Well, we have a BBQ thread so why not?

I've been experimenting with various pastas, and feel it's about time for me to move on to trying to make stuffed pastas-- that is, manicottis (a cylindrical rolled pasta), raviolis, tortellonis (a large stuffed pasta), etc. But I really want to avoid the "generic red sauce" trap that many Americans fall in to when they think of pasta... I actually prefer a meat, cheese, or alfredo sauce.

I figure many people on this forum likely have some experience with pastas, even if it's quick-cooked meals. Anyone have any tips for making a good homemade stuffed pasta?

The key to homemade pasta is using high quality eggs and flour, especially flour. That and being very gentle with the dough.

Pasta

tinned, chopped tomatoes
1//2 spoon sugar
about 2 inches of chirso (spicy sausage)
sweet corn
chopped garlic
mixed herbs
a drop of spicy stuff if you want

when it's bubbling turn off and do the tortilini (3 mins is all fesh tort. takes)

Mn, I'd really prefer far finer tomatos. Perhaps i'm weird, but chunky tomato sauce has a displeasing texture...

Phototoxin wrote:Pasta

tinned, chopped tomatoes
1/2 (teaspoon?) sugar
about 2 inches of chorizo (spicy sausage)
sweet corn
(clove or two?) (finely) chopped garlic
mixed herbs (i'm guessing he means basil, oregano and the leafy herbs rather than the woody herbs such as bay and rosemary)
a drop of spicy stuff (Tabasco?) if you want

(cut the chorizo relatively finely and lightly fry it in a dry pan until it releases a reddy orange oil, at this point add the garlic and reduce the heat a little to stop the garlic burning. When the garlic is cooked add the tomatoes and sugar and reduce a little. At this point start cooking the pasta and put the sweetcorn, herbs and optional hot sauce into the sauce. Drain the pasta after about three mins and combine with the sauce gently to avoid breaking the pasta.)

when it's bubbling turn off and do the tortilini (3 mins is all fesh tort. takes)

My attempt at cleaning the recipe up a little.

If you want finer tomatoes try to hunt down some passata, I have no idea if it has the same name or is even sold in the states but it consists of sieved uncooked tomatoes that would be a perfect replacement for the chunky tinned tomatoes. Passata is normally sold in tins, jars or waterproof cardboard containers.

Quick bit of google fu gave this http://www.everyday-vegetarian-recipes.com/what-is-passata.html.

I like vodka sauce pretty well, despite the name.

I've never heard of that Manchu, I regularly use red or white wine in pasta sauces but never vodka. Do you have a recipe?

I've only ever bought it (Newman's Own). Recipes are a dime a dozen online, however, even if I can't recommend any. It's a smooth sauce made with cream.

I poked about on google and found a few recipes, it sounds like something I've had before minus the vodka.

Vodka sauce is very very smoothe tomatos, cream, vodka, and italian herbs. Most famous for penne alla vodka.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'm considering the idea of essentially pureeing the tomatos myself, dunno if that'll effect the taste as well as the texture though...

Puréeing the tomatoes yourself shouldn't do them any harm, just make sure you get some high quality tomatoes otherwise your sauce will taste of nothing.

So some fresh tomatos from a farmer's market?

That does help but even then you need to smell them, good tomatoes smell like they taste and should be nice and firm with no hint of green.

Also, avoid the small cherry type tomatoes or the large beef tomatoes as they aren't right for sauces.

Manchu wrote:I like vodka sauce pretty well, despite the name.

Despite the weird orange color, it is quite tasty

Grew up in a large Italian family, my family stepped of the boat for the American dream... and ran into the Depression. ooops

one of my favorite dishes


gnocchis with my grandfather recipe. with either lamb, sausage or meatballs.

bruschetta

and a few glasses of red wine.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Melissia wrote:So some fresh tomatos from a farmer's market?

Taste a vine ripen tomato.

then taste a store bought tomato.

You will notice the store bought tomato lacks taste, in fact it tastes like water.

If you are really into making sauces I highly suggest growing a tomato garden. Growing tomatoes is easy, they practically grow themselves, the only effort you really have to put in is putting in the little sticks and tying the vines.

unless you live in a really humid area... then you have to fight mold.

I'm not growing tomatos myself. I dislike plants and the outdoors in general...

