Smoked salmon with linguine pasta recipe

Smoked salmon with linguine pasta is a recipe that is very dear to my heart.  It brings back so many memories from my time in Italy. When I first moved to Italy, the only pasta recipe that I knew was tomato sauce with pasta. Before me joining my husband (Patrick) in Italy, he had been playing professional basketball there for over five years and he was used to eating pasta every day. At the time, I could only cook congolese food. There was one problem, however, I couldn’t find any African store in the area. I had no choice but to try new recipes! I had countless failed attempts. At some point, I really thought that I would never be able to figure out how to make great pasta. I was getting discouraged. But I kept trying!

Eventually, my perseverance paid off. The day I made smoked salmon with linguine pasta, and saw the big smile on my husband’s face, I knew I had nailed it! This gave` me the confidence to try new recipes and not be intimidated by  ingredients I didn’t know much about.

Smoked salmon makes the dish. It is the key component. Given the fact that it brings a lot of flavor to the pasta, all you really need is few spices. Oh by the way, this recipe can be done in only 20 minutes. 

What do you need for this recipe?

The salmon is already cooked so it needs to be added to the pasta toward the end.

Personally, I like to use linguine pasta for this recipe but you can use any type of pasta you like. It’s up to you.

I use crème fraîche for my white sauce because I like its texture on the pasta. I get my crème fraiche from Whole Foods. Depending on where you live, crème fraiche can be hard to find. You can always substitute it with cooking cream or heavy cream, though. The pasta we get from the grocery store is made with flour and a have little to no taste and required the right seasoning to make it tastier. Seasoning it the well is very important. I have a little trick to make sure that my pasta is tasty. I add some broth (chicken or vegetable) to my pasta water and keep that water for the sauce once my pasta is drained. The flavor of the broth penetrates the pasta and adds something to the dish.

What vegetable do you use?

I use leeks for this recipe. One leek can go a long way and its flavor is mild onion like. Make sure you wash your leeks thoroughly to remove all the dirt trapped in the layers. You can use the entire leek although most people use the white and light green part only. If you use the whole leek, just make sure that you cook it a little longer.

Tip: If you realize that you don’t have enough cream for the amount of pasta at hands, you can add some of that pasta water you saved earlier. I usually add 1-2 ladder of the water.

Steps

Make sure that the water is boiling before putting the pasta.

I added a some salt and a dash of oil the my boiling water to prevent the pasta from sticking together. Once, the pasta is al dente put the pot to the side. You can refer to your pasta package for instructions.

Chop the leek.

Heat your oil on medium heat.

Once the oil is heated, cook your leek until they are soft and the white part is translucid.

Add the creme fraiche to the leeks and season it with salt and pepper.

Use prongs to add the pasta to the sauce.

Coat well the pasta with the sauce.

Add the smoked salmon to the pasta.

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