Balls and Walnuts
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Thirteen toppings for pasta
I’m going to put in a plug for homemade pasta. Is it a pain in the ass? No. (Pain in the hand, actually, since you have to do a bit of kneading.) Does it require special equipment? No. (But you’d have to be a bit nuts to try to do this with a rolling pin!) Does it taste better than store-bought? YES! Better even than “fresh” store-bought.
If you’re stuck with store-bought pasta, my favorite brand is De Cecco.
And now, Thirteen toppings for pasta.
1. Keep it simple. The simplest topping is butter or olive oil, perhaps with a sprinkling of salt, freshly grated parmigiano reggiano, and finely chopped parsley. This is probably the best way to show off the wonderfulness of homemade pasta. But if you want to get a little fancier,
2. Saute some garlic and/or shallots in the oil, then toss it into your pasta. Try not to let the garlic take on anything darker than a golden color, and seriously consider tossing out the garlic before adding the oil to the pasta. Fried garlic turns bitter at the slightest hint of overcooking.
So now we have butter and/or olive oil flavored with garlic and/or shallots. Salt, pepper, parmigiano reggiano, parsley, et voila.
3. Diced meat is an easy addition. Ham, pepperoni, a good quality salami, anything like that. Saute it first to flavor the oil and warm the meat. If you don’t mind paying a bit more, pancetta thinly sliced, cut into strips, and fried in the oil (before you do the garlic thing) is wonderful. Add peas (fresh or frozen) and you have peas and pancetta, a basic and delicious Italian dish.
4. Alfredo, or something resembling Alfredo, requires little extra effort. Use a bit less butter and oil, because the cream is going to be a big part of the sauce. To the flavored oil, add a good dollop (1/8 cup?) of cream and bring to a boil. Let it cook down to thicken. Season with salt and pepper and add a lot of parmigiano reggiano, freshly grated.
For all pasta: Ideally, everything should be piping hot. When you drain your pasta, for example, you could let it drain over your pasta dishes to warm them up. The pasta and the sauce should be as close to their max temp as possible before putting ’em all together and serving them. Warm pasta is eeew.
Have handy a beaten egg yolk. Toss it in with the cream mixture as you’re mixing it all together. This will further thicken the sauce and add a lot of richness.
5. Primavera. Julienne your favorite “firm” vegetables: carrots, onions, bell pepper, celery, green beans, broccoli stems all work well. Zucchini would work, too. Saute in olive oil and/or butter, throw a bit of garlic in and saute that too. Finish with salt, pepper, parmigiano reggiano. Add some chopped green onion or parsley if you like.
6. Pesto. Here’s my pesto post from two years ago — every bit of it is still true.
7. Simple red sauce. Yes, yes, yes, the simplest red sauce is the one that comes right out of a jar. If you like those sauces, I won’t argue with you. But here’s one that’s almost as simple: combine one large can of tomato sauce and one small can of tomato paste. Whisk the two together in a sauce pan to “dissolve” the paste. Add two tablespoons of olive oil, bring to a simmer, and season with salt and pepper.
8. Simple meat sauce. Brown a pound of ground meat (beef or pork; I suppose ground turkey would work, too) and add it to the simple red sauce. Simmer for 10-15 minutes to give the meat time to flavor the sauce. You can probably omit the olive oil, since the meat will have at least some fat content.
9. Meatballs in a red sauce — recipe here. Not only are these meatballs a meal unto themselves (meaning, you can skip the pasta if you like), you cook them in a tomato sauce, which makes a terrific red sauce for pasta.
Fine additions to any of these recipes:
Sauteed mushrooms
Bacon, fried crispy and chopped fine
A good slug of fish sauce (but simmer your sauce for at least ten to fifteen minutes after the addition, to allow for the fishiness to subside.) Red sauces only, please.
10. Pasta Puttanesca, AKA whore’s pasta, so named because, if properly prepared, it should be (A) spicy, and (B) a bit fishy. I just discovered that not all internet recipes for puttanesca are created equally. For me, red pepper flakes, garlic, and anchovies are essential ingredients. If a puttanesca lacks any one of these, it’s not the same animal.
Here’s a recipe that looks right — from Can’t Boil Water.
If your whole experience of anchovies comes from picking dried, nasty, murderously salty black things off a pizza, then you haven’t had a good anchovy experience. You owe it to yourself to try cooking with anchovies . . . or try a real Caesar’s Salad for a change. Omit the blue cheese and this one looks like the real deal.
11. Bolognese sauce may be too prep-intensive for a lot of home chefs. I’ve only made it once. The basic idea is to slowly cook a mirepoix of vegetables with pork, veal, tomato paste, wine, and milk. Except for the milk, the ultimate effect is similar to the sauce produced by a well wrought osso buco.
Here’s Mario Batali’s version.
12. Sage in browned butter. I should have put this one up above with the other simple toppings, but I forgot!
This one is truly amazing, both in its simplicity and flavor. Only two ingredients (except for pasta, and perhaps a little salt): butter and fresh sage leaves. Saute the sage leaves in butter over low heat until the sage leaves are dark and crispy and the butter solids are golden brown. Crumple the leaves slightly (or chop them a bit before sauteeing). Toss together with pasta and you’re ready to roll.
13. Scampi. I can’t improve upon Bix’s recipe. Throw in a little extra butter or olive oil, or begin with recipe #1, above, and throw your scampi on top.
Well, I have to admit, that wasn’t all that difficult. Thanks, Tam. Hope this gives you and the rest of my readers some ideas for dinner.
Folks, you know the drill. Comments = lurve.
Whatever you do, don’t believe Dan when he tells you he’s 18.
Shaina: speaking of lurve . . .
sxKitten’s eagle extravaganza — WOW.
