Salmon Alfredo with Penne Pasta

Cook the pasta:

1. Bring water to a boil and cook your 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. Place the salmon in the pan and cook, skin-side-up first to get a sear on the top side, for 3 minutes. Flip it over (skin-side down) and cook it for an additional 4 minutes until the middle of the salmon is no longer wet looking and the meat separates easily with a fork. Remove the salmon 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:

1. To the large skillet with the salmon tidbits, add the butter over medium-high heat, and 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 Alfredo 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. Slowly add the reserved pasta water and continue incorporating it into the Alfredo sauce until it has thinned enough to coat all the pasta with the sauce.
2. Coarsely chop the cooked salmon on the plate by separating the salmon flakes. Add it to the cooked Alfredo pasta and toss to combine.

Serve:

1. Serve the salmon Alfredo pasta in bowls with sprinkled Parm on top.