Pasta is a typical Italian preparation, but it is known and appreciated all over the world. Here in Italy, it is customary to eat pasta at least once a day and it is prepared in a thousand ways and for all tastes.
I want to make a roundup of quick toppings to prepare a plate of pasta in a few minutes, time to boil the water and cook the pasta. The pasta sizes are all good, although the best known are spaghetti and pens. I’ll start with the one I prepared just last night:
Pens with sausage and cream
Required for 4 people:
- 400 grams of pens
- 3 pork sausages
- half small red onion
- 500 grams of chopped tomatoes
- 1 pack of 200 grams of cooking cream
- salt and pepper just enough
- olive oil just enough
- chopped parsley just enough.
Preparation:
Finely chop the half red onion and let it wither with a little olive oil. At this point add the private sausages of the skin and cut into small pieces. When the sausages are golden, combine the peeled, salted and peppery tomatoes and let the sauce pick up for a few minutes.
After about ten minutes add the cream and leave it on the heat only time to blend in with the rest. A little chopped parsley and our sauce is ready.
In the meantime, you will have boiled the water in a pot with a little salt. Toss the pasta and when cooked, add it to the sauce. No need for any other grated cheese-type addition. As I said it prepares in a few minutes and will definitely please young and old.
Tuna noodles
This is also a very fast and easy recipe to prepare
Required for 4 people:
- 400 grams of noodles not very large
- 250 grams of tuna in olive oil
- 500 grams of chopped tomatoes
- half small red onion, finely chopped
- olive oil
- chopped parsley just enough
- salt and pepper.
Preparation:
while boiling the water to cook the finely chopped paste half a red onion and brown it in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Now add the drained tuna and cook for a few minutes. At this point add the chopped tomatoes and have the sauce withdrawn for another 5 minutes. Adjust the salt and pepper and as soon as our sauce is a little
thickened, put on top a sprinkling of chopped parsley and is so ready to go and season the spaghetti that in the meantime will be cooked.
The classic tomato sauce
This sauce is the most classic pasta dressing that exists. It has all the flavor of the Mediterranean tradition. It is made with very few variations of ingredients throughout Italy and around the world.
This is the basic recipe.
Needed:
- 500 grams of chopped tomato pulp
- 800 grams of tomato purée
- half onion
- a pinch of sugar
- 3 or 4 tablespoons olive oil
- salt as needed
- a few fresh basil leaves.
Preparation:
finely chop the onion and brown it in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Turn often so as not to over-darken the onion. Add the tomato pulp and tomato purée.
Salt and also put the sugar that will remove some of the sour taste of the tomato.
This preparation should cook for at least an hour, an hour and a half, then add a little water at a time when you see it is drying too much. When cooked, chop a few fresh basil leaves with your hands and add it to the sauce.
This type of sauce is suitable for all types of pasta. It is light and tasty and works more easily in the summer months, as you will find fresh ingredients.
Lumberjack pens
This sauce can be prepared in many different ways and with different ingredients. The main ingredient however is the fungus. Any type of edible fungus can be used, but the favorites always remain porcini mushrooms. Variants of this recipe also indicate cream among the ingredients. Instead, I propose a recipe that tries to leave the taste of mushrooms intact.
Ingredients for 4 people:
- 400 grams of pens
- 350 grams of mushrooms
- 200 grams of sausage
- 300 grams of chopped tomato pulp
- half finely chopped onion
- olive oil just enough
- pepper salt
- a few leaves of chopped parsley.
Preparation:
Finely chop the onion and brown it in a few tablespoons of olive oil.
Add the chopped sausage as finely as possible, and cook for a few minutes. Now put the mushrooms that you have cleaned, washed and chopped and cook for about ten minutes, stirring a couple of times. Now the chopped tomato pulp, adjust the salt and pepper (not much because the sausages are usually already tasty). When the sauce is withdrawn and ready, add the chopped parsley leaves, stir and remove immediately from the heat. In the meantime, you will have cooked the pens in plenty of salted water and here is ready a dish with an autumn flavor that will please everyone, especially those who love mushrooms.
Pasta a Pizza
A very fast pasta to prepare and that will definitely please your children because it has all the smell of pizza.
Required for 4 people:
- 400 grams of pens
- 500 grams of chopped tomatoes
- 250 grams of mozzarella fior of milk
- 40 grams of grated Parmesan cheese
- oregano just enough
- salt and pepper
- olive oil just enough
Preparation:
In a baking dish, cook the tomato in small pieces with a few tablespoons of olive oil for about 5 minutes adding a sprinkling of chopped oregano, Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
Prepare the mozzarella by cutting them into small dice.
Meanwhile, cook the pens in plenty of salted water, which you will remove from the heat a couple of minutes before they are cooked al dente.
Drain the pasta and put it in the dish with the tomato, add the diced mozzarella now and mix everything well. Above a sprinkling of parmesan cheese or grated grit,
Place in the oven already hot at 180 degrees for 5 minutes, just enough time to melt the mozzarella. And here is ready our first dish that is very reminiscent of the classic pizza.
