Chef Michael Smith’s Smoked Salmon Pasta With a Lemon Dill Cheese Sauce

He’s a well known celebrity chef in Canada, but for those in the US and elsewhere who aren’t familiar, we’d like to introduce you to this James Beard award winning culinary gem.  Michael Smith attended the Culinary Institute of America in NYC, worked for several restaurants both abroad and in NY, and is currently stars in Food Network Canada’s tv shows “Chef at Home” and “Chef at Large”.  He also is a cookbook author, and you will see him soon in a future Iron Chef episode.

Chef Michael currently lives in Prince Edward Island, (P.E.I.), a beautiful Province and Island in northeast Canada, close to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He was recently named the PEI’s ‘Food Ambassador’ and will be a star of the PEI’s Fall Flavours food festival from September 25 – October 4, 2009.  Fall Flavors features over 150 culinary events, including delicious tasting workshops, ale and wine tastings, and interactive education including how to catch lobsters or harvest oysters.   We will miss the event this year but are already RSVP’ing for 2010!

You will love this chef recipe video from our friends at Le Gourmet Tv:   Michael shares a wonderful (and quick)  Smoked Salmon Penne Pasta with a a lemon, dill, dijon and caper cream cheese sauce.   You may download the printable PDF from Le Gourmet Tv here.  Try your best to use fresh dill, but if it is not available, typically 1/4 teaspoon dried dill weed equals a four-inch sprig of dill.  That said, add as much as you wish according to taste.

[pro-player width=’550′ height=’353′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8uZ59HNkM4[/pro-player]

Smoked Salmon Penne Pasta
Chef Michael Smith

Ingredients:
1 lb penne or your favourite shaped pasta like bowties, long pastas like spaghetti don’t work as well
1 cup room temperature cream cheese
1 bunch of fresh dill, chopped
4 green onions, sliced
1 lemon, juiced and zested
1 heaping spoonful of Dijon mustard
1/4 cup capers
8 ounces smoked salmon, or more
sprinkled sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method:
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Season it liberally with salt until tastes like a day at the beach on Prince Edward Island. As the pasta cooks it will absorb the salted water and become properly seasoned. Cook al dente, until the pasta is cooked through but still pleasantly chewy.

Scoop out some of the starchy cooking water. Drain the pasta but not quite all the way. Leave it a bit wet. Toss the pasta back into the pot along with a splash or two of the reserved water, perhaps a half-cup or so in total then immediately add the rest of the ingredients. While the pasta is still steaming hot it will easily melt the cream cheese and form a rich creamy sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve immediately.

For more delicious salmon chef recipes check out:

Salmon Carpaccio
Salmon Gravlax Pizza with Jacques Pépin
Apple Salmon
Wild Salmon with a Cranberry Compote
Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon