Pasta Ideas

[hazardnc]

Bucatini with pecorino romano and cracked pepper - easy easy easy and good

[Mooshmouse]

My son loves this light and simple pasta dish.

2 T olive oil

2 T butter

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 c lemon juice

1 1/2 t lemon zest, finely grated

3 large green onions, finely chopped

2 T drained capers

10 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

1 can (184 g) chunk light tuna, drained

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 c fresh parsley, finely chopped

4 c penne or pennette

Saute garlic in butter and olive oil for 2 minutes over medium heat. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, green onions, capers, and olives; saute for 2 more minutes. Lower heat, then add tuna and separate with a fork into large pieces. Heat through, stirring gently to keep tuna in large chunks. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add tuna mixture and parsley to pasta; toss. Serve with freshly grated pecorino romano.

[ludja]

1. Ok, here's a vegetarian pasta dish using 'pantry' ingredients that might work well for your situation:

roasted beets (boil or steam, instead), slow cooked onions, crumbled ricottoa salata or hard goat cheese, roasted walnuts and bittery greens or spinach with a pasta like fusilli...

These ideas may or may not fit your current specs:

2. This is a great "pantry' recipe from Lidia Bastianich, Capellini Capricciosi. Maybe you could sub or omit the bacon...

onion, bacon, canned tomatoes, peperoncini, etc.

The peppers add a great bite and make this an interestingly different pasta dish. Saute onions in butter or chicken fat to add flavor lost by absence of bacon?

3. A great winter pastas is broccoli raab and italian sausage with orriechette. Buy sausage the same day and sub chicken for pork sausage.

Edited February 9, 2005 by ludja (log)

[hjshorter]

Has anyone mentioned Chicken Cacciatore? I can try to dig up a recipe. Very easy and my kids love it.

Everyone seems to be going Italian - there are plenty of Asian noodle dishes to choose from. One of our favorite weeknight cookbooks is Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds. Not the most authentic, but easy and good recipes. She calls for homemade stock in many recipes, but I cheat with canned more often than not.

[ludja]

For another non-Italian idea: kasha varnishkes with a grean salad alongside.

[slkinsey]

This whole "no pork" thing is really putting a damper on my potential recommendations.

Here's a good one using chicken where I would normally use pork or lamb: make a sauce with crumbled chicken sausage, sautéed onions, lots of mushrooms and a touch of tomato paste (brown the sausage and reserve, get the onions good and brown, then add the tomato paste and get that kind of browned over on the side of the pan, add quartered mushrooms and get those going, add the sausage back in along with a touch of whatever wine you have around, put in some rosemary if you have any -- the sauce should be very thick). Get some good penne, get that to "not quite al dente" stage and cook it together with the ragù, thinning the sauce as needed with pasta water. Then, when you serve it at the table, put a knob of soft goat cheese on top of the pasta in every bowl. The hot savory pasta with the occasional bit of cold, creamy chevre is very cool.

[Jason Perlow]

For another non-Italian idea: kasha varnishkes with a grean salad alongside.

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Which you can't make correctly without cooking the onions in Schmaltz and having lots of chicken stock to cook the kasha in. But technically Chicken is White meat, not Red.

[Varmint]

This whole "no pork" thing is really putting a damper on my potential recommendations.

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Dude, you have no idea! I'm still astounded that the pre-nup doesn't have a provision that says, "Each spouse covenants that he/she shall eat pork or pork-related products no less than four (4) times per week throughout the term of this Agreement." I guess I should have had a pre-nup in the first place!

[Varmint]

But technically Chicken is White meat, not Red. 

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If the animal had fins, feathers, or a shell, it's ok. If it had fur, not ok. Amphibians and reptiles don't count for other reasons.

[Jason Perlow]

But technically Chicken is White meat, not Red. 

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If the animal had fins, feathers, or a shell, it's ok. If it had fur, not ok. Amphibians and reptiles don't count for other reasons.

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Pork has fur?

[zeitoun]

An easy and delicious recipe from Patricia Wells:

Fettucine with roquefort, lemon zest and rosemary.

