SALMON AND ASPARAGUS LINGUINE IN BASIL CREAM SAUCE

SALMON AND ASPARAGUS LINGUINE IN BASIL CREAM SAUCE

#SIAintheKitchen

Well, I’ve officially launched my YouTube channel — hooray! With that launching, its kept me busy = filming, cooking, eating, storyboarding (somewhat). But I love it all. Video-editing is so much fun! And time consuming, especially for this perfectionist. But latest it gives me a purpose and motivation during this quarantine.

I was filming a segment for Fresh Nood Fridays, a segment dedicated to making noodle dishes from scratch with the bulk of them being under 30 minutes or less. I don’t want to only make Asian noodle dishes. I love ALL noodle dishes - I don’t discriminate! I wanted to show how easy it is to cook and broaden peoples’ minds when it comes to cooking. For this particular episode, I went real simple and went wth a springtime pasta dish: salmon and asparagus linguine in basil cream sauce.

Fresh asparagus, lightly smoked salmon, basil cream sauce…what?! Springtime brings an abundance of produce and flavours. As usual, I made this dish based on what I had leftover in the fridge and pantry. I had blanched some asparagus, vacuum-packed salmon, a bunch of basil that I know was going to go to waste if I didn’t use it up, some whipping cream…. I threw this altogether is 30 minutes. It’s that easy and flavour was 100%. So good.

SALMON AND ASPARAGUS LINGUINE IN BASIL CREAM SAUCE - serves 6 - 8

• 1 lb linguine

• 1 bunch basil

• 4 garlic cloves

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• 3 tbsp lemon juice

• 1/2 cup parmeggiano reggiano, grated

• 1 cup whipping cream

• ~1/2 cup vegetable stock

• ~1/2 cup pasta water

• 1/2 cup parmeggiano reggiano, grated

• 1 tsp fish sauce

• 1/2 tsp herbs-de-provence

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• freshly ground black pepper, a generous amount

• 16 oz. salmon, cooked and flaked

• 1 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed, blanched

1. Cook the linguine in a pot of boiling, heavily-salted water until al dente. Set aside some pasta water before draining. Drain, rinse and set aside.

2. When the pasta is cooking, prepare the basil puree. Puree the basil, parmeggiano reggiano, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil until blended. Set aside.

3. Heat the cream in a large sauce pan over medium heat and gently mix in the basil puree with a spatula. When bubbles start to appear, add in the stock and pasta water. Add in the cheese, herbs-de-provence, fish sauce, salt and black pepper. The sauce should be quite thin.

4. Once everything is incorporated, lower the heat and add the pasta to the sauce. Toss. Gently fold in the asparagus and salmon until well-incorporated. Serve with additional grated cheese.