Farfalle with smoked salmon and orange (Farfalle al salmone e arancia)

The beauty of this dish is the ready-to-go ingredients and a splash of citrus throughout. This recipe calls for Farfalle (butterflies) pasta but choose any pasta shape that will hold and nestle the cream sauce as you eat it.

One other funny point about this recipe is the reason the pepper grinder is in the photo. Variations of this recipe you’ll see all call for seasoning with “white pepper”. Or “organic Ceylon white peppercorns” in its own personal grinder from Whole Foods if you were nuts enough to go running to the store to buy “white pepper” because your recipe called for it. News flash: white pepper is only used in cream sauces and soups because it looks better. No black specks in your happy soup or sauce. It’s the same peppercorn, just processed differently. So save the money and space in your cabinet and use good old black pepper.

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients and Directions

• Sea salt
• 1 orange
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 large garlic clove, smashed with side of a knife and peeled
• A splash of Grand Marnier
• 1/2 pound farfelle pasta
• 3 ounces smoked salmon, gently pulled apart by hand
• A handful of frozen peas
• Freshly ground white pepper (see introduction)

1. Prepare long strands of orange zest. This can be done one of two ways. (1) Use a vegetable peeler to peel several strips of orange peel and then, using a very sharp knife, slice into thin long strips or (2) get one of those nifty zesters that does it for you in quick pulls across the orange. (see photo)
2. Juice the orange you just zested into a small bowl.
3. Set a large pot of water on the stove and add a generous amount of sea salt and bring to a boil.
4. In a medium sauce pot big enough to hold the cooked pasta, add the orange zest, orange juice, heavy cream, garlic and Grand Marnier. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove and discard the garlic clove. Add the peas and continue to simmer and reduce until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 5 more minutes. Add the salmon, stir and keep warm–on simmer or a just a warm spot on the stove if the oven below is on.
5. Cook the pasta in the boiling water to 1 minute less than the package directions stipulate. Drain and place in the pot with the sauce. Simmer and stir (with a wooden spoon) the pasta in the sauce for an additional 1 minute.
6. Serve adding pepper to each serving.