I love green goddess dressing. Ever since I discovered it through our Green Goddess Salmon Burgers, I’ve been completely smitten with the stuff. And it’s really no wonder. You throw some of the best, most delicious herbs out there (i.e., basil, parsley, dill, tarragon, chive, and scallion) into one delicious sauce.
OF COURSE IT’S GOOD.
So I’ve really just been biding my time until I thought up a new green goddess recipe. Plus, now that spring has finally sprung, I can once again make this most delicious of sauces without breaking my piggy bank, as all the herbs are back out in force, and you can get a pretty sizable bunch for not too much money (not like the sad anemic herb bunches you find in the wintertime, or quelle nightmare, no herbs at all!).
This idea originally began as a recipe for a weird, pseudo Asian-ified salmon with green goddess herbs—along the lines of our Crispy Scallion Ginger Salmon. But the peanut gallery (i.e., the fam) shot that idea down pretttyyy hard, so it took a couple of hard turns and ended up as this Salmon Pasta with Green Goddess Pesto.
And I’m so glad it did, because this is my new favorite thing to eat. Like. As I was eating it, I literally felt #blessed that my brain conceived it. That’s how good it was. Literal back-patting happened. I loved it. The family loved it. It’s happening again—probably multiple times—this summer, without a doubt.
Sometimes your ideas are crappy. But then, from the nugget of crap, sometimes they can become great. #foodbloglyfe
A Celebration of All Things Green
But I will say that this isn’t quite a straight green goddess. There is one key substitution to this recipe. Namely, it’s a green goddess *pesto* that nixes the creamy element in favor of serving as supporting act to a delicious, caper-y, garlicky, and creamy pasta with peas and perfectly golden, crisped salmon that seriously makes for the most heavenly and addictive springtime meal.
SO SPRING HAS SPRUNG! AND it was Earth Day two days ago! Make this pasta to celebrate all things green and eat something that’s really, really, really, REALLY delicious.
Four really’s. Just make it.
(Note: If you’re not a salmon lover, you can also use chicken for this recipe. Just pan-sear some chicken breasts and slice them, or even shred the meat from a store-bought rotisserie chicken. Of course, if you’d like it to be vegetarian, feel free to just omit the salmon or chicken altogether. You’ll have a creamy, herby pasta with sweet peas as the star!)
Recipe Instructions
First make the green goddess pesto. In the bowl of a food processor, add the basil, parsley, dill, chives, scallions, tarragon, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and olive oil. Process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Next, rinse your salmon fillet, pat it dry with a paper towel, and season with salt.
Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the salmon until cooked through on both sides, approximately 5-6 minutes per side (depending on the thickness of the fish and your preference for doneness).
When it’s cooked to your liking, transfer to a plate, and with two forks, flake the salmon.
Next, bring a pot of salted water up to a boil. Boil the pasta according to package instructions until al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and the garlic.
Stir the garlic until lightly browned, and then add the capers.
Turn the heat all the way down to low, and stir to combine. Add the heavy cream, followed by the peas. Stir to warm the peas through.
Add the cooked pasta and stir thoroughly until the pasta is coated in the cream.
At this point, you can season it with some fresh cracked pepper.
Next, add the pesto…
And stir to combine.
Top with the flaked salmon…
As well as additional black pepper to taste and the lemon zest. Serve!
Salmon Pasta with Green Goddess Pesto
Ingredients
- 1 cup basil (chopped)
- 1 cup parsley (chopped)
- 1/2 cup dill (chopped)
- 1/2 cup chives (chopped)
- 2 scallions (chopped into 1-inch pieces)
- 3 tablespoons tarragon leaves (stems discarded)
- Juice of half a lemon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper (plus more to taste)
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil (plus 2 tablespoons)
- 1½ pounds salmon fillet (680g)
- 1 pound dried fettuccine
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 6 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- ⅓ cup capers (drained and roughly chopped)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups frozen peas
- Zest of a whole lemon
Instructions
- First make the green goddess pesto. In the bowl of a food processor, add the basil, parsley, dill, chives, scallions, tarragon, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and olive oil. Process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Next, rinse your salmon fillet, pat it dry with a paper towel, and season with salt. Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the salmon until cooked through on both sides, approximately 5-6 minutes per side (depending on the thickness of the fish and your preference for doneness). When it’s cooked to your liking, transfer to a plate, and with two forks, flake the salmon.
