TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Farfalle con Salmone e PannaFarfalle with Smoked Salmon and Cream
A modern Italian classic that became a staple of Milanese trattorias in the 1980s. Smoked salmon and cream are particularly suited to farfalle: their thick centers hold the sauce. Fold in the salmon at the end using residual heat.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
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Ingredients (4 servings)
- Farfalle320 g
- Smoked salmonTear into bite-size pieces; do not chop too finely150 g
- Heavy cream (at least 35% milk fat)200 ml
- Spring onion or leek, white partThinly slice diagonally2 pieces
- Dry white wine80 ml
- Unsalted butter20 g
- Zest of an unwaxed lemon grown in JapanGrate only the colored zest, avoiding the white pith1 fruit
- Fresh dill1 bunch
- Black peppera little
- SaltFor the sauce and pasta water, a small amount for each5 g
Method
Tear the salmon
- 1 Tear the smoked salmon into pieces 1.5–2 cm wide. Do not mince with a knife: pieces large enough to retain their texture are right.
Ready when
Finish when all the salmon is torn.
Slice the spring onion
- 1 Separate the white and green parts of the spring onion and thinly slice both diagonally.
Ready when
Finish when they are cut and separated.
Grate the lemon zest
- 1 Grate only the colored outer lemon zest.
Ready when
Finish once grated.
Sauté the spring onion
- 1 Melt 20 g butter in a frying pan over low heat and sauté the white spring onion for 2–3 minutes.
Ready when
Proceed once softened and sweet.
Add the wine
- 1 Add 80 ml white wine and evaporate the alcohol over high heat for about 1 minute.
Ready when
Finish when the alcohol has evaporated.
Reduce the cream
- 1 MeanwhileStart bringing a large pot of water to the boil, with 10 g salt per 1 L water.
- 2 Add 200 ml cream and reduce over medium-low heat for 3–4 minutes.
- 3 Season with half the lemon zest, 1/4 tsp salt and 3–4 turns of black pepper. Use salt sparingly because the salmon is salty.
Ready when
Finish when reduced for 3–4 minutes and properly seasoned.
Boil the pasta
- 1 Add the farfalle to the prepared salted boiling water and cook al dente, 1 minute less than the package time.
- 2 Reserve 100 ml cooking water.
Ready when
Lift out when al dente.
Coat the pasta
- 1 Lift the al dente farfalle into the frying pan.
- 2 Add 1–2 tbsp pasta water and toss for 1–2 minutes.
Ready when
Finish when all the pasta is coated with sauce.
Add the salmon
- 1 Turn off the heat, add the smoked salmon and fold gently for just 10–15 seconds in the residual heat.
Ready when
Finish after mixing for 10–15 seconds.
Caution
Overcooking shrinks and toughens the salmon; residual heat is everything.
Finish with herbs and pepper
- 1 Tear and scatter over the green spring onion and dill.
- 2 Grind over black pepper to finish.
Ready when
The dish is complete when the toppings are added.
About this dish
Milan in the 1980s was a city where Italian fashion and the economy had reached a peak. In trattorias frequented by designers and businesspeople, pasta pairing imported Scandinavian smoked salmon with cream sauce spread as a fashionable dish.
Farfalle, meaning “butterflies,” was a shape favored by Milanese trattorias in that period. Its thick centers can cook unevenly, but that thickness also holds the cream sauce firmly. Smoked salmon and cream pasta has continued to be made in northern Italian trattorias for nearly half a century.
It is not an entirely traditional regional dish, but a “modern classic” that has endured for nearly half a century.
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