Bruschetta Pasta

If you can make bruschetta, you can easily make this pasta dish. All you do is make the bruschetta and cook the pasta. When the pasta is done toss it with the bruschetta and top with Parmesan cheese. So simple and so fresh on hot summery days.

The bruschetta recipe can be found under Bruschetta Burger here. I've included some pictures with some tips on how to prepare this and for general knowledge of tomatoes and basil.

I cut the tomatoes in half first and seed them by pushing my thumb into the tomato and scraping out the seeds. This gets some of the extra liquid out too

With Roma tomatoes, I like to slice them lengthwise first, them turn them sideways and dice them. Really, it doesn't matter, just make sure you have a nice sharp knife.As a side note, that knife is my all-time favorite. It's a 7-in Hollow edge Wusthof Santoku knife which allows air to get in between the food and blade so you can cut thin slices. It is also very easy to hold, even though it can look intimidating to a novice chef.

Wash the fresh basil and pat dry with a towel. Then start by rolling it into a log. If you have big leaves its easier to pile them all on top of each other before rolling. Unfortunately I did not, so I just took the pile and rolled. Once it's rolled, start chopping the basil and making thin strips to cut. When you are finished you will have little ribbons of basil.

As far as cooking pasta...always put a lid on the water while you wait for it to boil and always turn the heat ALL the way up. It does boil faster!! Once it is boiling rapidly, take the lid off and add a good amount of salt--more than a pinch. You are flavoring the pasta while it cooks, so just a dash won't do much. Italians like their pasta al dente, which means there is a slight bite to the pasta and it's never mushy. If you follow the time on the box, its usually right. My rule of thumb is that I always start with 8 minutes (6 for angel hair or anything tiny). Then I taste it and decide to drain it or leave it for another minute or two.

To finish the dish, ladle a couple spoonfuls of the starchy pasta water into the bruschetta and stir. This helps the sauce attach to the pasta. Then toss in the drained pasta and mix together. I always top my pasta with Parmesan cheese. That's it, pasta and sauce in no time!

Making Homemade Pasta

My friend Janis and I decided we needed to venture into the world of making homemade pasta, even though we can buy it at the store already made. There is something about making things from scratch. They taste better, or at least we think they do. Maybe its just the love we put into it that we taste. Whatever it is, there was definitely a sense of pride when we served our pasta. Even my 2 year old loved it! Although I'm not sure if he qualifies as a critic when he eats dirt too.

So for the menu, we made a batch of pasta, topped with two different sauces. I didn't realize the recipe made so much! Most of the pasta had a spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage in it. My favorite jarred sauce is Trader Joe's Tomato and Basil Marinara, about $2 a jar - very fresh and homemade tasting. The rest of the pasta was tossed with the leftover pesto sauce I had made from the Bruschetta Burger. Of course, no pasta meal would be complete without garlic bread and a salad.

Now, making fresh pasta is kind of an art form I guess, and I have no idea if we did it right. I did make it with my dad once, so it was probably right then, but since my son is allergic to eggs, I opted for an egg-free recipe. So I got my recipe from Mario Batalli, a fellow Italian and Food Network star, and like I said, we liked it. Find your own recipe and have fun cooking or buy packaged and have an extra glass of wine! If you do make fresh pasta, let me know how you do it. It would be nice to find another crazy person out there who things this is fun like me!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/eggless-pasta-recipe/index.html


Follow the link above to the recipe that I found on Food Network's website. While we were waiting for the dough to rest, I was reading in one of my Italian cookbooks about tips with pasta. It was then I learned that kneading pasta on a wood is best to give it better elasticity and texture. However, we already kneaded it on the cold granite , which could have made it a tight, less elastic dough. Oops! Oh well, it still tasted great!

To form the pasta, I had a pasta maker from my family, that will flatten and cut the pasta into spaghetti or linguine noodles. If you don't have one, no worries. You can roll it out with a rolling pin, and then cut it with a sharp knife into noodles, or form bow ties, or any shape you want. This dough can also be used for raviolis. Which I hope one day to make again and add them to this site. Again, enjoy the pictures, and if you are willing to take the extra time, enjoy making fresh pasta!