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| Smoked Salmon and Courgette (Zucchini) Pasta |
“Smoked salmon at
JibberJabber Towers!” I hear you cry, “Is the Queen coming to
supper?” No, just the four of us but this pasta dish with just some
courgettes, olive oil and garlic makes a seemingly luxury meal a
midweek family meal.
I love smoked salmon and in
fact Christmas Day just isn't right without having scrambled eggs
with smoked salmon for breakfast, a smoked salmon timbale starter and
smoked salmon sandwiches for tea. Thankfully the rest of the
occupants at JibberJibber Towers are also smoked salmon lovers. My
local supermarket currently sells a 120g packet of smoked salmon
trimmings for 98p, which is just the right amount for this recipe. I
use the smoked salmon trimmings in a number of dishes but this recipe
is particularly nice for summer as contains no heavy cream sauce and
the courgettes give it a fresh and light taste.
There are two things to bear
in mind when making this meal. Firstly, use olive oil as stated. Do
not substitute sunflower or vegetable for it. The olive oil gives the
pasta a distinct flavour that doesn't taste as good if other oils are
used. Second thing concerns the courgettes. I grate them using the
fine cutter attachment on my food processor. I do this for reasons of
speed, to save my fingers being shredded and also because the
courgettes don't get pulped when grated. You must also make sure you
squeeze some of the water out of the courgettes as described. If you
skip this stage do not come back to me complaining your courgettes
ended up as a watery mush!
When we made this the last
time we had it with farfalle or bow-tie shaped pasta because as any
Doctor Who fan knows (and there are two here) that, “Bow-ties are
cool”. However, choose your own favourite shape but spaghetti or
linguine do work very well too.
With the three main
ingredients of smoked salmon, courgettes and pasta this is being put
forward for the Recipes for Life challenge for the SWALLOW
Charity on Vanesther's Bangers and Mash blog.
Serves 4
Ingredients
300g Dried pasta
2 Courgettes, grated
2 Cloves of garlic, crushed
3 tbsp (45ml) Olive oil
100-150g Packet of Smoked
salmon trimmings
Method
1. Start the pasta cooking
in boiling water.
2. Using kitchen towels put
the courgettes between two and squeeze the excess water out of the
courgettes. You will need to do this in a couple of batches.
3. In a large saucepan heat
the oil.
4. Cook the courgettes and
garlic until the courgettes start to soften. Do not let the garlic to
burn.
5. Once the pasta has cooked
drain it and then add it to the courgettes and garlic.
6. Add the smoked salmon and
stir until the mixture is well combined.
Serve immediately.