I had some buttermilk in the fridge that needed to be used, and while I would normally make our family’s famous buttermilk biscuits (more about those later), I decided to try making a loaf of buttermilk bread to go with the pasta. It was a new recipe I’d never tried before, and the bread turned out fine, but the next day it was too dry. I think from now on when it comes to buttermilk bread, I’ll stick to making my grandmother’s recipe. 
Finally, for dessert we had something simple. Kemal was in the mood for fried apples. I thought maybe he might prefer something like apple pie, apple strudel, apple pita, or perhaps apple crisp, but he said all he really wanted was fried apples, so that’s what I made.
The entire dinner was delicious, and the best part is having leftovers so we can enjoy it again!
The recipes for everything are below, but keep in mind I don’t always measure things out when I cook: I just usually add ingredients until I get the desired result. I’ll try to give you a basic idea of how much I used though.
Blackened Salmon Alfredo-Pesto Pasta with Roasted Peppers
Ingredients:
- Fresh salmon (we purchased two 8 ounce pieces)
- olive oil
- blackening or chili seasoning
- pasta (your choice)
- pesto sauce (about 3 tbsp.)
- goat cheese (about 6 to 8 ounces)
- Parmesan cheese (about 1 cup)
- milk (3 cups)
- Alfredo seasoning mix (2 packets)
- bell peppers (we used several small yellow, orange and red ones)
- green onions (one bunch)
- parsley
- sea salt
- butter (about 3 tbsp)
Directions for Preparing the Fish and Peppers:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Oil a baking pan with olive oil
- Brush salmon and whole peppers (stems included) with olive oil
- Generously cover fish and peppers with blackening seasoning or chili powder
- Bake until fish is cooked to your likeness (we prefer our fish well done). Depending on the size of the peppers you use and whether or not you like your peppers firm or soft, you may need to cook peppers more or less than the fish.
Directions for Preparing the Pasta:
- Put a pot of water on high heat until it boils
- After the water boils, add pasta, salt, and a tbsp. of olive oil
- Stir pasta frequently until it’s cooked firm (al dente)
- Rinse pasta with cold water and then pour into large casserole pan
Directions for Preparing the Sauce:
- In a medium saucepan, fry the onions in a little olive oil.
- After the onions are soft, add the milk, butter, goat cheese, and the two packets of dry Alfredo seasoning mix. Keep your heat at about medium high and stir constantly.
- After the butter and cheese melts, turn the temperature down to medium.
- Add the Parmesan cheese and pesto sauce
- Stir constantly until the Alfredo sauce thickens. I make mine so it’s not too thick and not too runny but rather somewhere in between.
Directions for Assembling the Pasta:
How you assemble your pasta is all up to you. There are several ways you can do it, but I’ll tell you how I did it. I put my pasta in a large, rectangular, glass baking pan and then we cut the salmon in small pieces and placed it on top of the pasta. Then we added the roasted peppers, and after that we poured the Alfredo sauce over the pasta and fish. Finally, we sprinkled some parsley and a little Parmesan cheese on top to garnish it.
Final Thoughts and a Photo:
By the time we finished cooking it was around 1 a.m. and we were both starving so I didn’t photograph the pasta before we ate. I did take a picture of Kemal’s plate the next day when he had some leftovers for lunch. I really hate that you can’t see the Alfredo sauce. Trust me, I put a LOT on it, and it’s extremely moist. Hopefully next time I make this pasta I won’t be starving so I can photograph it immediately and you can see how saucy it really is. Okay, here it is with a loaf of the buttermilk bread in the background:
