Smoked Salmon and Wine Linguine--A Leftover Idea

Sometimes, especially during such a socially busy time of the year, I find in my refrigerator unused leftovers from a dinner party and three different wine bottles with just a bit of wine in each of them. It must be a common dilemma what to do do with that--especially the wine leftovers--since some of the greatest culinary celebrities make entire TV programs on what to do with such remains.

Some advise just to drink it, which is always a good idea, others to use for marinating meat. Nigella Lawson advises to put the leftover wine in a Ziploc bag and freeze it for future use. I would not popularize this frugal idea, as I do not find the combination of wine and plastic, and frozen wine to it, too appealing.

Nevertheless, I still have in my refrigerator a couple of slices of smoked salmon and about a half glass of white wine. While browsing my recipe book for inspirations, I found a recipe for pasta, a friend of mine gave me years ago in Geneva. It calls almost exactly for my leftover ingredients, plus canned artichoke bottoms and fresh dill.

It so happens that I almost always have artichoke in my pantry, just in case, and I cannot live without dill. I buy a big bunch, chop it and freeze it in plastic containers. Dill helps digest food, and recently it has been discovered that it has rejuvenating properties and is being added to some, natural face creams. I am always happy to use it in a greater amount than the recipe calls for it.

Of course you can also open a bottle of wine to make that pasta and drink the rest with it, but doing it with leftover wine was a nice pretext to try this recipe, as pasta is one of my favorite foods.

Smoked Salmon and Wine Linguine
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
3-4 slices of smoked salmon (about 1 cup)cut into strips,
14 oz can artichoke bottoms (artichoke hearts can also be also used after cutting out their fibrous parts) cut into strips,
1/4 cup dill, finely chopped,
1 cup heavy whipping cream,
juice from 1 lemon,
1/3 cup white wine,
3/4 pack linguine pasta,
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese,
salt and pepper.

Preparation:
1. In a saucepan mix together cream, wine, and lemon. Simmer it for about 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook pasta in a big pot and. when al dente, drain on a colander.
2. Add salmon to the cream sauce, artichokes, dill, salt and pepper, and heat it all up for about 2 minutes.
4. Pour the sauce over the hot pasta, shred some Parmesan on top, and serve.