Pasta

Everyone loves Pasta. Well, maybe some diet concious, meely mouthed people may comment that it is too many carbs or some nonsense but really the same people probably hate all food and live on protein shakes and other such nonsense.

Pasta can be light and cool perfect for Summer, or rich and hearty great in Winter. It can be complex and full of ingredients, as simple and just have a couple of ingredients. It's great at lunch, and perfect at dinner. In short, it rocks.

Now you can set out to make your own, and I encourage you to give it a go if you have a few hours to spare. Be warned, home made Pasta is more than just buying a roller. It takes practice and a good eye to get it right. But when you do is very rewarding.

Personally I aint a show off. I have made it myself but in truth a good quality dried or a deli counter fresh pasta is just as good. As far as brands go I am a brand slut when it comes to dried pasta and do prefer to buy Barilla. But really most dried pastas now are pretty good.

Trick to making good pasta is heaps of rapidly boiling salted water with a slug of olive oil Fresh Pasta will take minutes so keep an eye on it, literally 2-3 minutes she should be right. Dried, follow the pack instructions and knock off a minute. It will continue to cook even after straining from the risidual heat. If a recipe calls for ya to cool it under cold water then cook for the full pack time.

When you pasta is cooked one thing you can do is toss through some shoulder ham. Put an egg yolk on the top and then stir it through. Throw some herbs and parmesan cheese on and Carbonara.

Here's one of my favourite pasta recipes. Give it a go, it is awesome and simple.

• 200g pancetta or a hunk of Bacon cut into fine lardons / dice
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes,
  
• 2 medium red onions, finely chopped,
• 2 tsp (or to taste) chilli flakes
  
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped (or 1.5 tsp crushed garlic from a jar)
  
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 ½ glasses of dry Italian or Italian style red wine (Chianti)
  
• Sprinkle of Sea Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 400g Buccatini or other dried pasta to serve e.g penne

• In a heavy bottom pan, add a little extra virgin olive oil and gently heat. Add the pancetta and cook until it starts to be come crisp. Add the finely chopped onion and cook for about ten minutes on a low heat. After ten minutes add the dried chilli and garlic and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Add the wine and allow to cook and reduce almost completely. Then add the chopped tin tomatoes. Use the best quality you can find. Cook this over a low heat for about 45minutes to an hour. Season with salt.
• Cook the dried pasta according to instructions, until it has a slight toothy bite to it (al dente) in salted and rapidly boiling water and then drain.
• Serve the pasta topped with the sauce and a liberal grinding of fresh black pepper, which adds a greater aroma and impacts the flavour more.

tip: If you like while the sauce is still in the pan throw some of the pasta through it, it will give you a good covering on each strand of pasta.