Farfalle Pasta with Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese

Reading the other comments, I am curious if the other commenters used SMOKED SALMON when they made this dish. This is one of my favorite quick pastas to make and it is so luxurious while being simple. I grew up on canned salmon that my mom made into salmon patties and I had no idea that salmon could be preserved and smoked like fish bacon (everyone who grew up on lox and cream cheese is giggling at me). This dish does not use that canned Appalachian kitchen staple of my youth, but channels the flavors of that amazing bagel accompaniment. For those commenters who think you need to smother this dish with Parmesan or tomatoes, would you put a tomato sauce on your bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese? Smoked salmon is not everyone’s glass of sweet tea, but the flavor is anything but bland and due to its high salinity, you barely need to season this dish (but if it does taste bland, salt it before you suggest smothering it Parmesan). I think it is a lovely recipe to keep in your repertoire for those times you need a fancy dinner pasta, but you literally only have time to boil pasta and throw together a quick salad.

That recipe is average at best. Add some tomato sauce. That's Pasta 101, Martha. Step it up.

This was good and I've made it a couple of times. Quick pasta dish that I usually make when I have a lot of dill to use up.

Simple. Delish. Couldn't have had a better recipe on-hand to try out, for an impromptu alfresco dinner. Prepared exactly, in no time at all. Served with lemon wedges and felt the little squeeze of citrus really perked up the flavor to perfection. Accompanied by a large bunch of arugula (simply dressed with lemon, oil, s&p), and will continue to do so - with, next to, on top of, whatever, it was perfect the food companion! Next, I'll try using my abundant chives (instead of onion), we'll see...

This was so good and surprisingly easy to make on a busy night. Just needed a few ingredients but a lot of flavor. I had a little leftover Pecorino Romano, which I shaved on top (with a vegetable pelt), Parmesan would of course also work. So delicious!

Delicious! Made this for lunch. We were out of capers, so I substituted green peas, which worked fine and cut back on the sodium.

This is wonderful with steamed asparagus! And a little extra cheese on top didn't hurt. ;)

haha OK I guess i've never had smoked salmon. thanks :)

To itzdb2312 - you don't need to cook smoked salmon!

this may be a stupid question but it didn't say how to cook the salmon? help! :)

Try this by adding a little garlic, some frozen peas or tender asparagus and a little parmason cheese. If you have some fresh tomatoe, it will make it so delicious as well. This dish belongs among my favorites. Yummm!

Very Good :)

I just made this pasta dish and it was awesome! It tasted just like "panna" in Italy. I didn't have onion so instead i sauteed some broccoli florets in Dill, Oil

I am so glad I found this recipe. I used the Boursin cheese, as suggested, and added some asparagus, too. I didn't have a red onion, so I added some sauteed leeks. Holy Mackerel!!! It was out of this world. Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

I am going to use this recipe but add spinach and rotel tomatoes to it....we'll see what happens. we can't eat bland food but we love salmon!

I have made this dish several times now. It is a simple, delicious dish. I like to add cooked, chopped asparagus to the pasta.

I had some boursin with garlic and herbs on hand and used that in place of the cream cheese. Now that's what I use, and I've made this recipe several times and love it!

I was thinking this would be great, but it definitely was not. It was just bland and practically tasteless. I was so disappointed because I had such high hopes for my dinner. I have left-overs and will try to jazz it up by adding more ingredients, like more dill, some garlic, and maybe parmesan cheese. Usually Martha's recipes are terrific, but, in my estimation, this was not. Claudia