Darla on graphic novels
Da Nator got a great job!
MOUSE WARS at Corn Dog’s place. Freakin hilarious. And birds, too.
Raw Dawg Buffalo holds forth on the Bill O’Reilly lynching comment
(But it was a metaphorical lynching party, right? So how about we host a metaphorical castration party for Bill-O, and invite everyone to bring their metaphorically rustiest, dullest pliers to do the job?)
joolz is playin’ games
Bix takes a break from food to, um, get scoped
D.
What about peanut butter? With a little mayo and hot pepper?
Um. Ew?
I know some folks like a Thai-style noodle with peanut sauce, but in that case, I would make a real peanut sauce. I’ll dig up a recipe, if you like. Key features: peanut butter, hot pepper, fish sauce, coconut milk, and for the love of God, hold the mayo.
Got here from Bix’s website. You make me hungry w/ this list. “Lurve”–was that from a Woody Allen movie?
I liked Thai-style noodles with peanut sauce the first time I tried it, but it’s not something that grows on you. Over time, I have grown to dislike it. Started with the second eating…
I have used a Thai-style peanut spread on turkey sandwiches: peanut butter, hot pepper, lemon juice (I think) and, yes, mayo. 🙂
🙁 i’m lactose intolerant and the pills dont realy work for me, so i’m now 100% off dairy for as long as i can stand it. meaning, no fettucini alfredo (my fave) for me! i can’t even handle parmesan. it sucks muchly for me, because since i dont like vegetables or tomatoes…that leaves me with very little to put on pasta. booooo.
ah well, school pasta isn’t that great anyways. always cold and gicky. bleh.
#1 is Monkeyboy’s favourite meal, minus the parsley (he’s deeply suspcious of green “stuff” on his food). I like primavera and scampi, and Dean makes a mean puttanesca (seriously – she’ll put your eye out if you cross her).
Melinda: I picked up “lurve” from the Smart Bitches (see my blogroll if you don’t know the SBs). Don’t know where they got it.
Dan: yup. I love peanut sauces, but I can only stomach them 2 or 3 times a year.
Shains: two words — tomato sauce!
sxK: the trick with Monkeyboy will be, get him to like pesto! That’s ALL green stuff.
hehe. butter is off limits, but i suppose i could use margarine or something, no? some sort of butter substitute. and i have tried lactaid, i love the milk and am ok with the cheese and ice cream, but it doesnt compare to the real thing 🙁
Margarine? Hold your tongue. Go for a good quality olive oil.
what? No adding a little splash of red wine or red pepper flakes to the red sauces? Or some Italian sausage or pepperoni instead of the ground meat?
Or olives, with just about any of the recipes. Though I’m the only one here who likes them, so maybe it’s a common dislike.
Pasta sauce in a jar? Is it really edible? I always figured if you were going to buy sauce in a jar, you might as well just buy Chef Boyardee and skip the pretense.
I’ve never tried a jar sauce. I was loathe to try the canned recipe listed above, but one night I had little time to prepare dinner, and that’s all I could manage. It was surprisingly edible, and that’s why it’s here.
Lately, red wine has been giving Karen headaches, so we rarely have it on hand. That’s probably why I forgot all about it.
Okay, now I’m hungry.
I’ve yet to perfect the sage-and-butter, although I’d like to do so. I’ve had great versions in restaurants, but can’t get it quite right at home. I tend to have a problem with zoning out and overcooking it.
Note: Olivio or other butter substitutes do not work well in place of butter, or even mixed with butter. Sigh.
I also like the pasta I make with tomato paste, garlic, spices, balsamic vinegar, parmesan and Italian sausage. Oh, and a good roasted red pepper sauce, which, come to think of it, I haven’t made in a while…
Time for lunch!
These look great and I think I can even make them which means it’s not really cooking.
give me commentary and opinion and stop making me hungry LoL
what, no carbonara?! bacon (well pancetta… or guanciale if i can find it!), cheese and eggs.
that’s the easiest pasta sauce i make! and i forgot… lots of freshly ground black pepper… and make it coarsely ground.
mmm… tonight’s dinner is already in the oven (asian-style short ribs), but i know what i’m having tomorrow night!
Great 13. I think I am going to try the sage in browned butter next time I can make it to a grocery store where they understand herbs don’t grow in jars (one of the major drawbacks of small town life). Pretty much the only thing I ever get to cook w/pasta around here is red sauce and meatballs. My daughter does not like the red sauce but she loves meatballs and will tolerate the thin coating of sauce after they come out of the pot. Just DON’T let it touch her beloved buttered pasta! Parm is negotiable. The boy only eats plain red sauce or meat sauce on his pasta and the only pasta he will eat is spaghetti. He won’t touch a meatball. Luckily he has not yet caught me squishing up the meatballs and mixing them with the sauce. He still thinks I make a special meat sauce just for him. I am the only one in the house who eats the spaghetti, meatballs, and sauce. See what I am up against? I can’t wait for their palates to mature. I miss real cooking.
I made that puttanesca recipe tonight & followed it closely. AMAZING stuff. I simmered it longer than 30 min — maybe 45 or 50 — otherwise, same recipe. YUM.
Darla asked a good question … what about olives? And her point about them maybe being a common dislike has me thinking maybe they are. I never took a survey. Who here likes/doesn’t like olives?
(I love them!)
I love olives, but only the good stuff — kalamatas and nicoise are my favorites. That puttanesca recipe contains a good helping of kalamatas and no one bitched about it last night, so perhaps olives are back on the Great List of Acceptable Ingredients. In the past, my son would object.
[…] night, I used our kitchen for the first time and made pasta puttanesca. In Brookings, I set aside all of the essentials and asked the packers to label those boxes […]