Spicy Sausage Manicotti
1 pint (or whatever the larger size is) Ricotta cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan grated
1/4 cup Asagio grated
A "measure" of oregano and basil, preferably fresh and chopped, but a "Italian herbs״ shaker works. This is all preference I use about two table spoons which is a lot. Some groceries have both in tubes in the vegetable section already chopped.
About a pound of shredded mozzarella.
One package of spicy Italian sausage, when you can't get it just ground the ones that look like brats work.
1 egg (optional)

Start a pot of salted water to boil for the shells.
Brown the sausage first, it's best it's not warm when you start mixing ingredients. I like to drain the grease in a screen strainer and rinse it with cold water.
Mix half to 3/4 of the mozzarella, all of the ricotta, asagio, parmesan, oregano, basil. You can mix in an egg or two as a binder. I like to have everything else mixed before adding the sausage and mixing...you have to use your hands and squeeze it into little pieces.
Boil the pasta try to leave it a little stiff. The water needs to penetrate it but it doesn't have to be soft.
Stuff the pasta with a spoon or small spatula, Put them in aside.
Since you said you don't like red sauce I'm a little confused...and left the recipe off of the top.
I use either fresh tomatoes or cans.. Let's be honest unless it's the weekend it's can. I prefer to start from tomato sauce and chopped tomatoes. Two table spoons of chopped garlic, oregano and basil, salt and pepper.
You could do a pesto but it's missing that fruity tang red sauce gives you.
You want to cover the bottom of the baking dish with the sauce
don't swamp it, place the pasta in the dish, put a small amount over the top. Spread the mozzarella over the top. Cover with foil bake for 30 mins at 375. Uncover (I like to turn it to broil) and brown the cheese...delicious.

Melissia wrote:I'm not growing tomatos myself. I dislike plants and the outdoors in general...

You plantist who eats plants.



I have to spend all day outside today cutting trees.

Melissia wrote:Well, we have a BBQ thread so why not?

I've been experimenting with various pastas, and feel it's about time for me to move on to trying to make stuffed pastas-- that is, manicottis (a cylindrical rolled pasta), raviolis, tortellonis (a large stuffed pasta), etc. But I really want to avoid the "generic red sauce" trap that many Americans fall in to when they think of pasta... I actually prefer a meat, cheese, or alfredo sauce.

I figure many people on this forum likely have some experience with pastas, even if it's quick-cooked meals. Anyone have any tips for making a good homemade stuffed pasta?

No love for pesto?

Vodka sauce is pretty delicious as well.

IMO, when it comes to pasta, its more important what you put on it/what you eat it with then the noodle itself. I'm perfectly fine using the industrially manufactured boxed Ronzoni/Barilla type stuff.

Oh jesus I love pesto.

I will eat pesto on toast.

In Virginia, supermarket produce has been very gak of late. Nothing has much taste at all. If you want to make tomato sauce, you'll have to get your tomatoes from someone who got them out of their garden. Maybe it will be better in Texas, I dunno.

Pesto is great. Also great on pie in place for you standard pizza sauce. Add some Ricotta throw it in the Brice oven... YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!

Think I may go down to Rossi's Pizza today.

A plain risotto with a big dollop of pesto on top is gorgeous too.

This thread is such win. Uh.

My mom makes pasta every week. Aribiatta was this weeks meal. I'm vouching for pesto. I love pesto. It has such character.

My mom does manicotti too. Stuffed shells, lasagna, bowties, sausage and mushrooms in angel hair. I love pasta.

I would suggest tomato cages over little sticks.

Though if you're going to make a regualr thing of it I would suggest you make your own cages, my parents made ours out of this heavy dudty chicken wire (but with larger holes) type stuff.

You can often buy tomato plants form the farmers market in the spring.

Ma55ter_fett wrote:I would suggest tomato cages over little sticks.

You can often buy tomato plants form the farmers market in the spring.

I grow my own from the start. Buying tomato plants to cover 4 acres would cost too much.

I plant them in clay pots which sit on 8' x 8' wood rollers. Let them out for part of the day in early spring then then put them back inside the garden house.

Then take them out when it is time to plant.

Piston Honda wrote:

Ma55ter_fett wrote:I would suggest tomato cages over little sticks.

