How to cook the real Italian Pasta, 5 delicious ideas: EASY, FAST AND TASTY recipes!

Few great traditional Italian Pasta ideas:

Spaghetti with Fresh tomato Sauce, Mozzarella Cheese and Basil or “Spaghetti al Pomodoro, Basilico e Mozzarella”

Ingredients for 4 people

• 320 grams of  Maccheroni Pasta or Spaghetti Pasta
• 10 fresh tomatoes like San Marzano or Canned Tomato
• 1 clove of Garlic
• a sprig of Basil
• 4 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and Black Pepper as preferred
• Parmesan cheese as preferred
• 200 grams of Mozzarella cheese cut in cubes

 Preparation

1. In a pan pour 3 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a clove of crushed garlic, cook until the garlic becomes golden and then remove it, add the fresh tomatoes and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.
2. Cut the mozzarella cheese into chunks.
3. In a saucepan, pour the water and salt (about 1 spoon/the water should taste a little bit salty), bring to a boil, add the pasta, cook according to package instructions until “al dente”, drain the pasta and transfer  into the pan with the tomato sauce, add cubes of mozzarella cheese and  add the basil leaves. Add Parmesan cheese on top and serve. The result is pretty amazing!

Rigatoni Gricia or “Pasta alla Gricia”

Ingredients for 4 people

• 320 grams of Mezzemaniche  or Rigatoni Pasta
• 200 grams of “Pancetta” or “Guanciale” (chopped, about 1-2cm) Pork similar to Bacon cut, or use bacon if pancetta is not available
• 100 grams of grated Pecorino Cheese
• Salt, Pepper as you prefer
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, of course

Preparation

1. Cut the bacon into strips and fry in a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil, once the bacon will become transparent and all the fat has melted, turn off the heat. Do not burn the bacon! Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a pot with salted water.

2. Drain the pasta “al dente”, take a few spoons of the cooking water and pour into the pan with the bacon. Add the grated pecorino cheese and plenty of black pepper, mix the sauce with pasta to make the Gricia, fry for a few minutes. Serve.

Spaghetti with Pesto and Tomato, with fresh Pachino and Pine Nuts

Ingredients for 4 people

• 320 grams of Spaghetti Pasta
• 2 tablespoons of Pine Nuts
• 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 6 tablespoons of Pesto sauce
• 40 Pachino Tomatoes
• Salt, Basil as you prefer

Preparation

1. Add the pine nuts to a pan with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and let it cook for a few minutes, to brown the pine nuts but not burning them.
2. Add the Pachino tomatoes to a pan, previously cut into chunks, and cook for 5 minutes with high heat, sprinkle with salt at the end.
3. In the meanwhile, cook your pasta of choice in boiling salted water as from instructions on packaging and dilute the pesto with a few tablespoons of cooking water from the pasta itself. Drain it “al dente”, add it to the pan with tomatoes and saute a minute. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the pesto on top.
4. Serve pasta on the plate garnished with fresh basil leaves, toasted pine nuts and some chopped Pachino tomatoes.

Garlic, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Chili Spaghetti or “Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino”

Ingredients for 4 people

• 400 grams of Spaghetti (like Barilla n°5)
• 10 grams of Garlic
• 10 grams Fresh Chili
• 50 grams Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 5 grams of Parsley
• Salt as preferred

Preparation

1. Cut the fresh red chili into small strips (removing all the seeds inside), in the meanwhile in a pan heat the olive oil with the peeled garlic and chili. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat and sauté, after about 3 minutes remove the garlic – garlic and oil should not burn – and add a little of boiling water taken from the pasta cooking water.
2. Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water according to package directions. Drain the pasta as from instructions on the package to be “al dente“, and pour it into the pan, sauté for a few minutes, add the parsley and if needed add 4 tablespoons of cooking water. Serve immediately and hat.

TIP:  Garlic should always be fried in entire pieces or half big pieces, so that you can remove it once the oil got the flavor, the idea here is to get a garlic flavor not to eat entire garlic or worst scenario little garlic pieces all over pasta as in many fake Italian recipes often is suggested.

Farfalle with Tuna and Rocket or “Pasta con Tonno e Rughetta”

Ingredients for 4 people

• 320 grams of Farfalle or Spaghetti
• 200 grams of Tuna Canned
• 4 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 clove of Garlic
• 100 grams Rocket
• half Lemon juice
• Salt and Pepper as you prefer

Preparation

1. Add the Extra Virgin Olive Oil to a pan and include a clove of garlic, cook until the garlic is brown and then remove the garlic from the pan. Add the tuna canned (remove the extra oil from the canned tuna before using it) and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes, add the lemon juice, salt and pepper.
2. Boil your pasta of choice according to the instructions on the package, very “al dente”, remove Pasta from the boiling water 1 minute before fully cooked, drain and finish cooking into the saucepan for 1 minutes more. Add the rocket cut just before serving and mix it.

TIP: add some capers to this recipe for a nice tasty southern variation.

Posted by Nicoletta and Tiziana

The Real Italian Food. Buon Appetito!