- Mash some roquefort and butter in a heated bowl until the mixture is well combined.

- Add your cooked fettucine to the mixture, add some of the cooking water until it reaches sauce consistency. Add nutmeg, lemon zest and chopped rosemary, salt, pepper.

That is it! You're in for a treat.

[Carlovski]

Some more ideas...

The smoked salmon and cream one has been mentioned - I make it slightly differently using creme fraiche, a little lemon zest and juice and a spoonful of french mustard (Odd I know, but it really works!). I normally do this with farfalle. The cheap offcuts of salmon are ok for this too.

Tinned sardines, garlic, chilli, white wine (or vermouth) and a little bit of chopped tomato. Fresh basil if you have it. I prefer this with long pasta - linguini normally.

Whole head of roasted garlic, cream and thyme - squeeze of lemon to taste (I normally do this with some crumbled bacon too, but it is optional - or use some fried breadcrumbs for texture) Good with orrichiette.

Evoo, garlic, anchovies (Optional), chilli and seasonal greens of your choice. I love this one. I will be eating this at least once a week when purple sprouting broccoli comes into season (My favourite!)

Slight variation - finely chop up the stalks of 'normal' broccoli, retaining the florets. saute in Evoo with garlic and chilli, add vermouth or white wine and bubble down. Cook the pasta, throwing in the broccoli for the last few minutes. Add grated parmesan to the 'sauce' and toss with the pasta and broccoli.

[Rehovot]

Here's one that would work with canned stuff; last time I made it, I topped it with sauteed chicken to keep the carnivore happy.

Garden Pasta with Ricotta

2 tbsp. salt

1 lb. fava beans, shelled/canned

1 lb. peas, shelled/canned

1 lb. linguine/bucatini/spaghetti

1 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup coarsely chopped mint leaves

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 tbsp. olive oil

Cook pasta until al dente. If using fresh beans and peas, blanch 'em. If not, rinse beans; set both beans and peas aside.

Mix together ricotta, Parmesan, mint, and pepper. Steal one cup of pasta cooking water and add to this cheese mix.

Drain pasta, toss with olive oil; add cheese mix, beans, and peas, and toss it all together. Season, and sprinkle with mint.

[albiston]

A few vegetarian ideas:

-pasta e zucchine: zucchini slices fried in a little EVOO till browned. Keep the oil. Dress the pasta (I use penne) with the zucchini slices, fresh hand-torn basil, the frying oil and plenty of parmesan. You can substitute the parmesan with diced smoked scamorza or young provolone.

- pasta ai peperoni: sautee a little chopped garlic in some EVOO, remove. In the same oil pan fry some julienned red and yellow peppers till they start to brown, add some chopped canned tomatoes and the garlic. Cook till the sauce tastes right (you know, no more raw tomato taste), add some black olives and capers (throw some pinoli and raisins to, if you want to do it the Neapolitan way), cook a couple of minutes and use to dress the pasta. In the same way you can make pasta "con le melanzane a funghetto", mushroom style aubergines, simply replace diced aubergines for the peppers.

- pasta e zucca (squash) peel and dice some squash, make a "soffritto" rich with garlic and chili, add the squash, with a little water if necessary to prevent sticking, and cook till it becomes a paste. Cook the pasta and stop a 2-3 minutes before it is done, add it to the squash with some of its cooking water, and cook till done. Sprinkle with plenty of chopped parsley and, if wanted, parmesan.

[ludja]

...

Slight variation - finely chop up the stalks of 'normal' broccoli, retaining the florets. saute in Evoo with garlic and chilli, add vermouth or white wine and bubble down. Cook the pasta, throwing in the broccoli for the last few minutes. Add grated parmesan to the 'sauce' and toss with the pasta and broccoli.

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Good ideas Carlovski.

Your post reminded me another dish I make quite a bit-- broccoli and anchovy.

