How To Make Smoked Salmon Pasta

We've got some smoked salmon trimmings which are fine to use, they're very cheap to buy. But we're going to chop them up finely. And we've got a little bit of lemon, some half-fat creme fraiche (so this is quite a healthy dish) and some cooked pasta.

The way I've cooked the pasta (and it is penne pasta, the chunky sort of quill variety of pasta) is to boil a large pan of water with about a tablespoon of salt and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions, probably for about ten minutes, and then drain it. This is still sitting in its warm water, but when you're making it, you want to drain it as soon as it's cooked, and then we want to chop up a little bit of these smoked salmon trimmings. Use a large knife like this and just do a rolling chop and then cross-chop just to get them nice and fine.

Or you could use smoked trout in this, that would be lovely too, it's a little bit less fatty. Got a couple of sprigs of tarragon going in. Just take the leaves off the main stalks.

You could use dill instead, or chives, or a bit of fresh parsley and just chop that up a little bit, too. It doesn't have to be very finely chopped. Tarragon goes beautifully with fish, as does dill.

Then drain off your pasta. Make sure when you drain pasta, you give it a really good shake, particularly this variety of pasta because water gets trapped inside the pasta. Then put it back into your saucepan.

Add the creme fraiche, smoked salmon, and the tarragon and then lots of lemon juice. Because the smoked salmon's quite oily, you do need a little bit of lemon juice just to offset that oiliness, so, probably about the juice of a quarter to half a lemon. Stir it through.

Lots of black pepper because that goes well with the salmon as well. Just make sure that the salmon is well mixed through, and then a couple of plates. Don't forget to taste it as well.

Taste your food, see if you've got the right amount of seasoning and add a little bit more salt and pepper if you need to. And if you've got a sprig of tarragon left, just to make it look a little bit fresher. And that's lovely, too.

And that's how to make smoked salmon pasta. .