This Little Pig had a low fridge and pantry day - one of THOSE days - you know the one piglet. The last lemon languished in the fruit bowl threatening to grow mould at any minute, the cherry tomatoes were slightly wizened on the bench next to the lemon and the ‘fresh linguine’ was in the freezer underneath 3 roast chicken dinners, a bag of frozen corn and some unknown meat that had potentially been there since buying the fridge in 2013.
Now This Little Pig only mentions these embarrassing fallacies to assure you that this recipe is so wonderful that even with old or depressed ingredients all one needs is garlic, delightful pasta (even if it was frozen) and some good quality salmon and the rest will take care of itself. It’s quick, easy, totes nourishing and the use of egg and parmesan instead of cream to make this creamy pasta is ingenious if we don’t say so ourselves. So roll up your midweek sleeves and try out this absolute beauty of a recipe piglet, you won’t regret it. Oink
Baked Salmon Carbonara Linguine
Feeds: 2 Piglets
Prep Time: 10 Mins. Cooking Time: 20 Mins.
Ingredients of Lovely Linguine:
270g x salmon fillets
200g x fresh linguine (we love Golden Ravioli for our fresh pasta)
200g x Rocket
1 x Free Range Egg
1 x Garlic Clove
1 x Lemon
2 x Shallots (or 1 red onion will do nicely)
½ x Cup of Shaved Parmesan
1 x Tbs Salt
200g x Cherry Tomatoes
1 x Italian Parsley Bunch (dill is incredible in this if you have some too)
Scrunchings of Pepper
Method of lovely linguine:
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees
- In a small oven tray place your salmon pieces (270g) and scatter over your cherry tomatoes (200g) and just lightly sprinkle a little salt (1/4 Tsp) over the top of the salmon.
- Pop your salmon tray into the oven for 15-20 mins or until the salmon is juuuuust cooked through (it cooks a little more in the pasta at the end). *Ignore the fact that this salmon pictured is more than juuuust cooked, This Little Pig got distracted pulling weeds and chatting on the phone in the garden during baking process. Accidents like this happen all the time in cooking one must not judge oneself too harshly, one must just learn to move on with brisk efficiency.
- Bring a medium salty pot of water to the boil (around 1 Tbs salt).
- Skin and verrrry finely dice your garlic clove (1).
- Skin and finely dice your shallots (2).
- Chop off the stems and finely dice your parsley (1 bunch).
- Zest your lemon (1) (that’s grating off the yellow skin of your lemon – not the white - on the finest side of your grater, just in case you’ve never zested before).
- Once the water is boiling drop in your pasta (200g) for required time to make it al dente (DON’T DRAIN WITHOUT SAVING ½ A CUP OF WATER PIGLET!).
- Crack your egg (1) into a bowl and whisk to combine.
- Mix your parmesan (1/2 cup) through your whisked egg and stir in some cracked pepper.
- Place a coffee cup in the sink, place your colander on top of it and now drain your pasta over it to ensure you don’t forget to save the 1/2 cup of pasta water. *Handy Tip: Lean your face over as you pour out the pasta and get a completely free and organic steam pasta facial whilst you cook dinner. WOW. *Warning: can also cause steam burns whilst having said facial.
- Return drained pasta (make sure it’s not on the heat any more) to the pot and stir through your egg, parmesan plus your chopped garlic. Gently toss until the egg and cheese coats the strands, now add (just a tiny bit at a time) the pasta water to give it a little silkier texture – you’ll probably only need ¼ of a cup of it - you don't want watery salmon carbonara linguine after all.
- Now add all your other ingredients apart from the rocket and toss gently.
- Just before serving, mix through your fresh rocket and serve with a big scrunch of pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and lashings of parmesan. Deliciousness in a bowl piglets! Oink.
