No-Guilt Creamy Salmon and Pasta

Nif's Note:

The fat content in this creamy meal is nice and low. This is a dish that my kids always eat every last bite of! Serve with a salad to balance out the meal. I use Catelli Smart Pasta because it has more fibre than whole wheat pasta and has a nice texture. For the photos that I posted, I used Homemade Dilled Noodles and Weight Watcher Pesto Sauce. It was delicious. Enjoy!

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white flour
• 2 cups 1% low-fat milk
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 lb pasta (dry or fresh, any shape will work, penne, fettucine, rotini, etc.)
• 2/3 cup low-fat parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 1/2 tablespoons pesto sauce (homemade or store-bought in jar)
• 3/4 lb boneless skinless salmon, seared and then broken with fork into chunks
• chopped fresh parsley, to sprinkle on completed dish (optional)

Directions:

1. Boil water in large pot for pasta.
2. Heat oil in large nonstick pan and then add in flour until pasty. Gradually whisk in milk while stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Season with pepper.
3. Add pasta to boiling water and set timer as directions advise. If pasta is done before the sauce, toss with a bit of olive oil so it doesn't stick.
4. Whisk in Parmesan cheese and pesto until thoroughly mixed. Heat for a few minutes on low until thickened.
5. Stir in salmon just before serving and heat through.
6. Add pasta to salmon mixture and gently toss.
7. Sprinkle parsley on completed dish.

Reviews

[Starrynews]

This was great, and so easy to prepare. The pesto really adds a nice dimension! Thanks for sharing! Think Pink 2011.

[FLUFFSTER]

Oh my! I bought some salmon the other day, and purposely bought 1 fillet extra so that I could make this!I couldn't wait to try it, as salmon is almost my favorite fish. This is so delicious! Creamy and good, and it was gone so fast! lol You've got a winner here, Nif! I used store-bought pesto, and we BBQ'd the salmon. In fact, it was our first BBQ of the season! Thank you so much, Nif, this is going to be one of our keeper meals. Made for Go For the Green event at KK's forum.

[Kittencalskitchen]

nothing less than 5 stars for this recipe, I went the full-fat route and used 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup milk, this is easy with wonderful flavor and a recipe I will be making again, this was made for KK's Chef Pick forum game, thank you Nif!