Pasta with Smoked Salmon & Golden Caviar

This is special-occasion pasta that takes almost no time and looks like it came from a Milan hotel dining room. Thin spaghetti tossed with a simple reduced-cream-and-butter sauce, folded with torn pieces of smoked salmon, and topped with golden whitefish caviar at the plate.

The sauce is dead-simple Italian technique: melt butter, add cream, boil and reduce for five minutes. No flour, no cheese, no roux. The reduction concentrates the cream into something silky and luxurious that coats the pasta like a pale, butter-flavoured veil. That’s it, that’s the whole sauce.

Adding the smoked salmon just before tossing with the pasta is critical timing. Salmon is already cured, it needs just warming through, not cooking. Boil it in the sauce and it turns chalky and loses its delicate silky texture. Adding it at the end lets the residual heat warm it just enough.

The golden caviar is the showpiece, use whitefish caviar ("golden roe") rather than sturgeon, it’s reasonably priced and has a bright, briny pop that contrasts beautifully with the rich cream sauce. Spoon it on at serving, never stir it in, or you’ll crush the delicate eggs and lose both texture and visual appeal.

Chef Tips

• Bring caviar to room temperature before serving, fridge-cold caviar loses its full flavor.
• Reserve a half cup of pasta water before draining, a splash loosens the sauce if it thickens too fast.
• Use good unsalted butter, salted butter throws off the salty-sweet balance with the smoked salmon.
• White pepper only, not black, which would show as dark specks and ruin the elegant look.

Variations

• Finish with chopped fresh dill or chives for a herby lift.
• Add a tablespoon of vodka or dry vermouth with the cream for a subtle aromatic edge.
• Swap thin spaghetti for angel hair or linguine depending on preference.
• Use red salmon roe in place of caviar for a bolder, less expensive alternative.