Creamy pasta with salmon and cheese

When one needs something comforting, something quick and something tasty pasta comes in and works time after time. Pasta is one of my favourite things to eat, in any form and in any shape. If there was only one thing I could eat every day it would be pasta. At least that would make me have numerous options of what to do with it anyways. I wouldn't be bored in any case!

Today we had a bit of a time problem. My mum and I are watching The Missing, a series that's the result of a cooperation between the television networks of France, Belgium and Great Britain. Here it's broadcasted on Eén. I like it quite a lot but we don't get to see it on the regular scheduled times. My mum works nights so we watch it later when we have the time. 
Today we were watching the episode of Tuesday and we didn't pay attention to the time until our stomachs began to grumble and my sister was already eating chips and a kiwi to still her hunger ...
So we saw it was way past time to start cooking and I rushed to the kitchen halfway the episode (the end will be seen later tonight) to make some pasta. At least that wouldn't make us wait too much longer.

We had tagliatelle with a creamy sauce of Boursin (garlic and herbs), chives, spring onions, broccoli, mushrooms and smoked salmon. The pan was scraped clean and we all enjoyed it. 

This is an easy dish for any time. It can be made with other vegetables too, bell peppers and zuchini make it more of a summer's dish but mushrooms, broccoli and spring onions were the things in the fridge and they are great. 

Ingredients for 4 servings:
- 350 grams tagliatelle or any other pasta shape of your choice
- 6 large mushrooms
- half a head of broccoli
- 3 spring onions
- chives to taste (I used about 10 pieces from out garden)
- salt and pepper to taste
- milk as needed (about 200 ml in total but add)
- butter for frying
- 200 grams smoked salmon
- 150 grams of Boursin (garlic and herbs) or Philadelphia or any other brand with this kind of flavour combination

How to:
Put a big pot of water to a boil. In the meanwhile make the sauce.
Cut the mushrooms and the spring onions into small pieces/slices.
Take a big skillet and heat a knob of butter. Fry the mushrooms and spring onions in the skillet.

When browned and fragrant, add a splash of milk and some salt and pepper. Then add the cheese and let it melt into the sauce on low heat. Add more milk until you have a creamy yet runny sauce. Mix in the chopped chives and take off heat.

Cut the broccoli in large chunks.

When the water boils, add the tagliatelle and the broccoli. Let them boil together for about 8 minutes or to package instructions.
Cut up the salmon in small pieces and add them to the sauce. This is best when the sauce is slightly cooled so that the salmon doesn't get cooked along and gets tougher. Add salt and pepper if needed.

Check whether the broccoli is softened enough (let cook some minutes longer if needed, without the pasta so that the pasta is not mushy). Drain the pasta and the broccoli.

Add the pasta and the broccoli to the skillet with the sauce. Mix in so that the pasta gets covered all over and serve immediately.

Smakelijk!

Salmon wrap bites

My sister's boyfriend is celebrating his 26th birthday tomorrow and my sister wants to surprise him with a small get-together with all of his friends in the local park. They're going to play some outdoor games like kubb and petanque. She also wanted to have them some snacks to eat in the meanwhile. She made some things for him like mini fritattas. I offered to help her with something and I made for them small snacks:

packed up to go ...

These are basically wheat tortillas filled with a yogurt-cucumber sauce (look for the recipe to the post of Wednesday) and smoked salmon.
It's a very easy way to serve something festive on a party because the colours are so beautiful together and the taste is just perfect.

Many people who make these kind of wraps fill the tortillas with a herbed cream cheese spread instead of the yoghurt sauce. I, however, prefer a yogurt sauce for two reasons. The first reason is that it is much lighter. The salmon on itself is quite heavy and in combination with cream cheese, the snacks fill you up immediately and that's not the purpose of a snack. The snack should be tasty without taking up all the room in your tummy as there is more to follow ;)
The second reason is because the tortillas are quite dry when filled with cream cheese. The yoghurt is more fluid and makes the wraps more juicy. And juicy is the way to go!

It's so easy that it isn't really a recipe at all but I'll show you the making of the wrap bites:

the cast of the characters:
sugar (1 ts), salt (pinch), black pepper (pinch),
cucumber (about 6 cm), smoked salmon (250 grams),
3 wheat tortillas, Greek yoghurt (150 grams)

the mixing of the sauce ingredients

heating the tortillas to make them more pliable

spreading the sauce on top of the tortillas and
putting the smoked salmon on top

rolling the tortillas

(view from another angle)
ready for an hour in the fridge

just after cutting in slices: ready to eat!

We all love these wrap bites and it's great for any party, fancy or informal.

I hope my sister and her company will love these this afternoon :)

Smakelijk!