Smoked Salmon Pasta

Back in March I recreated a dish that I liked when we were in Alaska, Smoked Salmon with Cream Sauce and Pasta.  I am trying something different tonight and here is what I did, it is more like a kicked up grown up version of mac and cheese.

6 ounce package of smoked salmon, drained of any juices and chopped with a fork until you no longer have huge chunks of salmon (you want to be able to see that you have salmon in the pasta)

1/2 of a 16 ounce bag of pasta (I used a Fusilli pasta), cooked
1 tomato de-seeded and diced
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
about a 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
about a 1/4 cup Romano Cheese, grated
Bechamel Sauce (recipe below)



Bechamel Sauce
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups hot milk
salt and freshly ground pepper
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan, blend in flour with a wooden spoon, and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until butter and flour foam together for 2 minutes without turning more than a buttery yellow color.  Remove from heat, and when bubbling stops, vigorously whisk in all the hot milk at once.  Place back on heat and bring to a boil, whisking until thick.  Simmer, stirring for 2 minutes.  Season to taste.

Once the Bechamel Sauce is done, add a little bit of the parmesan and romano cheese. Stir until slightly melted.  Stir in artichokes and smoked salmon, add tomato.  Add sauce mixture to the pasta and toss until pasta is coated.  To serve top pasta with a little bit of  grated parmesan and romano cheese.

Monday Night Scramble

Tonight I actually had a plan to make meatloaf, changed my mind and made something else instead.

Here are the ingredients:
1 pound grassfed ground beef
1 yellow bell pepper (chopped)
1 small onion (chopped)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1/2 can tomato sauce
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
1 can pitted black olives, drained
1/2 box pasta, cooked and drained (I had a partial box of ziti so that is what I used)
Garlic (I used a couple of cloves since they were small)
Oregano
A dried herb mix of sun-dried tomatoes, basil, garlic, oregano, sweet bell pepper, salt
Fresh parsley

Took the onion and pepper and added it to a hot skillet and cooked until tender, added the garlic then the ground beef.  Cooked until the beef was done then added the cans of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, artichoke hearts, a little oregano and dried herb mix.  Mixed that all together and then added the pasta to the skillet and mixed it all together.  Stirred in some olives and parsley.  Topped with some fresh Parmesan cheese.

We also had a loaf of garlic bread.  There are times where we have something to eat that I didn't actually bake or cook from scratch. I have found a frozen garlic bread (baguette) made by Alexia.  It doesn't contain any ingredients that are bad and actually it contains what I would probably use to make garlic bread.

Pizza

Tonight I had a taste for pizza so instead of ordering out I decided to make our own pizza.  Pizza with a homemade crust really doesn't take that long, all you need is a little planning.


I use a Cuisinart recipe for crust which is super simple.  If you don't have a Cuisinart a mixer will work just fine. It really only takes about an hour to have the crust ready to use and the pizza will only need to cook about 30 minutes with the oven set on 450 degrees.  I use a baking stone and put that in the oven first so that it can get nice and hot.


1 package active dry yeast 
1 teaspoon granulated sugar 
2/3 cup warm water (105 to 115°F.)
1 2/3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoons table salt
¾ teaspoon extra virgin olive oil


In a 2-cup liquid measure, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until foamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Insert metal blade in work bowl and add flour and salt. 
With machine running, pour liquid through small feed tube as fast as flour absorbs it. Process until dough cleans sides of work bowl and forms a ball. Then process for 30 seconds to knead dough. Dough may be slightly sticky. Coat dough evenly with olive oil; transfer to a plastic food storage bag and seal the top. Let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes. 
Place dough on a lightly floured surface and punch down. Roll into desired crust sizes and place on baking pans lightly sprayed with vegetable oil cooking spray.


After your pizza dough is done and put into the shape you want just add the sauce and toppings you want.


We buy this really awesome pizza sauce from Williams-Sonoma.  It is an Artichoke Garlic Pizza Sauce.   (ingredients - artichokes, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, water, sea salt, thyme, pepper, red chili flakes, herbs, spices).  One jar of it will make at least 2 pizzas.  


On top of the pizza we used the sauce, fresh sliced tomatoes, canned artichokes hearts (well drained), and banana peppers.  I layered it with a cheese mixture of sharp white cheddar, romano, and parmesan. 


As you will see from the picture the pizza is not a perfect round or square shape.  I had a problem with it sticking to the pizza peel (the board used to slide a pizza into the oven).  Even with sprinkling cornmeal on the peel didn't work so good.  That is okay though, it doesn't have to look perfect it just needs to taste good.  At least this is one of my mottos.