Orecchiette Pasta with Salmon and Veggies!

Bright and Colorful, pleasing to all eyes!

Another Joseph Approved dinner! Actually I'll say "half approved" since he had more pasta and salmon than vegetables in his bowl. Orecchiette is one of my favorite pastas. I really like the shape of it since it's usually spaghetti, penne, or bowtie pastas. Wikipedia will give you a history lesson about this cute pasta so I won't bog down this post with that info.

The guests in this summer party:

I did sneak in 1 diced zucchini at the last minute! Sshhhh don't tell!!

I cooked about half the bag of pasta. Used half a bunch of asparagus and about half of diced red bell pepper and it was enough to feed 4 adults and one 6 year old.

*salt/pepper salmon both sides* Pan sear the salmon until a nice golden brown, toss in the oven to finish. Depending on the size. However, since this dish doesn't call to serve the salmon in one chunk, halfway in the oven I broke it apart with a fork.

*salt/pepper each vegetables* Then sauteed the red bell peppers with olive oil to give out that sweet flavor, set to the side and then zucchini showed up in the pan. Gave that a quick sauteed. I typically like to keep the vegetables consistently flipping in the pan so:

1. Veggies don't burn on one side
2. Browns nicely all over
3. Doesn't soften the vegetables as much.

After the zucchinis are done sauteeing (2-3 mins). Then the asparagus came to the party. When that is done, combine all the veggies along with the shredded salmon. Drain the pasta and combin with that salmon-veggie mix. Toss with either pesto paste, fresh pesto, bottled pesto, or powder pesto. TOSS, TOSS, TOSS and it's ready! I added a little bit of goat cheese but found it was too strong so next time I would definitely omit it.

Goat Cheese was only useful for the color contrast in the dish...booo!!!

Very filling and packs a punch of veggies and salmon!

Yummmmy!!

One word of advice when cooking the orecchiette pasta is I would suggest adding them into the boiling water one by one. Ok make a handful at a time as long as you make sure the pasta doesn't go in hugging each other. The ones that stick together tend to still be extra "al dente" to my liking. So that would be the only thing I would do differently next time. Oh, AND THE GOAT CHEESE!! I just have to find a more mild cheese next time. Until then enjoy and check out the other dishes!! Pin It Now!

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