Creme Fraiche and Lemon Pasta with Smoked Salmon

Sometimes you are just lucky and have everything you need for a delicious meal right at home. This was one of those times. We had everything...well, almost everything, we needed for this light and tasty dish. We substituted lox for the salmon because it was a Sunday and no stores were open to get the real stuff.

For two:

Penne (or other pasta shape) - how much you will eat
1 Tbs olive oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced (we used onions)
1/3 cup creme fraiche
1/4 tsp fresh lemon zest
1/4 tsp salt
1 4 ounce package of smoked salmon (we used lox)
Juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)
8-10 baby tomatoes, halved 
2-3 handfuls of rucola 

Cook your pasta according to the directions.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a pan over medium high. Add the shallots (or onions) and cook until tender. This may take up to eight minutes.

Turn off the heat or turn it down very low and add the pasta (drained obviously ;) ) to the pan. Add the creme fraiche, lemon zest, and salt. Also add the lemon juice and salmon lox).




After everything is nicely coated, add the rucola and tomatoes. Stir until everything is coated and the rucola has wilted a bit.

That's it! Very easy, very fresh tasting, and very tasty.

This recipe was adapted from Whole Foods Market -  we basically did our own thing and used this as inspiration.