What's your favourite pasta recipe?

Please share your favourite pasta recipe.  

Tomatoes, cream sauce, something better?

Egg, wheat, gluten-free or squash style noodles?  

What's your favourite?  

Equal part pasta and cauliflower boiled together.

strain

add butter, garlic, salt and pepper.  return to heat and stir vigorously to slightly crush the cauliflower.  

Delicious.  

also good with broccoli

Pasta Bake: either beef or tuna.

Beef tends to be tomato based, tuna pairs well with a ‘cream’ sauce. The cheaper cuts of beef are the tastiest: chuck and blade.

There’s lots of different recipes, but the main ingredients should be home-grown vegies/herbs.

The pasta is precooked – preferably one of the midsized tube ones: penne rigate or elbow, even rotini

Flavouring components are typically: onions, garlic, salt or soy sauce, black or white pepper (big differences), anchovies, herbs to complement the particular meat being used, the cheese topping chosen to suit palate (cheddar, feta, halloumi, parmesan, a good blue or a combination of several cheeses).

I use milk in preference to cream – cream is too rich, whilst milk keeps it moist.

The brown crispy top tends to be the favourite part of the dish. And, if there are any leftovers,  it freezes well for later use!

My life here produces a lot of leftover curries. Mutton, chicken, veg, whatever. I don't care for rice as much as it imposes itself in my life, so I tend to make pasta to use up leftover curries.

In winter, our region is cut off by road from anywhere else, so we don't get any fresh fruit or veg at all, and I like to dry a lot of vegetables. A lot of them rehydrate nicely if thrown in the water with the pasta. Especially mushrooms, broccoli, or eggplant.

I have a miserly habit of boiling pasta in only just enough water, from the many years of hauling my own water up one story to my living quarters. At this altitude pasta seems to take forever to soften, so I cook it in the pressure cooker, with just enough water to cover the pasta and dried vegetables, bring it up to pressure and then turn it off. By the time the pressure cooker is cooled enough to open, the pasta is usually cooked and has absorbed most of the water. It comes out fully cooked through but kind of al dente that way.

For sauce, if I don't have a leftover curry to use up, sometimes I dissolve grated strong cheese in simmering milk with sauted onions and garlic, indulging my secretive and relatively expensive love of (exotic!) cheeeese. Or saute down some tomatoes with the usual accompaniments and oregano till it's saucy. Or for the easiest and laziest, just butter, salt and (omigod delicious!) powder of home-dried tomatoes.

In the US I used to like making lasagna, and here I just recently got an oven (exotic!). I found that making up a stiff dough and rolling it out is perfectly reasonable and doable. Certainly easier than boiling and straining commercial lasagna noodles, though not as easy as making lasagna with dry noodles, which is how I always did it before. At least this way they're whole wheat.

My favorite dinner in a hurry:

boil pasta, while heating finely chop garden herbs like parsley, rosemary, basil, chives, celery etc

put pre-cooked garbanzos and finely chopped zuccini  in a strainer

pour cooked pasta into strainer.  this rinsed and heats up the garbanzos.

return mix to pot, add pre-made tomato spaghetti sauce, a mini splash of olive oil and herbs.

serve with black pepper and a touch of parmesan (or nutritional yeast) and a side salad.

it's nutritionally balanced, cheap and can be vegan if you want it to be.  if you use canned or leftover garbanzos and tomato sauce it can be done in 12 minutes

It was dinner yesterday!

Dice 2 links of italian sausage. Saute with diced onion, green pepper, and red hot pepper.  After it is browned and softened, add sliced mushrooms, let brown. Add diced eggplant, let brown. If you have hen damaged green tomatoes, dice and add. Add sliced zucchini or yellow squash. When everything is cooked to your liking, add diced ripe tomatoes and a handful of fresh herbs like basil and oregano.

Use a splash of olive oil as needed and salt and pepper throughout the veggie additions. This dish seems best with more salt than I normally use.

While veg mix cooks, boil up some black bean (or whatever type preferred) pasta. Mix together. Top with extra olive oil and parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast.

This is a great way to use a lot of garden stuff at once or to clear out fridge.  Wilty veg go great in this.  I have also left out the meat for vegetarians and still is good, although I go heavier with the olive oil since I'm losing the fat from the sausage.

This sounds long, but only took about 20 min or so.

I heard for about 10 years that the best mac & cheese is from a place called Blackie's in St. Clair Shores, MI. Finally got a chance to go there & have to agree it's the best I've ever had. There was zero chance they were going to give or sell the recipe no matter how much I begged. So I duplicated it when I got home. Maybe not exactly but darn close. Forty years ago I had an Italian neighbor who tormented me with amazing aromas floating around my backyard every day after school. Every now & then she would bring me a sample. The woman didn't speak English but she taught me via her translator daughter that pasta water should always "taste like the sea". Meaning salty. That tidbit has always served me well.

Ingredients:

high quality macaroni

white American cheese

white cheddar cheese

asiago cheese

parmesan cheese (not from cardboard cans ... use the best quality cheeses possible for this)

cream

butter

salt

finely ground bread crumbs (again, use the good stuff)

I never wrote the quantities down. Roughly equal parts American & cheddar. Lesser amounts of asiago & parmesan. Make a cream sauce with the cream, butter, & cheeses by slowly melting it all together. Stir constantly until it's smooth. Pour sauce on top of salty cooked macaroni. Use lots of sauce. Then make a thin layer of bread crumbs on top. Shave a little more parmesan & asiago onto the bread crumb layer. Bake at 350 F until golden brown.

note: I stopped eating American cheese after realizing the oil it is made from is probably GMO corn oil. Goats milk gouda is an excellent replacement. You might want to consult your cardiologist before eating this dish. It's a heart attack waiting to happen but it's so yummy!!!

