Re-Purposing Leftovers-Salmon,Asparagus And Whole Wheat Pappardelle
I refuse to waste food and love re-purposing leftovers. It’s a challenge to try to come up with a creative and delicious dish that puts a fresh spin on your leftover food. I had a small piece of salmon and a few stalks of asparagus left over from dinner the other night, I also have some whole wheat pappardelle in the pantry that I bought (by accident) and need to start using (not a fan of whole wheat pasta). This dish came together in a flash and was really delicious, all I did was saute some shallot in a little olive oil, add a little white wine, then some heavy cream, a little dijon mustard, lemon zest, salt and pepper and reduced until it started to thicken. At the end I added the asparagus and salmon and the cooked pappardelle. This is not the type of dish that needs precise measuring, I basically ad libbed, a little of this and that until it came together. Use what you have, peas come to mind, chicken, or without any meat or fish. The pasta in the cream sauce with vegetables is wonderful on it’s own.
The amounts are approximate
Serves 1-2
1 lobe of a shallot chopped
Olive oil for pan
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp lemon zest
salt and pepper to taste
1 small salmon fillet
4 stalks asparagus
Pappardelle (small handful)
Fill large pan with water add salt and bring to a rolling boil. Heat olive oil in pan, add the shallot and saute until translucent. Add the wine and reduce by half. Now add the cream, dijon,lemon zest, salt and pepper and cook until it’s reduced by half. It should be nicely thick. While the cream sauce is reducing add the pasta to the boiling water, now I used whole wheat pappardelle, it took a good 10 minutes for an al dente pasta.
When the cream sauce is reduced add the asparagus and salmon, toss in the pappardelle and gently stir until it is coated with the sauce. Serve immediately.
Oh yum! My kind of dinner. Plus, I learned that shallots come on “lobes”. Who Knew?
Thanks so much Renee, I hope I was right calling it a lobe,LOL!!
I hate waste too, and this looks great. I love how you added lemon zest. I made salmon pasta the other day with a similar sauce that also had parmesan cheese and lots of garlic. It’s fun seeing what you can come up with leftovers, often a very pleasant surprise.
That sounds really tasty! I will keep it in mind, although the sauce part might be beyond my limited skills. But I will try. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, it’s super easy, takes literally minutes. You can do it!
Could I use half-n-half instead of heavy cream? I don’t use a lot of cream.
Absolutely, half and half would work just as well, you just want to reduce it the same as you would the heavy cream. Hope you like!
Huh, never knew that term lobe. That’s good to know, if I remember 🙂
– Don’t think I’ve ever tried asparagus with salmon, but can imagine they must go together really well. Have leftover frozen salmon fillets from last weekend so may buy in asparagus – if it’s not too hideously expensive,
– Have to agree with you re whole wheat pasta. Not my favourite.
Yea, whole wheat pasta, not my fave, had to douse in creamy sauce to make it palatable, at least for me. It was good though. It would be great with peas also. Thanks so much.
This looks great !I love your creation with leftovers – it looks yummy! Plus, I love pappardelle!
Thanks so much, me too, love papardelle!!
Looks yummy – I like dinners like this!
Thank you, me too, simple and quick!
This sounds so delicious. I love asparagus and love the white wine and shallots…that would make the flavor so good! I’ve never had those type of noodles before…they look really good. You don’t like wheat noodles? Oh gosh, I love the earthiness of it! I’m used to it though I guess 🙂
Thank you, Its a really nice sauce but those whole wheat noodles, don’t like them, they were ok with the creamy sauce but as a general rule I stay away. I think it’s because I was brought up eating pasta most days of the week and never had WW, it’s earthy definitely but I am just not used to it. Maybe with time I would learn to like it, but I’ve tried off and on for years and can’t quite learn to like.
I’m the same way toward food. I never waste!
Thanks,
Maria
I know, hate waste and try hard to keep up especially with vegetables in the drawers. Thanks.
I’m with you – I hate wasting food! I’ve unconsciously started a weekly tradition of pasta night with whatever is hanging around in the fridge. I mean, seriously – you can put anything into a big bowl of pasta and you’ll never know it’s leftovers. Especially with a cream sauce. You can’t go wrong 🙂
Thanks it’s so true, I did that the other day also but with quinoa, had some vegetables that needed to be used asap. Hate waste!
Clever little you Suzanne! I believe even when you think there is “absolutely” nothing at home to eat…if you look carefully enough 1 or 2 proper tasty dishes can be made. 🙂
Oh you are too sweet, thank you. It’s amazing what we can do with our leftovers.
Leftovers are the BEST!
Totally agree, thanks I love breathing new life into leftovers.
I’ve already eaten lunch and now I’m hungry! This looks delish!!
Thank you so much, it was good I even ate the whole wheat pasta!
I love how your just added a little this and a little that! A true “seasoned” cook! This sounds fantastic! I’ve never had whole wheat pasta… sounds like you typically wouldn’t buy it either.
You are so right, I never buy whole wheat pasta, it was an accident but I don’t want to waste so I have to make something with it and figured slathering with a cream sauce would help. I can’t bring myself to put a marinara or other tomato based sauce on WW pasta. Wish I liked it. Thanks so much. It really was good.
Sound delicious and a great way of using up leftovers. I heard a discussion on the radio recently which mentioned a per household amount for food wasted each year. I cannot remember the exact amount but it was fairly shocking – somewhere in the high hundreds of euros.
I also heard about the waste per household and it is shocking. I sometimes end up throwing something away but it pains me. I think it was reinforced by my parents who made us always finish everything on our plates, waste not want not, there are children who go to bed hungry and it stuck. Thanks so much. It was a really nice way to use the leftovers and put a new, fresh spin on it.
Salmon and asparagus – what luxurious leftovers – your ad-libing looks like it was a delicious success. I hate wasting anything too. To the extent that sometimes we each have a different dish, just to use up what’s left! Bon weekend!
The salmon was what I unthawed for the terrine and I had it with asparagus that night leaving half a filet (it was large). I tend to go a little overboard sometimes, keeping pastry scraps and using them for something. It’s just the way I was raised.
It is so fun and satisfying to use up leftovers in a creative way. I love making vegetable stock with scrap veggies but otherwise I’m not as scrupulous about it as you — but I very much enjoyed the tale of how a little bit of this and little bit of that came together to be a delicious whole. Love that!
Well I try, every now and then something bites the dust and ends up in the trash bin. I agree about the vegetable stock out of scraps. I wish I were a composter but I’m not, my friend who lives a couple of blocks away is and I try to remember to give her scraps for her bin. Thanks so much.
Yum! I would love to try this! 🙂
Thank you. it turned out quite nicely, leftovers can make a great meal with a little creativity.
Great re-purposing! I could never tell!
Thank you so much, it didn’t taste like leftovers either!!
YUM! YUM! YUM! I can use Dreamfields pasta and it will fit in perfectly on the gluten-free plan!!
Dreamfields makes great pasta. Yes, it would fit in your plan. Hope you enjoy!
Great! What a fun dish!
Thanks so much Alex.
Oh my, this sauce sounds divine! I love how you turned little bits of this and that into something so delicious. 🙂
Looks delicious! And I too, love using my leftovers and making something creative with them! Looks like you really succeeded!
It was good, thanks so much. I love the challenge of creating something good with leftovers.
I love looking through my fridge and coming up with food ideas to use up leftovers. Great idea here!
During the week my menu consists mostly of leftovers or something really simple to throw together. I love quick and easy!
What a great way to use leftovers!! 🙂
Kenley
Thanks so much Kenley!
Food wastage is the worst thing in the world I guess but glad to find this post. Sounds very yummy.
I totally agree, I hate wasting food. Thank you so much.
Leftovers really can create the most fantastic meals, and two thumbs up for re-purposing food so it’s not wasted. If only everyone did the same!
Thanks, agree, wasting food is not acceptable.