Jazzy Pasta with Russian Sa-lemon (Salmon + Lemon)

A trace of my amateurish cooking, the green pepper is slightly burnt. Try to avoid it.

Colour of vegetables gives life to the dish, you could choose any colours you like, in Russia, I also see yellow and orange peppers. But I like the taste of the green and red.

I am not fond of salmon, as we are spoilt for choice for all kind of fish in South-east Asia. My accidental encounter with salmon happened a few months ago when I bought salmon from the supermarket for my first, if not the last, lonesome Chinese New Year in Russia. A rare occasion as it is not exactly the cheapest goods on the shelves. Fish in Chinese language sounds similar to "abundance", and having fish during festive season is believed to bring good luck.

I happily prepared the salmon, marinated it with salt and fried it. The slices of salmon when fried fell into pieces and to my dismay, I thought I tasted salted fish instead of salmon. I realised the salmon was already marinated when I bought it, and more salt only make it absolutely inedible, even with lemon juice and rice. To seek help, I turned to my fridge, opened the door and searched for solution. And yes, I saw a new packet of pasta, two red and green peppers, I knew that was the answer. That was how my version of "Jazzy Pasta with Russian salmon and Lemon" came into being.

I cooked it again yesterday at my friends' dormitory and they loved it. I had so much pasta that I only had one meal yesterday. Earlier on, we had Salmon fishhead soup from yesterday's meal with typical Russian brown bread at 11am, and the pasta was ready at 4 pm. We also cooked Bak Kut Teh with the A1 spice bag, with pork ribs and beef. We became too heavy to move after the meal...

Now I share my simple recipe for "Jazzy Pasta with Russian Sa-lemon". Any salmon is good, not neccessarily Russian.

All you need:

Pasta (of any kind, of any quantity!)

Salmon (as much as you want!)

Red and Green peppers, one each

Freshly grounded black pepper

Lemon

What do you do:

1. Boil the pasta with droplets of olive oil and pinch of salt till al dente. Rinse them in cold water.

2. Cut the red and green peppers into thin slices.

3. Cut salmon into thin slices.

4.Fry red and green peppers together. Leave aside.

5. Fry the salmon till fragrant, a little golden brown is good.

6. Mix pasta with fried green/red peppers and salmon together over gentle fire. If you have a good wok or a sufficiently big frying pan, give them a good , high-high-up-in-the-air toss!

7. Add salt and grounded fresh black pepper.

8. One minute before you switch off the fire, add lemon juice to the pasta and toss it.

9. Do not throw away the squeezed lemon, cut it into small pieces and add into pasta. Pulps of lemon will jazz up the flavour of the pasta. If you like it, you could add freshly cut lemon into it.

10. Hope you like my recipe! Goodbye!