Smoked salmon pasta with a light cream sauce

Salmon is one of the most popular fishes consumed by people today. Go to a restaurant that offers seafood and it is guaranteed that salmon will be on the menu; many steakhouses even offer this specific fish with their meats. Salmon can be cured, baked, broiled, steamed, and in this recipe, smoked. I personally love smoked foods: smoked duck, any smoked fish, smoked mushrooms...so delicious! Today I've prepared a smoked salmon pasta with a cream sauce, made lighter with added vegetables.

Smoked Salmon pasta

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

8 ounces uncooked linguini

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 onion, small dice

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 medium tomato, medium dice

1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

5 ounces smoked salmon, cut into large chunks

1/3 cup dry white wine

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Fill a large pot with at least 4 quarts of water. Bring the pot of water to a boil over high heat. Once it is boiling, season the water with 1 tbsp of salt for every 4 quarts of water. Add the pasta to the water and cook, uncovered on high heat for 8-10 minutes or until the directions on the pasta package say otherwise. You want your pasta to be al dente, cooked but a little firm.
2. Drain the pasta and rinse in cold water to stop it from cooking. If you are preparing just the noodles ahead of time, drizzle oil on the pasta and mix, to prevent them from sticking to one another.
3. After you drain the water, use the same pot for the sauce. Heat over medium heat and add the 2 tbsp oil. Add the chopped onion and garlic and saute until the onion becomes translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 1 more minute. Add the salmon and white wine and let the wine reduce a little, about 30 seconds.
4. Add the cooked pasta, heavy cream, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine. When the pasta is coated in the sauce, add the Parmesan cheese. Adjust the seasonings if necessary and serve immediately. 

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving: 392.8 calories, 11.6g fat (5.9g saturated, 1.3g polyunsaturated, 3.6g monounsaturated), 55.4g carbohydrates, 8.2g fiber, 15.5g protein.

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

Most smoked salmon pasta recipes ask for you to finely chop or cut the salmon into small pieces. Smoked salmon easily flakes apart, however, so if you do finely chop, the salmon pieces will be quite small in the dish. I like to cut large chunks so you can have large pieces of fish in the pasta, and if it breaks apart (which it will), it's not a problem since they were big pieces to begin with.

Once you start to prepare the sauce, it is a quick process so have all of your ingredients ready ie the onions, tomatoes, garlic, etc. 

Alternatively, you can cook the sauce separately. Simply saute the onions and garlic as you would in the original recipe. Add the white wine, heavy cream, salt and pepper, and lemon juice. Let it come to a boil. Taste and season accordingly and there is your sauce! When you are ready, add the pasta, salmon, and cheese. If the sauce is a little dry you can save some of the water from when you cooked the pasta and add it to the sauce. Serve immediately.

Have a fresh salad and some homemade garlic bread, with Parmesan cheese and hot chili flakes on the side and you have a great meal! Not too heavy, slightly tangy from the lemon juice, slightly sweet from the onions, and freshness from the vegetables. Lots of people came up for seconds and someone asked for the leftovers...always a good sign!