Similiar to what you post above, but with anchovy added. Mince anchovy, garlic, dried red pepper together, sautee in olive oil. Add in par boiled broccoli and sautee a bit longer. Drain pasta, add in to marry wtih sauce a bit. Add some pasta water if wanted. Serve with pecorino. Orecchiette pasta works well for this.

(I cut up the broccoli stems and florets pretty small for this).

edited to add: for an extra savory element and pork substitute: anchovy! (won't work in all cases of course).

Edited February 10, 2005 by ludja (log)

[carswell]

Similiar to what you post above, but with anchovy added.  Mince anchovy, garlic, dried red pepper together, sautee in olive oil.  Add in par boiled broccoli and sautee a bit longer.  Drain pasta, add in to marry wtih sauce a bit.  Add some pasta water if wanted.  Serve with pecorino.  Orecchiette pasta works well for this.

(I cut up the broccoli stems and florets pretty small for this).

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This works beautifully with rapini. You can make it even simpler (one less pot to clean!) by not parboiling: When your garlic begins to turn gold, add chopped rapini and stir to coat with oil. Sprinkle with salt, pour in a half cup or so of water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer until the rapini is nearly done. Uncover, raise the heat and boil away most of the liquid. Sometimes I forego the anchovies, sauté some sliced onion before adding the garlic and add a small splash of vinegar and more oil at the very end. Great stuff!

[reesek]

my standards are riffs on some of what's above - forgive what may be overlap:

penne with tomato, ricotta and mint.

simple tomato sauce - slkinsey's would be perfect - mine is more complicated. add chopped mint just before service. toss with penne and top with small spoonfuls of ricotta. garnish with lemon zest and pecorino. the cheese melts in, thickening the sauce but retains a cool temp. with the mint it's very springlike and a snap to make.

penne or farfalle with prawns, garlic, arugula and chili flakes. saute prawns in lots of garlicky olive oil with chili flakes. remove, deglaze with wine or vodka add cream if you like, let it reduce a bit, toss in arugula to wilt, toss with pasta and add back prawns at the last second.

this last can be served over pasta or on it's own, and uses nearly all pantry ingredients that are relatively small/easy to store.

toast a handful of pinenuts - remove and reserve. start as though for putanesca (oil, flakes, garlic, anchovy) add a bunch of (hearty) fresh greens (i've done this with kale, collards (chiffonaded) curly endive...etc) to wilt - splash of wine, add pinenuts, a handful of raisins (golden are best) and a handful of chopped kalamatas. as a pasta topping - i'd chop all the greens - as a warm salad or meal with cornbread i don't chop them. top with a sprinkle of parm.

final one - angel hair, smoked salmon, goat cheese lumps and dill or tarragon.

[Behemoth]

pasta alle melanzane

What is this one? Please describe.

I like to improvise sauces -- here are some additional non-meat ideas: torn chanterelles with cream, butter & parmesan. Buckweat linguine with lentils, chard and goat cheese (or feta, even.) And here is a weird summer thing we always had in Lebanon: shell macaroni with a sauce made of yogurt, a little garlic, a little salt. You can add dried or fresh mint, I've added toasted pine-nuts sometimes, and it is especially nice if you melt a little butter to put over the top. Oh, I also like penne with fried eggplant strips & tomato, with a little bit of hot pepper flakes.

[Smithy]

Our riff on tuna-noodle hot dish is strictly a stove-top operation. The downside is that it uses Egyptian feta cheese, or domiata, because it has a smooth creamy texture and melts readily. I don't know if this would work as well with the harder, more crumbly feta cheeses (would they melt as well?), but it might be worth a try. Saute chopped onion until soft. Open some cans of tuna (we generally use 3 or 4 6-1/2 oz cans per pound of noodles) and drain. Boil some wide flat noodles until done; drain them; then pitch in a container of the Egyptian feta. Stir until it melts. Mix in the onion, tuna, liberal amounts of crushed cumin, and salt and pepper to taste. Simple, easy, and very tasty.

If you get tired of pasta, remember you can use rice in similar ways.

Another simple thing you can do is saute some chicken breasts or thighs (with or without a nice nutty herby buttery stuffing), deglaze the pan, build a mustardy or lemony or creamy sauce around that, and pour that sauce over the chickens on a bed of rice...or pasta, getting back to the thread topic.

