Recipes for Pasta

Which Pasta Is That?

With so many different pastas available now, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to work out which one is what. Well sit tight and we will take a quick journey into the world of pasta and determine which one is what.

• Cannelloni
• Cannelloni are large hollow tubes which are stuffed with sauce mixture. My favorite is ricotta and spinach sauce that is then baked in the oven with a tomato sauce over the top.
• Conchiglie
• Conchigle is the shell shaped pastas. These come in a variety of sizes from tiny shells that are good in soups to very large with can be stuffed. It is a good short pasta that is great with chunky sauces and attractive in pasta salads.
• Farfalle
• Bow shaped, this pasta is very useful and attractive in pasta salads.
• Fusilli
• These are thin spiral shapes. Fusilli is good with chunky style sauces because it holds onto the sauce well. It is also good in pasta salads for the same reason.
• Lasagna (Lasagne)
• Large flat sheets of pasta. Used in dishes of layered fillings such as meat and cheese sauce that are then baked in the oven.
• Macaroni
• Macaroni is a small hollow tube that is twisted. It is the classic pasta used in Macaroni Cheese.
• Spaghetti
• Well we all know this one. Spaghetti is long thin strands of pasta and great used in bolognese and carbonara sauces.
• Tagliatelle, Linguine, Fettuccine, Pappardelle
• Known as ribbon noodles, these are long and flat in varying widths. Great for use with creamy sauces.
• Ravioli
• One of the stuffed pastas. It is small, flat squares of pasta stuffed with any variety of fillings such as meat, cheese, mushrooms.
• Tortellini
• Another stuffed style of pasta. Made from semi circle pieces of pasta folded and rolled into a little round bundle.
• Vermicelli
• Very fine, thin strings of which the finest variety is called ‘angel hair’. It is best used with other fine ingredients such as prawns and crab. Vermicelli is often used to make ‘nests’ to hold the dish.

Hopefully this will take some of the confusion out of the next pasta recipe you read.

Have fun cooking and until our next cooking tip together.
Enjoy!
Lisa “The Crock Cook”

About the Author: Lisa has used pasta to create some delicious Crock Pot Pasta Meals at www.a-crock-cook.

Recipe Serves: 4

Recipes Ingredients:

1 lb “Long Life” Egg noodles
1 ts Sesame oil
8 qt Salted water
1/4 ts Salt
1/2 lb Spinach
1 ts Cornstarch paste
4 Eggs
2 Green onions, minced
1 c Chicken broth
1/4 c Boiled ham, slivered
1 tb Dark soy sauce

Recipe Instructions:

Preparation: Wash & trim spinach. Wash, then boil noodles; drain; divide among Soup bowls. In same water, blanch spinach; drain; press dry; chop coarsely; put on noodles. Heat broth in Sauce pan. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, salt & cornstarch paste to thicken slightly. Poaching Eggs: Put 4 cups of water in wok; bring to boil. Break eggs in ladle one at a time; poach for 2 minutes. Place Egg on spinach. Finishing: Pour Hot Soup over egg. Garnish with minced onion & ham. Serve.

Do you love cooking, but are sometimes unsure of the ingredients. Well here is a guide to some of the more common Italian Recipe Ingredients.

• Amaretto - A liqueur made from apricot kernels and bitter almonds. You will ofter find this used in dessert recipes.
• Amaretti – Small, dry biscuits (cookies) similar to macaroons. Made with bitter almonds, almond essence and egg whites.
• Baccala – is salted, dried cod. You will need to soak it for at least 24 hours and changing the water often.
• Bocconcini – means ‘little mouthfuls’. And that’s what it is, little balls of fresh mozzarella cheese stored in water.
• Campari – A crimson colored spirit.
• Carta di musica – This is a crisp, twice baked flatbread. Can use toasted Lebanese bread or lavish as a substitute.
• Ciabatta – A crusty bread that is airy on the inside. The best type is wood fired.
• Dried Porcini Mushrooms – A type of mushroom used to add intense flavor to dishes. Choose light brown or tan ones that are not crumbly.
• Limoncello – This is a citrus based liqueur. Made by infusing lemon rind in pure alcohol. Serve chilled as an after-dinner drink or a fabulous palate cleanser.
• Mascarpone – This rich, smooth cream cheese that has a high fat content. Used in both savoury and sweet dishes.
• Mozzarella – A stretched curd cheese known for its melting qualities.
• Pancetta – This is dried pork belly. It is generally used like bacon.
• Pappardelle – Is a pasta. It can be fresh or dried and is a wide flat ribbon.
• Pecorino – A hard cheese made from sheep milk. It has a sharp flavor and is used to grate over pizza.
• Pecorino dolce – Known as sweet pecorino, is less aged and has a milder flavor.
• Prosciutto – Is a dried and salted (cured) ham, generally served in wafer thin slices.
• Radicchio – A red leafed salad ingredient that has a slightly bitter flavor.
• Risotto Rice – This is the rice used for making Risotto. It is a short grain rice that is capable of absorbing much fluid while still maintaining it’s shape and firmness. This is what gives Risotto it’s creamy texture.
• Scamorza – Very similar to mozzarella. A slightly salty cheese made from cows milk. It can be hung and dried and is often smoked.
• Taleggio – This cheese has a pinkish-brown rind and a soft creamy texture. It is made from cows milk, has a strong flavor and becomes acidic with age.

So next time you are cooking Italian, you will be sure to know what ingredient to reach for.

Happy Cooking
Lisa “The Crock Cook”

About the Author: Lisa cooks Crock Pot Recipes for a-Crock-Cook.com, writes Chinese Fortune Cookies and designs Cupcake decorations at cupcake-creations.com.

