Fusilli with smoked salmon

Smoked salmon is good enough on its own. But in a creamy, white wine & parmesan sauce... heaven.

A comforting dish for a special night or a weekend treat.

Serves 2
- 200g fusilli
- 25g butter
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 4 tbsp white wine
- 150ml double cream
- squirt of lemon juice
- salt & pepper
- 50g parmesan, grated
- 120g smoked salmon
- garlic bread, to serve

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, and cook the fusilli according to packet instructions, around 15 minutes.

2. Melt the butter in a pan and fry the garlic and onion for a few minutes. Add the wine and bring to the boil, cooking for a further few minutes.

3. Pour in the cream, lemon juice, seasoning, and just over half of the parmesan, stirring over a low heat.

4. When the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the pan with the sauce. Stir until the pasta is coated, then add the smoked salmon and mix well.

5. Heat through for a minute, then serve with some garlic bread, and sprinkle the remaining parmesan on top of the pasta.

Enjoy :)

You might also like to try my tuna spaghetti recipe!

Creamy fish pie

I made this a few months ago after wanting to try it for ages, since I'd never even had a fish pie before! It was just as good as i'd expected - creamy and smooth with a lot of flavour and delicious mashed potato with a crispy, cheesy layer. Perfect comfort food!

Serves 6

- 800g potatoes, peeled and chopped

- 25g butter (+ extra for potatoes)

- 25g plain flour

- 400ml milk (+ extra for potatoes)

- 100ml double cream

- around 600g fish - salmon, haddock and white fish (pollock or cod)

I bought Sainsbury's fish pie mix which is salmon, haddock and pollock ready skinned and cubed

- bunch of fresh parsley, chopped

- generous amount of cheddar cheese, grated

1. Boil the potatoes according to packet instructions.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees.

3. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly, to make a smooth white sauce.

4. When thickened, stir in 75ml of the cream and season with salt and pepper. Mix in half the parsley.

5. Place the fish at the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Scatter over the remaining parsley then pour the white sauce on top.

6. When the potatoes are cooked and soft, mash them until smooth with butter, milk and the remaining cream.

7. Spread a layer of mashed potato on the top and fluff up with a fork.

8. Finish with a very generous layer of cheddar cheese and cook in the oven for 30 minutes (half covered with foil, half without) or until golden and the fish is cooked.

Enjoy :)

Pasta, pasta, pasta

Just a quick post on three pasta dishes I have made over the last couple months. Two I have posted about before so I will link them below, and one which is pretty simple but delicious.

Carbonara

This is the best carbonara recipe I've ever come across and it turned out even better the second time - just make sure you let the sauce reduce enough! You can find the recipe here

Pesto pasta with salmon and green beans

If you've read my other posts you will know I love pesto pasta - and this is exactly that, with green beans, spinach and salmon which I brushed with olive oil and fresh garlic before baking in the oven (wrapped in foil, 180 degrees) for 20 minutes. Finish it off with lots of fresh parmesan mm mm.

Macaroni cheese

This is the amazing Lisa Faulkner recipe that I've posted about before here. This time I left out the leeks and added a lot more bacon (I made it for my sister and she's very fussy!) This is perfect comfort food for this cold month.

Enjoy :)

Lemon and parsley salmon

(Completely forgot to take a picture once cooked!)

This is a simple dressing/marinade for salmon that is guaranteed to produce wonderful flavours and moist fish. It's buttery and it's tangy mm mm. Perfect served with new potatoes also tossed in a buttery, lemon and parsley sauce.

- salmon fillet

- few knobs of butter

- handful of fresh parsley, chopped

- fresh lemon

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180 degrees.

2. Simply place the salmon on foil, dot with the butter, sprinkle on the parsley, and squeeze over the lemon.

3. Wrap in the foil, place on a tray, and bake in the oven for around 20 minutes.

Enjoy :)

Soy, honey and garlic salmon

This marinade was a bit of an experiment, and it worked out really well. The sweetness of the honey with the salty soy sauce went perfectly well along with the garlic which I didn't expect! The salmon was incredibly moist and tender - I wished I had someone to share this with! I was just cooking for myself, since my mum doesn't eat fish. So please try this and let me know what you think. I wasn't very hungry at the time so I just served it with broccoli that I stir fried with sesame seeds, but this would be lovely with wholegrain rice.

(Sorry for the lack of posts - can't believe I only did 7 in June! I have been on holiday recently as well so quite a lot of these recipes are from a few weeks ago that I just haven't had the time to post. Hope you enjoy and sorry again for being so silent recently)

Serves 1

- 1 salmon fillet 

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 1 tbsp honey

- 1 tbsp soy sauce

- 1 clove of garlic, crushed

1. In a small dish, mix all the above ingredients half an hour before cooking to allow time to marinate.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees / gas mark 4. Wrap the salmon in foil and place on a baking tray in the oven for around 20 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through and flaky

Enjoy :)