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!

My local Sainsburys actually. Waitrose has stopped stocking it. I also bought it because it was a family company etc etc. It was De Cecco otherwise since ever.

I found wild garlic in the local woods. Very nice.

I pick wild garlic when I see it but I did get some in my veg box once.

We have loads of wild garlic in our woods. Please could you share your wild garlic pesto recipe? We are veggie so no Parmesan but can use pecorino.

I Iove wild garlic and bacon risotto!

Sorry, just saw the veggie bit. Wild garlic and mushroom?

I love wild garlic pesto but don't make the same mistake I once made and also add garlic - seems there is such a thing as too garlicky! (Also, if you are foraging don't mix it up with Lily of the Valley which is similar looking but poisonous!

When I first came to Italy twenty years ago I didn't get the pasta rules and just used whatever I had to hand but it gets to you after a while -I am now stricter on what pasta is suitable than (Italian) DH. So I have lots of open packets.

Also, ideally not with egg pasta (tagliatelle) because the protein is already in the pesto and the combination is too rich
I agree on not having tagliatelle (love trofie, pesto and potatoes and beans) but not sure on your reasoning - the no protein in the sauce rule would mean missing out on my home town's favourite dish of tagliatelle al ragù.

Also - for years I thought I hated pesto. And I still hate pesto in jars but fresh pesto is completely different.

Favourite pasta brand - pasta Rummo but only get it on special offer, otherwise I get the (Italian) Coop brand which is generally good. Waitrose pasta is surprisingly awful.

The pasta in rome was so delicious!

Pasta is the food of the gods and I heartily endorse the OP's sentiments.

If you miss carbonara, try the alpro soya cream- if you can eat soya and are happy to, it’s a reasonable substitute and we do a sort of half hearted carbonara using it.

No no no!
Carbonara doesn't have cream.
It's the lack of parmesan that makes dairy free carbonara impossible.

Parmesan, eggs and bacon. There's never going to be a decent vegan substitute, better just to choose another recipe.

I combine in the pan but don't do additional cooking, other than the residual heat.

Normally just reserve some pasta water to help the final consistency

Depends on the dish really.

Could happily eat pasta every day though

Last year we went on holiday to Italy by car and the best thing was filling the car to the roof with de Cecco pasta, olive oil, sauces (there's one that's just roasted hazelnuts in olive oil, it was amazing) and wine. You don't even need to go to posh delis, Italian Coop is like this massive cave of tasty wonders.

I love the Italian co op

I could just go into Italian coop and smell the tomatoes all day.

I've never fancied carbonara anyway due to the eggs 🤢 I don't do eggs. I like tomato based sauces especially with plenty of cheese. I think we might have to have pasta for dinner. Again.

I did say half hearted 🤣

@smemorata dairy free, not vegan.

Dairy-free pasta is hard when eating out because nobody seems to understand the concept ("we have gluten free pasta, does that help?" No, it fucking doesn't. "oh, you can't have the tagliatelle because it has eggs". Yes, yes I can). But it's easy at home. Apart from carbonara and cacio e pepe.

Why people don't cook their pasta in its sauce for the last two minutes? I just always forget to do this. I don't find that it makes my pasta dishes unpleasant, so I'm not too bothered about it.

Why it is considered unacceptable (by my DH) to have multiple pastas open simultaneously? (You need different types for different dishes!) This one I don't know. Of course you need/want different types.

And why anyone would object to the eating of pasta 5x per week? Especially when you can buy wholegrain, spelt, etc. etc.
I have to say I would get bored with this much pasta. I tend to fancy it about twice a week.
I love wholemeal, spelt and lots of other interesting/different/'worthy' pastas, and you can buy them in Italy too, so food snobs/bores who blap on about 'authenticity' can do one.

I love wild garlic, enough that a few years back I 'emancipated' some from a local woodland and planted out my back. Yum.

Anyway the matters at hand.

1. I mostly forget to cook the pasta in the sauce and can't say as I've noticed it tastes any different unless you're talking something like cabonara or pasta e patate where the starch is essential.

2. What kind of weirdo doesn't have more than one pasta open at a time? Some things need long ribbons, some flat sheets, some chunky shapes. I always have spaghetti, macaroni, fusilli and lasagne open at a minimum.

3. Eating pasta five times a week is as normal as eating bread five times a week, rice five times a week or potatoes five times a week. It's a staple.

Frankly your husband is being very unreasonable, you should LTB

@lotsofoysters
Oh I see, my mistake. But carbonara doesn't have cream in it anyway so not sure why you would need to use soya. The parmesan is the problem for dairy free.

I don't understand why having multiple type of pasta open at the same time would seem at all odd.

For the same reason, currently have at least 4 different packets of rice open (basmati, Jasmine, Korean short grain and Arborio). I use them for different things.

Pasta is just the same.

@Weedsnseeds1 Wild Garlic Dauphinoise sounds heavenly! Do you do a particular recipe or is it just standard dauphinoise but with wild garlic rather than normal garlic? Do you put nutmeg in?

We are heathens in our house. We have multiple pasta shapes all in one big tub and don't discriminate between pastas for specific dishes.