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!