SALMON PASTA BAKE

I am so happy school went back today - I have been craving the routine and normality. Arabella also came back after a week at her father's house and I was so excited to see her. 

This recipe is from the Saturday Times magazine and I knew Pascal would hate it as he is not keen on fish pasta or cream but Arabella would love it as salmon pasta is one of her favourites. However Pascal isn't here, so it was the perfect time to try it out.

Ingredients for 2 people:

300ml of double cream
200g of salmon 
A bay leaf
90g of pasta - I used penne but you could use macaroni or fusilli or serpentelli
1 tbsp of wholegrain mustard
25g sourdough bread, blitzed into breadcrumbs
A handful of dill, blitzed with the breadcrumbs

I also added some grated Parmesan cheese into the breadcrumbs but this wasn't part of the recipe and is entirely optional - I just couldn't bear a pasta bake without cheese!!

Preheat the oven to 200 C / gas mark 6.

Pour the cream into a saucepan and add the salmon fillet, a bay leaf and some black pepper. Bring almost to the boil and then lower the heat. Let the salmon cook gently for about 10 minutes, until the flesh comes apart in large flakes with ease, then remove from the heat.

Meanwhile cook the pasta in salted, boiling water according to the packet's instructions. I always like to cook mine al dente and this took around 8 minutes. Drain when ready.

At the same time as the salmon and pasta are cooking, blitz the bread in a food processor with the dill, into coarse breadcrumbs.

When the salmon is ready, remove it from the cream and cut into pieces, discarding any skin.

Mix the fish with the pasta.

Stir in a tablespoon of wholegrain mustard and a little bit of salt into the cream and then pour over the pasta and salmon and mix together.

Pour into a baking dish and top with the breadcrumbs. As I mentioned I also added some grated Parmesan.

Finally cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the crumbs are golden and lightly crisp.

This was really quick and easy to make and really tasty. Both Arabella and I enjoyed it although it is quite rich….next time I will definitely serve it with a green salad for myself and some cucumber for Arabella or alternatively add some peas. It was a great way to make Arabella eat oily fish with no complaints whatsoever…..normally when I suggest salmon she turns her nose up a bit as she thinks it's boring……this was anything but!