You can often buy tomato plants form the farmers market in the spring.

I grow my own from the start. Buying tomato plants to cover 4 acres would cost too much.

I plant them in clay pots which sit on 8' x 8' wood rollers. Let them out for part of the day in early spring then then put them back inside the garden house.

Then take them out when it is time to plant.

Ah, I see.

I don't like tomatos nearly enough to have so many of them.

Ma55ter_fett wrote:

Piston Honda wrote:

Ma55ter_fett wrote:I would suggest tomato cages over little sticks.

You can often buy tomato plants form the farmers market in the spring.

I grow my own from the start. Buying tomato plants to cover 4 acres would cost too much.

I plant them in clay pots which sit on 8' x 8' wood rollers. Let them out for part of the day in early spring then then put them back inside the garden house.

Then take them out when it is time to plant.

Ah, I see.

I don't like tomatos nearly enough to have so many of them.

I eat Italian food 5 to 6 times a week, and for lucnh I will roast up a couple of tomatoes and stuff it with bacon and ricotta.

Most tomatoes get turned into sauce. I sell some, give some out but most is for me.

I also grow eggplant and zucchini about an acre worth.

love zucchini and a nice meat sauce.

I usually only make pasta once a week in large batches, myself. I know, lazy, but having leftovers to quickly cook, and knowing these leftovers are not fast food but home cooked, is quite nice when I'm busy (which is al lthe time at school and work).

Hell half the time you see me posting I'm at class, heh...

Just about done with school Semester and a half left and I am done. I be edumacated.

Then off to see if there is a need for special education teachers out there.



probably not.

Manchu wrote:In Virginia, supermarket produce has been very gak of late. Nothing has much taste at all. If you want to make tomato sauce, you'll have to get your tomatoes from someone who got them out of their garden. Maybe it will be better in Texas, I dunno.

Yeah, not too much here in VA right now. I personally enjoy using cream of mushroom as a sauce and working my way from there, sometimes a bit bland but if you add the right amount of beef and season the hell out of it its pretty good. Other than that I use it with stewed tomatoes and ground beef chunks.

Oh yeah, plenty of need for that what with all the ADD/ADHD/learning disorder diagnoses being handed out.

Melissia wrote:Oh yeah, plenty of need for that what with all the ADD/ADHD/learning disorder diagnoses being handed out.

I work with kids who have sever cases to mild cases of Down syndrome.

The red sauce trap isn't anything of an American exclusive thing. Believe me! We've got it aswell, and honestly... It doesn't get any more exciting to sink your teeth into from having it more often than not.

I haven't experimented too much with pasta dishes just yet. But i'd perfeer pasta over the usual, trivial, danish chopped steak with fried onions, potatoes and brown sauce, which is pretty much our national dish! -.-

I actually eat very little pasta, I'm working on my heart attack by eating primarily meat dishes.
I now demand a Danish chopped steak.

I eat a lot of it, probably for the wrong reasons (it's cheap and easy to make a large quantity of to save as leftovers without spending a lot of money). Sure I eat other things to supplement my diet and make it healthy, but it's still primarily pasta of some form or other.

Pasta is pretty healthy stuff, much more so than most other quick foods.

Italian food in general is pretty good for you due to its general focus on quality produce without the faffing to mask the basic flavours that french food often has.

Ooo.. now I am inspired to work up a new recipe....
Thinking shells stuffed with oysters, mushrooms, garlic, onion with Vodka sauce.
Too bad I can't get fresh oysters here, but I can make do with canned, baby portabella's, and either Newman's or Bertolli sauce.

Will let you know how it comes out.

If you can't get fresh oysters there isn't much point in using them tbh.

corpsesarefun wrote:If you can't get fresh oysters there isn't much point in using them tbh.

true.. and just remembered.. one of my roomies is allergic to shellfish. I think she can eat shrimp though.......

I grew my own tomatoes before. I found out that two plants is too much for a family of 4. Way too much.

I like spanish sardines in pasta.

