Making Italian Food With Pasta

For many Italian food lovers and aspiring Italian food chefs, the first dish to be attempted from home is typically a pasta dish. Pasta is known as an Italian food that is easy to make. However, homemade Italian food dishes with pasta often end up falling flat. Here are a few things to keep in mind when preparing pasta at home.

First of all, your attempt at Italian food will only be as good as the pasta you use to make it with. When shopping for your pasta make sure you are buying a good brand that uses only quality ingredients. For instance, if buying dried pasta you should only buy brands that use just semolina flour. Any other type of dried pasta will taste like counterfeit Italian food. A good quality pasta will have a rough surface. The texture of the pasta will determine if it will be able to hold onto the sauce that it is served with. Smooth pasta is an instant indicator that you are dealing with an inferior brand. It is also important that the pasta be dense and heavy for its size.

If the pasta is too light it will fall apart when it is cooked. You want to make sure to avoid the mass produced and cheap pasta; otherwise your Italian food will not be satisfying. When shopping for fresh pasta you want to make sure that you pay attention to the expiration date, unlike dried pasta, fresh pasta does not have a long shelf life. Take a look at the pasta and if it looks cheap then it is. If it looks to have a good quality color and texture and is heavy, then that is the pasta that will give you the best tasting Italian food. The best bet when shopping for pasta is to see if there is a bakery that specializes in Italian food. Many such bakeries make pasta fresh daily and the quality will far out do anything that you will find at the store. The best way to get authentic Italian food is to get it from Italians.

Once you have bought your pasta you are halfway to enjoying good Italian food. The most important thing to remember when cooking pasta is to not overcook it. Mushy pasta is never good. For good tasting Italian food you want the pasta to be tender, yet firm to the teeth. Fresh pasta will take less time to cook than dried pasta. You want to make sure and use a large pot with an abundance of water. Bring the water to a boil and then liberally add salt. If you don't salt the water then the pasta will taste bland compared to the sauce it is served with. After you've salted the water it is time to add the pasta. If you have plenty of water that is brought to a vigorous boil before adding the pasta then you shouldn't have problems with the pasta sticking and it should cook evenly. Good Italian food sauce makes use of the water that was used to boil the pasta, so make sure to save a cup of it to add to the sauce. Also, don't ever rinse the pasta after you've cooked it, otherwise you will be stripping away the flavor of your Italian food.

Hopefully these tips will help you make better Italian food. If you haven't tried preparing Italian food yourself then give it a try starting with the most fundamental Italian food, pasta.

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The History of Pasta in Italian Food

The most widely recognized element of Italian food today is pasta. Pasta is a signature of Italian food in all parts of the globe. It is easy to store and prepare and therefore became the ambassador of Italian food to the world. Pasta has a much older history than other common dishes in Italian food like pizza and tomato sauce.

There are many myths surrounding the time when pasta actually entered into Italian food. The most common of these myths is that Marco Polo introduced it to the country from his extensive travels. However, pasta was already a part of Italian food during Marco Polo's life. To get to the heart of the matter you must travel even further back in history. In fact the most accepted theory on the introduction of pasta to Italian food takes us back to the eighth century. During this time the Arab invasions greatly influenced Italian food and are the most likely start of pasta's life in Italy.

Since the wheat used for this early pasta thrived in Italy, it quickly spread and by the 1300's dried pasta was immensely popular and found all over the country. The appeal of pasta to Italian food was its nutrition and its long shelf life. These factors made pasta a great candidate for long ship voyages and because of this it was one of the first Italian foods to be introduced to the world. By the time pasta made its world debut much advancement had been made and there were many different shapes and forms of pasta being used in Italian food. The Italians had also developed ways to make pasta faster and more efficiently, making it an integral part of Italian food and Italian life.

The next important phase of pasta's development in Italian food was the introduction of the tomato of course. Today pasta and tomato sauce go hand in hand when thinking of Italian food, but the marriage wasn't made until 1839. Prior to this time tomatoes were just being introduced to the world from the Americas and many Europeans believed them to be poisonous. It took a long time for people to trust the tomato enough to eat it and include it in Italian food. However, once the tomato was accepted it was welcomed with open arms and took off in Italian food, especially in the southern regions of Italy.

