Quick Friday-of-Lent Dinner

Pin It It's that time of the year again when I have to figure out meatless meals on Friday.  And it turns out, I had only one serving of salmon left in the freezer.  I found that the best way to make a meal for two people when there's not enough salmon for an entree was to make pasta. I've been making this go-to dish for a while now and used to make it with sun dried tomatoes.  But the husband doesn't like them... nor is he too thrilled about salmon either.  But this dish, he actually likes.  So I used grape tomatoes just because it was the only thing I had in my pantry. What's even better about this dish is that it probably takes, seriously, 30 minutes to prep and cook (not including boiling the water, of course!).  If you're actually taking this recipe seriously, I don't have measurements because everything depends on your preference.

finely chopped garlic
olive oil
dried Italian herbs (I get the Badia Italian Seasoning where the dried herbs are already mixed)
fresh tomatoes
cut pasta like farfalle or rotini

Poach the salmon in slightly boiling water until medium rare, because this will finish cooking in the dressing later on. I really don't know how long for, I just check by flaking the fattest part of the fish.  Take it out of the water, then flake with a fork.

While the pasta is cooking, sautee garlic and tomatoes in enough olive oil to coat the pasta.  I sautee them until the tomatoes have cooked enough that they color the oil.  Season with salt, pepper and the herbs.  When pasta is almost done, add the salmon to the tomato-olive oil dressing.  Re-season with salt, pepper and herbs.  Drain the cooked pasta and add to the pan where the dressing is cooking.  Don't turn off the flame because you want the pasta to finish cooking in the dressing.  This will let the pasta absorb the flavors of the dressing.  Toss the pasta until fully coated with the oil.  If there's not enough oil for your pasta, just drizzle some more olive oil to finish.  Adjust seasoning to taste.

Top with fresh basil if you're concerned about the presentation.  After all, salmon and tomatoes are in the same color family.

A note on using the dried herbs
 
I use the pre-mixed Italian seasoning for two reasons: it's a lot cheaper than buying these dried herbs separately or buying fresh and my husband's Italian--I use this flavor A LOT!  I don't claim that this is gourmet, but I claim that this is real.  We're not all Ina Garten or Giada de Laurentis who can walk out to their garden to pick their fresh herbs.