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double salmon rigatoni pasta cream sauce or how i learned to stop worrying and love canned salmon

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Salmon

Double Salmon Rigatoni Pasta Cream Sauce or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Canned Salmon

Do you remember how Marcel Proust wrote so rapturously about petites madeleines and how the very smell of those little cakes instantly transported him back to his childhood? I have a similarly strong - but completely opposite - reaction to the sight of those 15-ounce cans of cheap pink salmon you find in the supermarket.

Ingredients

  • 1 6-ounce can top quality wild caught red salmon (I used Wild Planet)
  • 2 ounces Irish smoked salmon, sliced super thin so that it's almost translucent
  • 1 medium sweet onion, diced
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup vodka
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 1/2 cups organic tomato sauce
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 12 ounces rigatoni
  • 1/4 cup or more, if you like, freshly grated asiago cheese
  • salt and plenty of pepper
  • Some fresh basil, cut in strips

Directions

  • Drain and flake the tinned salmon. Cut the thinly sliced smoked salmon into strips. Set aside.
  • Melt the butter in a saucepan and saute the onion until soft. Stir in the smoked salmon strips, then add the vodka, bring up the heat and let simmer for a minute. (The idea is for the smoked salmon to kind of disintegrate into the sauce). Add the tomato paste and stir, then add the tomato sauce. Finally, add the canned salmon and the heavy cream.
  • Meanwhile, cook the rigatoni until al dente. Drain, saving a ladle of the cooking liquid, and stir pasta into the double salmon sauce. Stir in the cheese, and if needed, the cooking liquid. Add plenty of black pepper and salt to taste.
  • Serve topped with strips of fresh basil and pass the extra cheese

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