Hasta la Pasta

Boston Pizza's Jambalaya Fettuccine

JAMBALAYA FETTUCCINI
Fettuccini tossed in our pomodoro sauce with tender
chicken breast, shrimp, spicy Italian sausage, tomato,
green pepper and green onions.
 
I could eat this every day.

Cheese-Stuffed Pasta

2 cups (500 mL) ricotta or cottage cheese
1/4 tsp nutmeg (no really, it makes a world of difference)
1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
250mL mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup bread crumbs (the italian ones make it nice) (my ex-father in law used to come for dinner, and whatever I made, all he'd say would be "This would be good if you did *blank* like this.". Insinuating it wasn't good in the first place, the bastard. Anyway, he suggested the italian bread crumbs for this dish, and it was good.).

Mix it all up in a biggish bowl, and put it in the fridge while you boil one box of manicotti, canelloni, or shell-shaped pasta till just tender. Drain those, set aside to cool. Take a baking dish and put a bit of sauce in the bottom to prevent sticking or drying of noodles.

Using a babyfood spoon or small collector's sized spoon (easier in my experience than a teaspoon), stuff the pasta with the cheese stuff till level. No point in heaping cause it'll just goo all over the place. Line them up in the baking dish. Top with sauce (try and cover them as well as you can to prevent drying and hardening. Sprinkle with more parmesan.

Bake at 350 or whatever your metric equivalent is for about 30 minutes/till bubbling. Enjoy!
 
What's your favorite pasta dish?

mine... i don't really use a recipe. it's different every time. for a red sauce it's typically a shitload of roma tomatoes if they're in season, and muir glen and san marzano canned tomatos in the off season. moderate amounts of garlic. some shallots. chicken stock. usually some charcuterie to darken the flavor. perhaps some extra pork fat. plenty of fresh oregano. black pepper. fennel seed. a dash of sugar helps kick in the flavor.

one key is letting the sauce sit overnight in the fridge. it ALWAYS tastes better the next day - flavors need some time to bloom.

the other key is using better pasta. barilla is shit. rustichella is a pretty good brand that is widely available. trofie is a fantastic cut that holds sauce very well.

the only pasta i've had that impressed me more was some gnocchi palermo at an obvious mob hangout in a dingy area of chicago a few years ago. that experience got me into pasta. after many, many, shitty meals, i'm now a badass pasta motherfucker.
 
Spaghetti:
Newman's Own Sockarooni sauce
3 medium cloves of garlic, crushed
1.5 lbs hot italian sausage
1 regular package of angel hair pasta

Fry up the sausage, crumbling into 1/2 to 1 inch chunks. Do not drain. Add garlic and sauce, let simmer for a minimum of 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Prepare pasta al dente per package directions. Serve with garlic toast, a green salad and a nice chianti.
 
Varies. ATM, probably just plain pasta with some kind of pan-fried/steamed veggie, with a little oil for dressing (ie broccolini pre-steamed for 2 mins, then pan-fried with chili & garlic), pine-nuts, and parmagiano grated on top, salted & peppered.

In the past, I've enjoyed the bog-standard pasta w/ tomato sauce. I also enjoy pasta w/ vinegrette, fresh basil, pine nuts & capers. Sprinkled with parmagiano & seasoned.

And there's an awesome recipe somewhere for parpadelle pasta w/ oven-roasted pumpkin, wilted rocket & pinenuts.
 
I just had spinach linguine carbonara. the place i go to has an orange carbonara with peas in it, and it's really good.

But, I live in North Jersey, so italian restaurants pretty much grow on trees.
 
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