Recipe: Fettucine With Lemony Asparagus & Salmon Sauce

This is another great recipe to use with fresh, home-made pasta. Fettucine is one of the easiest pastas to make at home - with or without a pasta machine. This simple recipe combines fresh asparagus with lemon and salmon, for a light-tasting but hearty meal with lots of flavor.

Fettucine With Lemony Asparagus And Salmon Sauce
(Serves 4-6.)

Ingredients:

Fresh fettucine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1 lb. pkg uncooked fettuccine
1 lb. fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut with angle into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 lemon zested and juiced, in separate bowls
1 cup light cream
1 lemon cut into thin wedges
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 skinless wild-caught salmon fillet, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
1 oz. Parmesan cheese, finely grated

Directions:

• Bring a large pot of water to boiling and add 2 teaspoons salt, then add fettuccine, bring back to a boil, reduce heat and cook 3 minutes less than time directed on package, then add asparagus and cook 2 more minutes; Put colander in large bowl and drain spaghetti/asparagus through colander, reserving liquid; set aside.
• Into small bowl, put the lemon zest, add the cream, stirring to combine.
• Into another small bowl, squeeze the lemon juice.
• In the pot spaghetti was cooked in, add oil and salmon pieces, cooking over medium heat until salmon just turns opaque, about 4 or 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Add to the pot with salmon the pasta/asparagus, cream/zest mixture, lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
• Over medium heat, cook a couple more minutes, until pasta is tender, but still al dente.
• If mixture seems too dry, ladle in a bit of the reserved pasta water, stir until sauce coats the pasta well, but doesn't get watery. Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese and toss.
• Serve hot in pasta bowls with lemon wedges and more Parmesan cheese if desired.

Recipe: Basil Lemon Linguine With Cannellini

This simple and fresh-tasting dish lets the flavor of the pasta shine through, so it's a great recipe to use if you want to try out that home-made pasta you just made. Basil, olive oil, lemon, and Parmesan cheese give this a classic Italian flavor, while the beans add protein and texture. You can stretch this a bit more, and make it even healthier, by adding another can of beans.

Basil Lemon Linguine With Cannellini
(Serves 4-6.)

Ingredients:

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1 (1 lb) box uncooked linguine (or 1 lb fresh pasta)
1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained well (or 1-2 cups of cooked & drained dry white beans)
1 lemon
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup fresh basil leaves (packed tight in cup)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
reserved pasta cooking water
fresh grated Parmesan for serving

Directions:

• Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water, until just tender, not over cooked.
• Add beans to pot just before draining, stir, then drain pasta and beans into a colander over a pot to reserve cooking liquid.
• When linguine is totally drained, dump it with the beans into the cooking pot, cover and keep warm.
• While you're cooking the pasta, put a small skillet on the stove over medium heat and pour in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil.
• Over the skillet, zest the whole lemon, cooking and stirring in the olive oil, about 1 minute, until fragrant and just turning golden in color; remove from heat.
• Into a food processor or blender, scrape the cooked lemon zest, oil and all, and the basil.
• Then juice all the lemon and pour the juice into the food processor, plus the salt and pepper.
• Now turn the food processor on and process until smooth.
• Start adding the reserved pasta liquid into the food processor, 1 tablespoon at a time, processing, adding, processing, until you have your desired consistency. (You may use around 1/2 cup of reserved liquid for this process, more or less.)
• When you have your basil sauce ready, pour into the hot linguine/bean mixture and toss until coated well.
• Serve hot, sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.