My friend Saran and I have known each other for over 10 years since our NBC Chicago days. She’s awesome. Recently, she posted this dish that her husband Simon made.  It was this salmon dish with pasta, arugula, capers, grape tomatoes, and pine nuts in a lemony vinaigrette. It looked so good, I asked her if Simon would give me the recipe. Fortunately for me, he did, and said it was ok to share with you folks, too! I’ve made some tiny tweaks and shorthanded the steps, but this is the recipe is 100% Simon. And, it’s great!

Simon’s Salmon Pasta
with arugula, tomatoes, capers and pine nuts
serves 4-6

Ingredients

1/2 cu Pine Nuts
1/4 cu Capers, drained
10 oz container Grape Tomatoes, sliced in half
1/2 lb Tagliatelle Pasta (or your favorite)
1 cu freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
5 oz container Arugula
1 lb Salmon Fillets
6 tbl Unsalted Butter
2 Lemons, zested and juiced
3/4 cu Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Method

Toast the pine nuts. Place pine nuts in a dry saucepan over medium high heat. Constantly stir nuts until they just begin to brown, about 4 minutes. Immediately remove from heat and seat aside.

Make the dressing. Place the zest of 1 1/2 of the lemons in a large bowl. Whisk in the juice of both lemons and add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Slowly whisk in 3/4 cup of Olive oil until mixture is fully emulsified. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Place salmon fillets on a large piece of aluminum foil. Sprinkle remaining zest of lemon on top and season with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Seal the foil around the salmon and bake for 25 minutes.

Prepare the pasta. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Prepare pasta according to package directions, timing it to be ready after you’ve removed the salmon from the oven.

Place arugula, tomatoes, capers, and parmesan cheese in a bowl large enough for all the pasta and salmon to be added. Set aside.

Remove salmon from the oven and carefully open the aluminum wrapping. Using a fork, gently flake the pasta into medium size pieces.

Heat a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add 6 tablespoons of butter. As butter melts, drain pasta, reserving some of the liquid, and add the pasta to the pan. Top with the flaked salmon and sauté until ingredients are well combined, about 2 minutes. If mixture seems a bit dry add a bit of the past water to loosen it up.

Pour pasta mixture over arugula mixture and add the pine nuts. Give the dressing a quick whisk and pour it over the dish. Toss everything until its fully combine and serve. You can certainly offer your guests additional parmesan if you like.

Enjoy!  And, a big thank you to Simon Horwell.