Smoked Salmon Recipes: Starters, Pâté, Pasta and More

These smoked salmon recipes are the ways I use a packet of smoked salmon at Casa Adora: a wavy starter for the Christmas table, a five-minute pâté, a creamy tomato pasta with prawns, light lunches with beetroot or crispy potatoes, gravlax for hot days, and a few smoked trout recipes for when the fishmonger has run out. I write for a mostly UK audience, so these are smoked salmon recipes UK cooks can make from a supermarket packet, with very little cooking.

Smoked salmon is already cured and ready to eat, so most of these recipes are about assembly, not cooking. The art is in what you put with it: something sharp, something fresh and something starchy to carry it. That is why a packet of smoked salmon stretches so far in a small kitchen.

Jump to: Which Recipe? · Starters · Pâté · Pasta · Lunches · Gravlax · How to Serve It · Smoked Trout

Which Smoked Salmon Recipe Should I Make?

Start with what you need on the day.

• Something stylish for guests, with no cooking: Jamie Oliver-inspired Wavy Smoked Salmon Starter.
• A fast lunch from leftover slices: Quick Smoked Salmon Pâté.
• A proper dinner for one in 20 minutes: Farfalle with Smoked Salmon and Prawns.
• A light summer lunch: Smoked Salmon Salad with Beetroot or Gravlax with New Potatoes.
• A van kitchen lunch: Smoked Salmon and Crispy Potatoes.
• Something to make ahead for Christmas: the Christmas section of my pâté recipes.

Smoked Salmon Starter Ideas

If you only make one of these smoked salmon starter ideas, make the wavy one. Jamie Oliver-inspired Wavy Smoked Salmon Starter is a masterclass in assembly over cooking: thinly sliced salmon ruffled into waves on a large white plate, finely chopped red onion, parsley and a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. It takes ten minutes, nothing needs cooking, and it suits a Christmas or Boxing Day table because the oven stays free for the main course.

Smoked Salmon Pâté

For leftover slices, Quick Smoked Salmon Pâté is a five-minute lunch for one. Two slices of smoked salmon, a spoonful of Greek yoghurt, horseradish, lemon and fresh herbs are whizzed together and spooned over thick toast. For a make-ahead version with a festive feel, the Christmas section of my Pâté and Rillettes Recipes hub has plenty more.

Smoked Salmon Pasta

The one that turns smoked salmon into dinner. Farfalle with Smoked Salmon and Prawns is built on a tomato base with carrot and butternut squash, sharpened with white wine and finished with a splash of cream. The salmon and prawns go in right at the end, so they warm through without overcooking. It serves one and takes twenty minutes.

Smoked Salmon Salads and Light Lunches

• Smoked Salmon Salad with Beetroot, Herbs and Lemon, a flexible summer salad that works equally well with smoked trout or tinned mackerel.
• Smoked Salmon and Crispy Potatoes, sautéed new potatoes with guindillas and cebollitas, a balanced, no-fuss van kitchen lunch that works just as well at home.

Gravlax for Hot Days

Gravlax is cured, not smoked, but it sits happily beside smoked salmon on the table. Gravlax with New Potatoes, Griddled Asparagus and Mustard Dill Dressing is a simple two-course summer menu for when it is too hot to cook, and it is on the table in under half an hour.

How to Serve Smoked Salmon

Knowing how to serve smoked salmon well matters more than any recipe. A few things I always do:

• Use a large white plate. It lets the pink of the fish and the green of the parsley stand out.
• Ruffle it, don't lay it flat. Waves of salmon look professional with no effort.
• Allow 75–100 g per person as a starter. That is a generous portion for a Christmas table.
• Keep it sharp and simple. Finely chopped red onion, lemon or lime, black pepper and a good olive oil are all it needs.
• Plate it at the last minute. Nothing needs cooking, so assemble just before you sit down.

For the fish itself, I use Norwegian wild salmon whenever I can find it for its firmer texture and clean flavour. If you cannot, a good dry-cured Scottish smoked salmon is a very respectable runner-up.

Smoked Trout, If You Prefer

Smoked trout is a gentler, slightly sweeter cousin of smoked salmon, and it is usually cheaper. These are the ways I cook it:

• Hot-Smoked Trout Pâté with Capers and Lemon, a sharper, brinier pâté made for one ramekin and ready in five minutes.
• Smoked Trout Fish Cakes, a Scottish recipe with a porridge oat crust.
• Kedgeree with Smoked Trout, a Victorian breakfast dish made with homemade garam masala.
• Potted Smoked Trout with caraway, dill and lemon.
• Smoked Trout with Skyr and Fresh Herbs, three minutes from fridge to plate.

If you've enjoyed these smoked salmon recipes, you can buy me a coffee ☕ on Ko-fi.

Footnote

These smoked salmon recipes are part of my Inland Fish and Seafood hub, a collection of resourceful ways to prepare the sea's bounty from the heart of rural Spain. The pâtés also appear in my Pâté and Rillettes Recipes hub.
Find more recipes and food adventures here.
Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef