Creamy Salmon & Spinach Pasta
This creamy salmon pasta has become one of my go-to dinners at uni. It's inspired by a recipe I found online, but I've made so many changes, I feel like I've "Lottie-ified" enough to call it my own! It feels slightly fancy without actually requiring much effort, which is exactly the kind of balance I’m aiming for when cooking for myself.
One thing I’ve discovered from making this recipe a lot is that buying spinach as a single person is always slightly chaotic. You open the bag thinking it looks manageable, then suddenly you’re committed to eating spinach with absolutely everything for the next week.
I normally just eyeball how much goes in anyway — it always looks like far too much at first and then shrinks down to practically nothing, so I've finally learnt to overestimate!
I actually tried making this dairy-free the other week using a vegan cream I found in Lidl, and it worked perfectly without changing any of the measurements. It’s also the first recipe where I’ve properly used white wine in cooking and I was surprised how much it adds — it gives the sauce a really nice tangy flavour that makes it taste a bit more grown-up than my usual student meals.
I’m not someone who carefully measures pasta or spinach, those are both very much “trust your instincts” ingredients, but I do follow the liquid measurements properly so the sauce turns out right. The salmon itself is really easy; I usually cook it in the air fryer with just lemon and salt because I physically cannot cook something completely plain — it goes against everything I stand for. I like to finish it with a sprinkle of sesame seeds on top as well. I hope you love it as much as I do!
Here is my recipe for Creamy Salmon & Spinach Pasta:
Ingredients: (Serves 2)
- 2 Salmon Fillets
- 1tsp Lemon Juice
- Salt
- 150g Raw Pasta
- 1tbs Garlic Oil (or fry garlic in olive oil)
- 300ml Heavy Cream
- 120ml White Wine (I just buy whats cheapest!)
- 1/2 a Lemon Zest
- 3 Handfuls of Spinach
- 20g Capers
- Sesames Seeds, to garnish (optional but recommended!)
Method:
- Preheat the oven/airfryer to 180'c, gas mark 4.
- Season your salmon fillets by poking them a few times with a fork and smothering in lemon and salt.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until fully cooked.
- Cook your pasta according to packet instructions but make it al-dente as it will cook more in the final stage.
- Whilst the salmon is cooking, pour your garlic oil into a large pan and leave to heat up (to check its hot enough I flick water on the pan and if it starts to spit back, its ready!).
- Add in your cream, lemon and white wine and stirs slowly until it starts to bubble.
- When it bubbles, add your capers and spinach - make sure to fully coat the spinach in the creamy sauce.
- When all the spinach has wilted, bring the sauce onto a lower heat.
- Drain the pasta and mix this in.
- Break up your salmon with a fork and add it to the pasta and let it all sit for a further 5 minutes.
- Serve up and garnish with your sesame seeds.
- Enjoy!!
