Pan Seared Salmon and Roasted Portobellas inside a Roasted Red Bell Pepper Open-Face Ravioli. Finished with a light Ancho Chili Cream & Fried Leeks.

This is one of my signature dishes form when I was a working chef. It is an Italian meets Southwestern dish with a flavor and texture combination that really works. It is a little labor intensive but the result, you'll find, is well worth the effort.

Note: It is important to realize that these recipes are merely guidelines to follow. They'll taste great as they are, but I encourage you to play with them and make the recipes your own.

Note: It is good practice to read the entire recipe, while paying particular attention to the "Notes", before you try to make the dish, as there are often subtleties that can be easily overlooked, which sometimes, can make all the difference in the world for the outcome. 

Serves 2

Skill Level: Intermediate

Prep time about 30 minutes.

Pasta rest time at least 1 hour.

Cook Time about 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 Jar of roasted red bell peppers
• 2 6-8 oz portions of salmon
• Basil (dry of fresh)
• 2 portobellos
• 1 leek
• Heavy cream
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 small ancho chilies
• Kosher Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Extra virgin olive oil

Tools Needed:

• Food Processor
• Chefs knife
• Sauté pan
• Sauce pot
• Pasta roller or rolling pin

Note: You will have pasta leftover, so you can try another recipe, such as http://goldenislescooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/sauteed-chicken-and-pearl-onions-tossed.html

Puree roasted red bell peppers and basil

Make a bowl of flour on a cutting board.

Add 2 eggs and begin beat them while pulling in a small amount of flour. You want enough flour mixed in, so that the eggs are thick when you add the pepper puree. This will help bind the entire mixture so that it has far less chance of spilling out and all over the cutting board.

Add red pepper puree. This essentially replaces the moisture that water would normally add.

Scrape in more and more flour into the egg/pepper mixture.

Towards the end, and the pasta mix is a thick paste, begin pulling liberal amounts of flour into the mix. 

Once the pasta has become tacky, but not wet, it is ready for kneading.

It is alway a good idea to dust the cutting board with flour during the kneading process.

Knead the dough for at least 3-5 minutes, dusting the cutting board with flour as needed.

Knead in one direction, fold and knead in the opposite direction.





When done, you should have a nice little dough ball.

Let the dough rest for at least one hour at room temp.

Cut tops and roots off of the leeks.

Julienne the leeks.

Soak the leeks in cold water. Any dirt will settle to the bottom of the bowl.

Remove the stem of he portobella.

Using a spoon, scrape the gills away and discard them.

Slice the portobella into 1 inch thick strips.

Pan Roast the portobellas until golden.

Place 2 ancho chilies in some water, or white wine if you have it, and bring to a simmer. 

Add some salt to the simmering ancho chilies.

In a bowl, add some AP flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Dredge the wet leeks in the flour mix.

After simmering for about 20 minutes, remove the ancho chilies and add a cup and a half of heavy whipping cream. Reduce my half and season to taste.

Fry the leeks until golden brown, place on napkin to drain and sprinkle some salt on them.

After the pasta dough has rested for over an hour it is ready to be rolled.

Cut the dough ball in half. We will use the other half of the pasta for another recipe tomorrow.

Run through the pasta maker several times, working from the thickest setting to the thinnest.

Between each pass through the pasta machine, you can dust the pasta sheet with a little flour to ensure it doesn't stick going through the pasta machine.

You'll end up with a long thin pasta sheet. Cut into lengths equal to the width of the pasta to create squares.

Boil the pasta sheets for about 5 minutes.

Note: Fresh pasta cooks faster than dry pasta.

Note: If you use frozen fish of any kind, there are 2 thawing methods:

1. The "staging" method, which is the prefered way to thaw any type of meat, is to let the meat thaw in the refrigerator overnight. With this method, it is important to plan your meals ahead of time.
2. The next method is not recommended, but we all do what we have to do, and since this way is faster and takes no pre-planning, it is the method most of us are going to use. So what method is it? Simply thaw under a stream of constantly running cold water. Do NOT turn water off before the meat is completely thawed. ONLY use this method on CRYOVACED meat. If the cryovac packaging is perforated, where water can seep in, the quality of the meat can be compromised. There are, however, exceptions to this rule as shrimp and calamari can be thawed in water directly, without damage.  

Note: Some frozen fish, like tuna, come with instructions to remove from the cryovac packaging and thaw in refrigerator overnight. Refer the the packaging. 




Once the fish has thawed, it is always a good idea, for any fish, to place the fish on towels, or a thick layer of napkins, and lightly press any water out of the meat. You want the meat fairly dry to the touch, as dry to the touch as its fresh counterpart would be.

Salt, pepper, and pan sear the salmon, in extra virgin olive oil, until golden brown.

Place on sheet of cooked pasta on a plate or large bowl. Assemble the salmon and portabellas and cover with ancho chili cream.

Cover with a second sheet of cooked pasta and a little more ancho chili cream, then top the fried leeks.

Enjoy.