My trusty Creamy Smoked Salmon Tagliatelle is a very easy recipe to make… with impressive and delicious results. It works best with ribbon-cut noodles, i.e. pasta that is long, wide and flat, such as tagliatelle, fettucine or even pappardelle. The only prep involved is dicing the smoked salmon and chopping the parsley. Everything comes together quite quickly. You prepare the ingredients whilst the water for the tagliatelle is boiling, then you make the cream sauce during the pasta’s cooking time.

A vegetable stock cube (dissolved in boiling water to make a paste) enhances all of the flavours of this dish.

The recipe calls for double cream but for a low fat alternative, you can use Elmlea double light cream – 284ml.

It’s very important to keep in mind that the cream sauce will thicken quite quickly in the skillet, so don’t let the cream sauce boil or even simmer. Keeping the heat low whilst you stir the double cream will keep the sauce from becoming a thick, gloopy mess. At this point in the recipe, you are merely heating the double cream slowly so it combines with the smoked salmon and the spices.

Once you have drained the tagliatelle (best cooked al dente), work very quickly to coat the pasta with the cream sauce. Serve immediately as this dish is best eaten hot. The cream sauce does not reheat well so it’s not a good idea to keep leftovers.

Want to impress everyone with this easy, tasty dish? Read on for the step-by-step recipe.

Serves 2 or 3.
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 Minutes

Ingredients

375g tagliatelle
50g unsalted butter
2 tbsp flour
1 pinch of thyme, basil and oregano
Small bunch fresh parsley
1 vegetable stock cube, dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water and mashed into a paste
150g smoked salmon
300ml double cream (or 284ml Elmlea double light cream)

Method

Boil water for the tagliatelle in a large pot. While waiting for the water to boil, chop the parsley and dice the smoked salmon.

Begin making the cream sauce as soon as you have added the pasta to the boiling water. Add 375g tagliatelle and cook as per package directions. This dish is best with the pasta cooked al dente.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter and mix in the flour. Cook for 2 minutes while stirring.

Lower the heat and add the thyme, basil, oregano and a small handful of fresh parsley.

Stir in the vegetable stock paste.

Over low heat, add the smoked salmon and slowly stir in the double cream. It is important to keep the heat low so the sauce doesn’t thicken. Do not let the cream sauce boil or even simmer.

Keep stirring the sauce until it is time to drain the pasta. The sauce should be gently heated through at this point. Remove the skillet from heat.

Quickly add the drained tagliatelle to the skillet and coat with the sauce.

Transfer the tagliatele into serving plates. Top with more fresh parsley and serve immediately.

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