Pasta

Pasta e Fagioli (Italian Pasta and Bean Soup)

December 2, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Pasta e Fagioli is a traditional Italian peasant soup that translates to “pasta and beans.” It’s a soup that can be made with several types of pasta, usually tubettini, ditalini, or conchigliette. Prosciutto or pancetta is used for the base to give it a nice smoky flavor. I wanted to make a big batch so I used a slow cooker to cook the beans and broth. It turned out great, though I forgot to cut up the rosemary and it should really be finely chopped. Just before serving I mixed in the cooked pasta. I strained the rest of the noodles out before putting it away to prevent them from absorbing all the broth over night. The soup was great with a warm, crusty baguette and grated parmigiano reggiano.

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Pesto Pasta with Paprika Grilled chicken

October 15, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

As soon as I made my first batch of spinach pesto I threw it on penne along with some spicy grilled chicken. The paprika rubbed chicken added a nice counterpoint to the creamy pesto sauce. Even though it was a simple spice rub (paprika and olive oil) it tasted great. Before grilling, I tenderized the chicken by pounding it thin. The pasta was flavorful and the warm colors of the chicken and green pasta were very pleasing to the eye as well! I topped the pasta with a little crumbled feta and walnuts.

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Penne with Vodka Sauce

July 16, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

This dish required a technique I had never tried before–flambe. Flambeing alcohol involves setting the alcohol on fire in a saute pan until it burns out. What’s leftover is all the aroma and flavor of the vodka, without all of the alcohol. The vodka is the critical component of this dish because it reacts with the sauce and brings out the flavor of the tomatoes. I have tried this dish before without the flambe technique and I like the results of flambeing a lot better. I have also tried this dish with bacon instead of pancetta, but I have come to prefer the pancetta. Lots of vodka sauces are pale pink but I only put 1/2 cup cream in the sauce so mine was a pale brick red instead. I prefer the darker sauce–I think the cream can mask the flavor of the tomatoes. I topped the pasta with a little grated parmesan and basil.

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Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Lasagna

March 21, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Lasagna is a great staple dinner but I wanted to experiment a bit with the ingredients. Instead of using ricotta cheese I used a Bechamel sauce with goat cheese and feta. Bechamel is a white sauce made from milk, cheese, and butter. The goat cheese and feta added a tangy flavor that was good with the roasted red peppers. This recipe was very unique and it was a lot of fun to make and the results were great. Lasagna takes forever (about 2 1/2-3 hours) to prepare and cook so take some time to try this one out.

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Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage

February 27, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Italian food is great with fine ingredients and simple flavors. Butter and sage, two simple ingredients on their own, make an excellent gnocchi sauce. Gnocchi is a type of potato dumpling pasta–it reminds me of a cross between polish Perogies and ravioli pasta. Gnocchi is usually made with white potatoes but I decided to try sweet potatoes for a more savory flavor. The sage fries in the butter as it browns which smells and tastes great.

As for the gnocchi making process it was surprisingly easy. The only thing to watch out for is overcooking the gnocchi. It really only needs 3 minutes and should be immediately scooped out when it floats to the top. I learned this the hard way by overcooking it by about 2 minutes which created a slimy bunch that was totally gross. I thought this recipe turned out really great, and I will be making this again–perhaps with pumpkin the next time to mix things up.

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