Hey Frugaleros, how you doin.
I'm italian and often during my travels people ask me questions about pasta. Here is my go-to fundamental oil-based structure.
Chop onion and/or garlic in small pieces. Put it in a large pan with generous oil (better if olive extra virgin). You can also add olives, dried tomatoes, pepper, chili pepper, laurel leaves and anchovies (or minced cured meat) at this point. As a general rule, black pepper goes with onion; chili pepper with garlic.
Low heat fry and stir until the onion/garlic gets golden. Then add dry herbs, capers, chopped vegetables (including tomatoes, fresh or canned), mushrooms, meat or fish or already soft pulses.
Aubergines, carrots and bell peppers may need different treatment as they take much longer to cook, so they should be cooked a bit already before oil and garlic/onion, unless they are cut thinly.
Cook and stir until almost ready, then keep warm with the lowest heat setting.
At the same time, get a pot of water boiling, add quite some salt (water must taste just a bit less salty than the average seawater, or like an almost unbearably salty soup) and then add the pasta, possibly of good quality.
When the pasta is still hard, but getting close to ready (roughly after 2/3 of the cooking time written on the package), take it out of the water and unite it into the pan with the sauce. Don't throw away the pasta's cooking water for any reason. Bring back to mid-high heat and stir together mixing pasta and sauce, slowly adding the starchy pasta water with a ladle until the pasta is almost perfectly al dente (firm core but edible).
Add salt and pepper to taste, then let it rest for a minute, lid on. If you want to put cheese or cream (both forbidden if you used anchovies or fish, exceptions may include salmon or shrimps with cream) this is the time. In case of cheese, let it melt for a handful minutes. Also, fresh herbs such as basil and parsley should be abundant and added last. Shred parmesan or pecorino directly on the plates, along with more fresh herbs, freshly squeezed lemon juice and a final splish of olive oil.
Buon appetito.
May 18, 2020 at 04:29PM
