This has quickly become one of our favorite quick one-pot recipes. You can use any type of pasta here, but after many different ones attempted, we’ve found that cavatappi or cellentani work best. If you don’t have either readily accessible, you’ll want to err towards a larger pasta shape with more surface area like medium shells or rotini. We’ve adapted this recipe from one of Sarah’s cook books, Delicious Wintertime by Markus Sämmer.
Difficulty: Beginner friendly
Serves: 4-5 people
Time: 20-30 minutes
Next-day leftover friendly!
Ingredients
- 3 cups stock or broth of choice (vegetable or chicken work best)
- 1 onion, chopped (or be lazy like us and buy it pre-chopped)
- 3 garlic cloves or 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 2-3 spring onions or 1 tbsp onion powder
- 9-10 oz smoked salmon (we prefer Scottish style over NY style), sliced into 1/2″ x 1/2″ squares
- 18 oz pasta of choice
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 generous handfuls of fresh spinach (we’ll occasionally skip the spinach)
- 1/2 bunch fresh dill or 1 tbsp dried dill weed
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup of shredded gruyere cheese (or a different creamy and salty cheese, mozzarella also works)
- Flour (to thicken sauce if needed)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Equipment
- Medium – large cooking pot
- Spatula or spoon, whichever you usually use for stovetop cooking
- Cutting board
- Chef’s knife or your preferred knife for chopping and slicing
- Box grater or zester
Directions
- Note the pasta cook time – refer to the longer time of the suggested time for al dente cooking and note what halfway through the cook time is, as well as 3 minutes before the end and 1 minute before the end
- Prep all ingredients first – slice the salmon, chop the veggies, zest and juice the lemon, etc.
- Add stock to pan along with onion (just onion, not chives) and garlic and bring to a boil, then add pasta, stirring occasionally
- Halfway through pasta cooking time (check package instructions), add sour cream, spring onion and spinach and continue to stir occasionally
- Three minutes before end of the past cook time, add the cheese and dill (if dried)
- One minute before the end of the pasta cook time, add salmon, dill (if fresh), lemon juice and lemon zest
- Stir occasionally for the last minute, salmon will turn pale pink, and add any flour if necessary to thicken sauce or serve with a slotted spoon to control amount of sauce in each serving if you like your sauce a bit runnier
Leftovers
- Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for no more than 36 hours (i.e. if making for lunch, best used following day lunch or dinner)
- To reheat, add some water and microwave on medium-high power, covered, for 2-3 minutes
Ellie’s Kitchen 