Oh God, my mother is going to read this… This is an easy dish to throw together when you want to impress someone but you don’t necessarily have time to spend hours in the kitchen. Do not worry about the garlic – if you both eat it, nobody will be turned off by a huff of anti-vampire breath. For the wine, I like to use a moscato or a frascati. Don’t use a heavy, woody chardonnay – it will overpower all the delicate flavours and leave your dish tasting of kindling.

Seduction pasta

Ingredients

Olive oil

One small onion or a few spring onions finely chopped

Two cloves of garlic

A small glass of white wine

Two tablespoons of lemon juice

One packet of smoked salmon, chopped into small pieces

250ml creme fraiche

Dill, fresh or in a jar

A handful of spinach leaves or 100g asparagus spears cut into 1cm pieces

150g Cherry tomatoes

Grated fresh parmesan to serve

Instructions

  1. Warm some olive oil in the pan and fry the onions and garlic for about three or four minutes, until they soften.
  2. Slosh in the wine and lemon juice. Bring almost to the boil and add the smoked salmon.
  3. Poach briefly in the bubbling liquid.Pour yourself a glass of wine and reflect on life for a brief moment…
  4. Return to a low heat, spoon in creme fraiche until it reaches your preferred thickness, a decent smattering of dill, the spinach leaves/chopped asparagus and cherry tomatoes. If you accidentally make the sauce thicker than you’d like, stir in a little extra wine until it’s the consistency you’re after.
  5. Warm through until the spinach leaves wilt (or after a few minutes if you’re using asparagus) but don’t let it get crazy-boiling.
  6. Remove from heat and serve over pasta. Sprinkle fresh parmesan on top