Hungry for more? Find out what's happening in French Cuisine, Check out more recipes that demystify the basic techniques and ingredients of French Cuisine. Explore the cuisine of France's Regions beyond Paris
