Salmon and clam leftovers

This week, I had a plan.  I had a plan to combine two awesome things, and find out if they were awesome together. 

The first awesome thing is salmon, which over the years I have grown to dislike.  The second thing is the pasta and other goodies from the clam recipe that I loved so much. 

Something interesting just happened regarding the salmon.  I was trying to find the recipe where I had made this awesome salmon, but I couldn't find it.  I tracked it in my pictures, and found the date to be September 22nd.  Apparently, I never blogged about it.  The rest of the dish must not have been spectacular.  Very confusing.

Salmon was a fish that my mom would often cook for us when I was little, and I would always drown the dry flakey bits in tartar sauce.  Because of the frequency, I grew out of it and decided not to like it any longer.   The times I have cooked it since I have started cooking I've had mixed results.  On the stove, the salmon has always turned out rediculously dry, even when poached.  I found that broiling the fish yealeded the best and easiest results.  I also learned that pre-frozen salmon is always a terrible idea.  

On the day of the 22nd, I found out one remarkable thing.  All my life, I've been eating overcooked salmon.  Salmon is not supposed to be flakey and dry, it's supposed to be moist, tender, and flavorful.  You shouldn't have to drown out the flavor of the fish with anything, ever, if done right.

The trick is doing it right.

Here it is:  Season with salt and pepper, cook for 2 minutes on each side.  That's it.  Simple.  Delightful.  Tasty.

I made the pasta the same way as was done in the clam recipe, along with forgetting that 1/2 lb of pasta is way too much for two people.  In fact, I'm going to change that in my book right now.

And, back; 4 oz is what it should be.  The main lessons that I have learned from the pasta part of this recipe are that cooking pasta in half water and half chicken broth is always delicious, and that cooking onions in sherry is also delicious. 

 

As for the true question, whether or not these two awesome things would go together...

Not really.  But they both tasted good individually.  And that's good enough for now.