Salmon-Dill Pasta

The other night I made this very rich-in-flavor pasta dish. The base of the sauce is a simple béchamel sauce. Towards the end I added dill and the smoked salmon. It’s basically the same sauce that we make at home but I added some dried dill out of curiosity of what it would do to the flavor. It was so good that I just had to share the recipe with you!

Begin by cutting the smoked salmon into small pieces. I like mine a bit chunky so that I can really taste the salmon in every bite.

Next boil some pasta. I used whole wheat farfalle but any kind will do. The sauce makes enough for 2 portions so cook between 200-250g of pasta to be on the safe side. Cook, drain and set aside {I think I do not need to explain how to cook pasta, right}

Now let’s make the béchamel sauce. This may not be the “classic” béchamel sauce that you learn to make at cooking school, but the one my mom taught me to make. If you have a family béchamel sauce recipe that you want to follow instead, go ahead!

First heat up the butter in a medium sized pot.

Then add the flour!

Quickly whisk the two together until it looks something like this:

Now add some milk and continue to whisk until the sauce thickens and the flour-butter clumps dissolve. This should be done at medium-high heat.

If the sauce thickens too much just add some more milk.

Now add a some fresh lemon juice and an egg yolk {you can see neither but I’m including a picture anyways}

Season with salt, pepper and a dash of nutmeg…

Add the salmon and a generous amount of dill and stir until well incorporated.

Toss the sauce on top of the cooked pasta and stir to cover everything.

Enjoy with a big sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan.

{Close up}

And here’s the full recipe:

Salmon-Dill Pasta

serves 2

Print this recipe

Ingredients:

• 200-250g of your favorite pasta
• 100g of smoked salmon
• 1 tbsp. of butter
• 1 heaping tbsp. of flour
• 350ml milk
• 3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• s + p
• 3 tbsp. of dill

Instructions:

1. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain and set aside.
2. Roughly chop the smoked salmon, set aside.
3. In a medium pot heat up 1 tbsp. of butter and wait for it to start forming bubbles. It should not brown!
4. Then add 1 heaping tbsp. of flour. Whisk together until dough balls form and immediately add about 200ml of milk. The heat should be set at medium-high and you should be whisking until the sauce thickens. Once it thickens add the rest of the milk and stir again.
5. Add the lemon juice and the egg yolk and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. At the end stir in the smoked salmon and dill. Let the flavors come together at low-medium heat for about 1 minutes.
6. Then toss the pasta in the sauce and serve with freshly grated parmesan.