I don't eat pasta anymore but my husband used to make a one pot pasta quite often that he loved partially because it was so easy.

He used macaroni, rotini , or penne usually. He had a formula worked out for how much water he needed for it to all be absorbed by the time the pasta was cooked. He'd add a couple chopped tomatoes, a few cubes of the chopped spinach I'd freeze in ice cube trays, basil, oregano, tarragon, salt, pepper.  Sometimes some mushrooms or chili flakes. Cook and stir until the pasta's done and, voila, pasta and sauce.

edit:  My husband tells me it's 1 cup of pasta to 1.5 cups of water.  He'd put a spoon of homemade bouillon powder in, and the mushrooms were always dried shiitakes, broken into small pieces.

i eat a lot of meals alone because of scheduling, and often I'm exhausted and not up to it. My solution is "easy sleazy noochy noodles" (from back when i was a vegan, more on that later).

Boil up a portion of whatever pasta, whole grain, shape, whatever.
Just before it's done throw a good few handlfuls of whatever strong green is in the garden (kale, collards, napa, cabbage). Drain it out.
in the same warm pan the pasta cooked in, put a tablespoon of almond/peanut/sesame butter, another tablespoon of your oil/fat of choice (sesame is good), another of miso, and another of mustard (in my vegan days there would be a T of nutritional yeast too, i tend to skip it now, this is already an umami bomb). Mix that all up, dump the still-kinda-wet pasta and greens in there and mix around.
Voila, umami bomb, fiber, lunch.

Chop up fine some onions, garlic, carrots & whatever other veggies you have (cauliflower is good in this recipe).
Fry in butter with salt and pepper.  (Be generous with the butter)
If you want to add meat, that's good too, especially chicken or pork.  You don't need a lot.
Once everything's cooked to your liking, add heavy cream (it doesn't need much at all, about as much as the butter or a bit more) and stir it in.  The cream and butter make a thin, flavorful white sauce.
Add noodles you've previously cooked.  (Type of noodle is your preference.  I like fettuccini or spaghetti.)  
Add a garnish of parmesan if you have it.

I make it so that about there's about as many noodles as veggies.  This recipe is a kitchen sink recipe (add what odd bits you have).  If you have left over noodles it's pretty fast and it's delicious.  The sauce, onions, garlic salt and pepper cover a multitude of sins.  The other day I had a tiny bit of gravy left and threw that in too.  Glorious!
Because of the cream and butter, it fills you up on a smaller portion and you can work a long time before you need to eat again.

My wife likes to cook noodles in stock for more flavor (rarely happens, we're not that organized.

Pasta with shrimp in cream sauce.

Cook pasta and steam a vegetable of choice to add to pasta mix (broccoli is good).

Put some butter and garlic in a pan, when the butter is melted add your shrimp and cook them. Add some parslry or other favorite herbs.  

When shrimp is done add heavy whipping cream (unwhipped) to  make a sauce.

Put steamed veggies over pasta and add the shrimp/cream sauce.

I absolutely love pasta. Now that I'm diabetic, I can't have much. But I've been able to alter my favorite, pasta primavera (not that it's very spring-like) so that I can enjoy sometimes.

1 lb. pasta
1 cup zucchini spread or zoodles
1 cup winter squashetti
1 cup cauliflower mash
1 cup carrot sticks
1 cup red bell pepper strips
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Basil
1 Tbsp. garlic confit
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 cup parmesan

Cook pasta al dente. Cook veggies separately to desired doneness. Combine everything and season to taste.

My husband can't have any starches, and turning zucchini or butternut squash into noodles is a bit too time-intensive for us most days.

Today, though, I discovered I could have my pasta without the noodles and it's just as yummy! Really, it was more like pizza without the dough, but this thread reminded me of it.

Noodle-less pasta (dough-less pizza):

1 can/jar of marinara/your favorite tomato sauce

Basil

Slices of mozzeralla cheese.

a oven-safe bowl/pan/pie pan/baking dish

Preheat oven to 425 F. Pour sauce into baking dish. Sprinkle on basil if you like. Slice the mozzarella cheese (or whatever cheese you like) and lay it on top of the pasta sauce. Put the dish in the oven until the cheese melts and maybe browns a bit (about 15-20 minutes). Eat with a spoon, or dip bacon in it...or potentially throw it on top of some actual pasta. It tastes so much like pizza, you won't even miss the starch, though!

From Allrecipes Pasta con Sarde    

1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti
•   3/4 cup olive oil, divided
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 (4 ounce) cans sardines packed in olive oil, drained
• 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• additional Parmesan cheese for serving (optional)

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti, and cook until al dente, or 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and rinse under cold water. Toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, cover and keep warm.
2. Place another 1/4 cup olive oil in a skillet, and heat over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, and cook just until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sardines, and cook 1 minute more. Stir in the bread crumbs and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese. If necessary to give the mixture a crumbly texture, stir in the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil. Stir in the parsley and pepper, and remove from the heat. If desired, serve with additional Parmesan cheese.
Per Serving: 1046 calories; 52.4 g fat; 106.5 g carbohydrates; 35.9 g protein; 87 mg cholesterol; 930 mg sodium. Full nutrition

spaghetti carbonara