- Next, bring a pot of salted water up to a boil. Boil the pasta according to package instructions until al dente.
- While the pasta is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and the garlic. Stir the garlic until lightly browned, and then add the capers. Turn the heat all the way down to low, and stir to combine. Add the heavy cream, followed by the peas. Stir to warm the peas through.
- Add the cooked pasta and stir thoroughly until the pasta is coated in the cream. Next, add the pesto and stir to combine. Top with the flaked salmon, additional black pepper to taste, and lemon zest.
nutrition facts
Rabbit. Hole.
I came to discover the salad and found more delicious salmon recipes to try! Thanks!
Smokin’ hot here on Vancouver Island right now. Salmon fishing is smokin’ hot, too. I’ll give these all a try. Thanks!
ps: I second your suggestion to add smoked salmon at the end, on the top of the dish. It’s like a delicate herb:)
Hi Sharon, hahah hopefully you were able to climb out of the rabbit hole and wander into the kitchen for a snack.
So jealous of your access to delicious salmon! Hope you enjoyed the recipe :)
This looks and sounds fabulous. But we don’t do heavy cream (husband has heart disease). Any ideas for a substitute that would work?
Hey Beth, evaporated milk may work! I’ve used it in other pasta sauces before! You can also just omit the dairy element entirely, and it’ll still be delicious.
Peas make me gag, so I replaced them with halved Brussels sprouts (they were amazing!), and I made homemade gluten-free chestnut flour pasta. The dish was, as my hubby says “un-improvable”. Thank you again!
I’m a chef, and when I need ideas or inspiration, I always turn to your site!!)
Wow, Diane, thank you so much for your high praise. So glad you like it :-)
Hi,
Love your recipe! I look forward to trying this myself. Do you think it would be okay to use smoked salmon instead of the fresh one?
Hi Sab, Thanks! I think the flavor would be a bit different with smoked salmon, but give it a whirl! I might serve the smoked salmon on the top rather than mixing it in, too.
Good recipes for dinner. Thank you.
Thanks, Boyan!
Hi，your blog is so wonderful! Have followed for about a year and love the attention to detail and interesting background information provided with every recipe. Poring over the visuals is also such a pleasure.
Could I ask which camera you use? For the travel posts as well? The photography is just spectacular.
Thanks!
Thanks, Judy! For the blog, we use a Nikon DSLR (not sure of the exact model as Sarah is the keeper of that equipment). For the travel posts, just iPhones! :) I have an iPhone 6 and Sarah has an iPhone 5S. My photos definitely come out a bit better, and we both have our eyes on the iPhone 7S+ heheheh. Cheers!
Made this last night. Though the recipe is for 6-8, when my husband and I were done with dinner there were only enough leftovers for one more meal. It was that good.
Hi Angeline, Yay!!!! So glad you liked it.
HI guys! I tried to write to you on contact us, but it said all emails were invalid. But anyway, I love your site here! I really love chinese cooking and I make it often. But there is a recipe that I’ve always eaten in a chinese restaurant but don’t know how to make. It’s called sweet and sour pork balls in a thick red sauce. If you have the recipe or have eaten it, could you add it on here? Looking forwards to new recipes!
Hi Grace, hmm sorry you had technical difficulties on email. We’ll look into it, as well as the sweet and sour pork balls. We’ve never had that, but our hunch is that it’s the standard sweet and sour sauce you’d use for spare ribs or some other kinds of meat, applied to ground pork meatballs. We’ll add it to the list, though. Thanks!
I initially shuddered when I saw the recipe title (sounds totally commercial), but realized that this is in the same family as a German recipe I’ve become fond of, Frankfurt Green Sauce. Traditionally made with seven spring herbs, pureed with sour cream, hard boiled egg, lemon, etc. and served cold to accompany boiled potatoes, fish, ham, hard boiled eggs, asparagus (a spring obsession in Germany), Wienerschnitzel, etc. etc., it tastes like spring. Your recipe looks like it would (will!), too!
Hi Susan, glad you came around to it :) that German recipe sounds great!
This looks wonderful! Do you know how long the green goddess sauce will last in the fridge?
Hi Amy, the green goddess sauce should last for a week, maybe a week and a half in the fridge. Best to use it sooner, of course, and there’s plenty of great applications for it! You could spoon it over chicken, fish, simple roasted vegetables or potatoes, etc. Sky’s the limit! :)