Tag Archives: interesting pasta recipes

Chick pea, tomato and basil pasta

I’m not gonna bore you with the story of how I came up with this recipe or go on and on about how easy it is to make. I’m also not gonna tell you that tomatoes and basil are a fail-proof flavor combo (duh) or that chick peas boast quite an impressive nutrition panel. I will, however, tell you that chick peas make this sauce sinfully rich without any help from our good friends butter and heavy cream. And, I will also gonna strongly suggest that you make it. ASAP.

Chick pea and tomato pasta

(Yield: 4-6 servings)

Ingredients:

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 small onion, diced

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

1 20 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 tsp dried oregano

Salt + pepper

1 tsp sugar

1/2 c basil leaves, gently torn

1 lb penne or another short cut pasta, cooked just short of al dente

Parmesan cheese for garnish (if desired)

Procedure: Divide chick peas in half. Puree one half using a potato masher or food processor. Set all chick peas aside. Heat olive oil in large saute pan or high-sided skillet over medium-low heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 min until fragrant. Add onion with a pinch of salt and cook until soft and translucent, stirring frequently, about 5 min. Then add chick peas, tomato cause, oregano, a pinch of salt and pepper and sugar. Stir and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 min, stirring occasionally. Then turn the heat off and stir in basil leaves (if not serving immediately, hold off on adding basil until right before serving).

Chick pea and tomato pasta

Combine sauce with pasta; taste and re-season if necessary.

Chick pea and tomato pasta

Broccoli pesto pasta

Those of you who follow me on instagram might have seen a photo from this series a loooong time ago. Alas, here is the recipe.

This broccoli pesto is a tried and true recipe that both my mom and I have been making for years. The pesto is one of the few pasta accompaniments I know of that goes as well with long-cut pastas as with short-cut ones. It’s also a relatively healthy alternative to, say, a cheese sauce. And it’s vegetarian. Try it for your next pasta night! You won’t regret it - I promise.

Broccoli pesto pasta

(Yield: 6 servings)

Ingredients:

3 c broccoli florets

1 garlic clove, roughly chopped

1/2 c parmesan cheese

1/4 c olive oil

1/2 c toasted walnuts

1 tbsp lemon juice

3/4 lb pasta any kind, cooked al dente in salted water according to package directions

Salt, freshly ground black pepper

Procedure: Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Season with 1 tbsp of salt and add broccoli. Cook for exactly 3 min. Drain broccoli and place into food processor along with garlic and nuts. Pulse until pureed, occasionally scraping down sides. With the motor running, add lemon juice, a pinch of salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper, and stream in oil. When incorporated, remove blade and stir in cheese by hand. Taste and re-season if necessary. Combine with hot pasta and 2 tbsp of pasta cooking water. Stir until incorporated. Serve hot; garnish with more cheese if desired. (Reheat leftovers in a skillet with butter and cook with a beaten egg for a quick, carbonara-style dish).

Broccoli pesto pasta

Cape Cod Pasta

For many, the name Cape Cod is associated with long days spent at the beach, cool nights spent by a bonfire, and lavish meals of seafood consumed whilst draped in a bib. This recipe has nothing to do with any of it.

As some of you may recall, I made my first trip to Cape Cod this past July - a camping trip with my boyfriend, his family and their friends, to be exact. We ate dinner together almost every night, potluck style; at one point, there were like thirty of us! One night I made this dish to use up the ingredients we had leftover in our cooler. I cooked it on a wooden picnic table in the woods, on a tiny propane stove, with one functioning burner. Halfway through the process, I realized that the task I’d undertaken was a bit too ambitious for the given conditions, but it was too late to re-route. It felt a bit like a Top Chef Quickfire Challenge - thankfully Tom Colicchio wasn’t there to judge me. The people that did eat the pasta, however, seemed quite impressed.

Now that I made the dish at home, I changed around some of the ingredients and scaled the recipe down but the idea is still the same.

(Yield: 4 servings)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves of garlic

4 Italian sausages (about 1 lb), casings removed

1/3 c dry red wine

About 12 oz canned diced tomatoes

1 tsp sugar

Salt + pepper

1 tbsp butter

A few handfuls of Parmesan cheese

1 lb rigatoni pasta

Procedure: Heat up a large skillet over medium-high heat and add oil. Peel garlic, crush with flat side of knife and add to oil. Cook for 60 seconds and add sausage. Break up sausage with wooden spatula and cook until browned, 8-10 min. Reduce heat to medium-low and add wine. Simmer for about 4 min, stirring occasionally. Then add tomatoes, sugar, 1/2 tsp pepper and a pinch of salt. Cook for 15 min, partially covered, stirring occasionally. Re-season if necessary. Meanwhile, cook pasta al dente. Then combine pasta, ragu, butter and cheese. Stir to combine. Serve hot. Pray that one of the garlic cloves nuzzles into one of your rigatoni.

Armenian fried noodles

Odessa wasn’t exactly the culinary mecca that New York City is, so the only knowledge of foreign cuisine I had as a child in Ukraine was that Americans ate hamburgers and roaches were a popular treat somewhere in Asia. When I was about six, an Armenian family moved in next door and we became quite friendly with them. My new friends’ mom, Rimma, was always cooking enigmatic, super fragrant, drool-inducing things in her kitchen, and from time to time, I got to taste what those things were. Her food, to me, was weird and exciting - I loved it.

This recipe is my mom’s adaptation of one of Rimma’s recipes, and one that has been a staple on our family table since my childhood. The only adaptation is that Rimma used to make a kefir and garlic sauce to accompany these noodles - we opt for good ol’ sour cream instead.

(Yield: 4 servings)

Ingredients:

3 tbsp butter

About 3/4 lb dry angel hair pasta, broken in half (or vermicelli)

About 1 c boiling hot water

1/2-3/4 tsp garlic power

Salt + freshly grated black pepper

Sour cream

Procedure: Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add dry pasta and stir frequently to make sure each strand is coated in butter and toasted, for 4-5 min. Turn heat down to medium-low. While holding a lid over the skillet, pour in enough boiling water to cover the pasta (try to keep exposed skin and face away from the steam!) Once steam has subsided, add salt to taste, stir noodles and cover tightly with lid. In a few minutes, most of the water with absorb. Taste and add more salt/water, if necessary. Once all water is absorbed, season with garlic and black pepper. Turn heat off. Serve hot, topped with sour cream and more black pepper.