I sautee my favorite brand of spanish sardines, some tomatoes, capers and black olives in butter and add some cooked store bought spaghetti towards the end

i wish i had a pasta machine so I can make my own spaghetti though

Cannelloni al forno is the way of it. Cannelloni filled with ground veal and lamb, covered in a parmigiana bechamel, and a bit marinara.

helgrenze wrote:Ooo.. now I am inspired to work up a new recipe....
Thinking shells stuffed with oysters, mushrooms, garlic, onion with Vodka sauce.
Too bad I can't get fresh oysters here, but I can make do with canned, baby portabella's, and either Newman's or Bertolli sauce.

Will let you know how it comes out.

true.. and just remembered.. one of my roomies is allergic to shellfish. I think she can eat shrimp though.......

Oh my.... three "don't bother me I'm eating" votes from the roomies and S.O. and the baking dish is empty.... I think I nailed it.

This is the hot sauce we use. We dip the end of a teaspoon in for about 5mm and then stir it in.

Phototoxin wrote:This is the hot sauce we use. We dip the end of a teaspoon in for about 5mm and then stir it in.

Ah but "mad" is not true Insanity
Which is not Total Insanity

But to truely taste the crazy...... you need ULTIMATE INSANITY

which, with the advent of the "bruce T" chili, is in danger of being surpassed.

If you're looking for different types of pasta, try Buccatini - it makes Spaghetti superfluous IMO. It's like spaghetti only larger, with a hollow inside, so all the juices from a sauce go inside it - it's "meatier" than spaghetti to eat, more substantial. It's the Dogs

I watch a lot of cooking programs and most chefs often add some of the liquid from the pasta water into their sauce, not draining the water away completely. Not much, a few tablespoons or a ladel (or two) full at the most - depending on the sauce.

A good alternative to a normal tomato sauce is a light fresher one I like with Lemon Juice and Linguine:

- Fry off some onions and garlic, in oil - with a little butter and sugar, add any dry herbs (oregano, basil etc) or use fresh herbs at the end. When the onions begin to go translucent/start to caramelise (depending on preference) - add the other stuff, quite finely chopped.
- I like Celery and fresh Tomatos, peeled and diced, but you could add finely chopped Leeks or anything like that, Spinach is also good (don't bother chopping it though), as well as fresh Chilli and Mushrooms, even Rocket - basically whatever you have/like. If you're using fresh corriander NEVER throw away the stalks, chop them up and throw them in at this stage or save them for soup/broth. Cook until they begin to soften.
- Grate in some Lemon Rind and add the juice of a lemon, followed by a ladel full of the pasta water.
- At this stage you could add Capers, or even diced/pureed anchovies, perhaps prawns or thin strips of chicken, any sea food or white meat that cooks quickly.
- Once any meat is cooked (if you use any) season to taste and add the pasta, take it off the heat and give it a good mix. To finish off you could add some freshly torn basil or corriander. You could also finish with a drizzle of olive oil to give a more luxurious texture or add some more butter to the water/lemon stage.

Basically just make up your own thing - you could even try freshly squeezed orange juice, or lime juice with the rind - add a little white wine vinegar, whatever you like to your personal taste.

I love Pasta - simplicity never tasted so beautiful

helgrenze wrote:

Phototoxin wrote:This is the hot sauce we use. We dip the end of a teaspoon in for about 5mm and then stir it in.

Ah but "mad" is not true Insanity
Which is not Total Insanity

But to truely taste the crazy...... you need ULTIMATE INSANITY

which, with the advent of the "bruce T" chili, is in danger of being surpassed.

WTF is wrong with you guys. You don't want to burn out your taste buds so you can't taste the pasta...



I use this. Unlike tabasco sauce and derivatives, it isn't a watery tastless mess that exists only to add heat to the meal, without much flavor. Really adds to the flavor of a meal along with adding heat.

warspawned wrote:If you're looking for different types of pasta, try Buccatini - it makes Spaghetti superfluous

I dislike spaghetti to begin with... perhaps it's just me, but I tend towards penne, farfalle, cencioni, rotini, orecchiette, macaronis, stuffed pastas, etc.

Here is my current favourite.

Linguine with king prawns.

Take a handful of king prawns (shelled), a couple of finely diced cloves of garlic, and a finely diced green chilli.
Gently fry in olive oil for a few minuites (until the KP are nearly cooked)
Toss in cooked linguine, stir in the pan until the pasta is covered in the oil/garlic/chilli, then plate it up, and eat with crusty bread.

Four ingredients, and it takes about 10 mins from cupboard to plate.

