Smoked Salmon Pasta

Ingredients

• 200g pasta
• 1 medium leek
• 50g smoked salmon
• 100g mascarpone
• 1/4 tsp chili flakes

Equipment

• large saucepan
• small frying pan

Method

This is a very easy, tasty and light dish. It is suitable for spaghetti, fettuccine or tagliatelle. You can make good use of cheaper smoked salmon offcuts for this.

Put your pasta on to cook in a large quantity of boiling, salted water. Check the packet for an estimated length of cooking time, and check yourself to ensure it doesn’t cook beyond al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, assemble the remaining ingredients. Saute the sliced leek in a little olive oil until soft, then stir in the wine and chili. Bring to the boil and allow to bubble a little.

Cut the salmon into ribbons, no more than 1 cm wide. When the pasta is almost ready, first stir in the mascarpone and salmon, then drain the pasta and add to the sauce. Stir well in and serve.

Variations

Use a whole dried or fresh chili instead of flakes. Add the zest of half a lemon. Use a small pot of double cream or creme fraîche instead of mascarpone. I wouldn’t substitute the leek for onion or shallot; the flavour and texture wouldn’t fit.

You can use a very similar method to make pasta with a cream sauce and peas; this time a very little slowly softened onion would be suitable.