6.1.2020
SALMON SPAGHETTI I
Gluten and Lactose-Free
Make it regular with regular spaghetti.
Serves: 4
This is a dish I started to make when our children were infants/toddlers. I think this qualifies to being comfort food at its best. It is also a dish that did not take any effort to make it into a gluten and lactose-free meal.
We all love it. Anytime I must feed someone quickly this dish is what I would invariably go for. The ingredients are always in the pantry. It only takes for the time to boil water and cook the spaghetti. While the water is boiling and the spaghetti is cooking, I have enough time to make the salmon sauce and a salad. Every person I have fed this meal, loves it and invariably the pot is scraped clean.
I boil the water in a kettle, so I don’t have to keep watch to see when the water is boiled. When it whistles, I know it is ready and I have had enough time to make the salad or chop the onions or whatever to get on with it without having to watch the water come to a boil.
I have tried this dish with fresh salmon, and with red salmon and expensive cans of salmon. None of them taste as good as the least expensive can of pink salmon. Why I have no idea? I like Aldi’s canned salmon the best.
I can’t wait to make it for our grandchildren.
It is another fast, easy and yummy dish to eat, and fast and easy to make! What else does one need in a dish? I cook 2 oz spaghetti for me, 4 oz for Peter, 3 to 4 oz for anyone else that will be sharing the meal.
A quick No Recipe version is also on the blog when you don’t want to go into too much bother.
Let's cook:
Spaghetti – 6 oz, cooked
Olive oil – 2 to 3 T
Onion – ¼" diced onion, 1 ½ c
Crushed red pepper flakes – ½ t (option, 2 t super thinly sliced jalapeño without seeds)
Salmon – 1 14oz can, drained, reserve the liquid
Tomato Ketchup - ½ to 1 c
Green peas – frozen, ½ c (optional)
Let's get cooking:
Measure out what you need and set aside.
Boil a kettle of water. Pour into a deep 12” skillet. When the water comes back to a boil again, add 2 to 3 T of kosher salt, stir and then add the spaghetti. Bring the water to a boil, stir the spaghetti. Cover the skillet, turn off the stove and cook for 7 minutes. Drain and leave the spaghetti in a strainer or colander.
While the water is boiling, the spaghetti is cooking. Cook the onion in the olive oil on medium heat, in a large skillet or pot, sprinkle with a pinch of Kosher salt and crushed red pepper and cook stirring until the onion turn medium golden.
Add the drained salmon and cook till it begins to get some color stirring occasionally. When the salmon is ready add the ketchup. Begin with ½ c of ketchup. Stir and let the ketchup cook for about 2 minutes. The salmon should be reddish in color with the ketchup. If you wish the whole dish to be redder or you like the taste of ketchup, add more and continue to cook for about 30 seconds more.
Now add ¼ to ½ c of the reserved salmon liquid to the skillet and stir this will make the salmon a little wet, then add the drained pasta to the salmon sauce and toss very gently with tongs for the wetness to get absorbed into the spaghetti and infuse the pasta with the salmon flavor, add the frozen peas and cover and let steam for 1 to 2 minutes. This will cook the pasta a little more and thaw the peas.
You are looking for spaghetti, peas and salmon well mixed but dry. Taste to check for seasoings, add kosher salt and ground black pepper as needed.
Serve with a salad or steamed green vegetable.
There will be a lot of salmon for the 6 oz of pasta in a 14oz can which is fine with us. You can use 12 oz of pasta and the dish will be fine. You can serve this dish for 2, 4 or 6. To stretch the dish for 6 some biscuits or focaccia is good.
Enjoy!