Farfalle con Salmone Affumicato e Panna (Smoked Salmon and Cream with Butterfly Pasta)

The third of four recipes featured in Diane Nocentini and Madeline Armillotta's video cooking blog entry:

Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup smoked salmon, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon whiskey
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt
1 pound butterfly (bowtie) pasta

Melt the butter in a nonstick saucepan over medium heat, and mix in the salmon. Add the whiskey and stir, until it has evaporated. Add the cream and stir gently until heated through. Adjust the flavor with a little salt, if necessary. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta for the specified time on the package, and drain. Mix the pasta with the sauce, and serve immediately.

VARIATION: Half an onion may be chopped and sauteed in the butter, prior to adding the salmon.

Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Orata al Cartoccio (Sea Bass Baked in Foil)

The last of the four recipes featured in Diane Nocentini and Madeline Armillotta's video cooking blog entry:

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: one hour

4 baking potatoes, cleaned and sliced
4 (1-pound) fresh sea bass, cleaned and scaled
Salt
1 lemon, cut into 8 slices
1 tomato, cut into 8 slices
1/2 cup olives
1/2 cup capers
4 teaspoons dried oregano
3/4 cup olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Grease 4 squares of foil, large enough to enclose a fish and a potato. On each piece of foil, lay a sliced potato and place a sea bass on top. Sprinkle with salt. Put two slices of lemon and two of tomato into the cavity of each fish. Add a few olives and capers to each packet, and sprinkle with oregano and salt to taste. Drizzle olive oil inside and over the fish. Wrap each fish in the aluminum foil and lay in a baking dish. Bake for 1 hour. Serve with a crusty loaf of bread and a salad.

VARIATION: Rainbow trout or halibut steaks are appropriate substitutes, if sea bass is not readily available.

Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.