Rigatoni with Honey Mustard Salmon

Carson: Hey guys! It's Carson. I am a radio personality and I cook and today, we are making something very simple and very good. I have been making it for about 12 years for my family, my wife absolutely loves it, it's her favorite pasta. It's called Rigatoni with Honey Mustard Salmon.

Let's talk about what we are going to need for this. We have got about a pound of Salmon. We will need about a third-of-a-cup of white wine, a decent dry white wine, actually I am using the Chardonnay which is not really dry but it will work. You are going to need about half-a-cup of Parmesan, one small white onion. You are going to need about a tablespoon to two tablespoons of honey. About a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, I am using Grey Poupon. We have got, of course, Rigatoni, dry Rigatoni. Salt and pepper, use sea salt or Kosher salt, never Iodized salt. Extra-virgin olive oil and about three-fourths of a cup of light cream. Also, you are going to need about a tablespoon or so of parsley, just a skosh. We are going to need, obviously, a roasting pan for the Salmon. We are going to need a saute pan for the onion and the sauce. We are going to need a nice, sharp chef's knife. You are going to need a big stockpot for your pasta.

What I am going to do is I am going to take the honey and I am going to coat the Salmon with it. About a tablespoon, you don't want to use too much because you don't want to make it too sweet. This will really add a nice dimension to the sauce, so I am looking about a tablespoon of honey here, guys. Very simple dish. I am going to take my sea salt, about a half-a-teaspoon of sea salt and I might use more when I am adjusting the sauce. Fresh cracked pepper.

While I am doing this, I am preheating the oven to 400 degrees, you might try it at 350, you are going to roast it for about 15 minutes or so. And about a half-a-teaspoon of fresh cracked pepper. That is ready to throw in the oven. So, let's do that. Alright, so I have got the pasta boiling on the stove, I have got the Salmon in the oven and we are going to get started on the stove top with our sauce. Okay, so here we are at the stove, let's get this thing started, shall we? I am turning on my burner on high. I am going to grab my extra-virgin olive oil, use about a teaspoon or so or tablespoon. Actually, I am going to use about a tablespoon, maybe a little more, because I love olive oil. I have got a small white onion, I am just going to use about a cup of this, okay, this is a little larger onion, but around a cup of onion in here. We are going to get this going, we are going to cook it until it's translucent, of course, which is usually what happens. When it's translucent then I am going to add my wine, I am going to start to reduce the sauce and intensify the flavor. Alright, when I add my wine now, guys, this is about a third-of-a-cup of white wine and I am going to reduce this to intensify the flavor, by about a third, probably you have to reduce this for around ten minutes. Alright, you will notice that a good share of the liquid is gone, but there is still some wine in there, flavors are intense now. I am going to take about a teaspoon, good healthy teaspoon of this Dijon, maybe a little bit more, there you go. This is a light cream, about again three-fourths of a cup or so.

Alright, let's go ahead and get our Salmon out. That looks pretty well done. The honey is kind of caramelized a little bit. Alright, so what I am going to do now is I am going to take my Salmon and I am going to flake it into my pasta sauce. So, here we go. It's cooled, I don't want to completely decimate it. I am peeling it off the skin so there is no skin. See, I want to flake it, you don't want to shred it up because it will look like canned tuna in here.

So, here we go, let's put it together. I am going to take my parsley, like about a little more than a teaspoon, okay, you don't want to overpower it. Parsley has a lot of flavor and it's real easy for parsley to overtake the flavor of the dish, we don't want to do that, okay. Let's do this, guys, let us dump it right in there. That way we still got some heat, we are still heating it nicely. This is how they do it in restaurants, they don't just dump up sauce on the pasta; they actually mix the pasta with it as you are cooking.

Let me get my serving dish. Alright guys, pasta is done. Now, we just start to serve it up. There we go, put a little bit more sauce here. Oh! Look at that, that looks good, doesn't it? Okay, get every bit of this sauce out of here, guys. I am going to stir it up a little bit. You see the onion, you see the Salmon in there. Now, to finish it, I have got some nice Parmesan. You can finish with the Parmesan on the plate or you can do it right here in the serving dish, I am going to do this. So simple, you can make this any night of the week for your family, guys. And there you have it, Rigatoni with Honey Mustard Salmon. Enjoy it!