#it was a little under two peppers. seeds included but also I ate a bunch of yogurt and rice with it so I'm fine

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: May 19

"Big Deal” by LeAnn Rimes

[renatorizzuti]

Pasta Makes Perfect!

Written by Maria Rizzuti

As the saying goes, “practice makes perfect,” I say “pasta makes perfect!” Pasta is great for any meal and is comfort food for most families and especially children. What child or adult for that matter would refuse a hot from the oven homemade bubbly really cheesy macaroni and cheese?  Or would you prefer a plate of spaghetti with really saucy and spicy meatballs? Yes, that would be my choice!  In one form or another, pasta is a staple in family meals around the world. Whenever pasta is on sale at my local grocery store, I make sure I stock up my pantry with a variety of pastas as it’s the perfect foundation for healthy, nutritious and satisfying meals.

Pasta's origin is subject to much speculation. While many different cultures of the world ate some sort of noodle which was composed mostly of grain, the key characteristics of pasta are durum wheat semolina, with a high gluten content. Pasta is made with a technique that allows the resultant dough to be highly malleable, thus resulting in the many different shapes such as ziti, lasagna, spaghetti and ravioli to name a few that characterize “pasta.” Well whoever has claimed to invented pasta and has pronounced pasta postulation, I am sure many are glad they did!  Modern food science has revealed that pasta is high in minerals such as iron, phosphorus, and essential B vitamins (Thiamine, Niacin and Riboflavin) and now it is fortified with folic acid.

Of course, Italy is synonymous with food, and nothing says Italian food like pasta. The famous actress Sophia Loren has stated that “Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.” Whenever Italians have immigrated from, northern, central or southern Italy they have brought their pasta recipes along with them and it is basically a fundamental part of their Mediterranean Diet.

Italian pasta names often end in the masculine plural suffixes like –ini, -elli, -illi, -etti like linguini, flattened spaghetti meaning little tongues or bucatini which is hollow spaghetti or spaghettini thin spaghetti or little twines. Have you tried spaghetti alla chitarra? Chitarra means guitar in Italian, it’s similar to spaghetti, except its square rather than round and made of egg in addition to flour named after the device used to the cut the pasta, which has a wooden frame strung with metal wires. Sheets of pasta are pressed down on the device, and then the wires are “strummed” so that the slivers of pasta fall through.  While you are making the pasta, you can sing a song of Mambo Italiano and entertain your guests and do the mambo like a crazy Calabrese and then make some pasta e fazul! 

Or you have the femine plurals –ine, -elle ect. all conveying the sense of “little” like campanelle, little bell shaped pasta or rotelle, wagon wheel shaped pasta.  Or plurals with –oni, meaning “large” like pennoni a wider version of penne and zitoni a wider version of ziti.  Then you have other suffixes like –otti “largish” like manicotti which are large stuffable ridged tubes which can be stuffed with meat and or ricotta or a combination of both. 

Then you have your minute pasta, what’s that you ask?  This class of pasta is generally used in soups, or as an alternative for rice and similar accompaniments.

Some examples of minute pasta are anici di pepe, which is a bead like pasta or the translation would be peppercorns.  A common minute pasta is orzo, it’s rice shaped pasta. Stelline are little star shaped pasta and farfalline are small bow tie shaped pasta. I really like using these types of pastina for my homemade chicken soup.  If I happen to run out of minute pasta for my soup, my trick is to take cappelini or spaghettini hold a bunch of strands of the pasta and break off one inch pieces and use the cut up pasta for my noodles in my soup. I also use this trick for my pasta e fagioli or pasta and beans recipe.  If I run out of ditali or small sea shell pasta I use the cut up pasta.  Just make sure that to allow for the fact that different pastas cook at different cooking times. 

Okay, so we have established that there are literally hundreds of different shapes of pasta.  Pasta is usually categorized in two basic styles: dried and fresh.

