food...
..for thought
I, am definitely a piece of pasta, chameleontic by nature, i appear in several forms, my basic mood is always very tomato-ish, but sometimes i feel creamy, and then i am in either a fruity or cheesy setting!
Basically i eat pasta all the time, mix my tomato-sauces with any decent veggie available, when possible fresh of the farm/market.
I also love to add tuna, minced meat and/or a whip of creme fraiche (remember south park), and i use little salt.
My best tips for all you pasta fans:
Never use salt in the sauce, use 2 cubes of stock per liter water or fresh stock to cook the pasta and apply some basic taste.
Fresh vegetables have awesome tastes when they are ripe.
Learn to pick your ingredients with care, at the right time.
Youll be surprised how good they taste without adding salt and spices.
Simmer the ingredients slowly, and one by one, before you drench them in tomato sauce.
you want them all to caramelize and give off as much taste as possible.
The whip of creme fraiche, will carry all the flavors and round them up so to speak.
Instead of salt, then you apply the old cheese, or parmeggiano reggio instead, and use plenty.
The salt in there will emphasize the flavours of your sauce.
The most important part is:
Cook your pasta al dente ALWAYS, when it is almost done, take them out, and throw them in the sauce, instead of getting "done" in water, it will now consume the liquid of the sauce, guaranteeing every pasta has the whole flavor embedded in it.
I start with the sauce, and when thats done i cook the pasta: sauce wont lose taste but intensify the longer it simmers.
Hence when it is done you can fully concentrate on your ten minute pasta job, and it is important to take it out in time, or the above tip is useless
What i do to alternate from tomatoe sauce, even if its delicious, is following
Make a sauce of creme fraiche and a mild blue cheese or gorgonzola (good quality, no cheap stuff) au-bain-marie.
Add roasted walnuts and some fine chopped basil and rucola just when you stir the pasta through the cheese and creme mixture.
Youll love it.
Make a typical chicken curry sauce, and instead of rice use penne, its a very nice pasta to take up sauce, and i like it much better then with rice
@ chayton: i posted a recipe like that somewhere ages ago, the portobello filled with itself and garlic, onion and zuchetti, with blue cheese and camembert on top, grilled.
It's a party cracker, and especially the vegetarians are happy
Guess great minds cook alike eh?
