Pasta Problems

[ItalianinLondon]

AIBU to wonder...

Why people don't cook their pasta in its sauce for the last two minutes? (The starch of the pasta water gives the sauce a better texture and the pasta gets better flavoured by the sauce, if you do)

Why it is considered unacceptable (by my DH) to have multiple pastas open simultaneously? (You need different types for different dishes!)

And why anyone would object to the eating of pasta 5x per week? Especially when you can buy wholegrain, spelt, etc. etc. (Not that I do, if I'm honest.)

This is an important matter, worthy of considered debate, IMHO!

YABVU because I've brushed my teeth and I'm in bed but now I'm hungry and want pasta.

Me too, except I always use fusilli. In fact, you could say I refusilli to use anything else. I'll see myself out...

And hey pesto, she was gone.

Olive oil, with a crushed garlic clove to flavour it, some chopped fresh chilli - heated till it pops a bit. Bits of pancetta if you fancy. Chopped parsley. Quick, simple and delicious.

@MarinaMarinara One of my DDs' favourites is conchiglie with leeks and peas. Sautéed leeks in olive oil, add peas and dried oregano, plus a little bit of chopped bacon / pancetta / ham if you like, then add the pasta to the veg mix for a minute or so. It is nice without cheese!

Can anyone explain about cooking it in sauce for last two minutes please.

Is the water drained?

Yes, drain the pasta and just add it to the sauce as it simmers.

There's a pasta making course here:. www.denman.org.uk/whats-on/cookery-school/

We have a cupboard full of different pastas - you have to change it according to the dish.

I’d happily eat pasta several times a week, but sadly, I would be fat.

Where do you find wild garlic?

Opposite my house. It grows on the road side.

ItalianinLondon When we were kids my dad used to get us to pick the pine nuts up. He would take us to the beach and before we were allowed in the car home you would be given a bag or a box to collect until it was full. People used to wonder what we were up to. We were glad when we had the most amazing pesto later in the week. I put my pasta in jars after opening.
Puttanesca is my favourite pasta dish and yes,I do know the origin!

I like Aldi pasta - it's lovely and chewy, which I enjoy in something relatively bland like macaroni cheese (or fusilli cheese, really). DP makes home-made pasta, too, and it is actually very quick and easy.

I am a sucker for novelty so definitely agree to having different types of pasta open at the same time. I especially love it when I come across a fancy one I've not seen before.

Any ideas for lovely non tomato based sauces that don’t contain dairy would be amazing please

I frequently roast purple sprouting broccoli heads or broccoli raab with small pieces of chorizo and a good dose of smoked chipotle chilies, cover with olive oil and add garlic and a squeeze of lemon juice just before the end of cooking.

It's really good with short pasta - fusilli and my favorite orecchiette.

Orecchiette con cime di rapa is one of my all time favourites!

Om nom nom 😍 another one with at least four pastas open at once here! Bookmarking all the recipes!

Pasta is not very nice and I do not like it one bit.

Anything with stock is good if you don't like tomato or dairy. A really nice thing to do (I'm sure it's very inauthentic) is when you've roasted a chicken and you have the jelly bits clinging to the roasting tin, use those to make a sauce for pasta the next day. It's good with pretty much any veg you like, but I like leeks and thyme and peas. Cook the leeks with thyme until they're soft, cook the pasta, add the pasta in and pop the jellied stock in for the last minute or two.

Orecchiette con cime di rapa

This is a nice non tomato recipe. Make sure you watch the video as the ingredients are a bit wrong on the written part:

thehappypear.ie/recipes/pumpkin_macandcheese/

I’m lazy and draining pasta then stirring in the sauce just before serving up. Better tasting pasta or scrubbing off burnt / stuck sauce? I’m just too lazy!

We eat pasta nearly every day as we make massive one pot dinners that my 16 can come down and have seconds of plus eat again just before he sleeps ( also to save on washing up as he uses every pan when he cooks)

Ladies, anyone able to tell me how I can make a nice pesto without loads of basil please?
It's one thing I'd really love to be able to make myself.
I love a bit of Italian cooking!

There are actually many pesto varieties and the most common basil one is the Genovese variety. You can also make a rocket-based one (rocket, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, pecorino or grana padana cheese blitzed in a food processor or mortar and pestle if you're a purist!). Trapanese pesto (cherry tomatoes, almonds, garlic, pecorino, basil and/or mint, pepper, lemon juice, olive oil, ditto!), Calabrese pesto (red bell peppers, ricotta, pecorino, black pepper, olive oil). Or any deviant versions of the above - you can do the rocket version with cavolo nero and so on.

Pesto is (in my non-authentic experience) just parmesan and pine nuts whizzed up with a little oil and basil.

You could use rocket instead (and you can buy rocket pesto). Or really anything else.

I never bother blending it as I like a chunky texture, but I really like rocket/parmesan/pine nuts as a combination.

I expect you could also use other kinds of nuts and come up with something tasty. I reckon hazelnuts would be nice.

My granmother used to make a gorgeous one with green peppers and walnuts and mixed fresh herbs - whatever was seasonally available.

Also to the PP who struggles with Cacio e pepe, this is how I do it. I dont know if it's right, but it's a favourite in our house.

Put your spaghetti in a big pan with boiled salted water.
Get a big frying pan and whack it on high heat, put a few tbsp of olive oil in the pan and start grinding pepper over it as it heats dont be shy with the pepper as this is where you get a lot of your taste from. Then put a similar amount of butter in the pan.

Grate pecorino cheese (or even mature cheese if you've got no pecorino) and keep it aside

Check your spaghetti, it should be almost done by this point. You really need it to be under done by about 3 minutes.
I then get a mug of pasta water, get the spaghetti put and put it in the pan with the olive oil, butter and pepper.

I put half of the water in, and the cheese. Stir it through. Stir a few times and let it get its last few minutes
Ends up a silky, peppery, cheesy bowl of comfort food.
If it's too thick add more of the pasta water, if it's not thick enough, whack more cheese in =) hope that helps. Sorry I cant give quantities, I sort of guesstimate

Cross post.

Ooh, @ItalianinLondon, that pesto with almonds is making me hungry! I must try that.

Can't you also use wild garlic in pesto, too? I'm reminded by people mentioning it upthread, but it grows wild round here so I think I should get better with it.

We have this same argument all the time.
Different pasta for different sauces
And for the love of God don’t give me soggy pasta!!