Pasta with butter

You cannot believe it but butter tastes diffently in Italy. I think it is lighter here
in the US. However you can make a successful pasta with butter anywhere. What you need is butter, olive oil and parmesan cheese.
In Italy we use to eat it when we are stomach sick or we just want to eat lighter. My mom used to call it "pastina in bianco", that means "pasta in white sauce or pratically with no sauce".

Preparation time: 15 min


1) Put some water to boil in a pot and add 1 teaspoon of salt

2) Add short pasta (tubettini)
to the boiling water

3) Let it cook for 5 minutes

4) Drain the pasta
saving some of its cooking water

5) Add a quater of butter per person and stir in the pasta

6) Add a bunch of parmesan cheese and a teaspoon of olive oil.

Variations: very easy to make also as a side dish or adjusting the amount of water in the pasta you can make a sort of soupy pasta.

Buon Appetito!

Rice with red sauce

Exactly it is rice with red sauce. Unthinkable for asian people... but a reality for many Italians.

Try to believe it!

Preparation time: 20 min (super-easy)

1)Boil water in a pot for the rice (Arborio rice). Add salt to the water.

2)Prepare a red tomato sauce: cut onions, olive oils in a pot for 5 min and then add a can of red tomato sauce. Add basil and a tiny bit of butter (optional).

3) Drain the rice using a pasta drainer.

4) Add red sauce on the top of the white rice.

Add basil, parmesan and black pepper as much as you like.

PS you can stir the sauce in the rice...

Buon appetito.

Mardi Gras Pasta with ricotta cheese

Yesterday was Marti Gras. Quite a holiday it used to be in Italy. It represented the last day before the start of the Catholic Lent. Therefore, we used to celebrate it with a big party in mask (our Carnival) and very rich food. One of the richest food in Italy is lasagna, which is a pasta dish full of everything from eggs to meat, mozzarella and ricotta cheese. It takes a little bit of time to prepare a fresh lasagna dish, so I have a quick version of that dish. All you need is curly pasta, fresh ricotta, a can of tomatoes sauce, onions and some basil.

Preparation time: 15-20 min

1) Boil water in a pot for the pasta

2) Cut the onions and put in a separate pot with olive oil.

3) Add a can of red sauce to the onions. Add some basil.

4) After about 10 min, add some of the just cooked red sauce to a bowl of fresh ricotta cheese. Stir it to make a white creamy sauce. Remember to leave some extra red sauce in the pot.

5) Drain the pasta, put it back in the pot and add the creamy sauce to it.

When you make the portions add red sauce on the top. Add parmesan cheese and pepper if you like.

PS you can find the curly bucatini pasta at Trader's Joe.

PSPS I like mine messy in a bowl!

Buon Appetito!

Pasta with Garlic and Oil

Let me tell you: this is a classic. This is the simplest Pasta dish ever. When I was in Italy hanging out with friends at night we used to propose to the gang: shall we have a Spaghettata Aglio and Olio? The term derives from Spaghetti, which is the shape of pasta required for this kind of dish, and it means a big feast of spaghetti with garlic and oil. Please remember to use only olive oil.

Time for preparation: 5-10 minutes (Super-easy)

1) Boil water in a pot for the pasta (spaghetti!)

2) Add 4-5 cloves (per person) of smashed garlic, olive oil (2 tbs per person) and hot red pepper to a pan at medium-low fire

3) Drain the pasta and add it to the pan stirring all together

4) Add chopped parsley (parsley will help to cancel the garlic bad smell form you mouth!)

Add parmesan cheese and pepper if you like.

PS because I needed to eat some fish, I opened a can of tuna and with some olive oil added as side to the pasta...

Buon appetito!

Pasta with Portobello mushrooms

I rarely cook mushrooms at home, because not everybody likes them. But few days ago I had some Portobello mushrooms in the fridge that needed to be cooked. I was undecided between a nice risotto with mushroooms or a pasta with mushrooms. I went for the second option. Yes the real story is that I had also some baby tomatoes in the fridge that I wanted to cook. Therefore I thought mmmhh...mushrooms+baby tomatoes...maybe some parsley and garlic and olive oil and voilla` ...a nice dish...

Preparation time: 10-15min

1) Boil water in a pot for pasta (fettuccine!)

2)Add olive oil, red hot pepper and 2 cloves of chopped garlic in a pan at medium fire

3) Wash and cut the mushrooms

4)Add to the pan for 3-4 minutes

5) Wash and cut in half the baby tomatoes

6) While you start cooking the pasta, add the tomatoes to the pan with mushroom

7)Before draining the pasta, add some chopped fresh parsley to the mushroom sauce

8) Add the pasta to the pan and stir it.

At the end add pepper and parmesan cheese.

Buon appetito

Pasta with onions and meat

It turned out that last night I was hungrier that I thought I would be. I found some ground beef in the fridge and I decided to make some pasta with it. But I still wanted to cook some onions.

Time:15 min.

1) Put water to boil in a pot

2)Cut onions and add to a second pot with extra virgin olive oil. Cover with a cup and let the onions cook at medium for 5 minutes.

3) Add some white wine and let evaporate the alcohol. 

4) Add the ground beef. Cover with a cap the pot.

5) Add the pasta (spaghetti will work fine, linguine better).

6) Drain the pasta and add to the pot with the meat sauce.

7) Add a bunch of parmesan (mandatory) and some pepper.

I was pretty full at the end of my second dish of pasta! However I had also a nice salad with lemon and olive oil. We used to say that salad at the end of a meal is good to wash your mouth and help you digest.

Buon appetito!

Onion frittata

I was thinking what I can cook for tonight... Last week-end we had far too many sweeties, so I feel that I should control myself and eat something light. I will make a nice salad for sure. Dressed with extra virgin olive of oil (good for you) and a little bit of salt and lemon (Vitamin C). 

I may just have eggs. Yes, I will make a nice frittata of onions.

Time: 10 min

1)Take a skillet, add extra virgin live oil, medium heat.

2)Pell and slice white or red onions. Add them to the skillet for few minutes.

3)Meanwhile beats 4 eggs (2 per person). Add a quarter of teaspoon of salt.  

4)Add the onions to the eggs, stir and re-pour everything in the skillet.

5) Cook few minutes one side and then the other side. Leave the round shape characteristic of frittata.

 

Serve like a pie. 

Optional: add parmesan to the mix.

Buon appetito