Spa Food: Healthy Spaghetti with Salmon, Lemon and Basil

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As I continue to keep my promise to myself and my family to become healthier not only for a one-time (and very breakable) resolution, but rather for a life-long commitment, I turned to the inspiration from thin, beautiful, and kick-butt chef, Giada de Laurentiis for the "I Heart Cooking Club" for this week's "Resolutions" theme.  If you have her cookbook "Giada At Home", you may find this recipe on page 100; it is also presented on the web on one of the web-sites that feature her. 

My husband and I went out to dinner last night . . .  always a huge threat, tease, or challenge for those of us who have to watch our calories, carbs, fat, or whatever!  But I was faithful to my commitment; I mean, after all, one cannot stay at home and simply eat celery sticks!  I'm social, I love to go out, and I love seeing and chatting with friends and folks in this small little community.  I'm not a recluse, nor do I ever want to be.  So with fear and trepidation when hubby asked me to go out for dinner, I said to myself, "OK, don't sabotage everything that you've done, girl!  Stay disciplined and just order a salad and select a grilled/broiled fish for my entree, and no dessert whatsoever".

I kept my promise!  The grilled salmon was delightful, as it always is from one of our favorite eateries in town.  PLUS, I only ate 4 ounces of a huge salmon fillet, thus leaving me an already prepared, ready-to-simply-heat-up piece of salmon to add to Giada's recipe presented here.

I went to my pantry to see what I had on hand . . . oh good, I had some whole wheat and multi-grain pasta on hand; wow, I picked up some lemons, a new bottle of olive oil, some fresh baby spinach leaves, and some garlic yesterday; thankfully my brain worked this summer and I had frozen some of my garden-grown basil; and finally, YAY, I had a jar of unopened capers in the frig waiting to join the party!  PERFECT!  Everything was here to prepare Giada's recipe.

I made a few adjustments to improve this recipe though, which I've noted below for you:

For the recipe, click on "Read More" beneath my signature below.




Healthy Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Salmon, Lemon and Basil

1/2 pound whole-wheat spaghetti (I used whole-grain since that's what I had in my pantry)
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt (I added more for our taste preferences)
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, plus more to season when tossing
1 Tbsp. olive oil (to saute' the salmon)
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp. lemon juice (I decreased this from 2 Tbsp. for a less sour/bitter taste)
2 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese (my own addition to balance the lemon)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.
Add pasta and cook until tender, but still firm to the bit, al dente', stirring often, for 8 minutes.
Drain pasta, transfer to large bowl.
Add garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
Toss to combine well.
At the same time, warm the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.
Season salmon with salt and pepper.
Add salmon to the pan, cook until medium-rare, about 2 minutes per side, depending upon the thickness of the fish.
Remove salmon from the pan.
Add basil, capers, lemon zest and juice, and Parmesan to the spaghetti mixture.
Toss to combine.
Plate 1/2 cup of baby spinach leaves in each pasta bowl.
Top with 1/4 of the pasta.
Top each mound of pasta with a piece of salmon.
Serve immediately.

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