Cristo’s Creamy Salmon Pasta

As I’ve oft mentioned, DH and I love to travel and I must say that although Covid definitely impacted this and we were being careful about it, we have been venturing forth again.

My BFF, Paulette and her hubby Doug, is one of our favorite destinations, whether in Gibraltar or London.

This time we were with them in Gib, and had the chance to dine with an amazing Andalusian/Spanish chef at the helm named Cristo Sanchez, who although not Jewish himself, cooks for kosher Jewish clientele and is not just a wonderful chef but a great guy who talked food with me. I promise you, we coulda kept shmoozing and showing each other food pictures for hours if let to our own devices. Instead, I got to eat his glorious creations and this pasta dish is a take off on one he prepared as non-dairy (yup, he subbed out soy cream for regular cooking cream). I’d thought to do the same but just couldn’t find the soy cream in the shop and went dairy instead. He also used kosher surimi with smoked salmon but I couldn’t find surimi either and instead went with double salmon, smoked and regular since I love salmon and surimi, less so. He was sweet enough to give me his recipe for this and I don’t know who was happier, me or him after I ate and praised his food.

This is quick and easy to prepare, utterly delicious and ready before you know what hit you, so what could be bad? The creamy sauce is not too heavy and you will find this quite addictive. Just time the cooking of the pasta to the cooking of the cream sauce so the pasta remains hot when you toss it in the sauce.

I purchased these adorable pastas called radiatore, which as they sound, resemble little radiators but any pasta which will hold sauce well, like spirals or the like are just fine. I was copying Cristo on this.

One warning before you begin. This dish is meant to be eaten on the spot. While you can serve leftovers the next day, be aware that the sauce will be absorbed and while the pasta might taste good, the salmon will not be as tender and it will not taste anything like the fresh. So it’s far better to prepare what you will eat. I won’t lie, however, I wound up having leftovers and me and DH found ourselves snacking on it like it was going out of style despite what I said, which is totally true. So do as I say, and not as I did 😉 .

Okay, now assemble your ingredients, the cooking cream (lower in fat than whipping cream, you can use light cream), the smoked salmon which you cut into chunks/strips and the regular salmon that’s cubed, as well as olive oil, onion, soy sauce, pepper and taste for salt. I found with the smoked salmon and the soy I had no need to add any salt, just as Cristo said. Note this marvelous find of mine, cubed skinned salmon in a packet. It saved me having to skin and cut up the salmon, yay!

The total cooking time of the sauce is quite short so you should bring your pasta water to the boil on one burner (with salt and a dribble of oil) and lightly saute’ the onion in the olive oil in a pan on a second burner whilst it comes to the boil. Do use olive oil if you can here, it adds a great deal to the flavor of the finished dish. K.

Now don’t let the onion brown since you don’t want it to overpower the flavor of the salmons. (that’s pluraled on purpose). Okay, your water’s boiled and you add the packet of pasta to the roiling boiling water.

I showed you a pic of this just so you really get the water to a hysterical boil. Add the pasta, cook according to package directions (but I always taste test one). Remember, the pasta will continue to cook somewhat in the sauce and absorb some so don’t overcook it, we don’t want it mushy. Good. Drain the pasta when done and do not rinse, put back into the pot and cover it.

While the pasta is cooking (about 8 minutes or so) you are not sitting idle! You’ve lightly sauteed the onion and now add the cream, soy sauce and black pepper and cook together about 2-3 minutes

and add all together the cubed salmon and the cut up smoked salmon.

Stir it well into the sauce and toss and coat them, cooking it approximately four minutes till salmon is cooked and no more! We don’t want dried out salmon. If you are unsure if the salmon is done, taste a bite. Okay, while your sauce was cooking, your pasta was just drained and you will put it all together. Pour the whole lot of creamy salmon sauce over the pasta

and toss well till all coated with sauce. Serve hot to the delight of all. If you’re like us, you won’t have room for a side salad but you will feel virtuous if you offer one to your eaters, just sayin’.

Cristo’s Creamy Salmon Pasta

1 package 500 grams (about a pound) pasta radiatore or spirals or other pasta which holds sauce well

1 tablespoon salt + 2 teaspoons olive oil for pasta water

1 small onion finely chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 container (about 1 cup) 240-250 grams soy cream (not soy milk) OR cooking cream, about    15 % fat or light cream, milk will not work here

1-2 tablespoons soy sauce

Pinch of black pepper

100 grams (3.5 ounces) smoked salmon, cut up

300 grams (10.5 ounces) skinned, cubed salmon

Directions:

Have all your ingredients prepped – salmon smoked and regular cubed and all the things you need by the pot and pan you use. The timing matters here and the sauce cooks very very quickly. You want the pasta and sauce to be ready more or less together.

Bring the water to the boil for the pasta add 1 tablespoon salt and about 2 teaspoons olive oil. Cook the pasta according to package directions, don’t overcook since it will absorb the sauce and that softens it. While you boil the water, saute the onion in the olive oil till dark yellow but not brown. By now the water should be boiled, put the pasta in and stir and put on a timer (about 8 minutes). While the pasta is cooking, add the cream, soy sauce and black pepper to the sauteed onion and cook till slightly thickened, a few minutes. Add the cubed salmon and smoked salmon, tossing into the sauce gently to coat and cook about 4 minutes or till fresh salmon is cooked through. Drain the pasta, do not rinse, put right back in the same pot you cooked it in and pour hot sauce over pasta. Toss hot pasta in sauce till thoroughly coated and serve immediately.