I had two salmon filets and a craving for some pasta.  When I tried looking up recipes online, every one I came across used either smoked salmon or heavy cream.  Since we don’t stock heavy cream here, I decided to try this recipe with a few modifications.  The main change was that the salmon was not integrated into the sauce.  The original recipe can be found here, if you are interested:

http://www.food.com/recipe/shell-pasta-with-salmon-bechamel-sauce-391372

Ingredients

4 cups penne pasta or your favorite pasta that can hold sauce

2 salmon filets

canola oil - enough to fill a small skillet up to a 1/3” or half the height of your salmon pieces

1/3 cup butter (5.33 Tbsp)

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

1/3-1/2 of an onion

1 cup grated/shredded cheese (I used Mexican Cheese mix for this picture)

1 teaspoon parsley to mix directly in sauce or use parsley for garnish afterwards

salt and pepper

lemon juice

1. 1.Cook pasta as directed.  Drain and set aside in a dish.
   

2. 2.Pat salmon filets dry and cut into 1.5 inch pieces.
   

3. 3.Roll salmon in flour until lightly covered.
   

4. 4.Heat canola oil.
   

5. 5.Place salmon pieces in oil for 1.5 minutes per side.  You just want to lightly cook the salmon and the pieces make it faster to cook than a normal filet.
   

6. 6.Place cooked salmon on paper towels to drain.
   

7. 7.In a 12” skillet, melt 1/4 cup butter.  Turn down heat to medium.
   

8. 8.Whisk in 1/4 cup flour and keep stirring for 1 minute until you get a roux.  Make sure your flour does not burn the mixture does not turn brown.  it should be a creamy color.  If it looks or smells burned, you should start over.
   

9. 9.Turn down heat a little more and add the milk while stirring.  Keep stirring and bring milk to a boil.  Then reduce heat again keep cooking until thick - stirring the entire time.  Turn off heat and set aside.
   

10. 10. In a separate skillet, melt remaining butter and saute chopped onions until tender.  Add onions directly to sauce.
    

11. 11. You can use the same skillet to saute any additional vegetable you want to add.  For this picture, I heated frozen peas and then added them to the sauce.
    

12. 12. Start heating the sauce on low and mix in the onion and veggies.  Add the cheese, parsley (if desired), salt and pepper.  Stir and heat until cheese has melted.
    

13. 13. Add sauce to pasta in three portions to get a good mix.  There is plenty of sauce to cover all the pasta.
    

14. 14. Plate pasta and place salmon pieces on top.  Sprinkle lemon juice on the fish and add salt and pepper to taste at the table.