This was our dinner tonight. I reverse engineered this from two restaurants. The vodka sauce is from Mario and Luigi’s in State College, one of my favorite places to eat while in Happy Valley. At Al Mediterraneo in Hummelstown (sadly no longer in business), I had a dish that seemed to combine the vodka sauce with salmon and penne pasta. I tried it at home and voila! I have no idea what role the vodka plays in this. I asked the chef at Mario and Luigi’s and he swears it gives it a nice spicy bite. If nothing more, it’s a great conversation starter!
Now, you healthy eaters: don’t pass this up just because it has heavy cream in it! You can stand 2 ounces of cream once in a while! And everything else in this dish is super healthy, from the salmon to the olive oil. So it kind of cancels the cream. Live a little!
¾ to 1 lb. salmon filet, bones removed
¼ cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1 medium onion, diced
½ tsp. dried, crushed red peppers
2 oz. vodka
1lb. 10 oz. can Italian plum tomatoes, chopped, with juice
1 bay leaf
½ pint heavy cream
12 oz. penne pasta
1 T. chopped parley
Preheat olive oil in 10” sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions and saute until soft, add garlic and stir for a couple more minutes. Add the dried red peppers and deglaze with the vodka. Continue stirring and add the tomatoes and bay leaf. Stir well; reduce to a slow simmer and cover. Simmer covered for about 45 minutes or an hour, stirring occasionally.
When the sauce is close to done, wash the salmon in cold running water and check for bones by running your finger down the center of the fleshy side. Cook the filet by bushing with olive oil and placing on a grill, skin-side down, on medium-high heat. After about five minutes, turn the filet flesh-side down and carefully remove the skin and discard. Cook for about another five minutes. The flesh should just begin to separate with a fork when it’s done. Don’t overcook. You can also cook the salmon by pan frying in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.
Start the salted water boiling for the pasta. When it reaches a rolling boil, add the penne pasta and cook, stirring, until the pasta is al dente. Drain in a colander.
Add the heavy cream to the sauce, stirring.
Flake the salmon with a fork and add to the sauce. If the sauce appears too thick, add some water or chicken stock.The sauce should thinly coat a spoon, if it’s the right consistency. It will further thicken when added to the pasta.
Place the pasta in individual shallow bowls, spoon the salmon and sauce over it, sprinkle with parsley and serve with some olive bread and a tossed salad. Serves four. Enjoy!
