By the Olive Groves by Grazia Ietto Gillies

Author:Grazia Ietto Gillies
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: I.B.Tauris

Mamma Giulia’s cooking: quick, inexpensive, healthy pasta asciutta

Sauces for pasta asciutta are numerous and very versatile. They can be based on vegetables, fish, meat or a mixture. They can be very, very cheap or more expensive. The ones I list in this chapter will hardly make a dent in your income. They all have in common the potential for making a meal that is delicious, healthy, inexpensive and easy to prepare. You need approximately 75–100gm of pasta per person for a main meal. All the dishes in this section are best with the long type of pasta such as linguine or spaghetti. Neither Mamma nor I ever used bucatini, that funny long pasta with a hole in the middle. It is difficult to cook and even more difficult to eat as it is too thick to roll up easily on your fork. If you would like to try it, I suggest wearing a bib when eating!

Spaghetti/linguine all’aglio, olio e peperoncino

This is a classic quick dish for when there is nothing else in the house. It is, traditionally, a main resource for young people starving in the early hours of the morning after a night out and still wanting to spend time together.

Lightly fry some cut-up garlic in a small amount of oil and add some red chilli cut into very small pieces. Meanwhile boil the pasta and drain. Pour the drained spaghetti into the frying pan and cook for a few seconds while stirring. Before serving, sprinkle some breadcrumbs to absorb any excess oil.

Spaghetti/linguine al prezzemolo

In a small amount of oil fry some chopped garlic. Meanwhile wash a large amount of parsley (almost one fistful per person) and chop it up. Boil your spaghetti or linguine. Drain it and toss into the frying pan, adding the parsley and some extra oil. Mix together, add black pepper and you have a delicious first course.

Spaghetti/linguine alle acciughe

Most people have tins of anchovies in their cupboard. They are good in salads but they are also extremely good for a special pasta sauce. You need one 50gm tin of anchovies for 150–200gm of pasta. Discard the oil in the tin and place the anchovies on a flat dish. Separate them and cut into small pieces. Place them in a largish frying pan with a small amount of olive oil and a couple of spoonfuls of hot water from your boiling pasta. Cook gently till the anchovies melt, no longer. Do not add salt to the cooking pasta: the anchovy sauce will have enough. Drain the pasta and pour into the frying pan with the anchovies. Add olive oil and stir. Before serving, sprinkle with breadcrumbs to absorb the oil. Use crumbs made from real bread only and without any additions. This ingredient is widely available in Italy, though many Italian delicatessens in London now sell it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.