An alchemy: Paccheri with artichokes and salmon

Yesterday evening I invited Franckie and Ryan for dinner.

When I invite people at home and I cook for them, I like to cook something special.

Yesterday, I combined ingredients which apparently do not work together.

Tonight, I am going to cook paccheri (pasta), of course, with tomatoes, artichokes and salmon.

You might probably say: “artichoke and salmon together? What a weird combination!”

Well, let us see.

The bitterness of the artichoke combined with the fragrance of salmon is something you have to taste.

Therefore, I am going to show you how to make it, step by step.

Then, if you do not want to cook it, invite me. You buy all the ingredients required and I’ll cook for you. No problem at all.

My Mum has always cooked for her family.

So, I took from her the passion of cooking for other people.

From my point of view, cooking is an alchemy.

From this perspective, I see myself as an alchemist.

In other words, I like to make experiments with food.

Now, I am going to show you how to make this healthy and tasty meal.

It is very easy.

First of all, take a piece of garlic with some onion. Chop it.

Put it in an a pan.

Poor in the pan 6 spoons (2 spoons for each person) of extra-virgin olive oil.

Better if the olive oil is Apulian, bought from an Apulian producer. Buying olive oil from a shop is strictly forbidden. I’m joking…

Put in the pan 10 fresh tomatoes, the ciliegino (cherry) ones.

Keep it cooking for 20 minutes, at a very low fire.

One of the secret of cooking is slowness.

By the way, women love seeing men cooking for them.

Cooking is a powerful act of seduction (seduction comes from the Latin se ducere, which means “bring s.o. to yourself”).

Let’s come back to the meal.

Beside the soffritto, clean the artichokes and put them in a pan with some water.

Let them boil for roughly 20 minutes as well.

In this way, the artichokes will turn tender.

After that, move the artichokes to the other pan. 

Do not throw away the water of artichokes.

Cut a slim piece of ginger, chop it and add it.

Let them cook all together for 15 minutes.

Poor every 5/10 minutes some of the greenish water released previously by the artichokes.

Finally, chop the salmon and put it in the big pan.

Let it cook all together just for 5 minutes.

Paccheri take around 14 minutes to be ready.

Then, when the meal will be ready, on your table, the doors to the Paradise will get opened.

Buon appetito.