More pasta recipes

Here are some more recipes of various kinds.  First is a recipe I had never made before, but delicious:

Fettucini with dried mushrooms and peas

* 1 pkg. dried shiitake mushrooms or other dark, woody dried mushrooms (if bought loose, a large handful), rehydrated in about 3-4 cups water for 1 hour or so; then sliced in half

* 1/2 can peas (unsalted better)

* 1/2-3/4 cup grated parmesan

* 1 cup milk

* 1 cup half-and-half

* 3 lg. cloves garlic, chopped

* 2 Tbsp. olive oil

* 1/2 cup sherry

* 1/2 lb. fettucini

- Sautee the garlic in the olive oil for about 5 minutes

- Add the rehydrated mushrooms for another five minutes; then add sherry and cook for another 3 minutes

- Add the cream and half and half

- Add the grated parmesan, slowly, and stirring constantly

- When mixture well mixed and thickened, add the peas and about 2 Tbsp. pea juice, stir

- Taste for sherry, parmesan, finish

- Serve over fettucini

Linguini with fresh, chopped clams

* 1 lb. of shucked fresh cherrystone clams (littlenecks will also do). 

* 4-5 Tbsp. olive oil

* 4-5 lg. cloves garlic, chopped

* 1 bunch parsley, chopped coarsely

* 1/2 cup white wine

* 3-4 shakes hot red pepper

* 1/2 lb. linguini, fettucini, or thin spaghetti (spaghettini)

- Cut the tough muscle off of all the clams, chop finely, reserve

- Sautee garlic in olive oil, brown slightly.  As I have mentioned before, browning gives a special fragrance and important for many dishes, but care should be taken not to brown too much or worse to blacken

- Add the chopped clam muscle, hot pepper flakes, and the white wine, and let cook until the clam bits are soft and the alcohol in the wine has evaporated about 5-8 minutes

- Just before serving, add the stomachs of the clams (what remains after you cut off the muscle – the most flavorful and succulent part of the clam) into the sauce and cook for about 1 minute over medium heat.  You do NOT want to over cook the clams.

- Boil the pasta, plate

- Serve the clam sauce over the pasta, garnish with chopped parsley, ground pepper

Linguini with canned clams

This is a good, quick recipe, especially if you have canned clams available.  Most Italian households have the following ingredients always available: canned tuna, canned clams, canned anchovies, hot pepper flakes, parsley, olive oil, garlic.  There is so much you can do with these ingredients.

It is the rosemary that makes this dish.  For some reason rosemary does not go with fresh clams but perfect with canned.

* 1 can chopped clams, with broth (I haven’t found a favorite, all pretty much the same, although I would look in Whole Foods, Balducci’s etc. for some better quality)

* 3-4 lg. cloves garlic, chopped.

* 3-4 Tbsp. olive oil

* 3-4 shakes hot pepper flakes

* 2 Tbsp. dried rosemary, crushed

* 1/2 cup sherry

* 1/2 lb. linguini

* juice 1/2 lemon

* 4-5 springs parsley

- Sautee the garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes.  Do not brown.

- Add the clams, reserving the liquid, and the rosemary and sherry

- Sautee the mixture for about 15 minutes, or at least until the alcohol has been reduced

- Add the lemon and serve, garnished with springs of parsley

Spaghetti with anchovy and fennel

This is a variation of the classic anchovy recipe I have written before:

* 1 can flat anchovies

* 4-5 lg. cloves garlic, chopped

* 1/2 cup white wine

* medium handful chopped fennel leaf (when you buy fennel, it will come with the bulb and the feathery, green leaves on top)

* 1/2 lb. spaghetti

* juice 1/2 lemon

- Sautee the garlic in the olive oil, just to the point of browning

- Add anchovies

- Mash both anchovies and garlic – the anchovies should be broken up, and the garlic pieces all mashed

- Add the fennel leaves and white wine

-Cook until reduced by 1/3

- Add lemon juice

- Plate and serve with ground fresh pepper

 

Spaghetti with peas, tomatoes, and squid

This is a recipe which is based on the classic Haitian recipe Lambi (Conch) Creole.  Whether Haitian or Italian, it is delicious:

* 1 can Marzano Italian tomatoes

* 1/2 can tomato paste

* 1/2 lb. fresh squid, chopped into 2” pieces (pieces can be both body and tentacles)

* 4-5 Tbsp. olive ol

* 4-5 lg. cloves garlic, chopped

* 4-5 shakes hot pepper flakes (this dish should be hot, but adjust to taste)

* 1/2 cup canned peas (unsalted) with liquid

* 1 cup red wine

* few sprigs fresh parsley

- Sautee garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes.  Do not brown garlic.

- Add the chopped squid and hot pepper flakes, and sautee for about 10 minutes

- Add the can of tomatoes, pea liquid, red wine, and tomato paste

- Cook for 1-2 hours until rich and thick; add peas

- Serve over pasta with ground black pepper, garnished with few springs fresh parsley.

Spaghetti Putanesca

There are certainly 1000 recipes for putanesca, but this one is pretty good.  A good putanesca should be salty and spicy, so don’t scrimp on the anchovies and hot pepper flakes.

* 1 can Italian Marzano tomatoes

* 1/2 can tomato paste

* 1 cup red wine

* 1 can flat anchovies (I prefer the anchovies that break up easily.  Some, like Cento, are more for serving whole)

* 4-5 Tbsp. olive oil

* 4-5 Tbsp. cloves garlic, chopped

* 2 Tbsp. small capers

* 1 lg. bunch parsley, chopped

* 1/2 lb. spaghetti

* 1 Tbsp. sugar

-  Sautee the garlic in olive oil for about 3 min

- Add the anchovies, mash well for about 1 minutes

- Add the tomatoes, red wine, parsley, capers, tomato paste

- Cook for 2-3 hours, low heat until sauce has thickened; add sugar

- Plate and serve

Pasta Primevera (Cold)

I love this pasta, and very nice for lunch:

* 1 pkg. cherry tomatoes, halved

* 1 medium red onion, chopped

* 2 lg. handfuls fresh basil, coarsely chopped

* 2 medium cloves garlic,crushed

* 1 Tbsp. capers

* 1/2 can flat anchovies,chopped

* 4-5 Tbsp. olive oil

* 1 lb. solid fish, 2” pieces, steamed (rockfish, monkfish)

- Steam fish in white wine and tarragon, reserve

- Mix all other ingredients in large mixing bowl

- Cook pasta

- Place fish pieces in the cold sauce, toss, careful not to break up fish

- Serve sauce and fish on pasta

- Garnish with drizzle of olive oil, springs of parsley