I don't really like linquine/spaghetti and similar pastas. Call me weird.

To be honest, it works with pretty much any pasta.
Fusilli works well as it is great a t holding sauce.
You can replace the prawns with chicken, just cook for a little longer.

I'd probably use farfalle if I was gonna do taht recipe. It's thin enough to cook quickly...

Melissia wrote:Vodka sauce is very very smoothe tomatos, cream, vodka, and italian herbs. Most famous for penne alla vodka

I'm sorry but that is just a Bloody Mary with a bit of pasta in it!

What's wrong with that?

Melissia wrote:What's wrong with that?

Just seems a little strange mixing your drinking time with your eating time.

I mean, you're supposed to eat BEFORE starting on the voddy, not start on it while you're eating lol!

dogma wrote:Cannelloni al forno is the way of it. Cannelloni filled with ground veal and lamb, covered in a parmigiana bechamel, and a bit marinara.

Good lord that sounds tasty.

Melissia wrote:I don't really like linquine/spaghetti and similar pastas. Call me weird.

I'm the same,sort of. I like fetuccine, and I like angel hair, but something about spaghetti for whatever reason reminds me of worms...

Leigen_Zero wrote:

Melissia wrote:Vodka sauce is very very smoothe tomatos, cream, vodka, and italian herbs. Most famous for penne alla vodka

I'm sorry but that is just a Bloody Mary with a bit of pasta in it!

Joking aside, there is no cream in a Bloody Mary, and there is far less alcohol, thats where the difference lies.

I really dislike ANY string pasta, including angel hair.

Which is why I said I'm probably rather weird.


As for the weirdness of using alcohol in cooking-- it really isn't all that weird. Alcohols are quite interesting chemically...

Melissia wrote:I really dislike ANY string pasta, including angel hair.

Which is why I said I'm probably rather weird.


As for the weirdness of using alcohol in cooking-- it really isn't all that weird. Alcohols are quite interesting chemically...

I bet you are a wagon wheel kind of person. Am I correct?

I love fusili - a quick studenty meal for me was fusili - boil it til ready, drain it, add a splash of linghams chilli sauce and some herbage if necessary, stir and reheat for about 30 seconds on the hob (so the sauce isn't cold).
Bam!

Piston Honda wrote:I bet you are a wagon wheel kind of person. Am I correct?

Uhm. What?

Never saw that kind of pasta.

When it comes to pasta, you have to have Class:




I personally think Italians have the right of it, how they only cook their pasta most of the way, so that there is this thin line of chew dough in the middle of each of them.


As for recipe's, I love this one garlic pasta with Garlic (naturally) Bowtie Pasta, and Red Peppers. So delicious.

The pasta you use is more a function of the sauce you're pairing it with than the particular pasta shape itself. Thick pasta with thick sauces, thin sauces with thin pasta.

Google Jamie Oliver. His pasta recipes are awesome. I've made proper tortelini five or six times to his recipes recently (in about 3 months) and its awesome, but quite fattening.

Anyone tried Spaetzle .... and/or tried it with anything other than butter?

thinking of trying my hand at it with maybe a creamy mushroom sauce.

I'd say any creamy or buttery sauce would work beautifully with spaetzle, just make sure you use lots of black pepper.

In the sauce or the Spaetzle?

The sauce.

helgrenze wrote:Anyone tried Spaetzle .... and/or tried it with anything other than butter?

thinking of trying my hand at it with maybe a creamy mushroom sauce.

I make spatzle quite a bit.

Couple of tips:

I don't know what recipe you're using, but if it calls for whole eggs I'd actually just use one "whole egg" and substitute just the yolks for the rest of the required amount. Same goes for any pasta, really. Also, I'd be careful about sauces, since part of the greatness of spaetzle is sauteing it in butter and getting some nice color and texture on it so you don't want to go to the trouble of making a perfect spaetzle and covering it up and making it soggy.

I like to just toss it with some fresh herbs, minced garlic and about a tablespoon or two of lemon juice (just enough to get a little bit of "acid" flavor in there.)

Isn't it similar to Gnocchi?

Melissia wrote:Isn't it similar to Gnocchi?

Not really, no.

