Creamy Tuscan Salmon

Heather Meaux started this one as an experiment for Sunday dinner and it stuck. Her words: everyone loves it, even people who don't like salmon, and if one of the kids can't make it they get upset about missing it. She serves it over pasta with a salad.

Ingredients

Salmon

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 lb salmon fillets (3 or 4 fillets)
• ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1 lb shrimp, optional, added while the cream sauce cooks

White cream sauce

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained
• 5 oz fresh spinach
• 1 cup heavy cream, or more
• ¼ teaspoon paprika or smoked paprika
• Salt to taste

Instructions

Sear the salmon

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat.
2. Season the salmon fillets with salt.
3. When the oil is hot, add the fillets flesh side down, skin side up. Sear about 4 minutes on medium-high.
4. Reduce the heat to medium.
5. Flip the fillets skin side down and sear another 4 to 5 minutes, until the salmon is flaky.
6. Remove the salmon from the skillet.
7. Oven option: place the seasoned salmon with 1 tablespoon olive oil in a cold oven, set the temperature to 400°F, and set a timer for 25 minutes.

Make the cream sauce

1. To the same empty skillet, add the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, artichokes and capers. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
2. Add the fresh spinach and continue cooking and stirring until it wilts, a couple of minutes.
3. Add the heavy cream and paprika. Bring to a simmer and simmer about 1 minute, stirring. Season with salt, and add more paprika if you like.

Assemble

1. Add the cooked salmon back to the skillet with the cream sauce.
2. Spoon the sauce over the salmon and simmer a minute or more, until the salmon is warmed through and flaky.
3. Season with salt if needed.

Recipe Notes

• From Heather: add more cream to make it saucier, or more of the vegetables to make it heartier. Shrimp or other seafood works, and Parmesan on top.
• Scaling: doubles, triples or quadruples easily for a bigger table.