More Pasta

It's been a while since I last did a pasta feature. Here are a number of recipes, mostly well suited to the warmer months, and mostly quite quick and easy -- the sorts of sauces you prepare while the pasta water is heating, and have completely done by the time the pasta is cooked. And they're good too. For more information on pasta preparation and saucing, see On Pasta. Or, if you're looking for something specific, check the recipe index. If what you want is not there email me and I'll see if I can find the recipe.

Pasta and butter and cheese.

When Americans say two things go together like ham and eggs, Italians will reply they’re come il cacio su’maccheroni (like cheese on macaroni). Gets the idea across.

• 1 pound spaghetti or other long thin pasta
• 1/2 cup sweet, very fresh butter
• 1 cup grated Parmigiano
• A pinch of freshly ground pepper (white if you have it)
• Salt to taste

Boil the spaghetti in lightly salted water. Melt the butter, grate the cheese, and warm the serving bowl by holding it over the spaghetti pot.

Drain the pasta well and dump it in the bowl. Stir in the butter, cheese, and pepper, and serve.

Serves 4.

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Charcoal maker’s spaghetti

Though the Romans claim to have invented this astonishingly simple and mouth watering dish, some say it was developed by Umbrian charcoal burners. Others say it was invented as a way to use bacon and eggs bought on the black market from American service personnel during the Second World War. In any case, it’s one of the few dishes in which bacon can be substituted for the pancetta.

• 1/4 pound pancetta or bacon
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano
• 4 eggs yolks and 2 egg whites
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
• Olive oil, salt, and pepper
• A pound of spaghetti

Set the water to boil. Meanwhile, dice the pancetta or bacon, sauté it in a tablespoon of oil till it’s well cooked, and drain the pieces on a paper towel. As soon as the water boils, salt it and add the pasta.

While the pasta’s cooking, lightly beat the yolks and one or two whites (just one white if you’re using the cream). As soon as the yolks and whites are combined, beat in the cheese, pinches of salt and pepper, and the cream, if you’re using it.

When the pasta’s done, drain it and transfer it immediately to a heated bowl. Add the pancetta and pour the egg mixture over the pasta, stirring briskly (the heat of the pasta will cook the eggs). Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

One thing -- given the risk of salmonella from commercially produced eggs, you may want to use a dried eggs unless you buy from a trusted delicatessen or have access to true farm-fresh eggs. Unfortunately, I have no experience with egg substitutes.

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This is a quick, easy to make summer sauce.

• 2/3 cup pitted black olives, sliced
• 4 boned anchovy fillets
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 tablespoons olive oil or butter
• 1 tablespoon rinsed salted capers or rinsed and drained capers in vinegar, minced
• Three or four ripe plum tomatoes, finely sliced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• A pound of spaghetti

Sauté the garlic and the anchovies. When the garlic’s lightly browned, add the olives, capers, and tomatoes. Check seasoning. Simmer the sauce for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, cook the pasta. Stir the sauce into the pasta and serve.

Serves 4.

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Popeye-Style Penne

This recipe is an outgrowth of Nouvelle Cuisine; it was adopted by pizzerias and has become very popular.

• 11/2 packed cups cooked spinach
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed but left whole
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup whole milk (optional)
• One pound penne or any other short, robust walled pasta
• Salt, pepper, and grated Parmigiano to taste

Set a pot of salted water to boil. Meanwhile, chop the spinach. When you add the pasta to the water, set the garlic to brown in the oil in a large skillet. As soon as it begins to brown, add the spinach and toss. After two or three minutes, stir in the cream, and, if you wish, some milk as well. Check the seasoning and keep the sauce warm while the pasta is cooking. When the pasta’s just shy of being done, drain it and, before the colander stops dripping, pour it into the skillet. Turn the heat to high and finish cooking the pasta in the sauce. Serve with the grated Parmigiano.

Serves 4.

