Pizza night is always a favorite, especially when you have great tasting pizza from some of the most popular restaurants.

The best way to bridge the gap between pasta and salmon? Creamy homemade pesto, of course. This recipe works with canned salmon, too, but if you're going with fresh pesto it pays to poach some yourself.

1 pound spaghettini
Kosher salt
1 cup packed basil leaves
1/3 cup raw almonds
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 lemon, juiced
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
6 ounces cooked salmon, preferably poached or slow cooked, broken up into flakes
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Salt water once it comes to a boil. Add spaghettini. Cook according to package directions until just al dente.
Meanwhile roughly chop almonds. Mince garlic. Add almonds to a blender or food processor and pulse several times. You want the nuts to be in small pieces but not blended to the point of turning to flour. Add basil, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Blend scraping down sides until it is a nice paste. Add more olive oil if necessary.
When pasta is about two minutes shy of being done transfer to a saute pan along with 3/4 cup of the pasta cooking water and about 6 Tb. of the pesto (if there are leftovers on the pesto, save for another use).
Toss pasta and pesto with tongs until pasta is well coated. It should be a bit soupy. Let simmer for about a minute. Add salmon and toss again.
Cook for about another minute until liquid has reduced and salmon is just heated through. Serve warm.
Amy Powell, CDKitchen Staff
Read more: So Many Ways With Salmon
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reviews & comments
When do you add the basil? Think it was forgotten in the recipe!
It's mentioned with the other pesto ingredients (almonds, garlic, lemon juice, etc).
May 7, 2013
YUM! I had salmon and pasta. I didn't know what to do with it so I googled the two words together. This recipe is great. I had ALL the ingredients! Can you believe that? Yum.