Rosemary is one of my favourite herbs – its clean, spiky scent pervading my kitchen takes me to the South of France on a warm summer’s day. It is the hardiest plant in my herb garden, surviving our driest summers and putting out new growth as soon as the winter rains begin. You can pick from it all year round and it has useful medicinal properties too.

I love Roast Lamb with generous amounts of rosemary and garlic tucked underneath as it cooks or else I take Nigella Lawson’s advice and mince the garlic and rosemary to a paste with some olive oil and tuck it into small incisions in the meat before cooking. After that the meat just cooks itself (as long as you remember to switch on the oven for it!) and you have a marvellous Sunday lunch for very little effort. A dash of red wine added to the juices from the roasting dish and warmed through gives you a ‘jus’ that any five star restaurant would be proud to own – do spoon off the excess fat first though. For a totally low effort lunch serve the roast lamb with a generous green salad and boiled new potatoes, or expend the effort you’ve saved with the meat on producing loads of crispy roast potatoes, baked butternut squash and tender green peas.

The following pasta sauce recipe came from experimenting with a recipe from Marcella Hazan’s Marcella’s Kitchen. To her tomato and rosemary pasta sauce I added some tuna to create a nutritious and delicious meal for my kids – the balsamic vinegar gives a mellow, rounded note to the sauce and is not in the least overpowering as I thought it might be.

Penne with Tuna, Tomato, Rosemary and Balsamic Vinegar

For 450g/1lb pasta

• 8 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 or 4 cloves garlic
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 450g/1lb tinned tomatoes, drained and chopped
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tin of tuna drained

Put the olive oil, thinly sliced garlic and rosemary sprigs in a frying pan over a medium heat. When the garlic starts sizzling add the tomatoes, with salt and pepper and cook for 10-12 minutes.

When the pasta is just cooked – really al dente – drain and put back in the pan and toss with the sauce over the heat for 1 minute. Add the tuna, stir, then off the heat stir in the balsamic vinegar and serve immediately.

There is a wonderful recipe for a Rosemary Cake in Nigella Lawson’s book ‘Feast’. She allocates it to her Funeral Feast section. as rosemary has always been the herb of rememberance, but this cake is great for any occasion when a light, not too sweet, plain sponge is required. It has apple in it too and the combination of that and the rosemary, gives a moist but aromatic cake. A long sprig of rosemary adorns the top of the cake and as it cooks releases more aromatic oils into the cake. Try it.

To make use of rosemary’s health boosting properties try a cup of rosemary herbal tea. One sprig with a cup of boiling water poured over it and left to stand for five to ten minutes, makes a revitalising and stress-relieving tea. It acts as an anti-inflammatory and aids circulation, helps with stress, anxiety and depression and improves memory and concentration. It also is a useful source of easily absorbed calcium, far more effective than taking pills.

So plant a rosemary bush in your garden or in a pot on a balcony for your own free, energy-boosting calcium supplement!

Copyright 2006 Kit Heathcock

About the Author: Kit Heathcock - worked and travelled in Italy for many years, is passionate about food and loves being a fulltime mother. Co-creator of A Flower Gallery home of original flower pictures and Food and Family!

Add Spice to Your Supper With Italian Pasta
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Pasta is the most versatile Italian food. While it is increasingly popular here in the U.S., believe it or not it is far more popular in Italy. Pasta is basically created from flour. However, various types of grain can also make pasta. In order to make pasta flour is mixed with water and many times also mixed with eggs. When the mixture is complete, it is kneaded and shaped into numerous shapes. The vast amount of pasta that is cooked is first boiled before served, however pasta can be baked, but before doing so it is usually boiled.

Pasta is very budget friendly and can be very filling. It is a starch, and while most Americans are familiar with the dried pasta that is in long thin rods- spaghetti, it can also come fresh and in practically any shape including shells, tubes, spiral, very thick noodles, etc.
Italians refer to all pastas as macaroni, however, here in the United States we usually consider macaroni as small shell type shapes of pasta.

Pasta with Tomato Meat Sauce

• -16 ounces of pasta (spaghetti)
• -1 16 ounce jar of tomato sauce
• -1-1 ½ pounds of hamburger meat
• -1 onion
• -Olive oil
• -Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pan boil water to ¾ full and add a teaspoon of olive oil and some salt. Once the water boils add in the pasta and stir for a minute or two to make sure that it doesn’t adhere to the bottom. In a frying pan, add some oil and then add some hamburger meat along with a chopped onion. Heat the hamburger meat until medium or well done. In a sauce pan, add contents of tomato sauce. Let simmer on a low to medium heat. Do not cook the sauce quickly, it will only burn it and become dry. Once all items are complete, mix all ingredients, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot. Yields about 4 servings.

Stuffed Shells in Tomato Sauce
Stuffed shells are a great way to make dinner out of pasta, cheese and tomato sauce. They are easy to create and can be cooked in about 20 minutes. Here is the recipe:

• 1 16 ounce box of large pasta shells. (Make sure that the shells are already pre cooked and ready to be baked. If not, you will have to first boil them and then bake them.
• 1 pound of ricotta cheese
• 1 16 ounce jar of tomato sauce
• Side dishes that go well are spinach, green beans, mushrooms or a Greek Salad

Heat your oven to about 350 degrees. Stuff the shells with ricotta cheese. Generally each shell can be stuffed with about 2 tablespoons of cheese. Once stuffed, place the shell on a baking pan and cover the shell with foil. Cook for about 20 minutes. In a medium sauce pan with a low to medium heat simmer tomato sauce. Once complete cover shells with sauce. Other variations include adding meat to the sauce, spinach, etc.

About the Author: Christine Steendahl, “The Menu Mom”, www.themenumom.com is known online for her popular meal planning programs. For her personal favorite stuffed shells recipe hop over to http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/stuffed-pasta-shells.htm

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