Spaetzle is pretty much just egg and flour. Gnocchi has potatoes in it. Also, there's probably a whole semantic debate about what constitutes a noodle and what constitutes a dumpling.

Monster - So... you would suggest just sauting then adding in some mushrooms? Thinking Hen of the Woods if I can get them, with some tarragon and garlic.

Yeah! Any kind of garnish you want is fine, just try to keep it dry. I'd saute the mushrooms separately and toss them in at the end right before serving.

I'm actually now looking foward to when morel mushrooms come back into season so I can do the same thing!

Hmm.... I wonder how Shitakis would do........

Did I win?

helgrenze wrote:Hmm.... I wonder how Shitakis would do........

I'm not really the guy to ask, because I friggin' love mushrooms of all varieties.

Shitakis would be good though. Stir fry them and hit them with some soy sauce and fish sauce and toss them with your spaetzle and have some German/Japanese fusion cuisine. Try and work some Italian influence in and have all of the Axis powers represented!

helgrenze wrote:Anyone tried Spaetzle .... and/or tried it with anything other than butter?

thinking of trying my hand at it with maybe a creamy mushroom sauce.

I've consumed Spaetzle with all manner of sauces, its delicious. Have a look at chicken paprikash, its a Hungarian dish frequently served with nokedli, which is pretty much Hungarian spaetzle.

For those of you who like your food hot, may I suggest trying out Cajun Chicken Pasta. There are lots of great recipes out there, but I personally like this one: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/09/cajun-chicken-pasta/

My only real recommendation is to get liberal with the cayenne pepper/cajun seasoning, the more the better.

Huge fan of pasta here. Favorite has to be lasagna, if that counts (since it's more of a layered dish than a pasta), with manicotti at a close second. I love meats and cheeses in combination with pastas.

I tried spaetzle once, when we made it in class (a culinary arts school), but we basically had to make it just sauteed in butter. Most of us found it kind of...well, I hate to say nasty, but it wasn't very good. Really needs some kind of sauce on there.

So the plan for next day off is Smoked boneless porkchops, spaetzle with shrooms and tarragon, and some sauted red cabbage. nice german themed meal.

Alternate plan is heading out to local Italian place for some carbonara.

Carbonara isn't really to hard to make at home.

True, but this place has an awesome chef and is building a rep for the best pasta in town.

Best quick, easy pasta is aglio olio al pepe. Basically heat some good olive oil (this is key) with garlic and cracked black pepper, then move the cooked pasta straight from the water into the oil.

Do heat it gently though, olive oil will burn at relatively low temperatures.

Yeah, truthfully the heat is only applied to extract the flavor from the garlic and pepper, most of the heat in terms of the dish is supplied by the pasta.

Not so much a pasta per se but I'm a big fan of braciole, much less a fan of the hassle of making it.

Put a little bit of puree beetroot in it to make it red. You can't taste the beetroot at all. I am not a beetroot fan but I ate it. Also, while in Italy, I saw pasta in the shape of men's bits

Never seen wagon wheels!

Did you not make macaroni cars in kindergarten?

Piston Honda wrote:Just about done with school Semester and a half left and I am done. I be edumacated.

Then off to see if there is a need for special education teachers out there.



probably not.

Always a need for Special Education.

Also no one will say it out loud, but IF your a guy then you will probably get multiple offers assuming your grades/references are decent...

CT GAMER wrote:

Piston Honda wrote:Just about done with school Semester and a half left and I am done. I be edumacated.

Then off to see if there is a need for special education teachers out there.



probably not.

Always a need for Special Education.

Also no one will say it out loud, but IF your a guy then you will probably get multiple offers assuming your grades/references are decent...

Yes, I am a guy. And I do hope I find a job in the North East. Working as a waiter and at wrestling Indy shows does not pay well. Especially when you have to get 82 stitches on your back and your insurance sucks.

Yech, overcooked my penne this week... it's way too soft >.<

Thats what she said?

To make this post not completely OT:

How do you all feel about the specialty 'flavored' pastas? You know, the ones that are made with garlic or spinach or what have you in the dough (or whatever its called). Yay or Nay? I haven't personally noticed a difference in flavor between the flavored and regular stuff in years, think its just food coloring at this point.

chaos0xomega wrote:Thats what she said?

