Salmon Pasta
My absolute favorite pasta dish in the whole world: Salmon Pasta
It is so quick and easy to make and impresses everyone! I have tried salmon pasta in various restaurants but it never tasted as good as my homemade version. So let's dive in and cook this delicious, hearty, filling, meal that will soon be on your favorites list too! Watch my YouTube Short video here if you would like to see how I cook salmon pasta (:
Picking the right salmon
I highly recommend you to buy wild-caught salmon. There are various studies and articles that inform about the dangers of antibiotics in aqua-cultured fish. Do your own research on that topic if you are interested. For me, personally I only buy the sockeye smoked salmon as it is wild-caught and available in all of the grocery stores near me. It has a vibrant red colour and a much more intense taste than regular smoked salmon.
Perfect Pasta
I love a thicker spaghetti like bavette. You can of course use classic spaghetti or proper linguine. Use your favorite long pasta 🙂 I am aware that everyone likes their pasta cooked in a different way. Some prefer it very soft and others go with the italian al dente which is "bissfest" as we say in german (translates to bite-proof). For this recipe, I cook my pasta al dente, and let the sauce do its magic in the pan for another minute or two. When combined with the sauce and all of the moisture, the pasta continues to cook a little bit more and has the perfect consistency when being served. Happy cooking! 🙂
Must-Have Ingredients
For this dish being so good it trumps every restaurant salmon pasta - you need to incorporate all of the following ingredients: Parmesan cheese, organic lemon (both juice and zest), shallots and white wine. When it comes to the white wine, pick a dry one as you do not want the sauce to taste sweet. In general whenever I cook with wine I always aim for the dry white wine. A Riesling is a safe choice for it being dry and most oft the time high in acidity which compliments the salmon in this dish.
It is also very important for your health and taste of the lemon that it is organic. We will not only use the juice but the zest - so if the lemon is non organic you would zest all of the harmful pesticides into your food. So organic it is! Here is my tip: buy organic lemons (and limes) when on sale and keep them in the freezer! I cut mine in half and press all of the juice out using it for cooking or drinks in the next days. As for the frozen "empty" lemon and lime halves: they are super easy to grate and you will always have fresh lemon and lime zest on hand! Perfect salad dressing, yoghurt dip, fresh fruit salad ... the options are endless.
Did you know that this trick also works for the parmesan cheese? In case that you buy a block of parmesan and it does not last very long in your fridge and you end up throwing it away - freeze it! That is of course not an option if you want fresh parmesan slices or cubes for an "aperitivo" but it you mainly use parmesan for cooking - freezing works perfectly fine.
Salmon Pasta
Kochutensilien
- 1 medium-large pan
- 1 pot for pasta
Zutaten
- 250 gramm Pasta - Bavette, Linguine, Spaghetti
- 150 gramm red smoked salmon (wild caught)
- 1 Olive Oil
- 1 Onion diced (white medium sized or two small ones)
- 1 Organic Lemon
- 2-3 Tbsp. Parmesan
- 100 mil. Dry White Wine
- 100 mil. 7% Cooking Cream (alternative: see notes)
- Salt, pepper, chili flakes (optional)
Anleitungen
- Cook your pasta in salt water according to your package instructions. Catch some pasta water mid-way through or towards the end and save for later.
- Add olive oil to a pan and add the diced onion. Season with salt, pepper and if you like some heat: chili flakes. Cook until transluscent ~3min.
- Add lemon zest from the organic (!) lemon and (optional) a little bit of lemon juice. Stir for ~1min.
- Deglaze the pan with white wine and cook for ~3min.
- Add smoked salmon and season again with a little bit of salt and pepper.
- Stir in the cooking cream. Add parmesan cheese and let everything cook up for ~3min.
- The sauce should be a nice creamy consistency. Season to taste, add more lemon zest or spices if needed. If you are not happy with the consistency: add pasta water to thin out the sauce a little bit.
- Once your pasta is al dente transfer it into the sauce pan. Combine everything together. Cover with lid (optional) and let the pasta absorb the sauce and all of its delicious flavour ~1-2min.
- Serve with fresh pepper and parmesan on top and enjoy!