Catching Up…

I am truly disappointed that not one person commented on the delightful headline of my last post. Oh well…I have a LOT of catching up to do. I’m actually further ahead with loading photos (my eternal reminders of what I have done) to my site ready for use in blog posts than I am in getting even vaguely ready to write the actual posts. Consulting my efficient reminder system, I discover that I have neglected to write about the delicious smoked salmon, green garlic and caper pasta dish that I made in …January. Maybe my system isn’t so efficient after all?

However, the pasta is easy and delicious – and is even better when made with the peppered smoked salmon you bought at Pike Place Market in Seattle when you went up for an interview at Microsoft. But that’s another story for another time, my children. Now sit quietly and I’ll begin…

Anyone who remembers that last line is someone who listened to the BBC at around midday during the late sixties (and possibly afterward) to the great children’s program, “Listen with Mother.” I know that I have just reduced my street cred to negative a thousand, but it WAS a great program for kids and makes me sad that storytelling seems to be a dying art, as you can tell from my inability to get on with this one.

So, the real story is one of the fastest but best pasta dishes you can make. I usually make it with dried capellini because it cooks in three minutes and I can get the water off to a fast start by half filling the pot with hot water, filling the electric kettle with the rest and adding the boiling water from the kettle when it boils (about three minutes). That means a full pot of boiling water in about ten minutes. For the rest, read on.

Smoked Salmon and goat cheese pasta

Put the water on to boil as above. While waiting, slice up either two whole pieces of green garlic or mince four cloves of garlic. Saute them in a small amount of olive oil until just starting to brown. Now add about half a pound of smoked salmon flaked up into small pieces and stir until partly cooked through. Keep on low heat and add about four ounces of soft chevre (goat cheese) and two teaspoons of small capers. Gently stir together until the goat cheese is melting in. Turn off the heat. Cook the pasta – preferably something small like capellini or orzo. Drain, but leave a little bit of water in the pot (a couple of tablespoons). Put the pasta back in and pour the sauce on top and stir very thoroughly to combine. You might want to add a squeeze of lemon juice at this point. Serve with a salad or green vegetable.

This is an incredibly fast and yummy supper.