I wasn't thinking chicken piccata when I wrote the paragraph above, but it just popped to mind as a variation on the skillet chicken theme.

[snowangel]

I will also second what Heather wrote earlier about Asian noodle dishes.

A dish like pad thai or gweo teo (sp?) doesn't even require that you boil the noodles first -- if they are fresh, use as is; if they are dried, into a bowl of warm or hot water they go.

Chinese egg noodles, fried into a crispy pillow and topped with a simple stir fry. I have often cooked far more of these noodles than need be, tossed the extras with a smidge of sesame oil, stuck them in a baggie in the fridge and used them the next day.

Sounds like you are going to be shopping frequently.

And 'tis a shame you won't have room for stock.

To go off topic slightly (reminded by Smithy), do you have a rice cooker? If not, you may want to invest in a cheap one (no fuzzy logic or anything fancy) because it will free up a burner, and you can recycle the leftover rice into fried rice, another good use for the odd bits that you will accumulate and need to get rid of poste haste.

[Carlovski]

...

Slight variation - finely chop up the stalks of 'normal' broccoli, retaining the florets. saute in Evoo with garlic and chilli, add vermouth or white wine and bubble down. Cook the pasta, throwing in the broccoli for the last few minutes. Add grated parmesan to the 'sauce' and toss with the pasta and broccoli.

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Good ideas Carlovski.

Your post reminded me another dish I make quite a bit-- broccoli and anchovy.

Similiar to what you post above, but with anchovy added. Mince anchovy, garlic, dried red pepper together, sautee in olive oil. Add in par boiled broccoli and sautee a bit longer. Drain pasta, add in to marry wtih sauce a bit. Add some pasta water if wanted. Serve with pecorino. Orecchiette pasta works well for this.

(I cut up the broccoli stems and florets pretty small for this).

edited to add: for an extra savory element and pork substitute: anchovy! (won't work in all cases of course).

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Yep - I add Anchovy too sometimes (Then again I do love the little things!)

[LindaK]

Varmint, I've been following your kitchen renovation plans with awe. I'm only now summoning the courage to start planning my own, I hope I can do as well as I think you've done.

I'm late to this thread but here are a couple of my favorite vegetarian pastas that might see you through:

pasta puttanesca. black olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, lots of chopped fresh parlsey in a coarse tomato sauce. The flavors are strong and robust, very satisfying--and quick to assemble.

pasta with roasted eggplant. This is one of my favorite "leftover" pastas. Thick slices of eggplant topped with minced garlic, parsley, drizzed with evoo, roasted until tender. I make it initially as a side dish for poultry or as the base for slices of roasted red pepper, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil. Make plenty so you have extra for pasta the next day. Coarsely chop the leftover eggplant, rewarm in a little evoo, and toss with short pasta and some grated parm cheese. Tastes very rich, it will (almost) make you forget the lack of pork.

[gourmande]

For a truly simple, one pot dish, how about pasta tossed with pesto (basil, sundried tomato...).

For other one or two pot meals using pasta, how about:

Pasta e fagiole?

Stir fried veg over vermicelli or rice noodles?

Chicken curry over egg noodles?

[kellytree]

throw a couple tomatos in the blender (if the blender is not available just chop them up fine --- I peel the tomatos but you dont have to) with a clove of garlic, salt and olive oil- if you want to get complicated you can add a little fresh basil in the end.

[Chufi]

Similiar to what you post above, but with anchovy added.  Mince anchovy, garlic, dried red pepper together, sautee in olive oil.  Add in par boiled broccoli and sautee a bit longer.  Drain pasta, add in to marry wtih sauce a bit.  Add some pasta water if wanted.  Serve with pecorino.  Orecchiette pasta works well for this.

(I cut up the broccoli stems and florets pretty small for this).

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this is exactly (down to the oriechette) the dish I 'made up' a couple of weeks ago and thought it was the best pasta I made in a long time!!