Today one only has to look at the numbers to see just how big a role pasta plays in Italian food. Italians eat over three times as much pasta as Americans. Their pasta consumption is over sixty pounds per person per year. It's no wonder that pasta is considered the cornerstone of Italian food. In fact, pasta is used so extensively in Italian food that Italy must import most of its wheat in order to keep up with the demand. This popularity of pasta and Italian food has caused pasta to be mass produced. This has lead to an inferior quality of pasta being used in American Italian food. The best pasta is still found in Italy where they stick to the same recipes handed down through the generations. A true Italian food lover must try some authentic pasta made in Italy if they want to capture the authentic taste of Italian food.

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Guide to Making Pasta - Chennai

Everybody loves some good pasta; no wonder we all experiment with it in terms of shapes, sizes, sauces and more. PastaTraditional pasta makers prefer to roll out their own shapes using handmade dough whereas for others like you and me, the readymade brands come in handy. These, including the sauces, spices, herbs and cheese required for making pasta, are available in stores like Nilgiris, Amma Naana, Nuts N Spices etc in Chennai. So if you are planning to try some at home, this recipe from Chef Elangovan Karthikeyan who has over 16 years of experience in Continental and Jamaican cuisine and now works at The Pasta Bar Veneto in Chennai, is for you.

Pasta Primavera

4 cups of mixed vegetables (you can use vegetables of your choice)

1 carrot, peeled and cut into strips

1 medium zucchini, sliced

1/2 small eggplant, sliced

1/2 red onion, sliced in two

1/2 bell pepper, any color, cut into thin strips

3 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning or Herbes de Provence

Sprinkling of garlic salt

1/4 cup of spaghetti, marinara or tomato sauce

1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 pound pasta (use rice pasta for wheat-free version)

grated parmesan (optional and usually used for seasoning)

Method

Heat oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the vegetables, stir to coat with oil. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring only occasionally, until vegetables are just cooked. Turn off heat, but let the pan stay on the burner. Add 1/4 cup of the spaghetti, marinara, or tomato sauce to the vegetables, along with 1/4 cup of water to thin the sauce. If you are using readymade spaghetti or marinara sauce, you don't need to add much seasoning; just 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning or herbes de Provence, a few sprinkles of garlic salt, and salt and pepper to taste. If you are using a plain tomato sauce, you might want to start out by cooking a minced clove of garlic first, and then adding the vegetables with a bit more of the seasoning (to taste). Spaghetti and marinara sauce are already seasoned.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (for your pasta). Add the pasta. Once it is ready - cooked but still a bit firm, or al dente - drain the pasta and run cold water over it. Put it directly into the skillet with the vegetables. Adjust the seasoning. Add more sauce if needed. Gently mix in the cherry tomatoes.

This recipe serves four. Serve with some freshly grated Parmesan, if you like. A little bit of chopped fresh basil would go nicely with this as well. You can also toast bread with a bit of garlic paste with some Italian seasoning and serve.

Tips

? To flavor the pasta, you can also add coarsely chopped Leeks/ Celery, Carrot, Bay leaf, few pepper corns and few cloves of garlic in the boiling hot water when cooking.

? Use rock salt if possible, though ordinary salt will also do.

? Ensure that you follow the instructions with respect to timing on the packet of pasta. Each one can be different depending on how dry it is.

? The Pasta should be ?Al Dente? (cooked just right). A common test is to bite the pasta. If it is white from the inside, then it is not done.

? Watch the pasta while boiling and add some olive oil as it is being cooked to prevent it from sticking together.

? Wash it in cold water when you take it out if you plan to eat it later, as this will prevent it from getting pasty and sticky.

? Recommended herbs for pastas are Basil, Thyme, Oregano, Rosemary, Bay leaf, Parsley, Lavender, Leeks and Celery.

? Keep a paste of roasted bell peppers, garlic and zucchini that you can add to the sauces. This is to add more taste and flavor to the existing sauces.

Bon app?tit!

About The Author Samyuktha Anbunathan is a freelance writer specializing in articles on Chennai City information. Please visit the website to get all possible information about Chennai Shopping & more.

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