Salmon Alfredo (Family Friendly Recipe)

Cook the pasta:

1. Bring water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the package directions. Once ready, reserve 1 cup of pasta water, drain, and set the pasta aside.

Prep:

1. In a small dish, combine the paprika, garlic powder, and salt.
2. Pat dry the salmon fillets with a paper towel and season them with the seasonings on both sides. If the skin is on, generously season the top side only; you'll cook it with the skin on and remove it after cooking.

Cook the salmon:

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the oil and place the salmon fillets in the pan. Cook for 3 minutes, skin-side-up first, to get a sear on the top side.
2. Flip it over (skin-side down) and cook the salmon for 4 minutes until the meat separates easily with a fork and the middle of the salmon is no longer wet looking. Remove from the pan onto a plate. If the salmon has skin on, flip the salmon pieces over and lift it to remove it from the salmon.

Make the Alfredo sauce:

1. To the large skillet with the salmon tidbits, add the butter over medium-high heat. Once melted, add the minced garlic. Sauté for 30 seconds until fragrant.
2. Pour the cream (or half & half) and milk into the pan and stir constantly while scraping the tidbits of flavor from the bottom of the pan. Add the Parmesan cheese, pinch of salt, and pepper, and combine. Reduce the heat and continue cooking the sauce for about 5 minutes.

Combine:

1. Add the cooked pasta to the skillet with the thick Alfredo sauce, and using kitchen tongs, toss to coat and combine. This will be very thick; that's ok. Slowly add the reserved pasta water and continue incorporating it into the sauce until it has thinned enough to coat all the pasta.
2. Separate the salmon flakes from the cooked salmon fillets and coarsely chop them on the place. Add the chopped salmon to the cooked Alfredo pasta and toss to combine.

Serve:

1. Serve the salmon Alfredo pasta sprinkled with additional Parmesan on top.