Salmon Pasta

I am not easily enticed with salty food covered with cream.  Perhaps the only dish I eat with cream is this one.  Over the years, this recipe metamorphosed from crepe to pasta.  A friend took some over when we were in the bouts of settling in to our new house a thousand moons ago.  They were in the form of crepes.  I ate them, making an effort to fade out the chants in my brain saying cream, cream, cream!   Ambrosial.  And what a genuine surprise it was.   Of course I had to procure the recipe and it became a monumental pasta dish at home from the time when we were just two then three and now four.

Lately, I switched from crepe to pasta because of time constraints.  And to take a further shortcut, I started using smoked salmon instead of a fresh one.  It takes forever to debone it.  Two kids and elaborate dishes don't always tally.  Pasta or crepe, this recipe is not to be shelved.

Salmon Pasta

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 200 grams salmon (smoked or fresh, deboned & diced)
• 100 ml. tomato sauce
• 200 ml. cream (salmon flavored or plain)
• knob of butter (optional)
• a handful of parsley, chopped finely
• salt (only if using fresh salmon because smoked salmon is already salty)
• pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, halved
• dash of brandy
• 400 grams of any kind of short pasta 

Directions:

In a saucepan with butter & extra virgin olive oil, on medium fire, sautè the garlic.  Remove when it turns golden brown. In another pot, boil some water for the pasta. 

Sautè the salmon.  When it changes color, add the tomato sauce.  Let it evaporate a bit, about 5 minutes more or less.   Add the brandy and put the flame higher until the alcohol evaporates.

 

On low flame, add the cream & parsley.  Cook for about 20 minutes or less if the sauce thickens first.  Move constantly.   Don't let it dry out.

When the sauce is about to be cooked, add salt in the pot of boiling water for the pasta. Put the pasta and cook following the number of minutes suggested in the package. When cooked, drain.

 Mix the cooked pasta with the sauce on low flame for about 1 minute.