Every year during the holidays, my office receives a few boxes of smoked salmon lox as presents. They are too cumbersome for my co-workers to take home so I often end up with them, usually giving one to a friend who is going home for the holidays, and either serving the other one at a party or coming up with interesting recipes. This year we decided to make half of it into a pasta dish.

It was fun to play with the salmon’s pretty color and combine it with the earthy color of roasted pine nuts and the striking green of parsley. We began by sauteing garlic and onions and simmering a quarter cup of white whine and some lemon juice. Lemon rind was added for additional zest.

Doesn’t everything begin with a saute?

Add the lemon and wine.

Lemon rind for good measure.

We added two tablespoons of cream cheese and mixed it with freshly cooked pasta of our choice (farfalle).

Cream cheese onto warm pasta.

Enter the dragon…errr…salmon.

The pasta is light, smoky and creamy with the nice accents of parsley and the nuttiness of the pine nuts.

Salmon Lox Pasta with Roasted Pine Nuts, Parsley and Artichokes
2-3 servings of pasta, such as farfalle, ziti, rigatoni, orecchiette, etc.
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced onion
1/4 cup dry white wine
Juice of 1/2 lemon
lemon rind
2 tablespoons cream cheese
handful chopped parsley
handful roasted pine nuts
1/4 bottled artichoke hearts, chopped
1/2 smoked salmon lox pieces

While cooking pasta according to package directions, saute garlic and onions in a separate pan. Add wine and lemon juice as well as some lemon rind. Allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes and then set aside. When pasta is cooked, drain and return to the empty pot. Mix in one tablespoon of cream cheese until it coats all the pasta pieces. Add the wine and onion/garlic mixture and mix well along with roasted pine nuts, parsley and artichokes. Add salmon pieces and mix well, saving some as topping. Serve promptly topped with salmon pieces as garnish.

Mangia!