Dried pasta made without eggs can be stored for up to two years under ideal conditions, while fresh pasta will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator.    

Pasta is generally served with some type of sauce: the sauce and the type of pasta are usually matched based on consistency, ease of eating etc. Common pastas sauces in Northern Italy include pesto which is a combination of basil, crushed garlic, parsley, grated hard cheese like parmigiano-reggiano, or pecorino and pine nuts with olive oil.  Historically, pesto is prepared in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle…well my ancestors may have done pesto this way but now many stores carry ready made pesto in jars, I am all for quick and easy pasta meal solutions . Or ragu alla bolognese, the traditional recipe, registered in 1982 by the Bolognese delegation of Accademia Italiana della Cucina, confines the ingredients to beef, pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, meat broth, white wine and milk or cream.

In Central Italy, there are simple sauces such as tomato sauce which is primarily made from tomatoes, but almost at all times starting with onions and garlic which are sautéed or sweated in olive oil, then adding the tomatoes and seeds optionally removed and other seasoning typically added are basil, oregano parsley and spicy red chili flakes if you are Calabrese like me and salt and black pepper left to simmer until it loses its raw taste.

Its really ironic that as I am writing about tomato sauce I am also cooking a BIG batch of tomato sauce in my kitchen.  I am periodically getting up from my computer to stir my sauce as to make sure it is simmering slowly and cooking nicely. I make up a big batch every other Sunday and then once the sauce has cooled, I transfer the sauce into mason jars and store the sauce in my refrigerator to use during the week for the next two weeks or so.  I vary the ingredients that I add to the sauce, sometimes it sauteed peppers, sauteed eggplant or a variety of mushrooms or sometimes I will make meatballs to add to my sauce.  The pasta possibilities are endless!

Pasta alla carbonara is also a quick recipe. This recipe varies from one region to the next but all agree that Parmesan cheese, pecorino or a combination of the cheeses, egg yolks or whole eggs, curred fatty pork or pancetta and black pepper is the basic recipe.  The pancetta is fried in olive oil, a mixture of the eggs, cheese and oil olive is combined with the hot spaghetti pasta, cooking the eggs.

In southern Italy, varieties of pasta alla puttanesca, can be found using chopped garlic, diced onions and anchovies sauted in olive oil. Chopped chili peppers, black olives, capers and diced tomatoes are added along with salt and black pepper to taste. This sauce is is reduced by simmering from 10 to 20 minutes and poured over spaghetti cooked al dente or you can use any type of long or short pasta like penne with the final touch of freshly chopped Italian parsley. Pasta con sarde or pasta with sardines is another quick pasta dish.  I remember having this dish and liking it as a child.  Its basically garlic cooked in olive oil until golden, add the sardines (drained from the can) cook for a minute more then stir in the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese and toss mixture over hot cooked pasta and add freshly chopped Italian parsley.  More olive oil can be added to give the mixture a more crumbly texture.

Perhaps the most classic and basic pasta recipe is for spaghetti, aglio e olio which simply translates as spaghetti with garlic and oil. This is a quick and simple pasta dish that can be prepared when you get home late from work or if your “cupboard is bare” like Old Mother Hubbard.  If you can boil water than you can make the recipe, give it a try.

 Pasta with Garlic and Oil (Pasta Aglio e Olio)

Ingredients:

1 pound spaghetti, or linguine or your favourite pasta

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper chili flakes

2 tablespoons chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley

Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Romano

Directions:

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water as per package directions until al dente.  In the meantime heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and cook until garlic is lightly browned. Remove from the heat. Drain the pasta while reserving a ½ cup of the pasta cooking liquid.  Place the drained pasta in a bowl and add the olive oil mixture and chopped parsley and toss. Add some of the reserved cooking liquid if the mixture seems too dry.  Serve topped with the grated cheese of your choice.   This recipe yields four to six servings. 

“Pasta makes perfect” and if you practice making pasta dishes you will end up with a perfect pasta meal!