Pasta sauces, quick with vegetables.
Green beans and tomato sauce.
A summer dish, really tasty and vegetarian.
Required for 4 people:
- 800 grams of ripe fresh tomatoes
- 300 grams of fresh green beans
- 1 garlic clove
- salt and pepper just enough
- olive oil just enough
- a few fresh basil leaves.
Preparation:
Cook the green beans, after washing and cutting at the ends) in plenty of salted water for about twenty minutes. Drain them from the water and set aside.
In the meantime, let’s make the sauce. In a saucepan brown the crushed garlic clove with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. At this point, add the chopped tomatoes and take the seeds with the fresh basil, salt and pepper just enough.
Cook for about half an hour and then pass the mixture into the green.
At this point add the cooked green beans and put back on the heat for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted water and season with the sauce once drained. Sprinkle with salted ricotta or grated Parmesan cheese.
This type of sauce can also prepare with other vegetables and the usual procedure. It is also great with zucchini or fresh peas.
Gravy with borlotti beans
For this type of sauce I prefer to use a type of pasta shorter, such as shells, fusilli or butterflies.
Required for 4 people:
- 400 grams of short pasta
- 300 grams of already cooked borlotti beans
- 50 grams of concentrated tomato sauce
- half red onion
- olive oil
- pepper salt just enough
- a sprig of rosemary.
Preparation:
in a saucepan fry the finely chopped onion with a little olive oil. When the onion is golden, add the beans and stir together for a few minutes. At this point add the concentrated tomato sauce, adding water if necessary until the end of cooking. Season with salt and pepper, add the rosemary sprig needles and cook for about 15 minutes adding water if the sauce tends to dry too much. Add a couple of butter nuts, mix everything and season the dough.
Pasta with potatoes
Needed:
- 400 grams of short pasta type penne or fusilli
- 1 rib of celery
- 1 small carrot
- 1 small red onion
- 500 grams of potatoes
- 400 grams of tomato purée
- olive oil just enough
- salt and pepper just enough.
Preparation:
in a saucepan with a few tablespoons of olive oil brown the celery, onion and carrot, finely chopped . Then add the potatoes that you will have peeled and cut into small chunks. Fry for 5 minutes and add the tomato purée to the salt and pepper. Cook the sauce for about 30 minutes, adding a little water at a time if it tends to dry too much.
Cook the pasta in plenty of salted water and season once drained with the sauce, then sprinkle the dish with grated Parmesan cheese.
Spaghetti with clams
Even sauces for our pastas can be done quickly using fish.
Below are some recipes for seasoning spaghetti, but also pens with crustaceans, shellfish or sea fish.
The first is the classic clam sauce.
Required for 4 people:
- 400 grams of spaghetti
- kilograms 1 of clams
- 1 garlic clove
- salt, pepper
- parsley just enough
- olive oil
Preparation:
First they clean the clams and settle so that they lose any grains of sand that might be inside the shell, then put the clams in plenty of salt water for a couple of hours. By this time you should open and release any grains of sand. Before soaking them it is good to check the clams one by one to remove possibly those that have a broken shell or that are already open because they are not good to eat.
Put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan and the garlic clove crushed with a fork. Once golden, remove the garlic and add the clams already washed and cleaned. Cover and cook for a few minutes until the shells have all opened.
Cook the spaghetti al dente and once drained season with the clams to which you will leave a few tablespoons of cooking water. adding a sprinkling of chopped parsley.
Langoustine pens
First dish really tasty, easy to prepare and fast.
The longest thing about this dish is the preparation of langoustines.
The langoustines should be shelled in the back, eliminating the heads and black vein. The pulp should then be made into small pieces. Leave if you want 4 wholes for the decoration of the finished dish.
Needed:
- 400 grams of pens
- about 15/16 whole langoustines
- 500 grams of fresh tomatoes, chopped and deseeded
- 1 shallot
- 1 garlic clove
- parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper just enough
Preparation:
After cleaning and shelling the langoustines, the heads we had removed will go to prepare a broth that will serve for cooking the other ingredients.
Then cook the heads in a liter of water for about an hour, filter broth obtained.
In a rather large frying pan, brown the finely chopped shallots and garlic clove with a little olive oil. Add the tomatoes, cut into strips. Cook for about ten minutes adding fish stock. In this pan cook now the 4 langoustines that you left whole for about ten minutes. Done this remove the whole langoustines and set them aside.
Now add the meat of the langoustines in small pieces by combining broth a little at a time to prevent the sauce from drying out too much.
Cook no more than 5 minutes. In the meantime we will have cooked the penne in plenty of salted water, and once drained add them to the sauce inside the pan, putting it back on the heat and stirring with the sauce adding a little more broth for a couple of minutes, adjusting the salt and adding the chopped parsley.
Put the whole dish of pens on top of each plate and serve on the table.
