Ottolenghi’s confit salmon pappardelle with cardamom and lime

This recipe is giving us all of the spring feels.

Serves: 4-6

INGREDIENTS

35g coriander leaves (from about 1 small bunch)

35g basil leaves

1 large salmon fillet, about 450g, skinned

Salt and black pepper

200g sweet red cherry tomatoes, such as datterini

2 red chillies, chopped widthways into 2½cm-thick rounds

5 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed with the flat of a knife

3 banana shallots, peeled and cut into 2½cm-thick rounds

10 cardamom pods, lightly crushed

300ml olive oil

75ml lime juice

400g dried pappardelle

METHOD

Combine the herb leaves in a medium bowl. Dry the salmon well with kitchen towel, then season all over with two-thirds of a teaspoon of salt.

Heat a large saute pan for which you have a lid on a high heat. Once very hot, add the tomatoes, chilli, garlic and shallots, keeping them all spaced apart, and cook for eight minutes, turning everything once halfway, until it’s all nicely charred. Add the cardamom and two tablespoons (or 10g) of the fresh herb mix and char for another two minutes.

Turn the heat as low as it will go, add the oil, two tablespoons of lime juice, two teaspoons of salt and a very generous grind of pepper, then gently lay the salmon in the pan. Spoon the oil and aromatics over the fish, leave it on the heat for two minutes, then turn off the heat, cover the pan and leave the salmon to confit in the residual heat for 30 minutes, carefully turning the fillet once halfway. Transfer the fish to a plate and use two forks gently to flake it apart into large chunks.

Strain the remaining oil into a large bowl, pick out and discard the cardamom and herbs, and keep the remaining aromatics and oil separately. Don’t wash out the pan, because you’ll use it again later.

For the salsa, put 40g of the fresh herb mix in the small bowl of a food processor with 75ml reserved confit oil and two tablespoons of lime juice, and blitz to a smooth paste.

Cook the pasta until al dente, then drain, and reserve two tablespoons of the cooking water. Return the saute pan to a medium-high heat, add the drained pasta, reserved cooking water, strained aromatics and a tablespoon each of the confit oil and lime juice. Toss, gently heat for two to three minutes, then stir through the remaining herbs.

Transfer the pasta to a large platter, top with the flaked salmon and spoon over the salsa. Finish with plenty of black pepper and serve.

Recipe credit: Ottolenghi via The Guardian

• Share: