I don’t know about you, but I love a good piece of cooked fish! One of the best and most popular fish to cook is salmon, including the Kokanee variety. After a bit of trial and error, I discovered my favorite recipe to use this fish in, and I’d love to share it with you!
My favorite dish to make using Kokanee salmon is garlic salmon linguine. This is a tasty pasta dish that can be made with either fresh or canned salmon. It doesn’t take long to prepare, but it’s very filling and flavorful. You can make this dish in less than an hour.
There are only a few ingredients needed for this dish and you’ll still come out with a fantastic product. As is the case for a lot of pasta dishes, you’ll probably spend the longest amount of time waiting for the noodles to cook! Below we’ll take a look at the recipe, some additional tips, and some other benefits to these beautiful and tasty fish.
Ingredients:
- 1 (16 oz) package of linguine noodles
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves
- 15 oz. (or 1 can) of raw salmon
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- ¼ cup minced parsley
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
All of these ingredients (except maybe freshly caught fish) can be bought at a general grocery store or ordered online.
If you want to use freshly caught Kokanee in the recipe, you’ll need to have that prepared beforehand. If you catch it early, make sure to skin and debone the fish thoroughly. Be careful not to miss anything! The last thing you want in your delicious dinner is a pointy piece of bone.
Once the salmon has been prepared, you can simply place it in a clean ziplock bag and freeze it until you’re ready to begin cooking. Just make sure you give it enough time to dethaw before you try cutting or cooking it!
Recipe:
- Fill a cooking pot with 4 ½ cups of water and set it to boil
- Add the package of linguine noodles, plus 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
- Let the noodles cook thoroughly and drain them once they’re soft
- Add olive oil to a large skillet and set it to medium heat
- Chop the garlic finely and add it to the skillet
- Cook the garlic for about 1 minute, coating it evenly in the olive oil
- Slice the salmon into quarter-sized pieces and add them to the pan
- Stir the salmon and garlic together until both are slightly browned
- Add the chicken broth, parsley, salt
and pepper to the skillet - Gently stir the mixture until it comes to a light simmer
- Add the drained noodles to the skillet and toss lightly
- Transfer into a serving bowl and serve warm
If you want to balance out this dish with sides, a green salad or serving of fruit might be a good idea. You can get the benefits of multiple areas of the food pyramid with a combination like that. A tasty dessert also wouldn’t be a bad idea!
Optional Ingredients:
The recipe above will provide you with a delicious, hearty, salmon-based meal. But, as with most recipes, there’s room for experimentation and personal preference as well. Here are a few optional ingredients and methods you can try if you’d like to add more flavor to this dish.
- Lemon juice
Fish pairs beautifully with lemons, so you can incorporate this into the meal if you want. Coating the salmon with lemon juice before cooking it can help the flavor soak in.
If you want a more ambient flavor, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the chicken broth when you simmer all the ingredients together. Lemon juice can help add a little fresh, zesty kick to this dish!
- Stir fry vegetables
Salmon makes up a large portion of this meal, which is fine since it is a salmon-based dish! But if you want to balance this out to include more of the basic food groups, some stir fry vegetables can do the trick!
Simply heat a small frying pan with vegetable oil and add in the chopped vegetables of your choice. Sautee them with the oil and a dash of salt until they are soft and chewy. Some vegetables I’d recommend would be bell peppers, mushrooms, and onions. These will add a little more texture and flavor variety to this meal.
- Heavy cream
When you’re mixing the chicken broth with the other ingredients at the end, you might want to add something that’ll give the sauce a greater richness. Adding a cup of heavy cream will make your final sauce creamier, thicker, and richer in flavor.
If you’re watching your calorie count, this might not be ideal, but it will help bring your sauce to new heights! Cream
- Additional spices and herbs
Parsley and garlic are already part of this meal, but sometimes you might be looking for a little extra spice and flavor. This addition is really up to your personal tastes. Some good options to think about would be lemon pepper, oregano, sage, or fresh shredded basil. You won’t want to overwhelm the taste of the salmon with too much spice, but using one or two extra flavors can help you personalize this meal for you.
- Crumbled bacon
I don’t know about you, but I love a little taste of bacon in my pasta! If you’re a meat lover, you might want to think about throwing in ½ cup of crumbled bacon to the final product of this dish. You can either cook and crumble it beforehand, or buy a pre-made bag from the grocery store. This can really help enhance the meat profile of this dish if that’s something you like!
- Parmesan cheese
And finally, a classic pasta standby, parmesan cheese! This can either be mixed and melted into the noodles, or powdered along the top in the form of crumbled cheese. This is usually more of a garnish than a real ingredient, but it can still add a nice salty, cheesy touch to your beautiful dinner.
These are all just suggestions of course! If you have a secret ingredient that you think would go along with this recipe, then go wild with it! Part of the joy of cooking is being able to experiment, substitute, and add ingredients suited to your personal preferences. Feel free to try any of the tips above or invent your own twist on this recipe!
Health Benefits of Eating Salmon:
Humans have been eating salmon (and lots of other fish) for thousands of years. They’re not only very tasty food sources, but they’ve been proven to be good for you too!! Salmon are rich in nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. They’re a particularly good source of protein and potassium.
In addition, salmon and other varieties of “fatty fish” have high measurements of the omega-3 fat. This substance is known to be good for brain function, heart health, and other aspects of general wellbeing.
Now this doesn’t necessarily mean that eating salmon every day is going to be good for you. There needs to be a balance in everything we put into our bodies.
So although salmon has a lot of good qualities, it’s still generally best to only eat them about twice a week. This helps ensure that you’re getting nutrients from other sources throughout the week as well.
Related Questions:
What are “fatty fish”? A fatty fish is one that has oil stored throughout its entire body, and not just in the liver. These oils are high in omega-3, which is believed to increase brain function and other areas of health. Some common fatty fish are salmon, mackerel, sardines, and herring.
Can you lose weight eating salmon? If you eat salmon in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise, you can lose weight. Salmon contains more protein per serving than beef and provides other valuable vitamins and minerals without too many calories.
What happens if you eat undercooked salmon? Undercooked or raw salmon is not dangerous to eat. In fact, raw salmon is a common ingredient in sushi dishes! As long as the meat has been safely stored and has not spoiled, it is safe to eat whether it is cooked or not.