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Whole Wheat Pasta with Salmon in Creamy Pumpkin Sauce

Day two of my meal plan and I’ve already veered off of the intended path (a bit). But first, I must digress. Do you know how hard it is to get a decent picture of a bowl full of this stuff? I must have taken 20 pictures and this is the best I could get. We’re getting a new super duper camera this week though, so look for some really great pics once I figure out how to use the dang thing.

Ok, moving on. The original recipe was for Pasta and Chicken with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce. However, after Turkey meatloaf Monday night and leftovers for lunch, I had had enough bird for awhile. I decided to swap out the chicken for Salmon because I had one piece of frozen Salmon in the freezer. I also felt the dish could use some color so I added green peas. I think next time I’ll add baby spinach to the mix.

I swapped the 2 cups of heavy cream for 4 ounces of low fat cream cheese and doubled the amount of chicken broth.

The original recipe called for fresh sage so I went out in the freezing rain to our lonely little vegetable bed to see if any of my sage was still alive. Believe it or not, my sage plants are still stubbornly surviving in my otherwise barren garden.

If you’ve never grown sage, put it on your list of fresh herbs to grow next summer. There’s nothing like fresh herbs and they are such money savers. Here are some tips on growing and preserving sage as well as cooking suggestions. I love to use chopped sage in stuffed mushrooms and tossed with butter as a simple pasta sauce for meat or cheese filled tortellini or ravioli. I know a classic way to serve gnocchi is with a sage and butter sauce.

Alright, so, on to the recipe. After tasting the pumpkin sauce, I felt it needed a touch of sweetness so I added a couple tablespoons of McCutcheon’s Tomato Preserves which I had in the fridge thanks to my buddy over at Househubbie. You could probably substitute Red Pepper Jelly or even honey, but taste before adding. You may decide to omit the sweet altogether.

Ingredients

8 oz dried whole wheat pasta (I bought a fancy, shmancy organic kind made by Bionaturae that resembled snail shells. Great for holding peas. If you haven’t tried it lately, whole wheat pasta has really come a long way.)

2 Tbs butter

1 Salmon Fillet

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 cup canned pumpkin

3/4 to 1 cup chicken broth

4 ounces low fat Cream Cheese

2 Tablespoons Tomato Preserves (pepper jelly or honey can be substituted)

1 Tbs fresh sage leaves, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

1/2 cup coarsely toasted chopped pecans

1/2 lemon

Directions

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain; keep warm. (I tossed with a little olive oil to keep from sticking). Meanwhile, heat 12 – inch skillet over medium high heat. Add Olive Oil and saute salmon fillet until it flakes with a fork but is still dark pink inside. Remove salmon and keep warm. Melt butter in same skillet until sizzling, add garlic and saute for 2 minutes being careful not to brown it. Break salmon into bite sized pieces and add to pan along with cooked pasta.) Combine pumpkin, chicken broth, cream cheese, sage, tomato preserves and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk until cream cheese is melted and all ingredients combine easily. Pour over pasta mixture; gently toss to coat. Add 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and toss. Cook over medium heat until heated through, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle with pecans. Drizzle each serving with juice from lemon and enjoy.

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009, by Deborah Smith, Executive Editor and is filed under "Fish, Pasta ". You can leave a response here, or send a Trackback from your own site.