Salmon and Leek Pasta Recipe

Name: Salmon and Leek Pasta
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: Pasta
Ingredients: 1 skinless salmon fillet (around 150g / 5oz); 85g / 3oz / 1 cup farfalle pasta; 2 tsp olive oil; 1/2 leek, pale part only (around 100g / 3.5oz) – sliced in half lengthways and then cut julienne; 1 clove garlic, finely chopped; 60ml / 1/4 cup single or whipping cream; 1 tsp lemon juice; 2 tsp capers; few sprigs of fresh parsley, finely chopped; small handful rocket leaves

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This salmon and leek pasta is super creamy, lemony and rice. It’s the ultimate comforting dish – perfect to serve with a crispy dry white wine. It’s also so quick and easy that you can whip it up on a busy weeknight, yet so indulgent that it’s great for a weekend treat.

Ingredients

For this salmon and leek pasta you’ll need:

Skinless salmon fillets – you can also use skin-on fillets, just make sure to flake the salmon carefully so it comes away from the skin (and none of the skin is added to the pan)
Farfalle (bow-tie) pasta – you can substitute for any other type of pasta you prefer such as spaghetti, rigatoni or penne
Olive oil – ideally extra virgin
Leek – cut off the leaves and use the paler part of the leek (which is less tough). Cut the stem in half and then slice thinly lengthways. More details and pictures below!
Garlic – finely chopped
Cream – single, whipping or cooking cream all work fine
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp capers
Fresh parsley – roughly chopped – you can also substitute for basil if you prefer.
Rocket leaves – the freshest looking ones you can find

How to make it

First, preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Pat the salmon dry with kitchen towel and drizzle olive oil over the salmon on both sides and season well. Place on a baking tray in the oven for 12 minutes (or until it flakes easily with a fork).

Boil the pasta in salted water for the time directed on the packet. Meanwhile make the sauce. Cook the leeks in olive oil over medium heat in a frying pan. Don’t let them go brown and reduce the heat if they are starting to darken on the edges. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.

Recipe Steps - bake the salmon, prepare the leeks, fry the leeks, add the cream and capers

Add the cream, lemon juice and capers to the pan and season. Let it simmer for 3-4 minutes to reduce. Add a couple of tablespoons of pasta water per person to emulsify the sauce (which makes it super silky and helps it stick to the pasta).

Add the cooked and drained pasta to the pan and then flake the salmon and add that along with the rocket. Stir everything together and serve.

What goes well with it?

This recipe is great to serve as a full meal in itself. However, you can also add some bread to mop up all the lovely creamy sauce. For a lighter addition, a crisp green salad also goes well. Pairing this with a super crisp and dry white wine is also a great choice!

Can you freeze it?

This salmon and leek pasta will not freeze well. Firstly, freezing pasta can be a bit hit and miss. If you want to freeze pasta you need to be careful not to cook it all the way – you want it a little underdone so that when you reheat it it doesn’t overcook and become too soft. Secondly, creamy sauces aren’t great to cook. It may split on reheating which will make the texture grainy and unattractive. While it won’t hurt you it won’t be as good as fresh.

Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days and reheated on the hob or in a microwave (just beware that it might smell a little fishy!). Again, the texture might not be as great either.

How to prepare the leeks

For this recipe I cut the leeks julienne. This is a French cooking term that basically means cutting them in to thin long slices – almost like matchsticks.

To do this with leeks, cut them in half lengthways and then lay them cut side down on a chopping board. Cut them thinly with a super-sharp large knife until you have small sticks. If your leek is very long then you probably want to cut it into around 3-inch lengths pieces first.

Place the sliced leek into a large bowl of cold water and then scoop it out to let any pieces of grit or dirt to dislodge and sink to the bottom.

If you are looking for other great pasta recipes then check out this lemon chicken angel hair pasta or this king prawn pasta with chilli and garlic.