To make this post not completely OT:

How do you all feel about the specialty 'flavored' pastas? You know, the ones that are made with garlic or spinach or what have you in the dough (or whatever its called). Yay or Nay? I haven't personally noticed a difference in flavor between the flavored and regular stuff in years, think its just food coloring at this point.

I've only tried it once or twice, but I thought it was a fairly significant change in flavor. I've tried two varieties - spinach and squid ink, and I definitely noticed the difference. It's one of those things that I don't dislike, but I wouldn't say I like it, exactly. I found squid ink pasta to be really salty, and the spinach to be fairly strong (though the dish itself was also served with spinach, so that probably had some extra effect).

Not for me... I'm a bit of a boring person in that regard I suppose.

I mean I don't even like to have nuts in my chocolate (I don't mind nuts or chocolate, but I prefer them separate).

Has anyone mentioned parmesan cheese yet?

Even if they have it bears mentioning again.

I actually prefer to use parmiggiano instead of parmesan....

Locclo wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:Thats what she said?

To make this post not completely OT:

How do you all feel about the specialty 'flavored' pastas? You know, the ones that are made with garlic or spinach or what have you in the dough (or whatever its called). Yay or Nay? I haven't personally noticed a difference in flavor between the flavored and regular stuff in years, think its just food coloring at this point.

I've only tried it once or twice, but I thought it was a fairly significant change in flavor. I've tried two varieties - spinach and squid ink, and I definitely noticed the difference. It's one of those things that I don't dislike, but I wouldn't say I like it, exactly. I found squid ink pasta to be really salty, and the spinach to be fairly strong (though the dish itself was also served with spinach, so that probably had some extra effect).

squid ink? I wants it!!

Cheese? depends on a variety of factors.... but I prefer Romano. If going for the Parm I go for flaked over shredded and only use the 'powder' if the others are not available.

Eating some fusilli right now, I cooked it al dente before draining then lightly fried it off in the pan I cooked some bacon in before putting it back into the original saucepan with the chopped bacon and pesto.

Words cannot explain how good it is.

Mn, I prefer to grate my own parmiggiano. Yes, I bought my own imported parmiggiano reggiano cheese and grated it myself for my pasta >.>

Isn't that what most people do?

Pregrated parmesan tastes like ass

No.

Those poor misguided people...

I agree with helgrenze: Romano cheese is far superior to Parmasan.

This is going to sound unusual, but my favorite pasta recipe is Fettuccine with Soy Sauce and Garlic. I usually add diced chicken and zucchini, but you could add whatever you like.

I also make a mean Chicken Marsala.

Oooh! Fusion food

corpsesarefun wrote:Oooh! Fusion food

Or as I call it, "what does biccat have in the pantry" food.

Note that canned peas, salmon and orzo also makes a decent pasta salad

Soy sauce is good on everything.

A little umami goes a long way.

Doesn't go with peanut butter though...

Oh, you can make a badass peanut sauce with with peanut butter and soy sauce.

n0t_u wrote:Doesn't go with peanut butter though...

The Thai would disagree with you.

However, I wouldn't. The only Thai food I like is the kind that doesn't involve peanuts.

Really? I always thought the two wouldn't go together all that well. I guess I'll add it in next time I can't find anything and use peanut butter to make a sauce.

Mnn, making some parmiggiano alfredo farfalle with diced chicken...

n0t_u wrote:Really? I always thought the two wouldn't go together all that well. I guess I'll add it in next time I can't find anything and use peanut butter to make a sauce.

Thai food, man.

There's tons of recipes out there for peanut sauce, and that stuff is good.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

biccat wrote:The only Thai food I like is the kind that doesn't involve peanuts.

Heresy.

Monster Rain wrote:

n0t_u wrote:Really? I always thought the two wouldn't go together all that well. I guess I'll add it in next time I can't find anything and use peanut butter to make a sauce.

Thai food, man.

There's tons of recipes out there for peanut sauce, and that stuff is good.

Alternatively, replace the vanilla in any brownie recipe with soy sauce.

Totally going to have to buy some ground beef tomorrow for my weekly spaghetti cooking. This thread is making me hungry. As soon as I've used up all my spaghetti noodles I might move to penne or something else. Never tried making my own pasta though. That's OP.

Fish sauce would work in brownies too. Anything with a strong umami flavor.