This has been an absolute favorite of mine, ever since I chose to try & then serve it as the main course in an intimate New Year’s Eve Dinner with D – a few years back. My relationship may not have survived, but my love for this recipe & my gratitude to Melissa from The Traveler’s Lunchbox for sharing this, have stayed with me to this day. In a nutshell: If you like salmon, you absolutely need/ want to try this one…

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 160ml dry white wine or vermouth
• 200g package cream cheese, cubed
• 250ml heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste (concentrate)
• 1 tablespoon sugar, or more to taste
• 250-300g smoked salmon (either hot or cold smoked works fine), cut in 1cm pieces
• salt, to taste
• 450g dried pasta
• lemon thyme or regular thyme, for garnish (optional)

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and sauté the onion until golden and starting to caramelize, about 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté just until it loses its raw edge, about one minute more. Pour in the wine and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the cream cheese, stirring until it melts, and then the cream. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat slightly and stir in the tomato paste, sugar and smoked salmon. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 more minutes, until the sauce is quite thick. Taste and add salt and/or a little more sugar as needed.

Cook the pasta in the boiling salted water until just al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the pasta water. In a large bowl or the empty pasta pot, toss the pasta with the sauce, adding in a little of the pasta water if needed to help the sauce coat the noodles evenly.

Serve immediately, garnished, if you like, with few leaves of lemon thyme.