Wildfish Smoked Herring is pretty flavorful, with deep, savory undertones, and it might just be all the salt source you need for this creamy, Italian-American-inspired pasta. We think cavatelli is the ideal pasta shape, but one can’t always find cavatelli. Great news! Shell pastas and other small, bite-sized noodles will also work. Or, if you’re feeling really ambitious, you could enlist a helper to assist you in making homemade cavatelli. Whatever you decide, you want pasta that will fit snugly onto a spoon while carrying the rich sauce.  

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

Technique

Lightly fry the garlic and oregano in butter in a deep skillet until garlic just begins to color.

Add the cream and reduce on low heat. Season sparingly with reserved can juice and reduce further. You will probably not need to add any salt, as the can juices will season the sauce more than adequately.

Gently stir in flaked smoked herring and black pepper to your liking. If the sauce gets too thick, you can add more cream.

Stir in the pasta and allow the sauce to thicken over low heat. Garnish with chopped parsley and, oh… MORE PEPPER! Our smoked herring is extremely flavorful, and we generally recommend balancing it out with aromatics like pepper, spices and herbs.

Since this was originally part of our seven-course Feast of the Seven Fishes meal (ie, with other carbs,) we designed this recipe to use a bit less pasta than other Alfredo-type dishes. You can certainly add more pasta and cream if you want more, but one can of smoked herring should suffice for up to four portions. Just remember to reduce your sauce over very low heat, and don’t let it get too thick.