Smoked Salmon Pasta with Vodka Cream Sauce

First of all, YUM!!! And second, I don't get to make this dish often because as my husband puts it "It doesn't have any meat"...He's one of those people who needs to have a solid piece of beef, chicken, or fish at every meal. So I make this for girl's night's, his Drill weekends, or if he is out with the boys. I'll find any excuse to make it really because I LOVE IT! Its fast(not healthy..everything in moderation though!)and goes great with a nice big glass of wine, a white Charles Shaw(AKA $2 buck Chuck, at Trader Joe's)goes great with it and its cheap, my personal favorite! Here it goes!

Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 pound farfalle(bowtie, or almost any short pasta. I like orecchiette)
2 tablespoons butter
1 small shallot, minced(if you can't find shallot you can use red onion)
1/4 cup vodka
2 1/4 cups heavy cream
4 ounces thinly sliced smoked salmon(the cold kind not the kind that is shelf stable, please), cut into thin strips
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons minced chives

Directions:
1.In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the farfalle, stirring occasionally, until al dente.
2.Meanwhile, in a large, deep skillet, melt the butter. Add the shallot and cook over moderate heat until golden, about 3 minutes. Add the vodka and cook until evaporated, about 1 minute. Add 2 cups of the heavy cream and simmer over moderately high heat, stirring often, until reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Stir in the smoked salmon, season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat. In a small bowl, beat the eggs yolks with the remaining 1/4 cup of heavy cream.
3.Drain the farfalle. Add it to the skillet and stir well. Add the egg-yolk mixture and stir over low heat until warmed through and the sauce is creamy, about 30 seconds. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer the pasta to bowls, scatter the chives on top and serve.

*Frugal tip! Smoked salmon can be a bit pricey. So what I do is stock up on it when I see it is on clearance & put it in my freezer. A couple weeks ago, I got a couple packages for $4.99. YAY for good deals! I do the same thing with the pastas I like(we're trying to switch to whole grain and organic when its possible so if I see that the whole greain organic pastas are on sale, I stock up on them! Its a good tip, you should do it too!*