Ah pasta. We've had our ups and downs and there have been a few disasters in there, but on the whole I've enjoyed cooking the 15 minute pasta meals. Most of Lolz's low ratings have come not because they've tasted particularly awful (well, maybe that prawn linguine...) but because of the amount the ingredients cost (compared to an average chuck it together pasta dinner) and the amount of washing she is subjected to. From a purely taste perspective (arguably the most important of all perspectives) they've often been above average. Some of my particular favourites have been the broccoli pasta, pasta pesto, chorizo carbonara and the fantastic salsa verde tuna - it's really only been the tomato sauce based ones which have been disappointing.
Well today we reached the end of the pasta chapter and it was this was this smoked trout fettucine that would be bringing it to a close. Would it be a case of last and least? I hoped not - it would be nice to see it out on a high but I really didn't know what to expect - like the bizarre winter squash penne this one involved blending up the sauce in the way you would normally prepare a soup.
It didn't start well - I couldn't find smoked trout anywhere. I decided to make do with smoked salmon, and there were a couple of other minor ingredient adjustments - normally in terms of quantities as the Waitrose pack sizes don't always tally with the ingredient quantities in the book. It was very easy to cook (it maybe helped slightly that I had the TV episode of this particular meal saved on the Sky box) - the salad and dressing got prepped and the pasta, and then it was time to blitz the sauce. There was something quite satisfying in seeing it all turn a bright, vibrant green colour, but it was still disturbingly soup like.
I needn't have worried. There was probably a bit more sauce than was strictly necessary, but it was silky, flavoursome, colourful and the smoked salmon added another dimension of flavour which went perfectly with the pea and asparagus sauce. The salad was a bit meh but overall the pasta chapter finishes on a high.
Lolz gave the dish 8/10. Difficulty rating 2/10.
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