Amazing Salmon Pasta in a Bechamel Cheese Sauce

For Valentine’s Day, I made a salmon dinner with asparagus and rice pilaf. But I had cooked a piece of salmon about twice as big as needed for that dinner. So I had about half of it left. I thought, “dang, I really don’t want to waste that, and maybe I can make a new dinner out of it but make it seem like a totally different and new meal.” My thoughts are usually in run on sentences.

Anyways, I also had heart shaped pasta my mom gave me for Valentine’s Day so I was thinking in the direction of a pasta. Next, I needed a sauce to be the conduit, and a cheese sauce came to mind. A bechamel sauce is a roux made from milk instead of water and then I added parmesan. So without writing the recipe in the intro, let’s make a pasta dish.

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs Salmon
• ¼ lemon juiced
• 1 tbsp dill
• ½ tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2.5 cups milk
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups broccoli + 1 tsp olive oil (optional)
• 1 bag of pasta

To Make Salmon Pasta in a Bechamel Cheese Sauce

Salmon

Preheat oven to 425⁰. On a sheet pan, place the salmon. Use a paper towel to pat the salmon dry. Evenly spread the lemon juice on the salmon and then coat with dill. Drizzle the olive oil over the salmon. Bake at 425⁰ for about 12 minutes or until the Salmon has an internal temperature of 125⁰. Remove the salmon from the oven and set aside to rest.

Pasta

Cook the pasta, strain and set aside.

Broccoli

If you want to add the broccoli, sauté the broccoli in the olive oil on a medium pan. Broccoli should still be firm when done.

Bechamel Cheese Sauce

To make the sauce- preheat the milk until hot but not boiling in a separate sauce pan. In a large Pot, melt the butter. Then add the flour and stir. It should form a paste. Slowly add in the hot milk and stir continuously to make smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the parmesan and stir until smooth. Add the salmon, pasta, and optional broccoli into the sauce and stir until evenly mixed. And you are ready to EAT! Enjoy.