Pasta Love

Versatile, convenient, and delicious…those are just a few reason so many people love eating a warm bowl of pasta. We’ve got an amazing homemade pasta recipe straight from Italy and some perfect ways to use it! Buon apetitio!

Chicken Carbonara

FROM VALENTINASCORNER.COM

10 oz. of pasta
1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved (about 2 breasts)
8 oz. of bacon, chopped and cooked
1/2 lb. raw shrimp
2 Tbsp. reserved bacon grease, divided
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided

Carbonara Sauce:
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup tomatoes, cubed
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cups half & half
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Chicken Coating:
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese
1⁄4 tsp. garlic powder
1⁄4 tsp. salt
1⁄4 tsp. ground black pepper
1⁄4 tsp. ground paprika

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and cover to keep warm. Cut and cook the bacon; reserve 2 Tbsp. of the bacon grease.

In a skillet, cook the raw shrimp with 1 Tbsp. butter until fully cooked. Remove from skillet.

In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the chicken coating.

Cut the chicken breasts in half. Fully dredge the 4 chicken fillets in the chicken coating.

In the same skillet, fry the chicken fillets with 1 Tbsp. bacon grease and 1 Tbsp. butter until fully cooked. Remove chicken from skillet. Cut chicken into cubes or strips.

In the same skillet, sauté the finely chopped onion with 1 Tbsp. grease and 1 Tbsp. butter.

Once the onion is tender, add the minced garlic and cubed tomatoes. Cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Add the chicken broth, half and half, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper (to taste) to the skillet.

Cook the sauce until the sauce thickens.

Add the shrimp, bacon, and chicken back to the carbonara sauce.

Serve over pasta or mix the cooked pasta into the sauce. If serving over pasta, be sure pasta is reheated.


True Italian Fettuccini

BY JENNY GOLDSBERRY

3 cups flour
3 eggs
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. salt

Clear some tabletop space. Dump all your flour on the counter. Then, make a crater in the center of your flour pile. Put all the wet ingredients in the center. Sprinkle the salt in the center. Mix the eggs in the center. Little by little, mix in the flour surrounding the crater. Eventually, the dough will get too thick to mix, so knead it with your hands. You won’t use all the flour, so knead until it’s a smooth, tough dough.

Roll out your dough, using the leftover flour to flour your rolling pin, but you still won’t use all of it. Roll it in every direction, folding it in half at least twice so that it’s as smooth as possible. It should be about two millimeters in thickness or less when you’re done.

Cut it into noodles. I like to make sure the two long ends are straight, but I leave the short end of the noodle alone, so that it keeps its homemade look. You’ll still have scraps that you can roll out again to make more noodles. Flip every noodle into the flour on each side so that they don’t stick to each other. Refrigerate the noodles for at least a half hour before boiling.

Boil the pasta like you normally would, for roughly five minutes in salted water. Don’t strain the water out of the noodles! Instead, take the noodles out of the water. It’s okay if you mix some pasta water with the sauce you use on your noodles: that makes it better! Save your pasta water for more sauces in the future or even to water your plants.

Buon apetitio! You have homemade pasta without the pasta maker!


Pesto Genovese

FROM THESPRUCEEATS.COM

2 cups basil leaves, washed and dried thoroughly
2 Tbsp. pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated, to taste (Microplane grater works well)
1/4 cup pecorino Romano, or sardo

Place the basil, pine nuts, garlic, and salt in a food processor and pulse until pureed into a smooth paste.

Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the olive oil until evenly mixed.

Stir in the cheeses until mixture is completely blended.


Easy Alfredo Sauce

BY HAILEY MINTON

1⁄2 cup butter
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 1⁄2 cups heavy whipping cream
1⁄2 tsp. parsley
1⁄4 tsp. pepper
1⁄2 tsp. salt
2 cups parmesan cheese

In a saucepan, melt butter. Once it starts to get bubbly, add in garlic and simmer for 30 seconds to a minute. Stir in parsley, pepper, salt, and cream. Simmer on low heat for 2 minutes, then add in the parmesan cheese. Stir until it is melted and starts to thicken up. This sauce is good served with chicken or shrimp over pasta or as a pizza sauce.


The Right Way to Sauce Pasta

from seriousseats.com

No matter how great a sauce you can make, if you don’t sauce your pasta correctly, you’re missing out on one of life’s greatest pleasures.

Step 1: Heat Your Sauce Separately
No cold sauce! Pasta should be tossed with sauce that is already hot and ready.

Step 2: Cook Your Pasta al Dente
Add a little salt to the water and don’t add oil! Drain in colander, reserving about a cup of the pasta water.

Step 3: Transfer Cooked Pasta to Sauce
Using tongs is easiest.

Step 4: Add Pasta Water
Once the pasta is in the sauce, add pasta water. This is the most vital step in the process. Starchy pasta water doesn’t just help thin the sauce to the right consistency; it also helps it cling to the pasta better and emulsify with the fat and cheese you’re going to be adding.

Step 5: Add Fat
With extra fat, you can get an emulsion that leaves the sauce creamy but still loose. A tablespoon of olive oil or butter is all you need.

Step 6: Cook Hard and Fast
Simmering not only reduces liquid but thickens the sauce. The hotter your pan, the more vigorously the sauce will bubble and the better the emulsion you’ll form. Turn your heat on high and cook, stirring and tossing the pasta constantly (to ensure that it doesn’t stick to the bottom), adding more pasta water as necessary until it gets that perfectly saucy texture.

Step 7: Stir in Cheese and Herbs off Heat
You can also adjust consistency and add more pasta water if needed.

Now, you have the perfectly and correctly sauced pasta!

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