The Event - Monday, 11 February 2013
Weeknight. My Architect is back from NZ. It's a balmy evening. Isn't Melbourne just turning on the best summer this year! We both feel a bit lazy. It's perfect night for Susan.The Research
Well, smoked salmon was on sale last time I shopped ... index ... 'Smoked salmon sauce', page 89.
Smoked Salmon Sauce
Al Salmone
Bingo!The Foraging
The beauty of Susan. There's nothing else to forage for. Seriously, these are all the ingredients for this recipe:
Salmon. Butter. Cream. Salt. Parmesan.
It's really just salmon, isn't it. Maybe I'll add capers. And some lemon. I love citrus.
No, says my Architect. Be faithful. He's surprised I didn't follow Susan's Cook's Tip to peel my tomatoes last week. Purist!
The Cooking
This recipe only uses 50 grams of salmon, which doesn't sound like enough to me, so I use 72 grams. Which is 2 slices. I know it's 72 grams because I have electronic scales. But that was before My Architect and I nibbled a few bits ...Susan's pasta choices for this recipe are linguine or tagliolini. Susan always suggests which pasta to use and for the Suzanne/Susan Project, I will always use one of her suggestions.
Tonight it's linguine. Barilla call it 'Spaghettini n.3', but really, it's linguine. The delicate, fish sauces always use linguine. Or angel hair.
 |
| Assembling the ingredients doesn't take long |
Spaghettini n.3 has a 5 minuti cooking time. The sauce takes even less time to prepare than this so I boil the water for the pasta while I assemble the ingredients.
Assembling the ingredients doesn't take long.
I slice the salmon into short thin strips and grate a tablespoon of Parmesan.
The water has boiled so in goes the pasta. I like to use lots of water, lid off, and a bit of salt in the pot so it boils vigorously. The pasta, it likes to swim. Vigorously.
Now I move quickly. Melt 25 g of butter in a saucepan. Add 200 ml cream and warm it through. Add the salmon. I actually remove the cream from the heat before adding the salmon because I don't want it to cook completely and go that dried out looking light pink colour.
 |
| Melting the butter. Then no time for photos! |
Ok. The salmon's in the cream. I leave out the salt. It doesn't need it. Is the pasta cooked? Almost.
Generally, when pasta is almost cooked, and if you need more time with your sauce, you can just turn off the heat, put the lid on and let the pasta sit until it becomes al dente, which in my experience has never taken longer than a few minutes. But don't forget about it! Leave it like this for too long and it will go too soft and soggy.
Susan says to add a ladle of boiling pasta water. What kind of measure is that? A ladle. I'm a bit sus' about diluting sauces with pasta water so I add 3 or 4 soup spoons of the stuff. To be loyal to Susan.
Pasta drained and in a bowl I pour the sauce over (yes, the sauce really was that simple) and stir it in with some Parmesan.
Buon appetito!
The Verdict
I am glad I exercised restraint in leaving out the lemon and capers. And I'm glad I was loyal with the pasta water. After all, it's Susan's recipe, not mine.
All I add to my dish is a little cracked pepper and more Parmesan, which I pretty much do with all pasta dishes.
Susan notes that cheese is not usually used in fish sauces, but al salmone is one of the exceptions.
The sauce is wonderfully delicate and simple. So simple. Susan's all about keeping it simple. Minimal ingredients. No fuss.
My Architect comments that it's very 'dairy'. Like being at a dairy. You really taste the cream. So uncomplicated.
And best of all, dinner is over within half an hour of the commencement of cooking leaving a free evening ahead of us.
Want to try this at home?
Al Salmone
50g smoked salmon
25g butter
200ml single cream
salt
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
- Cut the salmon into short thin strips
- Melt the butter in a saucepan
- Add the cream and heat through
- Add the salmon and salt to taste
- Stir in a ladle of pasta water
- Put the cooked pasta (tagliolini or linguine) into a serving dish, pour over the sauce and top with Parmesan
No comments:
Post a Comment