Pasta with salmon in teriyaki sauce has long been a family favorite, served for dinner or as an appetizer at holiday meals and parties. Homemade teriyaki sauce, with its dark, bold, savory, salty-sweet flavor coats fusili or rotini, a spiral or corkscrew shaped pasta. Because of its twists, fusili or rotini has grooves that are good for holding onto sauce. Topped with lightly stir-fried bell peppers and sugar snap peas as well as roasted chunks of fresh salmon, this dish is a meal-in-one that is a feast for the palette and the eye. This recipe is from Rose Reisman Brings Home Light Pasta.
Pasta Salmon Teriyaki
The homemade teriyaki sauce integral to this recipe includes soy sauce. Packed with flavor-enhancing umami, soy sauce is one of the oldest food products in the world. It originated in China about 2,500 years ago and has become a pantry staple worldwide; in fact, it’s the third best-selling condiment after ketchup and mayonnaise. Note that not all soy sauces are created equal. Quality soy sauce is made the old-fashioned way: fermented, or brewed. Fermentation, which takes anywhere from a few months to years, slowly breaks down proteins in the soy sauce and promotes the development of multiple types of flavor compounds. The addition of wheat contributes sweetness and favorable aromas that balance the salt in fermented soy sauce. For best results, choose a first-rate soy sauce.
Preparing this dish requires four easy steps: cooking the pasta, stir-frying the vegetables, making the teriyaki sauce and roasting the salmon. Feel free to use whatever vegetables you like in the stir-fry. The teriyaki sauce can be prepared the day before and gently reheated before serving. This dish can be served warm or at room temperature.
Assemble your ingredients. Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente (firm to bite). Curly pasta is best for this recipe.
Slice the vegetables for the stir-fry. I cut the sugar snap peas on a diagonal. You can substitute or add in any vegetables you like. Grate the fresh ginger and the garlic using a microplane grater. You can also mince them very finely with a knife.
Stir fry the vegetables.Don’t stir the vegetables continually. Allow them to rest and stir alternately, to form char marks.
Combine the ingredients to make the teriyaki sauce. When thickened, set aside. 
Brush 2 or 3 tablespoons of the teriyaki sauce that you just made on the raw salmon filet. Bake at 425 F. for 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool and cut into chunks.
Combine the pasta, teriyaki sauce, stir-fried vegetables and chunks of salmon. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve.
Pasta Salmon Teriyaki
Rotini pasta coated with homemade teriyaki sauce topped with crispy stir-fried vegetables and chunks of roasted salmon is a dish that will appeal to guests of every age and stage.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces fusilli or rotini pasta
- 12 ounces fresh salmon
- Stir-fry
- 1 red, yellow and orange bell pepper, each sliced into thin strips
- 1 1/2 cups sugar snap peas or snow peas, sliced on a diagonal
- 1 tablespoon oil
- Teriyaki Sauce
- 1/3 cup sherry
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 2 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh garlic
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 2 teaspoons sesame seeds plus more for garnish
Instructions
Cook pasta in boiling salted water according to the package instructions. When firm to bite (al dente), drain the pasta in a colander.
Preheat a 12" frying pan on a medium-high flame. Add 1 tablespoon of oil. When heated, add the stir-fry vegetables to the pan. Don't overcrowd the pan. You may have to stir-fry the vegetables in two batches. Don't stir the vegetables continuously. Stir and allow to rest. Light char marks will form on the vegetables. Set aside the vegetables when done.
Sauce: In a small sauce pan, combine sherry, sugar, water, soy sauce, oil, ginger, garlic, flour and sesame seeds, whisking until smooth. Simmer on medium heat until slightly thickened, approximately 4 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Salmon: Brush the raw salmon filet with 2-3 tablespoons of the teriyaki sauce that you just made. Bake on a parchment lined pan at 425 F. for 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Cut the salmon filet into 1-inch chunks.
Place the cooked noodles in a large mixing bowl. Pour the teriyaki sauce over the rotini or fusili noodles. Stir to coat the noodles thoroughly. Add the stir-fried vegetables. Stir again to coat the vegetables with the sauce. Plate or transfer the noodles and vegetables with all the sauce to a large serving platter. Top with the chunks of salmon and garnish with sesame seeds.
Notes
If not serving this dish immediately, all the components can be refrigerated and combined as described before serving. This dish tastes best served warm or at room temperature. If you're pressed for time, you can use frozen ginger cubes and frozen garlic cubes to make the teriyaki sauce.
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