Have been doing some "under the hood" work on the site, but not writing, (or cooking much this week for that matter) but did put this together on Monday.

After a Memorial Day weekend of cookouts, and all you can eat corn at the Zellwood Corn Festival, I needed something light, and filling. Enter pasta dish. A quick glance at the vegetable crisper revealed some fennel left from an earlier meal, so I knew that would get tossed in. Hmm, ok salmon and fennel are a great marriage, so we are almost there. Angel Hair is the de facto pasta around here, as A, my muse loves it, and B, it works well as a leftover during the week. My muse turned me onto tossing it with olive oil, garlic and nutrional yeast (she actually turned me onto using the yeast for several things, it very well mimicks parmesan, without the fat and calories). Anyway, off to the market for the salmon, and something else to round out the pasta.

Lucky for us, salmon was on sale, so I zipped over to the produce area, snagged some some nice ripe tomato, and grabbed some zuchini. Done. Back home for a quick and easy light meal.

I like to go ahead and get the water boiling when I'm going to make pasta. It can stay covered in the back, out of the way, and ready for the pasta when you are. So that was step one. Step two, was to skin the salmon filet (you can always get your fish monger to do that for you) and cut into "fingers". It just will cook a little quicker, and since the salmon will eventually get "broken" up once its in the pasta, it doesn't really matter how its cut. I tossed it with a little olive oil, crack some pepper, and some dried oregano. The title says "pan grilled" which is exactly what it is. I use a big cast iron pan that has raised ridges. It really works great, as it gives the signature grill marks, allows some fat to drip off, but I don't have to mess with firing up the grill. I would recommend having two, if you eat other meats, as the salmon and seafood flavor really gets into the pan. I bring the pan to high, and the lower the heat to medium high, and it tends to be the right tempature, without smoking you out of the kitchen.

For the "sauce, I diced the bulb of the fennel, some onion, and some garlic, and put that on medium heat with some olive oil. A note about fennel. As it cooks, its flavor changes. As a raw vegetable, is has a crisp flavor. As it cooks, it softens, both in texture and flavor. It takes on a sweeter anise flavor. That is what I'm looking for, so you could almost put that on first, before the other steps outlined.

Once the fennel is getting close, you can put your salmon finger s in the pan. Again, they are going to cook fairly quickly, so you want to keep an eye on them and turn them fairly quickly, cooking all four sides evenly. Now you would add your pasta to the boiling, salted water.

To finish the "sauce", I add the diced zucchini, letting that cooking a couple of minutes, but I don't want it mushy, just warmed through, keeping it's texture. Raise the heat, then add about half a cup white wine, toss in a diced tomato (again, I want the tomato to keep its shape and texture) let simmer a minute or so, and add a few pats of butter, and a tablespoon of the fennel tops minced. Lower the heat. Check the pasta, drain, and toss with a little oil (I would use canola at this point.)

To finish, I simply laid some pasta on the plate, spooned the sauce over the pasta, and topped with a few fingers of salmon. To get "fancy" a sprig from the fennel top for garnish. Pour a big glass of chardonnay, and get ready for your week!