That sort of sounds like breakfast doesn’t it? Well it also hopefully sounds like a whole lot of delicious. This pasta can be ready in 15 minutes, is full of flavour and just ridiculously simple to make. If that sounds like your kind of mid week meal then read on!

Using hot smoked salmon in this recipe adds so much extra flavour and the greens, lemon, capers and chilli are the perfect things to balance out the richness. Apparently cheese and seafood is some kind of no no, but screw the rules. The parmesan makes a kind of cacio e pepe style sauce that clings to the ridges of the pasta, so it’s basically the thing that helps all the other ingredients stick to the pasta, therefore essential.

On that note do use a ridged pasta in this recipe, it helps the herbs, zest, yolk and parmesan cling to the pasta and add flavour to the pasta rather than pooling in the bottom of the pot. You could use a rigatoni, ridged penne or an elicoidali pasta. That last one is sort of a cross between the two and what I’ve used here. I’m lucky enough to live in an area brimming with delis and supermarkets that stock every type of pasta you could wish for so I’m always trying new types.

If you want more vegetables with this just serve it with a simple side salad of lettuc, parmesan and avocado with an extra virgin olive oil and lemon dressing. Simple dinners are the best.

Serves 2

Ingredients

200g rigatoni, ridged penne or elicoidali pasta

150g hot smoked slamon

3 cups tightly packed baby spinach, roughly chopped

2/3 cup finely chopped parsley

1 lemon, zest and juice

1 birdseye chilli

1 tsp finely chopped capers

2/3 cup freshly grated parmesan

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

2 eggs

Directions

Put a medium pot of salted water on to boil. Once boiling add pasta and cook according to packet directions. Before draining reserve 2/3 cup of pasta water.

While pasta is cooking, bring a medium shallow fry pan of salted water to a simmer.

Return drained pasta to the pot add the parmesan and the water and cook over a medium heat stirring to melt the cheese into the water and thicken the sauce. Once melted add the spinach and stir to wilt. Remove from the heat and add all other ingredients flaking the salmon through the pasta as you add it. Stir to combine and set aside to keep warm while you poach the eggs.

Gently crack the eggs into the pan from just a centimetre above the water. Space them far apart and use a spoon to conrol the whites and keep them close to the yolk by gently scooping the white towards the yolk. Cook gently for 2 minutes or until the white is just set. Spoon the hot water over the yolks as the eggs cook if thhe wter isn’t quite covering them.

Divide the pasta between two bowls and remove the eggs from the water with a sletted spoon gently placing them on top of the pasta. Season with pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Break the yolks with your fork before digging in, mix the yolk through the pasta to enrich the sauce.

HH. x