Note: Risotto alla braccio di ferro is also good. Have a quart of broth or bullion simmering on the stove, and start by mincing a quarter onion and a clove of garlic; sauté the mixture, and when the onion’s translucent add 11/2 cups of rice. Stir in the spinach and add boiling broth, a ladlefull at a time, until the rice is cooked. Then stir in the cream, cover, the risotto, and let it stand for two minutes. Serve with grated cheese.

Serves 4.

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In Tuscany, the word sugo by itself means meat sauce. Sugo finto is made like meat sauce, but the meat is left out.

• 1 pound ripe or canned plum tomatoes
• 1 medium onion
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 6-inch stick of celery
• A bunch of parsley
• 5 leaves of basil, if it’s in season
• 1/2 glass red wine
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• A pound of short pasta, such as penne or butterflies
• Grated Parmigiano

Mince the onion, carrots, celery, and parsley; sauté them in 6 spoonfuls of oil till the onion’s translucent. Add the wine and cook over very low heat till most of the liquid’s evaporated. Add the tomatoes, check seasoning, and simmer twenty more minutes. Meanwhile, cook and drain the pasta. Stir the sugo and the basil leaves into the pasta, and serve with grated cheese to taste.

Serves four.

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Pasta Greengrocer’s style

This sauce is surprisingly good. The tomatoes, carrot, celery, onion, and parsley are essential; feel free to add other vegetables that are in season.

• 1 pound fresh plum tomatoes
• 1 artichoke – discard the tough outer leaves, square the tip, and cut the heart into slivers. Peel and dice the stalk
• 2 zucchini, sliced
• 1 stick celery, minced
• 1 carrot, minced
• 1/2 a medium onion, minced
• 1 bunch parsley, minced
• 1 hot pepper, either fresh or dried, or a half a pepper if it’s very hot
• A pinch of oregano
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Olive oil
• Boiling water or broth
• Salt
• A pound of short pasta, such as penne or chiocciole

Mince the onion, parsley, and pepper; sauté them in 6 tablespoons of oil. Add the rest of the vegetables, except the tomatoes, and simmer for ten minutes. Add the tomatoes and the oregano and cook slowly for a half hour, or until the carrot is done, adding boiling water or broth (if you have it) as necessary to keep the sauce from drying out. Meanwhile, cook a pound of pasta in salted water. Drain the pasta, stir in the sugo, and serve with grated cheese to taste.

Serves four.

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Pasta Greengrocer’s style #II

• 11/2 pounds fresh sauce tomatoes, sliced
• 1/2 medium sized onion, minced
• 1 large eggplant, peeled and diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 bunch parsley, minced
• 1/2 cup pitted black olives, minced
• 1 anchovy filet, washed and boned
• Half a fresh hot red pepper, minced (optional)
• 3 capers, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• Grated Parmigiano
• 1 pound short pasta

Peel and dice the eggplant; put the pieces in a colander, sprinkle them liberally with salt, set a weight on them, and let them sit for a half hour. Meanwhile, mince the onion, dice the pepper, and slice the tomatoes, keeping them separate. Then mince the parsley, anchovy, capers, olives, and red pepper (if you are using it).

Put the oil in a 2 quart pot, and while it’s heating rinse the salt off the eggplant and let it drain. Sauté the onion till it’s translucent, then add the eggplant. Cook for about five minutes, stirring to keep the mixture from sticking. Stir in the diced bell pepper and continue cooking a few minutes longer, then add the tomatoes and the parsley and olive mixture. Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce the heat, simmering it gently for about twenty minutes. The sauce should be fairly thick.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted water; when it’s done, drain it, stir in the sauce, and serve with grated cheese.

Serves four to six.

