Category: Pasta

Today the star of my pasta dish includes sun-dried tomatoes. Delivered to me by Zia Teresa’s Italy in a Box, they are delicious. Try their authentic Italian products, you won’t be disappointed.  My Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta is simple, clean and full of flavour. For the pasta I use Casarecce which gives me the traditional taste of Calabria. Another fabulous product from Italy in a Box. Check them out on Instagram @italyinaboxcanada.

Cooking Pasta

I have to rant, because there are rules for cooking pasta.  My one pet peeve is for those who add oil to the pasta pot.  As Lidia Bastianich would say, “ Do not—I repeat, con to—add oil to your pasta water!  That’s an order!”  If you add oil, your sauce won’t stick.  My nonna was very meticulous about the way pasta was cooked.  You need to keep it healthy my making it al dente, or “to the tooth”.  Al dente pasta is digested and absorbed slower by your body. Finally, use a large pot and salt the water.  Your pasta water should taste like the Mediterranean.  

Ingredients for Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta

• 250 grams Casarecce ( reserve 1/2 cup pasta water)
• 1/2 cup toasted almonds
• 1/2 cup steamed spinach
• 12 sun-dried tomatoes (reserve 4 and chop with a knife)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Process

Cook the Casarecce until al dente and gather all your ingredients.

Meanwhile put the toasted almonds, steamed spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and Parmesan in a food processor.  Pulse a few times and then slowly add the olive oil. Place into a small bowl, add in the chopped reserved sun dried tomatoes and mix.

Put the pesto into a pan, but do not cook it.  Drain your pasta and add to the pan with the pesto.Toss together and add in your 1/2 cup pasta water and a little more as required.  This will create a thicker, richer more cohesive sauce.  

Serve with more grated cheese and drizzle a little more olive oil on it.  

This is a simple, but sweet, juicy and savoury way of preparing mushrooms.  Did you know that the Best Sautéed Mushrooms And Linguine begin with a dry pan?  They have few ingredients added to them and are ready for bread and sandwiches or just use them as a topping to anything your heart desires.  You will discover true umami flavour here.  I have topped my lemon linguine with these mushrooms and oh the flavour.

Dry Pan Cooking

Dry frying improves the taste of many spices and nuts, but in this recipes it caramelizes the mushrooms and adds a crispness to them.  If you add them in oil first they become limp.  Also, dry frying mushroom releases more of an umami taste and scent.  The mushrooms are perfectly browned and so flavourful. 

Ingredients For The Best SAUTÉED mushrooms and LInguine

• 500 grams baby porcini mushrooms ( quartered)
• Juice of half a lemon
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tbsp minced parsley
• Salt and pepper
• 250 grams linguine (cooked al dente)
• 1/2 a cup pasta water
• Parmesan Cheese
• extra olive oil for dressing

Process

It is very important to wash the mushrooms.  A little extra water helps to draw out the moisture in dry frying.  I give them a quick rinse and take the stems off. Then I quarter the mushrooms. If you slice them too thinly, they will burn. 

Heat your pan on medium/high heat for a few minutes.  Put the mushrooms in the pan and do not overcrowd the pan.  Let them toast and the heat of the pan does all the work.When they are browned, I hit them with the lemon juice and scrape off all the brown bits of the pan. 

 Take the pan off the heat and add in the olive oil with the parsley and garlic.  Now salt and pepper the mushrooms.  

Serve as desired. Today I am serving the mover linguine. I cook my linguine to al dente and drain them. I put the sautéed mushrooms back into the pan and add a pat of butter. Now I add my linguine into the pan, my 1/2 cup of reserved pasta water and toss. Dress with a little extra virgin olive oil, some parmesan cheese and plate.

Carrot and Potato Ravioli keep my Polish husband very happy.  He calls it a large pierogi.  LOL  I am happy because I get my Pasta fix.  This filling is not typical of Southern Italian cooking, but as a new generation we like to experiment.  Italians wether North or South prepared ravioli on special occasions.  The first yucca and amaretti ravioli appeared in in the 16th century in Modena. In the South we tend to use meat and cheese filling. This goes back to my theory that we all lived off the land.  Whatever the land produced, we used. 

My carrot and potato ravioli stemmed from trying to make pierogi for my husband who is Polish.  We were both happy with the result.  That is the other reason I used brown butter on this vs tomato sauce.  It was a nice change and of course, pierogi have butter not pasta sauce.

If you are looking for our traditional recipe https://recipesatmytable.com/spinach-ravioli-in-carrot-and-red-sauce/

Ingredients

Pasta Dough

• 2 cups zero/zero flour
• 2 large eggs

Filling Ingredients

• 2 carrots (diced)
• 2 large potatoes (diced)
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley
• freshly grated nutmeg (optional)

Brown Butter

• 1/2 cup of butter

Garnish

• 1/4 cup of fresh parmesan cheese 
• lots of black pepper 
• minced parsley

Process

Pasta Dough

I like to make my pasta dough in the food processor when I am in a hurry.  I put the flour and eggs in and whisk it up until it comes together.  Then I put it on the counter and knead it to work that gluten. I do this for about ten minutes. 

Then I cover my dough with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Filling

I wash, peel and cut the carrots and potatoes into small chunks and put them in a pot and on the stove to boil.  It takes about 20 minutes. 

Drain and puree them and set aside to cool. Once cooled I add my parmesan cheese, Italian spices and fresh parsley and mash all together. A little bit of fresh nutmeg also goes nicely at this point

Putting it together

I divide the pasta dough in half. It would be easy to use the pasta machine, but today I want to feel the pasta dough and work it. My special walnut rolling pin made by my husband is wonderful. Roll your dough out as thinly as possible and the place 1 tsp of potato/carrot mixture down one side leaving an edge. Then I rolled the dough over the little pockets and used my hands to press in between each pocket.

I cut with a sharp knife creating squares and then pinched them together with a fork.

Then I made the brown butter by placing butter in a pot and heating it until the milk solids toast leaving tiny bits of brown for a nutty flavour.

All that is left to do is boil the water and add the ravioli. They are done when they float to the top. Fresh pasta does not take long to cook. Then onto the plate they go with the butter, freshly ground pepper, parsley and slivers of parmesan cheese.

Up close on the plate and then I cut into them.