cook: saturday supper

I was craving salmon. A few years ago, Tuscan salmon was in my rotation and then I stopped making it because we went vegan for a few months and so forgot about this dish in my seafood repertoire. But I also forget what I used to serve as a side dish with this salmon. Did I even used to serve a starch alongside Tuscan salmon? No matter. I decided use up the rest of a box of cavatappi pasta and pesto.  And got my mise en place together.                            

And I cooked the starch first by boiling the cavatappi for 6 minutes and then tossing it in the pesto along with a little bit of its starchy cooking water. It’s not an appetizing-looking side. I blame the Trader Joe’s pesto, which is a pond scum green rather than emerald like the Costco pesto, but it takes us months if not a year to eat a big warehouse jar of pesto.                       

Maybe in a few months, we’ll be in the mood for pesto again, and I'll blend fresh basil, pine nuts, parmesan and olive oil myself. Next I seared and crisped the salmon.  

I basically got my cast iron searing hot to cook the salmon. Lay the filets skin side down for two minutes to brown and then loosen from the pan and flip. And then let it cook another two minutes to brown on the other side.             

After browning, I set the salmon aside to finish cooking later in the sauce, which calls for dairy.                         

Damn that’s a lot of lactose. And so I melted butter and sautéed minced garlic.                                   

Just before the garlic can burn, add the sliced cherry tomatoes and de-glaze with additional white wine if you wish. And then let the moisture cook off to prevent a watery sauce.                 

Next add spinach. You could just add a couple handfuls or even all of an 8-ounce bag because the vegetable will wilt down. A lot.                    

Once the spinach has taken up less volume in the pan, add heavy whipping cream. I added a quarter cup and then simmered the sauce again to drive off more moisture. I also sprinkled Parmesan cheese into the sauce to further thicken it.                      

I tasted and salted, which then made the spinach release more water into the sauce. And so the Tuscan sauce needed to simmer off more moisture and meld all the flavors. After some 5 minutes of simmering the sauce looks done and ready for the salmon.                       

I then nestled the salmon into the vegetables and sauce and let it simmer for only 2 or 3 minutes so the fish would heat through but not get beyond medium rare.                           

I also sprinkled a couple more tablespoons of chopped basil and called out to the hubs that dinner was ready.                                 

Seared salmon in Tuscan sauce. It’s what was for Saturday supper. Next time I will nix the pesto pasta and just serve rice or buttered pasta or corn as a side.