Pasta pronto: Tagliatelle with salmon and capers

Salmon. You can smoke it, you can eat it, you can use it in a pie, pan-fry fillets of it, turn it into an elegant starter in the shape of a tian, make a terrine of it, or put it on blinis as a party snack. And salmon in a pasta sauce is just sublime.

This recipe uses two kinds of salmon: smoked (Alaskan, as it happens, though it matters not which you choose), and tinned salmon in brine. I felt that this made the sauce more complex and interesting. Capers, of course, are virtually a must with salmon.

Ingredients

1 x 200 g can of wild caught pink salmon in brine

240 g smoked Alaskan salmon, chopped (or other smoked salmon)

1 Tbsp capers, drained and chopped

1 red onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

5 Tbsp olive oil

1 glass dry white wine

1 cup vegetable (or fish) stock

Tagliatelle of your chosen quantity (I used four bundles)

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Method

First, put a big pot of water on to boil. Read my tips for mastering the pasta here.

In a suitable large pot or pan (I use a Le Creuset buffet for pasta sauces and to toss the pasta sauce in immediately before serving), sauté the onions and garlic in a generous amount of olive oil. Pasta is best with a kind hand on the olive oil bottle; it can only make it better.

Add a glass of dry white wine and simmer it until reduced by about half.

Add the vegetable stock (or fish stock) and simmer until reduced a little. Not too much though or you won’t have enough sauce.

Drain the can of salmon and add the fish to the pan, crumbling it with your fingers. If you’d like to add the brine to the sauce, that’s fine, but reduce it before adding the fish. Stir the chopped capers into the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Leave the sauce off the heat while you cook the pasta.

Get the tagliatelle cooking. Add it to briskly boiling water and immediately stir with a wooden spoon or pasta fork to ensure that the pasta doesn’t form clumps.

When the pasta is al dente, drain it but retain 2 or 3 Tbsp of the pasta water to add to the sauce.

Slice the smoked salmon into small pieces and stir it into the sauce.

Add the pasta water to the sauce, heat through.

Add the drained pasta and toss in the sauce. Finish it on the plate with grated Parmesan and a sliver or two of smoked salmon. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023

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This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.