It is customary to call pasta not only varieties of pasta, but also a dish, without which no Italian can imagine life. But not only Italians love and appreciate pasta. It is possible that pasta is the most popular dish on the planet, as its varieties are found in Asian cuisine and many others.
Real pasta is made from durum wheat flour. Considering the fact that man was engaged in the cultivation of wheat, approximately, from the very beginning of his civilization, it can be assumed that pasta is one of the most ancient foods on earth.
Currently, there are a huge number of types of pasta, which differ in size, shape, color, type of flour from which they are made. The simplest classification is: fresh pasta, which must be consumed immediately after preparation, and dry pasta, which is sold in supermarkets and can be stored for a long time.
By size, pasta is divided into:
- long, size over 30 cm, it is spaghetti, fettuccine, noodles;
- short: penne, spiral, porcelain;
- fine paste used in soup: noodles, stars, etc.
Large pasta can be distinguished into a separate group: cannelloni and lasagna pasta. The well-known ravioli also belong to the type of filled pasta.
The multi-colored paste is obtained through the use of various natural dyes. And in Asian cuisine, glass noodles or buckwheat noodles are very common.
The opinion that you get fat from pasta is wrong. An example of this is the Italians themselves, among whom it is impossible to find pathologically fat people. The nutritional value of the paste is 338 kcal, and this indicator refers to the product in dry form. Therefore, if you do not abuse pasta with fatty gravies, then you can safely attribute it to a dietary dish.
Variegated pasta salad
For many Russians, salads containing cold pasta look unusual, since we are used to pasta being the main dish. But Italians love pasta so much that they even add it to salads.
For salads, it is best to use pasta with thick walls, such as penne, farfarelle, etc.
Ingredients:
- Figured pasta – 400 gr.
- Broccoli – 250 gr.
- Cherry tomatoes – 200 gr.
- Green peas – 150 gr.
- Parsley – 1 bunch
- Natural unsweetened yogurt – 250 gr.
- Cream – 3 tbsp. l.
- Lemon juice – 1 tbsp. l.
- Sugar – a pinch
- Salt – to taste
- Canned corn – 125 gr.
- Mozzarella in small balls – 150 gr.
Boil pasta to a state al dente… Throw in a colander.
Divide broccoli into inflorescences and blanch them with green peas for 3 minutes. After that, fold in a colander.
Cut the tomatoes into quarters.
Wash the parsley and chop finely, mix it with yogurt, cream, add salt, lemon juice, pepper. This is a salad dressing.
Mix pasta, vegetables, corn and mozzarella, season with yoghurt sauce. The result is a beautiful and aromatic salad.
Chicken noodle soup
It is possible that this is one of the most popular and beloved soups not only in our country, as its variants can be found in restaurants around the world.
Ingredients:
- Chicken breast fillet – 1 pc.
- Chicken drumsticks – 2 pcs.
- Luk – 1 No.
- Carrots – 1 pieces.
- Egg noodles – 150 gr.
- Salt – to taste
- Pepper to taste
Rinse the chicken meat, cut the breast into small pieces, add water and put on fire. At this time, we are preparing vegetables. Finely chop the onion, grate the carrots.
After boiling the meat for 30 minutes, add onions and carrots to the water. Some people prefer to fry them before that, but this is a matter of taste, in our case, it turns out a dietary and healthy version of the soup.
Salt the broth and after 10 minutes of cooking vegetables add noodles to the soup, it is better to check the cooking time on the package.
Serve soup garnished with herbs.
Shrimp pasta
Ingredients:
- Long pasta – 250-300 gr.
- Medium-sized shrimps – 10 pcs.
- Zest of half a lemon
- Tomatoes – 5 pieces.
- Garlic – 2 cloves
- Basil – bunch
- Salt – to taste
- Pepper to taste
- Olive oil to taste
We clean the shrimp from the shell, leaving the tail. Mix them with lemon zest and pour with olive oil. Fry in a hot skillet for 1 minute on each side. Put it in a cup and cover it so that they do not cool down.
Finely chop a couple of tomatoes and fry in shrimp oil until they become pasty. Then add the remaining tomatoes to them, but cut them larger.
Dip the pasta into boiling salted water and cook them to the state al dente.
Grind the garlic and basil in a blender with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. In fact, it turns out pesto, only without nuts. Pour the sauce into the tomatoes and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add shrimp and ready-made pasta there.
We mix everything. Serve garnished with a leaf of basil, cherry tomatoes and grated parmesan.
There are a huge number of recipes for making pasta. This can be pasta with meat sauce, vegetarian, seafood pasta, baked pasta, ham and cheese pasta, and much more. You will find a variety of pasta recipes on our website and you can enjoy the taste of Italy in your kitchen.