Creamy pasta with smoked salmon, spinach and mascarpone
Recipe for easy, creamy pasta with smoked salmon, spinach, mascarpone and lemon.
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 400-500 g pasta
- 200 g smoked salmon, - ideally a single thick piece rather than slices
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, grated or crushed
- 350 g fresh spinach
- 1 handful fresh basil
- 200 g mascarpone
- 50 g Parmesan, finely grated
- 100-200 ml pasta cooking water
- 1 lemon, finely grated zest and juice
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- Oil
Instructions
- Cut the salmon into cubes of roughly 1x1 cm.If you are using sliced salmon, cut the slices into strips - be aware that they break up easily, so fold them gently into the pasta when you get to that step.
- Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta al dente according to the packet instructions.
- Meanwhile, heat a little oil in a frying pan and fry the onion and garlic for a couple of minutes until soft and translucent, without browning.
- Add the mascarpone and let it melt, then stir in the Parmesan.
- Then add the spinach and basil along with a decilitre (100 ml) of the pasta cooking water (even if the pasta is not fully cooked yet), and toss everything together well until the spinach wilts.
- When the pasta has a couple of minutes left, add the salmon to the sauce and fold it in thoroughly so that everything is heated through.
- Drain the pasta and immediately toss it into the sauce - remember to save a little extra pasta water in case the consistency needs adjusting further.
- Turn off the heat and add half the lemon zest (the rest is for the top), then season to taste with lemon juice and more salt and pepper if needed.
- Serve the pasta topped with the remaining lemon zest and plenty of freshly ground pepper.