This pasta is probably my favorite pasta dish at the moment. Well maybe except angel hair with tomato sauce, which always is unbeatable. First of all salmon is not very frequent addition to pasta and I have no clue why because those two things together are a perfect match. Also Sambuca used instead of white wine adds fantastic, new and intriguing flavor. Sambuca, if you’re not aware, is an anisette flavored Italian liquor. It’s sweet and has a strong anisette taste but when cooked with butter, salmon and tomatoes becomes very mellow yet distinctive. I love it, it’s so much different than white wine based sauce. If you’ve ever been to Bonefish Grill and ordered Mussels Josephine, than you definitely know the flavor because it’s also made with Sambuca. It’s pretty hard to describe it, you have to taste it to know what I’m talking about. Oh and by the way, if you think 1/4 cup of Sambuca might be too overpowering, add 3 Tbsp and eventually add 1 Tbsp more later while cooking if the taste is ok.

Ingredients (2 servings):

2 portions of cooked farfalle pasta (about 3 cups)
12 oz salmon fillet
2 Roma tomatoes deeseded in roughly chopped
2 shallots, diced
1/3 cup green peas
2 tsp fresh thyme
1/4 cup Sambuca
1/4 cup water or fish or vegetable stock
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 tbsp cream (optional)

Cook pasta according to a package instructions.

Cut salmon into roughly 1 in cubes.

In a skillet heat olive oil and butter.

Add shallot and saute on a medium heat for 1 min.

Add thyme, tomatoes and saute 2 min more.

Add peas and salmon and saute on a medium heat for 2 min stirring quite often.

Season with salt and add Sambuca followed by water or stock. Cover and cook on a medium heat 3 more min.

At the end eventually stir in some cream and mix with farfalle.