I love Springtime. And Autumn. And Winter. And Summer.
I guess I just love being alive and surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation!
Few foods scream “spring” like asparagus does. At least once each spring I have to eat smoked salmon with asparagus — those two foods just seem to be great friends. Smothering them in a light alfredo sauce makes the friendship even happier.
My preferred pasta for this dish is farfalle, or bowtie pasta, but I have yet to find a good gluten free farfalle that complements alfredo. If you have any suggestions, I’m interested!
Instead of farfalle, I used quinoa “garden pagodas”. Not quite as sturdy as farfalle, but not bad.
I ordered a dish similar to this many years ago on a vacation in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in case you were wondering). They used locally caught and smoked fish, and asparagus from a local monastery. We don’t happen to have any monasteries in our little town, so I purchased asparagus at the local grocery store. Sheesh! That just doesn’t sound exotic, or even fun! 🙂
Anyway, the fish I used was from Trader Joe’s. It was thin, smoky, and sticky. And totally delicious.
Snap off the bottoms of a large bunch asparagus, and cut stalks into 2″ pieces. Set all the tops aside, as they will be cooked separately from the stalks.
In a covered saucepan outfitted with a steamer basket, boil an inch of water. Add the asparagus stalks, cover, and steam for 3 minutes. Add the tops, and steam another 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and shock the asparagus by dumping it into ice cold water.
Get a large pot of water boiling for the pasta.
Whenever I make a delicate cream-based sauce, I add grated onion and garlic. The finer the grating, the better. It’s no fun rolling a creamy sauce around on your tongue, and suddenly chomping on a piece of onion. BUT, think how much flavour onions and garlic add.
Begin by grating one medium yellow onion and a few cloves garlic, making sure to capture all the juice. It resembles applesauce, don’t you think???
To make the sauce, melt butter in a large skillet, and add the onion/garlic “mash”. Allow it to cook over low heat for a couple minutes. Sprinkle in the white pepper and continue stirring for another minute – and it still looks a bit like applesauce.
Add the white wine, and allow it to gently simmer with the oniony-garlicky-peppery-buttery blend. Oh my! The smell is incredible!
At this point, things go pretty quickly. I find that the pasta will take as long to reach “al dente” as the sauce takes to simmer. So, dump the pasta into well-salted boiling water, and add the dried dill. The salt and dill add flavour to the pasta, without being overpowering.
Then add the cream and milk to the sauce skillet. Bring to a gentle boil, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
While the pasta is boiling and the sauce is simmering, grate parmesan cheese, drain the shocked and chilled asparagus, cut the salmon into pieces, and set the table. 😊
Add the asparagus and smoked salmon to the sauce skillet and allow them to reheat. After a couple minutes, you can stir in the parmesan.
Drain the pasta, and add to the skillet. Don’t rinse the pasta though. You want those little bits of dill to cling and add freshness. Toss everything around gently, so you don’t break the pasta.
Smoked Salmon & Asparagus with Alfredo Sauce
- Total Time: 30
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
Quick, easy, and elegant
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1 large bunch asparagus
- 1 box gluten free pasta
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp dried dill
- 2/3 cup white wine
- 1 cup cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup freshly grated parmesan
Instructions
- Snap off the base from each asparagus stalk, then cut into 1″ pieces, reserving the tops. In a saucepan (with cover) outiftted with a steamer basket, bring 1″ of water to a boil. Steam the asparagus stalks for 3 minutes, then add the tops for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and dump the asparagus into ice cold water to stop cooking
- Meanwhile, get a pot of water boiling for the pasta
- Using a fine grater, grate the onion and garlic. In a large skillet, melt butter, then add the grated onion and garlic and cook over low heat. Sprinkle in the white pepper so it can “toast” along with the onion and garlic. Add the white wine, simmering for a minute or two.
- Add pasta, salt, and dried dill to the pot of boiling water.
- Pour the cream and milk into the skillet, gently simmering for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cut the salmon into pieces, then add to the skillet to heat along with the drained asparagus. Add grated parmesan cheese to the skillet and melt
- Drain the pasta, but do not rinse it (leave the little pieces of dill clinging to the pasta). Toss pasta gently with the sauce, asparagus, and salmon
