Pasta With Smoked Salmon and Vodka

Smoked salmon is a preparation of salmon, typically a fillet that has been cured and then hot or cold smoked. Due to its moderately high price, smoked salmon is considered a delicacy.In the Atlantic basin all smoked salmon comes from the Atlantic salmon, much of it farmed in Norway, the East coast of Canada (particularly in the Bay of Fundy) and Chile. In the Pacific, a variety of salmon species may be used.

1/2 pound pasta, either penne or a strip variety such as linguine.
1/4 to 1/3 pound thinly sliced smoked salmon, shredded
1/2 a shallot or leek (the white part), thinly sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
A sprinkling of good vodka, brandy, or whisky (which ever you prefer, about a tablespoon)
1/2 cup whipping cream (unwhipped)
Salt & pepper to taste
1 tablespoon minced parsley
Optional: several leaves finely shredded radicchio (arugola) -- stir them in with the salmon

Bring the pasta water to a boil and salt it; in the meantime prepare the other ingredients. Cooking the sauce will take 5-7 minutes, so check the cooking time of the pasta and begin the sauce about 8 minutes before the pasta will be ready.

Start by sautéing the shallot in the butter until it wilts, then add the salmon and cook a minute or so more, stirring, until it lightens in color. Sprinkle in the liquor (vodka will add a crisper note, and brandy a slightly sweeter one), stir until it is evaporated, and stir in the cream. Heat through, check seasoning, and it’s ready; sprinkle the parsley over it at the very end, just before you use it to sauce the pasta.

This is, as I said, off the top of my head; feel free to vary the proportions to suit your taste. It will, in any case, serve 2. The wine? A white, perhaps a Chardonnay from Friuli's Collio.