Salmon and pea tagliatelle with lemon, garlic, tarragon & parsley butter
Every now and then I crave a light meal with killer flavours. The sharp sourness of lemon (I use a lot in this recipe), pungent garlic, aniseed tarragon and savoury parsley combined with delicate salmon flakes, peas and egg pasta does it for me.
I usually double the quantities below to make enough tarragon, parsley and garlic herb butter to last for at least 6 months in the freezer. This butter is brilliant for adding flavour to any fish (I use it in the roast salmon, potato and asparagus recipe), melted on top of a grilled steak or stirred into boiled new potatoes.
Miraculous ingredients: Salmon fillets, lemon, dry egg tagliatelle (Giuseppe Cocco is very good), fresh tarragon
Salmon and pea tagliatelle with lemon, garlic, tarragon & parsley butter
Ingredients
2 fresh salmon fillets, skin removed (farmed)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
The juice of 1 lemon
100g frozen petits pois
250g dry egg tagliatelle (Guiseppe Cocco is the best)
Tarragon and parsley herb butter- any leftover butter can be stored in the freezer 50g unsalted butter 1 clove of garlic 10g fresh parsley (a handful) 10g fresh tarragon (a handful)
Method
Start by making the herb butter. Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Scrape the herb butter out of the processor onto a large sheet of parchment paper. Roll the butter using the surrounding paper to create a sausage shape.
Warm a small non-stick frying pan (which has a lid) on a low heat. Add all the olive oil to the pan and place the salmon fillets and all the lemon juice in the pan to gently cook for 5 minutes with the lid on. The fillets will semi poach in the juice. When the salmon has changed colour from bright orange to opaque pale pink then you know it’s done. Turn the heat off, take the salmon fillets out of the pan (leave the lemon juice in the pan) and place on a plate to one side. When cool enough to handle, flake the fillets into large pieces – it’s also a good opportunity to check for any bones.
Place a large pan that can hold a good 3 litres of water onto a high heat. When the water starts to boil add a teaspoon of salt and all the tagliatelle.
Add 25g of the tarragon, parsley and garlic butter to the pan in which you cooked the salmon and put on a low heat. As soon as the butter begins to melt turn the heat off and let the residual heat finish melting the butter. Do not fry the herb butter; you want to keep the colour green and the taste fresh.
Place the frozen peas in a bowl, microwave for 3 minutes and then add to the melted herb butter and lemon juice in the frying pan and mix.
When the tagliatelle is al dente (soft on the outside but slightly hard in the middle) lift it out of the pot with a pasta spoon straight into the pan with the melted herb butter, lemon juice and peas. Add a 4 tablespoons of pasta water to help create a sauce (the starch in the pasta water thickens the sauce). Add the salmon flakes to the pasta, gently mix and serve immediately.
Preparation time 15 minutes, cooking 5 minutes, serves 4