In Italy, there are hundreds of types of pasta: long and short, thick and thin, like spirals and butterflies, tubes and shells, wide and narrow. Why do Italians need so many different pasta? It’s all about the sauce! Thick sauces require thick pasta, delicate creamy sauces require thin, stew pieces cling better to curly pasta.
Pasta sauce: how to cook?
Pasta sauces can be divided into “thin” and thick. The former include butter, both based on butter and olive oil, the latter – tomato, stew sauces, with pieces of vegetables, meat, seafood. Cream-based sauces can be classified into either category, it all depends on their thickness. The simplest pasta sauce is made with butter and is suitable for long and thin pasta such as spaghetti, spaghettoni, cappellini and bavetti. You will need: – 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter; – ½ teaspoon of finely ground sea salt; 1 teaspoon fresh chopped sage – 2 tablespoons of cream, 20% fat; – ½ cup of grated Parmesan-style cheese. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, add salt and sage, and cook, stirring frequently, until the butter begins to brown (this will take about 5 minutes). Add cream and remove sauce from heat, add cheese and stir well. To make the sauce sweeter, add chopped onions fried in olive oil to it, add fried garlic to it more aromatic and, before cooking, chopped herbs – basil, thyme, marjoram, rosemary. If you made the pasta at home or bought it fresh, it will absorb more liquid. In this case, so that the pasta is not dryish, you need to pour in twice as much cream.
The most popular olive oil-based sauce is the famous fresh and aromatic pesto. For the classic version of the sauce, take: – 2 cups fresh basil leaves; 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup olive oil – 1/3 cup pine nuts; – 3 medium cloves of garlic; – salt and ground black pepper. In a mortar and pestle, grind the basil leaves with a little salt, add the nuts and continue to grind, in a clockwise circular motion. Then add the chopped garlic, cheese and begin, little by little, topping up the olive oil while continuing to grind the sauce. The finished pesto is homogeneous, with oil embedded in it rather than floating on the surface. Season the sauce with pepper and serve with hot, thin pasta.
You can make pesto sauce in a food processor or with a blender, but connoisseurs say it will lose a lot in aroma and taste.
Of the tomato sauces, the most famous is the spicy, aromatic southern marinara sauce. It is prepared by adding garlic, onions, herbs, spices to tomatoes, and sometimes, contrary to the classic recipe, and seafood. Marinara, like all tomato sauces, goes well both with thick and wide pappardelle pasta and with various “tubes” such as foam or rigati. For the traditional version of marinara sauce, you will need: – 500 g canned chopped tomatoes; 1/2 cup olive oil – 2 small heads of onions; – 2 cloves of garlic; – 2 stalks of celery; – 2 carrots; – 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt; 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper – 2 dried bay leaves. In a large, wide saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the finely diced onion and chopped garlic and sauté until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add chopped celery and grated carrots and season with salt and pepper. Saute vegetables until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes and bay leaves, and simmer until the sauce thickens, about an hour. Remove from heat, remove and discard bay leaf. Mix with hot pasta.
The marinara sauce can be prepared 2-3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Warm up the sauce before adding it to the pasta.
One of the famous Italian sauces – bolognese – is often served in Europe with spaghetti. And this is a big mistake, from the point of view of Italians, since curly pasta is ideal for stew sauces, allowing pieces of meat, vegetables, seafood to “get stuck” in its grooves and twists. These are farfalle, fusilli, lumakoni and similar pasta. For a Bolognese stew, take: – 5 tablespoons of olive oil; – 3 tablespoons of butter; – 1 carrot, cut into small cubes; – 1 medium onion, diced; – 1 stick of celery, finely chopped; – 1 minced garlic clove; – 500 g of beef pulp; – 200 g pancetta (smoked pork belly); – 2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste; – 1 glass of milk; – 1 glass of dry white wine; – salt and pepper.
In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add onion, celery and garlic and sauté over medium heat until vegetables are translucent and tender, this will take 10 to 15 minutes. Cut the meat as small as possible, cut the pancetta into small cubes. Place with vegetables. Increase heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned. Add tomato paste, milk, wine and simmer over medium heat for an hour and a half. Season with salt and pepper and place on top of the hot pasta on plates.