I’m in love with Jamie Oliver’s new book, 5 Ingredients. It is so simple, with a ton of recipes that read well, cook well and more importantly eat well!
This is the second recipe I’ve tried this week since acquiring the book. I made St Clement’s Polenta Biscuits a couple of posts back, this time I went savoury.
I’m a blogger because I’m passionate about food and it’s fair to say I’m cooking addicted! However for the last month I have been without a kitchen, as my old one has been demolished and the new one is very slowly taking shape.
So my long time friend and partner in crime in many adventures Ms D, kindly asked me over last night to cook dinner in her large and well equipped kitchen. How lovely to cook on an actual stove – bliss!
I made Hot-Smoked Salmon Pasta, a beautiful pasta dish with heaps of fresh asparagus to go with the hot-smoked salmon. It takes about 15 minutes all up, and can be made just before your diners want to dig in! Thank you too, to the enthusiastic R, his partner S and the taste taster Bella, their beautiful golden Labrador.
Igredients
350g asparagus
300sdried taglierini or angel-hair pasta (I used the latter)
250g hot-smoked salmon* skin off
1 lemon
100ml half-fat crème fraiche (I couldn’t find half-fat – the full fat seemed to work fine!)
Method
Use a speed peeler to strip the top tender half of the asparagus stalks into ribbons. Finely slice the remaining stalks, discarding the woody ends. Cook the pasta in a pan of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions, then drain, reserving a mugful of cooking water. Meanwhile, roughly break the salmon into a large non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat. Add the sliced asparagus stalks, and toss occasionally until the pasta’s ready.
Finely great half the lemon zest into the salmon pan, squeeze in half the juice, then toss in the drained pasta, a good splash of the reserved cooking water and the crème fraiche. Add the asparagus ribbons, toss again, then season to perfection with sea salt and and black pepper. Serve with lemon wedges, for squeezing over.
*store bought is readily available, but here is a link to hot-smoking salmon, you can make it yourself if you have the time.
The Quirk and the Cool 