Pasta express: fast homemade food

Beans aren't the only food for those feeling financially diminished by tax season (property and income). How about pasta!?! It's fast, healthy and filling. And did I say: easy?  Here are some of the simplest, most elegant, nourishing and comforting pasta recipes I know. Just make a colorful and crunchy salad (throw in roasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds or spiced nuts) while the pasta is cooking. 

Cacio e pepe

This beloved Roman dish whose name means cheese and pepper is my most favorite go-to fast food recipe when I haven't shopped, am exhausted and can't think of what to eat. It's satisfying in every way including the fact that you can make it in a pinch from pantry staples. The traditional recipe calls for a mid length pasta but I keep bucatini in the cabinet so that's what I use. Choose what you have on hand. It will work. 
serves 4

14 oz dried pasta (pici is traditional but I use bucatini)
2/3 c unsalted butter
Salt to your taste
4 tbsp freshly ground or cracked black pepper
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 c Parmesan or Pecorino cheese, finely grated

Fill a large pot  2/3 with water and heavily salt it. Over high heat, bring to a boil and add the pasta.  Cook according to package instructions.  Remove from the water, saving some of that water. 

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the black pepper, lemon juice and 2 tbsp pasta cooking water. Whisk and cook over very low heat until the ingredients emulsify into a sauce.

Add the pasta to the sauce. Top it with the Parmesan but do not stir the Parmesan in. Let it melt from the residual heat of the pot.  Once it has melted, stir everything together. Season with salt to your taste and serve at once.                                                                           

Orecchiette with broccolini or broccoli rabe

This most beloved and traditional dish from Puglia, the heel of Italy's boot, is one of my beloved standbys. I probably make it once every two weeks. It's colorful, nourishing, cheap and the bitterness of the broccoli helps keep my sinuses open. It also makes me feel virtuous: except for the final sprinkle of cheese, it's vegan. There's no exact way to make this so what follows is my version, more suggestion than dictate. Some people in the US add crumbled sausage to this.  
 serves 4 
  
1 bundle broccoli rabe, chopped 
Salt
1 package orecchiette pasta (known as little ears)
6-7 tbsp richly flavored olive oil
2 tsp red chili flakes 
2 tbsp pine nuts
4 lg garlic cloves, peeled and minced
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c Parmesan or Romano cheese, finely grated

Fill a large pot 1/2 with heavily salted water. Bring to a boil and add the chopped broccoli rabe. Cook 1 minute. (This removes some of the bitterness.) Remove with a slotted spoon or strainer to a colander to drain. If you leave a little broccoli in the water, no problem. 

Add another 2 cups of water to the pot and bring to a boil. Pour in the orecchiette, a tsp of salt and cook according to package instructions until the pasta is past al dente and soft.

While it cooks, in a large skillet, heat 4 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add the chili flakes and pine nuts and cook 1 minute. Stir in the broccoli, then the garlic. Season with salt to your taste and stir in 1 tbsp olive oil to keep everything moist. Sauté over low heat 5 minutes. Turn off heat but leave pot where it is.  If it looks dry add more olive oil.

When the orecchiette is cooked, take 2 tbsp of the pasta water and stir it into the broccoli mixture.  Drain the orecchiette in the colander and add it to the broccoli. Add 1 tbsp olive oil, freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of salt. Stir to blend. Top with grated cheese and serve.                    

Here's an alternative to that:

Vietnamese garlic noodles with kale or Asian mustard greens and lemon

I included this recipe in Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking, as my combination of the wildly popular American/Vietnamese creation, garlic noodles, and a Zen Buddhist dish of kale and lemon with pasta. All the vitamin A and C and lung cleaning garlic make it medicinally perfect for right now. Plus, it can make your feel virtuous for being vegetarian without much sacrifice.

serves 4-6

 

½ lb spaghetti

4 cups coarsely chopped fresh kale or Asian mustard green leaves (no stems)

6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

¼ tsp ground black pepper

1/8 tsp salt

juice of ½ large lemon

1 tbsp butter

6 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp finely grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese

Cook the spaghetti according to package instructions. Halfway through add the kale or mustard greens to the pot.

While the spaghetti cooks, in a large sauté pan, heat the butter and 3 tbsp olive oil. Add the garlic and sauté for 60 seconds over medium low heat so the garlic doesn’t brown.  Add the black pepper and continue to sauté another minute. Add the cheese and reduce heat to lowest setting. 

