The Night Before Going Back to Work

It was Sunday night after a busy two weeks of family, friends, and food. Our refrigerator was full with a wonderful variety of leftovers from the holidays: Heavy cream and mushrooms from a tart I hope to post someday, smoked salmon slices from an appetizer for relatives for the day after Christmas, leftover yellow onions from the box recently. I looked around the fridge and came up with the following dinner for the Sunday night before going back to work. This also represents how I cook most weeknights after work. I just try to use up what's in the fridge and not follow any particular recipe. Most of the time it works out. The results here were delicious. I mixed in both cream and skim milk just so it wasn't a "heart attack" alfredo sauce. The salmon slices almost tasted like pancetta in the cream sauce. All of the measurements are approximate as I pretty much just winged it with the ingredients I had on hand. 

Creamy Smoked Salmon Pasta 

Ingredients:

• pasta; I used Cavatappi
• butter, about 1-2 tablespoons
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• mushrooms, about 2 cups, chopped
• garlic, 3 cloves minced
• smoked salmon, sliced thinly, about 2-3 cups
• heavy cream, probably 1/2 cup
• skim milk, probably 1/4 cup
• pepper: freshly ground black pepper if you like it mild; a generous pinch of red pepper flakes if you like it spicy

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. As water boils, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion in butter until tender.
3. Add mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes.
4. Stir in cream and milk. Heat to just below boiling point and cook over low heat for 4 minutes.
5. Toss in smoked salmon, and cook for 2 more minutes. Serve over pasta.