Meal MacGyver: Smoked Salmon and Peas Pasta

I love a good challenge. One of my favorites is when it seems like we have nothing in the house for dinner and I manage to pull together a good meal with no real plan other than to use what I have on hand. I've mentioned some of my hits and misses with these meals here and there, but I'm going to try to make this a regular update on the blog.  Just the other day I inspired my sister to pull together a meal like this, maybe this will inspire you, as well.

It's all too easy to turn to take out when a little creativity could lead you to a nice meal and save you some serious dough. And you learn a lot about cooking when you play with food.

Tonight I pulled these items from the fridge/pantry/freezer:

See that Smoked Salmon in the back? Heaven.

I found the lovely smoked salmon that we bought for our Michigan vacation that wasn't, a little cream left from the pie I made last week, ricotta that I impulse bought with a coupon, and the frozen peas and whole grain pasta that are staples in our house. Not too shabby, right?

So, I melted some butter and a little flour to create a roux. Then I added the cream, followed by a couple spoons full of the ricotta over very low heat and whisked until I had a nice cream sauce. I added a ton of parmesan, seasoned it a bit, and then threw in a few cups of frozen peas. I flaked up about half of the salmon, which I stirred in and let sit for a couple minutes. Finally, I added the pasta. It sat on the stove top while I threw together a salad. All in all, it was extremely fast and really tasty (the only thing it could have used was a bit of nutmeg, but I was out). I would actually make this again and the best part: left overs for lunch tomorrow, saving us even more money!

What's the last meal you created from nothing?