Drain the cooked spaghetti and kale well. Toss into the sauté pan and raise heat to medium low. Add the salt and lemon juice and toss the spaghetti to coat with the garlic and oil.  Heat 30-60 seconds. Remove from heat and add the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil, blending it in to serve.

Pasta with walnut sauce

Walnut sauce is a specialty of Ligura and used on a variety of pasta with emphasis on ravioli. Please do not serve this near anyone allergic to nuts. Otherwise it's a hearty vegetarian dish loaded with protein.                  

Serves 4

½ c walnuts, shelled
2 pieces day-old crustless bread

¼ c whole milk
1 garlic clove

¼ c flat leaf parsley leaves
½ c extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp heavy cream or crème fraiche

¼ c parmesan cheese grated

salt and freshly ground black pepper

pinch of red pepper flakes
¾ lb cavatelli (thin twisted 2” long) pasta

Soak the walnuts in boiling water about 15 minutes. Drain and remove as much of the skins as you can. It’s a pain but this will keep the sauce from being too bitter.

Preheat the oven to 225º.

Break the bread into small pieces, put it in a bowl and pour the milk over it. Let it sit 5 minutes, then squeeze out the milk. In a food processer, combine the bread with the walnuts, garlic and parsley leaves. Blitz while pouring in the oil to make a smooth sauce. Transfer the mixture to an over proof serving bowl. Mix in the cream, cheese and pinch of red pepper flakes. Season with salt and a bit of freshly ground pepper. Place the bowl in the warm oven while the pasta cooks.

Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain, reserving some of the water.  Stir in into the warm bowl of walnut sauce, add 2-3 tbsps of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce. Serve at once with an extra bowl of grated parmesan.

Venetian spaghetti with slow cooked onions
serves 4

6 lg white onions
2 tbsp good quality olive oil
1 c chicken or vegetable broth
Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 lb (12 oz) dried spaghetti
1 tbsp unsalted butter  
1/4 c flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped
1/3 c grated Parmesan cheese 

Peel the onions and slice them into the thinnest possible rings. 
In a large frying pan, heat the oil on low. Add the onions and sauté  12-15 minutes, stirring frequently. They should become glossy and translucent with a hint of gold, not burnt. Add the broth and cook 10 more minutes on low.

While that happens, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil and cook the spaghetti according to package instructions. When it is al dente, drain it and add it to the onions in the frying pan.  Mix well. Add the butter, a generous pinch of coarse salt. freshly grated black pepper to your taste, the parsley and almost all the parmesan. Stir and immediately remove from heat.   Stir again to get the cheese to melt.  When serving sprinkle the remaining Parmesan on top.         

Bhutanese soba noodles with eggs and tomato
This is another recipe from Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking.  Buckwheat is the only grain that grows in the icy mountain climate especially in the eastern half of the country where this homey dish comes from.            

Serves 4          

½ lb. buckwheat noodles (Soba)
1 lg. onion, peeled
8 scallions, roots off
2 tomatoes
1 poblano chili pepper or 2 lg. jalapenos
fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. cooking oil (corn, canola, safflower, mustard)
3 extra large eggs
OPTIONAL: 1 tbsp. unsalted butter OR 1/8 lb. yak cheese*
* See Ingredients section

Boil the buckwheat noodles in salted water until tender—usually 6 to 8 minutes. Drain.           

While the noodles boil, whisk eggs with ¼ tsp salt and a pinch of black pepper.  Coat the bottom of a 10” skillet with 1 tsp. oil and heat on medium.  Pour in the eggs and form a pancake, tilting the skillet so uncooked egg runs to the side or underneath the cooked egg. Once you have a solid pancake, turn it out onto a cutting board. Slice it into thin strips.

Chop the onion coarsely. Chop the tomatoes.  Seed the pepper(s) and slice into thin strips. Slice the scallions into thin strips.

Put another 2 tsp. of oil in the skillet and heat on medium. Add the onion and pepper and stir fry until soft and lightly browned—about 3-4 minutes.  Add the scallions and tomato, stirring to blend.  Cook until the tomato has softened, another 3 minutes.

Lower heat. Add the egg strips, noodles and ¾ tsp. salt and toss all ingredients in the skillet while heating thoroughly. Remove from heat. Garnish with fresh cilantro.