Day 21

When I was a kid, I have a memory of our family often going to a special Italian restaurant in Tokyo, and my favorite dish there was salmon in cream sauce with fettuccine. I remember as a child always wishing I could find it on other menus, but I never did and I felt like I had lost something great.

A few years ago during the winter, I had made a white stew with salmon instead of chicken or pork, and I remembered my favorite pasta dish. And that was when I fell back in love with that cream and salmon combination. So tonight, even if it's a little heavy for Summer, I decided to reminisce a little. I used 1% milk because that's what we had in our fridge, but I recommend using whole milk. The lower the fat content in a white sauce, the gluey-er it will seem. Also, use good quality salmon or the whole sauce will taste a little fishy. If you can find really wide fettuccine (they come in little nests), use that. The normal long strands of fettuccine they sell in most grocery stores here isn't as wide as I think fettuccine should be. But I had to settle for the normal stuff tonight:(

Salmon cream sauce with fettuccine
serves 21 large fillet of salmon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 T flour
2 T butter
2 C milk
2 cloves garlic, grated
1/4~1/2 C grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/8 t nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

1/2 lb pasta

1. Boil the pasta very al dente. You want to take them out of the water a couple of minutes before they're done cooking so they can continue to cook in the sauce for a couple of minutes.
2. In a sauté pan with high sides, cook the garlic and butter until garlic is fragrant and butter is completely melted. Add flour and stir well. Gradually add milk, about 1/4~1/2 C at a time, whisking to avoid lumps. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
3. Add the pieces of uncooked salmon into the sauce and let simmer. The salmon will cook quickly. Add more milk if the sauce gets too thick.
4. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss to combine. Top with lots of cheese.