One of my passions is tradition in global cuisines. Holding onto traditional foodways can be very difficult in this day of cross-cultural relationships, easy access to a world of ingredients, television cooking shows, and a 'sky's the limit' approach to culinary creativity.
I am forever grateful to the Julia Childs, Jacques Pépins, and Marcella Hazans of the culinary community for all they - and their colleagues - have done to protect our global culinary heritage.
However, if everything we made was traditional, we would have no new dishes to offer our friends. And there would be no place in this world for the Marcus Samuelssons, Nathan Myhrvolds, Yotam Ottolenghis, or Elizabeth Falkners.
To these modern-day gastronomic da Vincis, I offer my thanks for inspiration to go outside the box and be as creative as possible.
Naturally, I would never dare compare myself to these talented and creative chefs, but I don't do too badly, and no one complains too loudly.
One of the successes I have had in this realm of creative cookery resulted in today's recipe - a fusion dish to say the least. It is one I created originally for neighbors in Maine Chris and Corinna when we had them over for dinner in our garden to celebrate their marriage.
It was the ultimate pull-together of completely unrelated ingredients. Pasta. Smoked salmon. Shallots. Chipotle chiles. Scotch.
Boy, was it good! I kind-of-sort-of wrote down what I did and have been making it ever since. It is one of our all-time favorites, and yet we rarely serve it to our friends. I wonder why?
I am vowing to change that and serve this dish to friends now. Well, at least to the ones who haven't eschewed carbs, dairy, fish, and spicy foods...
I hope you enjoy this pasta con fusion!
~ David
Spaghetti with Smoked Salmon-Chipotle Cream Sauce
12 ounces dried spaghetti
kosher salt
4 tablespoons butter
2 large shallots, peeled and diced
8 ounces smoked wild salmon, thinly sliced (see notes)
1 teaspoon puréed chipotle chile in adobo (see notes)
3 tablespoons Scotch
3 tablespoons dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
chopped fresh parsley, for serving
Bring a large pot of water to boil and add the pasta and 4 tablespoons salt.
In a large skillet, melt the butter and sauté the shallot for about 3 minutes, or until clear. Add the salmon and cook 1 minute. Add the puréed chipotle chile and stir to blend. Add the Scotch and wine, then cook until almost all liquid is evaporated. Remove from heat until pasta is done.
When pasta is al dente, scoop out 1 cup of the cooking liquids and reserve. Drain the pasta and add it to the salmon mixture; return skillet to medium-high heat and add cream. When hot, add reserved pasta water as needed to keep the pasta from getting too sticky.
Divide among 4 heated pasta plates and sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately.
Makes 4 servings.
Notes:
• I got my smoked salmon at the Tucson farmers market (St. Philip's Plaza) on Sundays. Randy - of White Cane Sockeye Salmon (because he is legally blind) - brings down great salmon from the Pacific Northwest. If you live in Tucson, Randy and his son, Ian, run a great operation. They are out of the smoked for a while, but you can email them at wcsockeye@yahoo.com to check on availability.
• If you cannot find smoked wild salmon, lox is a good substitute.
• I buy a can of chipotle chiles and purée the entire can with the adobo sauce, then keep it in a glass jar in the refrigerator. It is great to have on hand for flavoring all variety of dishes. Labels: adobo, chipotle, chipotle chiles, chipotle chiles in adobo, cream, fusion, italian, pasta, scotch, smoked salmon, smoked wild salmon, spaghetti, wild salmon
