Garlic and Sage Penne with Salmon

I finally got a chance to do some cooking last night, and after a conversation with a friend about herbs, I decided I wanted to make something where I'd get to saute sage leaves in butter. Really, that was the entire impetus for this meal.

After some thought, I ended up planing to make a butter, garlic, and sage sauce and mix it up with penne. Very light and flavorful, and fresh sage gives it a floral, very summery taste and smell. This will really make your kitchen smell like summer.

I also threw in some salmon, because, why not?

Garlic and Sage Penne with Salmon

Ingredients:

6 tbsp butter
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp minced garlic
4 leaves fresh sage
Cut fresh parsley
(Optional) 6 oz cooked salmon, either good canned (Costco sells some good stuff) or a pan-fried or roasted filet
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb penne, fresh or dried

Directions:

In a sillet, melt the butter over medium heat and add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, toss in the garlic and shallots. Stir until everthing's coated evenly and let simmer, adding as much salt ant pepper as you like. Don't over-salt it, though, since the parmigianno reggiano you'll add later will be a bit salty as well.

Once the shallots are cooked a bit (4-5 minutes), reduce the heat to low and throw in the sage leaves. You can finely cut some sage up as well to have it infuse throughout the sauce.

In a post of salted, boiling water, cook the penne until al dente. Drain the pasta and place it back in the pot. Quick add in the sauce before the pasta has time to stick to the hot sides of the pot.

Stir until the pasta is coated evenly, and toss in the salmon.

Plate the penne and toss on some fresh parsley and grated parmigianno reggiano, along with some more freshly-grated pepper.


This is a really simple dish that doesn't take very long at all. Fresh sage is really key, as is good butter and (especially) oil. It's a very light dish, and the sauce would work well with almost any pasta.

We added some steamed asparagus for a veggie. for a light, easy summer dinner. Of course, it was so good that we ate almost all of it, so I guess it wasn't that light.