Hot-Smoked Salmon Pasta

Hi, this recipe is from page 59 of Jamie Oliver's '5 ingredients' Cook Book. If you are interested in cooking and want to start, I would recommend you purchase a copy of this book as all the recipes are fast and easy, also, you learn basic skills from the recipes too. Additionally, if you are a very busy person, this could help you save a lot of time in the kitchen as they are all super quick and can mostly be prepared in advance. Alternatively, the original recipe is accessible online here. Personally, I quite liked this recipe, but, I can see how having smoked salmon would have improved the flavour. Although, it was nothing a bit of extra seasoning couldn't fix. My dad found it slightly too tart, from the lemon, so he added extra crème fraiche to his and that sorted it out. Additionally, I think it would have been nice with some feta sprinkled on top, or some pine nuts. See my suggestions below for if you are allergic to nuts or dairy. If you make any alterations to the dish, or make it exactly how the recipe dictates, let me know how it went for you in the comment section below. Enjoy!

Dietary Info:
-No Nuts {However, if you aren't allergic, pine nuts would be very nice added on top, and if you are allergic so would some breadcrumbs}
-Contains Gluten {You can easily switch to a G-F pasta}
-Contains Dairy {You can use the Oatly Creamy Oat Fraiche, as a substitute}
-Unsuitable for Vegans {See above, and for the fish you could use a Vegan Tuna, or if you have any other ideas that you use, leave a comment and let me know, as I can only think of tuna. However, you could use pieces of other vegan meat e.g. vegan sausages or burgers chopped, but I didn't think it would be quite the same...}
-Unsuitable for Vegetarians {See above ideas}

Serves 4

Takes 12mins {Takes longer, as my pasta took 10mins to cook, then you have to drain it and add it to the pan of asparagus and salmon. Then, mix in pasta water and crème fraiche. If peeling asparagus by hand, like moi, it took me around 30-45mins in total} 

Nutritional Info from Jamie Oliver's website

Ingredients:
-350g asparagus
-300g dried taglierini or angel-hair pasta {I used 200g spaghetti}
-250g hot-smoked salmon , skin off, from sustainable sources {I used Tesco 2 salmon fillets, they- weren't smoked and they cooked as I fried them}
-1 lemon
-100ml half-fat crème fraîche

Method:
1:Use a speed-peeler to strip the top tender half of the asparagus stalks into ribbons. {I had to do this by hand and it takes quite a long time, my pasta was ready and drained. But, I was still peeling asparagus}
2:Finely slice the remaining stalks, discarding the woody ends. {I peeled the stalks and discarded the ends as suggested}
3:Cook the pasta in a pan of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions, then drain, reserving a mugful of cooking water. {You can reserve a mugful, either by dipping a mug into the water before draining, or, use a ladle to scoop out some water}
4:Meanwhile, roughly break the salmon into a large non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat.
5:Add the sliced asparagus stalks, and toss occasionally until the pasta’s ready.
6:Finely grate half the lemon zest into the salmon pan, squeeze in half the juice, then toss in the drained pasta, a good splash of reserved cooking water and the crème fraîche. {Some members of my family found it too lemony, so make sure to try along the way}
7:Add the asparagus ribbons, toss again, then season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper. Serve with lemon wedges, for squeezing over. {I fried all the asparagus together at the beginning, so there wasn't anything to add at the end.}