Pasta with Smoked Salmon Cream Sauce

Today housemate Kevin made pasta with smoked salmon (largely for me, as I love smoked salmon madly). We used lox, and it wasn’t too salty for us, but others might prefer a less salty variety of smoked salmon. Other types of smoked fish could be used as well, and light cream can be substituted for heavy cream for the calorie-conscious.

Kevin also made pancakes for brunch, which reminds me that I should post my vanilla buttermilk pancake recipe, and experiment some more with the blini recipe my Russian host mother gave me last spring. It worked perfectly at her house, but I have been unsuccessful in recreating it at home.

Pasta with Smoked Salmon Cream Sauce

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

1 c. heavy cream
4-6 oz. smoked salmon (depending on how salty you want it!)
1/2 tsp. ground rosemary
1/2 tsp. rubbed sage
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch coriander
(optional) A squeeze of lemon juice or some lemon zest
(optional) Ground black pepper to taste

12 oz. dry pasta or equivalent amount of fresh pasta

Instructions:

1. Combine sauce ingredients in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook on low heat until it thickens, stirring frequently. Be careful not to burn the cream.

2. In a separate, large pot, bring lots of water to a rolling boil.

3. Add pasta to boiling water and reduce to a simmer. Cook until done (this is determined by tasting).

Garlic Sesame Beef with Snowpeas

Tonight’s dinner wasn’t exceptionally exciting, but it only took half an hour and it was tasty enough. We all agreed that six cloves of garlic was severely inadequate, but we’re all garlic junkies in this house. Next time we might try toasting some sesame seeds as well, but we didn’t have any.

The key to efficient stir-frying is to cut up the meat and vegetables and mix the sauce beforehand.

Garlic Sesame Beef with Snowpeas

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

Peanut or vegetable oil for frying

1.5 lb. beef, sliced thinly
2 handfuls snowpeas, cut in half
Lots of garlic
4-6 (depending on size) shallots, minced

Soy sauce
Rice wine
Sesame oil

1 tsp cornstarch in cold water (optional)

Instructions:

1. Cut up all ingredients.

2. Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add garlic and shallots and fry until fragrant.

3. Add beef and toss until mostly cooked.

4. Add snowpeas, a generous splash of soy sauce, a generous splash of rice wine, and a dash of sesame oil and finish cooking.

If desired, a teaspoon of cornstarch mixed with cold water may be added near the end to thicken the sauce.

Serve with rice of choice.