Weekend Foodie Thread
Ciao! Let’s talk pasta. Being Italian pasta always fell under the quick, throw together meal. I never realized, until I started serving these dishes to my friends, that most people just opened a jar of sauce and dumped it on noodles. *shudder* (FYI, pasta should be added to the sauce and tossed to coat.) Also, if you’re not already… always use fresh ingredients, invest in some good cheese (parmigiano reggiano) and olive oil – some of us are spoiled with an Italian sister-in-law whose father ships us cases of what we call “liquid gold.”
Below are three of my favorite pasta recipes.
We’ll begin with Pasta and Mushrooms – a classic white sauce dish perfect for this time of year.
Pasta and Mushrooms
Add 2-3 tbsp. of (good) olive oil to large sauce pan, 2 tbsp. butter, 5 cloves garlic, diced (more or less, depending on preference), crushed red pepper (buy fresh). Simmer above ingredients – Do Not Brown the garlic!
Add 20 – 30 thinly sliced mushrooms to pan and saute over medium heat until dark.
Remove 3/4 of the mushrooms and chop (in a blender/food processor) into a paste. Return paste to sauce pan.
Boil water for 1 box of pasta. I recommend penne for this dish.
Add heavy cream (do not use whipping cream) or half n half to sauce. Sorry, I don’t measure. I just pour enough cream to cover the mushrooms and so it will cover the penne evenly.
Stir until sauce thickens
Pour sauce into large bowl, add drained pasta and toss.
The second recipe will appeal to meat lovers….
Pasta with Sausage and Artichokes
Add 2-3 tbsp. of (good) olive oil to large sauce pan, 5 cloves garlic, diced (more or less, depending on preference), crushed red pepper (buy fresh). Simmer above ingredients – Do Not Brown the garlic!
Hot and sweet Italian sausage. Remove sausage from its casing and crumble into sauce base. (Again, I don’t really measure, and, depending on your taste, you can add equal amounts of hot and sweet sausage, or punch up one more than the other. Just add enough sausage to generously cover the bottom of a large sauce pan.)
Simmer until sausage is cooked.
Can of artichokes, cut into bite-sized pieces. Add to sauce and heat through
Pour sauce into bowl and add pasta – penne works well, but you can use any thicker pasta. Do not use a thin pasta, like angel hair – the sauce will overpower it.
My last recipe is one my brother makes every summer when tomatoes are at their best.
Summer Pasta
Sauce: DO NOT COOK! In a large bowl add 2-3 tbsp. olive oil, 6-8 leaves of Fresh basil (chopped), finely chopped garlic (4-5 cloves) and approx. 4-6 cups diced Fresh tomatoes. Toss, cover with plastic wrap and let sit out on a counter so the flavors intensify – at least a 1/2 hour, but the longer it sits, the better.
Cook pasta – thinner pasta is perfect for this dish. Add pasta to sauce and toss.
Perfetto!
this one is my go-to dish
4 fresh salmon filets
1/4 c soy sauce
1/3 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp asian 5 spice powder (equal parts cinnamon, anise, fennel, clove, ginger)
1/2 tsp wasabi powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
(your call on the ammount) shaved fresh ginger root
1 garlic clove, pulverized
splash of sesame oil
combine sauce components and stir with whisk until brown sugar and spices are dissolved
Using a baking sheet place salmon filet’s (or steak, chicken, tofu) with a pastry brush, brush each piece with teriyaki sauce and place under broiler (about 8″ from element) and cook, each side about 5 minutes.
serve with rice, mashed potatoes, whatever you like.
We just had our first bottle or two of Beaujolais Nouveau last night. Sweet Jebus it was delicious.
Hmmm… maybe I’ll do a foodie thread with a wine pairing.
The Summer Pasta recipe is one of my favs because you can add to it — especially if you have some small leftovers from the farmer’s market. Add in fresh corn cut from the cob, some arugula or whatever you have.
You can make this a richer sauce by adding capers, pinch of red pepper flakes, very small bit of anchovy paste and some good tonno.
This is a big favorite, especially if you like Broccoli Rabe:
Cavatelli with Italian Sausage and Broccoli Rabe
1 pound (about 4 cups) dried cavatelli or other small shell-shaped pasta
1 pound (about 6 links) sweet Italian sausage (I make this half sweet, half hot)
2 bunches (about 1.5 pounds) broccoli rabe, tough and hollow stems discarded, washed well
2 garlic cloves, minced (you can up this amount)
2.5 cups low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese to serve with pasta at the table.
Directions:
In a kettle of boiling salted water cook pasta until al dente.
While pasta is cooking, squeeze sausage from its casings into a large heavy skillet and sauté over moderately high heat, stirring to break up chunks, until no longer pink. With slotted spoon transfer sausage to a bowl, reserving drippings in skillet.
Cut broccoli rabe into 1-inch pieces and sauté in reserved drippings, stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown. Add garlic and sauté, stirring frequently, 1 minute. Add broth and raisins and simmer until broccoli rabe is just tender, about 3 minutes. Add butter, stirring until incorporated.
Drain pasta and return to kettle. Add broccoli rabe mixture and sausage and heat through if necessary.
Serve pasta with Parmesan.
Serves 4 (but these are generous servings).
This is from an oldoldold Gourmet magazine — I usually sauté the garlic directly with the sausage and add some red pepper flakes. This is a pretty quick recipe too….
Cassandra — for the “begetarians” among us, you can take that rabe, blanch it, chop it into small pieces and slow fry, then “braise” it with olive oil, garlic,salt and red pepper flakes, adding boiling water from your pasta pot as you go along for the braising. When the rabe is good and mushy — almost soupy — throw the pasta on and, when almost cooked, toss it into your pan of rabe.
Serve it with Parmesan.
No browning involved. You can add some blanched broccoli with it if the rabe is too strong alone for your tastes. When we add broccoli, we sometimes use a hand potato masher during the frying to mush up the broccoli pieces.
We also do that when someone is really, really hungry and can’t wait for the broccoli to cook….
pandora — we do the summer pasta, too…but we add a spoon or so of capers and a couple of sprinkles of balsamic and let it sit for a while….
mmmmmmmm, it makes my mouth think of summer.
The best thing about pasta recipes is… anything goes! I’m in Boston this week, so I’ll get my sister-in-law’s Ragu recipe.
Also, anyone else make homemade pasta? Nothing compares!
I just bought a pasta maker (manual, hand cranked). I figured that it would be worth it since I already bake my own bread. The first pasta I made was ravioli stuffed with buttercup squash – it was awesome.
One of my friends is from sicily so we eat a lot of authentic italian food – i am so spoiled rotten.