Creamed smoked salmon pasta

I while back, I bought a big smoked salmon on sale with the intention of preparing a few consecutive dishes. Meanwhile, something came in the way, I ended up only using a bit but put the reaming salmon in the freezer. Seeing it today – it made totally sense to cook up a creamed pasta as thawed salmon is not great without preparation. But cooked – it worked wonders.

Ingredients

500 g pasta (Fettuccine works well)

350 g smoked salmon

2 cloves garlic

3 tbsp pernod (or white wine)

1 few sprigs of thyme

200 ml cream

100 g cream cheese

25 g grated parmesan cheese

a swirl of canola oil

Method

Cook up a big pot of water for the pasta so it is ready for cooking shortly before the creamed salmon is ready. Fresh pasta only needs to be cooked for approximately 4 minutes whereas dried pasta needs approximately 11-13 minutes. Follow the instructions. The sauce takes about 15 minutes to cook.

Finely chop the garlic. Heat a pan with a swirl of canola oil and add the garlic. Fry for a few minutes – preferably until just golden. Add the pernod (or wine) and let it cook out the alcohol…just a few minutes. Add the thyme, parmesan cheese, cream cheese and cream and let it cook until the cheese has melted.

Meanwhile, slice the salmon fairly thinly.

When the cheese has melted, add the salmon and cook along for another 3-4 minutes.

Now you should have cooked the pasta.

Drain the pasta, add the sauce, mix well and serve topped off with grated parmesan cheese and freshly ground pepper.

NB! No salt is needed to this dish as smoked salmon is quite salty.