Creamy salmon pasta with spinach
25 min · 46 g protein · 470 cals / serving
Tender chunks of salmon and wilted spinach folded through pasta in a creamy lemon and garlic sauce with parmesan, burst cherry tomatoes and a fistful of dill. The sauce is lättmjölk thickened in the pan and finished with kvarg, so it clings to every piece of pasta and tastes bright rather than heavy. Twenty-five minutes, one pot of water, one pan.
Ingredients
- 7 oz pasta, penne or tagliatelle
- 1 lb 2 oz raw pink salmon, pinklaxfilé, fryst och tinad (skinless pink salmon, frozen and thawed), in 3 cm cubes
- 3/4 tsp salt, divided
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 3/4 cups grape tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, optional
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 1/4 cups skimmed milk, 0.5% fat, fortified
- 7 oz fresh spinach, baby spinach
- 3/4 cup quark
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan, finely grated
- 1/2 lemon, zest and juice
- 1/2 small bunch fresh dill, chopped
Steps
- Cook the pasta in well-salted boiling water until just al dente. Scoop out a mug of the cooking water before you drain it.
- While the pasta cooks, season the salmon with half the salt and the pepper. Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan over medium-high heat and sear the salmon 1–2 minutes per side, until golden on the outside but still rosy inside; it finishes in the sauce. Lift it onto a plate.
- Lower the heat to medium and add the garlic, tomatoes and pepper flakes. Cook 3–4 minutes, until the tomatoes collapse and the garlic is golden at the edges.
- Whisk the cornstarch into the cold milk, pour it into the pan and stir until it bubbles and thickens, about 2 minutes.
- Add the spinach a handful at a time until it wilts, then add the drained pasta and toss with a splash of the pasta water.
- Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the kvarg, parmesan, lemon zest and juice and the rest of the salt until the sauce is smooth and coats the pasta; loosen with more pasta water if needed. Fold the salmon back in gently, let it sit 2 minutes until it flakes and reaches 145°F, then scatter with dill and serve.
Good to know
Can I use farmed salmon?
Yes. Odlad lax (fjordlax) gives a richer, silkier dish, at about 600 kcal a portion and a score of about 50 instead of 65. The pink salmon the recipe is built on is leaner and milder, and its chunks stay firm in the sauce.
Why cornstarch?
Lättmjölk on its own is thin and kvarg can go grainy over heat. Thickening the milk first, then stirring in the kvarg off the heat, gives a smooth sauce that behaves like cream.
Hot-smoked salmon instead?
A classic shortcut. Flake 300 g of varmrökt lax into the pasta at the end instead of searing fresh fish, and go easy on the salt, since smoked salmon brings plenty. It is richer, at about 50 instead of 65.
Per
- Calories
- 99
- Protein
- (40%)
- 10 g
- Fat
- (17%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (44%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 171 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1879 kcal goes into the pot and 1759 g of ingredients comes out as about 1890 g of food: 99 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.