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Fiesole-style Penne

• A 1 pound package of Penne
• 2 ounces Prosciutto Toscano
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 pint milk
• 1/3 cup cream
• Salt and pepper to taste (this will depend on how seasoned the prosciutto is)
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup cooked fresh green peas (optional)
• 1 pound penne, or any other short pasta

Make a béchamel sauce by melting a tablespoon of butter and carefully stirring in the flour to keep lumps from forming. Cook until the mixture is a pale brown, then add the milk, a few drops at a time, stirring all the while. Continue cooking over a low flame till the sauce thickens somewhat, and then stir in the cream, heat through, and set aside. Meanwhile, set the pasta to cook in salted water. Shred the prosciutto and lightly sauté it in a large skillet with the remaining butter. Add the béchamel sauce and the peas to the prosciutto and keep the sauce warm. When the pasta is just shy of being cooked, drain it, turn the flame under the sauce to high, and finish cooking the pasta by tossing it in the sauce. Serve with grated cheese to taste.

Serves four.

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Spaghetti with clams

Spaghetti with clams is the quintessential summer dish, and is amazingly refreshing on a hot day. Though you can use canned shellfish packed in their juice to make spaghetti alle vongole, live clams are far better. If you opt for fresh clams, they should be tightly closed and shouldn’t smell. Scrub them well and let them sit in salted water for several hours, so they can purge themselves of sand. Boil them in just a little bit of water (or better yet, steam them), and when they open, drain them and stir them, shells and all, into the sauce. Half the fun of eating spaghetti alle vongole is fishing out the shells and sucking the sauce off them.

• An eight ounce jar of shelled clams, or two pounds small fresh live clams
• 2 small cloves garlic, minced
• A small bunch of parsley, minced
• A half a dried red pepper, crumbled
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 or 3 peeled and seeded or canned plum tomatoes, diced (optional)
• Salt to taste
• A pound of spaghetti

If you are using live clams, begin steaming them – they are done when they’ve opened, and it won’t take long. Also, have the pasta water ready.

Using a large pot, gently sauté the garlic and the chili pepper in the oil, adding the parsley when the mixture starts to brown. Be careful not to let it burn. Meanwhile, start cooking the spaghetti.

Add the cooked clams and some of their juice, or the juice of the canned clams, to the garlic mixture. If you are using tomato, add it too. Simmer the sauce until the pasta is done. If you are using canned clams, stir them into the sauce at this point; cooked longer, they become tough. Drain the pasta, stir it into the sauce, and serve without cheese.

Here is an easier way: if you are using fresh clams, scrub them, purge them, and cook them till they open in boiling water. Meanwhile, mince and sauté a clove of garlic, a red pepper, and a bunch of parsley. Add a couple spoonfuls of broth from the fresh shellfish or the juice of the canned shellfish to the garlic mixture, and season it with salt to taste. Stir the shellfish into the sauce, cook for a minute longer, and stir the sauce into the spaghetti. Serve without cheese.

Either method will serve four, and if you use canned clams this is perfect for camping where water is not a problem..

Note: If any of the shellfish are still shut tight when you’ve finished cooking them, throw them out! DON'T EAT THEM! They were already dead when you began to cook them and could make you quite sick.

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Spaghetti with Canned Tuna Fish

I first had this sauce during a geological field trip in the Apuan Alps: It had been raining for a week, and we were wet, cold, and miserable. When Marco was done feeding us, we were still wet, still cold, but satisfied. And I still make it when I’m out camping.

• A six-ounce can of tuna packed in oil or salt-water
• 1/4 cup (half a stick) sweet butter
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano (or more, to taste)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pound Spaghetti

Set the spaghetti to boil. Meanwhile, drain the tuna and transfer it to the serving dish. Mash it well with a fork, then work the butter and cheese into it, stirring briskly until the mixture is well amalgamated (this is easier if you warm the bowl over the pasta water). Check seasoning. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and stir it into the sauce.

Serves four.

A printer-friendly version.

Good Food & Drink,
Kyle Phillips

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Recipe credits as above, all translations, remarks & photos © Kyle Phillips.