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I love the flavors of smoked salmon pasta: Homemade (or store-bought) whole wheat pasta, tarragon, parsley, lots of sweet butter, and of course my own smoked salmon. Easy to make, quick, healthy and tasty.
This recipe originated in the Pacific Northwest, Salmon Nation. Big flavors, hearty, unpretentious. No tweezers, fancy plating or hard-to-find ingredients here. But any smoked salmon, trout or whitefish will work here, as will smoked mackerel or bluefish.
I make my own smoked salmon and my own whole wheat pasta, and it this recipe will be better with homemade salmon and pasta, but store-bought will do. Note that I use hot-smoked salmon, which flakes, not cold-smoked, which will not.
I chose whole wheat pasta, actually bigoli, which I made with an old school Italian torchio, because it has heft, and the homemade spaghetti is rougher in texture than machine made; this roughness allows each strand of pasta to hold onto more sauce. I urge you to use whole wheat, spelt or some other heartier, darker pasta here. You will taste the difference.
You will also notice the difference if you can find artisanal pastas, or at least ones made with bronze dies. These will all be rougher, which helps the pasta grab the sauce.
As for the salmon, in this case I used a chum salmon I smoked over alder and glazed with birch syrup. Chum (a/k/a keta or dog salmon) are excellent candidates for smoking, but any species will do. As would any kind of trout. Smoked lake trout would be ideal. New Englanders should use smoked mackerel or bluefish, Southerners smoked king mackerel, mullet, amberjack or wahoo.
Fresh herbs add brightness, color and a hint of bitterness, which cuts the richness of the smoked salmon pasta, butter and such. I like tarragon because it works well here, but if you can’t find it, use more parsley. Chives, chervil, savory (winter or summer), marjoram or even fresh sage would be a nice option.
The rest is pretty simple. and your smoked salmon pasta will come together in less than 30 minutes if you have everything ready.
What to drink? Why, a West Coast IPA or a pale ale, if you are drinking beer, and a crisp rosé, a big white, like an oaky Chardonnay, or a light red, like a Grenache or Gamay, would be my choices.
If you liked this recipe, please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and a comment below; I’d love to hear how everything went. If you’re on Instagram, share a picture and tag me at huntgathercook.
Smoked Salmon Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound whole wheat pasta
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 large shallot, minced
- 1/2 pound smoked salmon, flaked
- 1/4 cup white wine or vermouth
- 2 tablespoons chopped tarragon
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add enough salt to make the water taste quite salty, like seawater. Add the pasta.
- In a large saute or frying pan, heat the butter over medium heat and add the shallot. Saute the shallot, stirring often. You want it soft but not browned. Add the flaked salmon and spread it in one layer in the pan. Let this cook to sear a bit. Don’t move the fish for at least a minute, maybe two.
- Pour in the wine and use a metal spatula to scrape up everything off the bottom of the pan. When most of the wine has boiled away, mix in the herbs and add fair bit of black pepper, maybe a couple teaspoons’ worth; you want to taste black pepper in this dish. Turn the heat to low.
- To finish, move the pasta from the boiling water to the pan, and toss. I like to add maybe 1/4 cup of pasta cooking water to the mix to emulsify everything. Toss and serve at once.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hank, thanks for this one. I use your smoked salmon recipe all the time and it comes across perfectly in this dish. I had to substitute the white ends of a bunch of green onions for the shallot but it came out just fine.
To anyone trying this recipe, go big on the black pepper. It really pairs well with the sweetness of the maple glaze of the salmon.
Hope you can make it back out to Northern California again and downtown Sac in particular. The craft brews are as good as ever.
some whole wheat pastas have a nutmeg/cinnamon note. would one of those work well here or would that not play well with the smoked salmon?
Eric: I think it would be good. Only one way to find out.
This was really nice! I will double the sauce next time to extend the lovely flavors. It also opened my eyes to wholewheat spaghetti – never thought I’d enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks Hank!
This is one of the best easy recipes you will ever see. I smoke the salmon on my pellet grill with A Touch of Cherry rub, but you can buy smoked salmon, or use some other flavors. Other than that, the recipe is simple and easy but so good we cook it frequently.
Let’s put it this way. At our wedding, we are serving this recipe for our guests. It is that good. Hank hit a home run with this one. All of his recipes I have tried have been great, but this one is special.
Hank,
Thanks for this recipe.
On the list as soon as I catch a king mackerel on the coast of North Carolina.
Have a great week!
Tad
Fantastic recipe. Quick, easy, and most importantly delicious!
I made this tonight for the second time. Full recipe, but halved the pasta. I’m a believer in high sauce to pasta ratio. It was delicious, but 1.5tsp black pepper was bordering on too much at that concentration. I imagine spreading it out over a full pound of pasta may lessen the impact. This is a delicious recipe and a great way to use up some smoked salmon.
Made this for dinner tonight. It was quick and fantastic. I did not have tarragon so I used some Herb ‘d Providence.
Quick and tasty! I had to sub sweet onion for the shallot (and a tad of garlic) and I used Rao’s semolina pasta, as that’s what I had on hand. Would make again, though the hubby isn’t much of a pasta fan so that means it’s all for me and the kiddo!
We used homemade quinoa and some locally smoked Lake Michigan salmon for this amazing recipe! Quick, easy and delicious, another winner Hank! Thank you for all you cook!
Fast, easy, and delicious. Perfect for a weeknight meal.
That looks and sounds fabulous Hank! I have smoked salmon hubby made this last week and I love to make pasta. We will enjoy making this recipe and I bet it tastes fabulous!
I see you will be in Alaska this week. I am in Homer, but won’t be able to make it up there for your visit. : (
Enjoy your stay in beautiful Alaska!
Really like your blog, books, emails, etc.
Happy summer!
Tried this with smoked striper, it was AWSOME.
I’m sure this pasta is perfect as is… But I think when I make this next week, I’m going to throw in the massive amount of swiss chard I have growing in the garden.