Creamy Tomato Pasta with Smoked Salmon

You might be asking yourself, "What is up with all the smoked salmon??" Well,  the answer to that is I can get very good smoked salmon around here. I can get fairly decent frozen salmon around here. I say fairly decent, because it's not fresh and to me, frozen salmon always has a different texture. A drier texture. I grew up on fresh salmon, and therefore am used to succulent, moist, delicious salmon. In Oregon, all it takes is a trip to Costco. Even though we lived about an hour from the coast, the grocery stores around us always had fresh fare.  Fresh fish is one of the things I miss most about Oregon. We tried a fresh salmon from our local big box store one time, and it was gross.  So, I stick to frozen fish and smoked salmon. Such is life.

That being said, I'm having a great time creating new dishes with smoked salmon. With fresh salmon, it was hard for the hubby and I to do much with it, other than grill it. I say hard, because it's sooooo good that way. Stuck in our ways, we are. But with smoked salmon, I feel more inclined to create different dishes. Sandwiches, salads, and pastas, oh my. And this creamy, tomato-y, smoky pasta dish was a hit!

The sauce is the big winner here. I can't even begin to tell you how delicious it is. It is the best possible combination of butter, white wine, sundried tomatoes, and cream. It is soooooo good. You are just going to have to discover it all on your own. I'll be playing around with the tomato-butter sauce, because lately, it's all I think about. And, since the hubby got a pasta maker for his birthday and we'll soon be rolling in macaroni, we'll need many, many tasty sauces.

My herb garden is still rocking and rolling. The basil is currently dying, which means it's flowered to high heaven. I want to pull it and put it in the compost, but every time I go out there, there are honey bees everywhere! I know there's not a lot of places around here where the honey bees can go (This part of the world is still obsessed with Round-Up. *Shudder*) so I'm holding off on yanking it up. Plus, I still have a couple of little tree frogs living in there. So, the basil stays. 

And gets put on delicious pasta dishes :)

I picked a handful of fresh basil and fresh parsley to chop up and top the pasta with. Man, I wish I could have my herb garden year round!

I chose orecchiette for this dish. It's one of my favorite pasta shapes. The texture on these "little ears" is unbelievable. I keep boxes of orecchiette in the pantry at all times. 

So, today I get to bake a cake! Whoop whoop! The hubby does want Creme Brûlée Cake, so to Google I went. There's not a lot of options in the Creme Brûlée Cake department, so I've had to strategize something different. There are quite a few recipes for Creme Brûlée Cheesecake, but unfortunately, the hubby wasn't into that idea. He wanted regular cake. So I Googled. And Googled some more. Got distracted and ended up on Pinterest for 20 minutes. Whoops, back to Google. And came up empty handed. I found a recipe for Creme Brûlée Boston Cream Pie Cake, and that's what got the ball rolling. The hubby wasn't wanting chocolate, so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to make a tall yellow cake that I can cut in half. I'm going to take a vanilla bean custard recipe and double it. After I cut the cake in half, I'm going to top one half with half the custard. I'll sandwich it with the top half of cake, then put the remainder of the custard on top. Just before serving, I'm going to dust the top with baker's sugar and then fire up that kitchen torch. 

Cross your fingers this is a winner!!!

Happy Wednesday friends! :)

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

10 oz dried orecchiette pasta

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

6 sundried tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup heavy whipping cream

salt and pepper

6-8 ounces smoked salmon, flaked

garnish- chopped fresh herbs (I used 1/4 cup chopped parsley and basil)

Directions:

1. Cook orecchiette according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 cup of cooking water. Drain pasta, set aside.

2. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. When melted, add onion. Sauté for 3-4 minutes, or until onions begin to soften. Add garlic, sauté for 30 seconds. Add crushed red pepper, sundried tomatoes, and tomato paste. Stir to incorporate.

3. Add wine to the pan. Allow wine to reduce by half by simmering for 5-7 minutes. When wine has reduced, remove pan from heat. Pour cream into pan, stirring continuously. Place pan back over heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. *If the sauce is too thick, add as much reserved cooking water as you need to thin out the sauce*

4. Divide pasta among plates. Top with 2-3 ounces of flaked salmon, depending on preference. Garnish with fresh herbs. Serve immediately. 

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Food Made With Love.

If you liked this recipe, you may enjoy these-

Creamy Bacon, Broccoli, and Brie Pasta

Lasagna Style Baked Ziti

Broccoli Rigatoni

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