Smoked Salmon Pasta
This smoked salmon pasta is divinely simple and takes less than 15 minutes. The creamy smokey sauce is quite luxurious but also comforting. This has been my go-to smoked salmon pasta since my student days in Switzerland and now my children love it too.
I come from a salmon country, in Ireland, we really love our smoked salmon and are lucky enough to have some of the finest salmon swimming in our waters. Salmon fishing is tightly controlled to so as to protect the wild stocks; I remember how excited my brother was when he got his first license as a teenager. I am such a salmon devotee that I have been known to get whole sides of Irish smoked salmon shipped to Asia when I feel homesick.
This smoked salmon pasta recipe involves cooking the smoked salmon so I usually make it with the ends of a side of high-quality smoked salmon or with a regular supermarket-bought smoked salmon. I am not recommending you cook a Balik or a side of wild smoked salmon - those should be enjoyed raw and in their purest forms.
This salmon pasta recipe is certainly not a traditional Italian one as it involves both fish and cheese. One of the funnier meals I have eaten in Italy involved a waiter refusing to give my dining companion some parmesan cheese for his seafood risotto. He was deeply offended by the Englishman’s barbaric desire to mix cheese and seafood.
Smoked Salmon Pasta
Ingredients
Serves 2
250g pasta
200g smoked salmon, cut into strips
2 tablespoons butter
100g creme fraiche or cooking cream
50g grated parmesan cheese
Parsley to garnish
Black Pepper to season
Method
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to the instructions on the packet.
Meanwhile, gently warm the salmon in the butter. Once it starts to turn a pale pink add in the cream. Season and allow to simmer very gently for 3-5 minutes.
Stir in half of the parmesan cheese and then immediately add the pasta. Note that the sauce will quickly dry up once you add the cheese so you need to work quickly. Add some of the pasta cooking liquid to loosen up the sauce as needed.
Serve immediately garnished with the parsley and topped with the rest of the parmesan cheese and a generous grind of black pepper.
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