PESTO SHELLS WITH SALMON AND PEAS

PESTO SHELLS WITH SALMON AND PEAS

#SIAintheKitchen

At the time of writing, it’s the summer. Summers in Vancouver mean potlucks - and a lot of them. It can be hard to keep up or even conceptualize new foods to bring to each gathering and frankly, who has time for that!?

I had recently brought a quick, no-fuss dish of pesto shells with salmon and peas to a dinner lately and it went…fast. The dish itself took mere minutes to make (it took longer to cook the pasta than actually assemble it!) and is a total budget meal.

I always have leftover frozen pesto from big batches that I make with excess stems and wilting herbs about to go into the bin. I used homemade but you more than welcome to use something that is jarred or store-bought.

Pesto, along with salmon or even prawns (heck, seafood in general) pair together so beautifully. The salmon I had was slightly smoked which complimented the pesto nicely. Add some green peas in there for sweetness and to bulk it up and voila - done dinner in 5 minutes.

Be sure to flake the salmon, thaw your peas or even make your own pesto while the pasta is cooking. After that, it’s just pure assembly!

PESTO SHELLS WITH SALMON AND PEAS - serves 4

• 1 lb small pasta shells

• 1 cup homemade pesto (any varietal will work; for this I used arugula and basil)

• 1 (8oz) cooked salmon, lightly smoked preferred

• 1/3 cup pasta water

• 1 cup frozen green peas

• salt + pepper, to taste

1. In a pot of boiling heavily salted water, cook the pasta until al dente, about 5 minutes. Reserve 1/3 cup of pasta water and drain and rinse the pasta. Transfer to a large serving bowl.

2. Place the frozen green peas on the bottom of the serving bowl and pour the hot pasta over top of it. Add the pasta water and pesto and toss to combine.

3. Fold in the flaked cooked salmon and season with salt and pepper.