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Merry Belated Christmas!
Dec. 26th, 2011 08:47 amI hope that everyone celebrated a wonderful Christmas. As for me, I engaged in my usual fanfare of Lampoon-style Christmas vacations. My family is akin to Cousin Eddie and his crew, so get most of us together in one room and you would be surprised with what happens.
This morning, I thought to myself, "I have cooked myself to death and haven't shared one thing from my kitchen. I guess I better share something quick and easy to get over the kitchen-nasty blues."
So... Are you sick of Christmas fare? How about a bit of Italian to switch it out?
Let me present to you: Pasta with Olive Oil or Butter.
This is fairly simple to make.
Again, there are no exact measurements. Just eyeball these. I promise to share something with cup measurements soon. ...Sometime.
What you'll need:
Pasta (preferably angel hair spaghetti)
Olive oil or butter (Olive oil is healthier, but it tastes the best if you use o. oil WITH lots of good fresh or canned garlic).
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan Cheese
**Everything above is to taste.
Cook one pound of pasta according to instructions on box in boiling water. You want it to have a bit of resistance when you bite into it. Nothing is worse than soggy noodles. Yick. Italians call it al dente. I technically can call myself that as I was born in Italy and maintain dual citizenship.
While pasta is cooking, put a pan on the stove with about half the pan covered in olive oil (extra virgin light is best).
Then, what you want to do is add garlic to it. If you're using real cloves of garlic or minced garlic from a can, you want to saute it in the pan for a few minutes until it becomes translucent. Crack pepper and salt (lightly) in the olive oil. Cook in pan for a bit.
Drain pasta. Add to pan.
Mix in well.
Taste. If pasta is very dry, add a bit more olive oil to the pasta so that it is slightly more moist and crack extra garlic powder/garlic salt/salt/pepper to taste on top. Mix in on low heat.
Remember- it's always easier to add at the table and much more impossible to try and remove it after you've done it. Less is more in cooking.
Grate fresh parmesan cheese and serve on the side. When eating, you'll want to douse it in parmesan and add more of the above ingredients to your dish to taste.
Enjoy!
This is a quick and tasty dinner.
For the butter, you can do the same thing.... but you have to prepare for the pasta ahead of time.... Slicing butter on top of the pasta will not be an accurate measure of how much you have, though you can do four or five small chunks on top of people's plates and heat these in the microwave, then add the above ingredients- if you do this by this method though, you might want to use garlic powder or garlic salt instead.
^_^ I hope you enjoy one of my favorites.
This morning, I thought to myself, "I have cooked myself to death and haven't shared one thing from my kitchen. I guess I better share something quick and easy to get over the kitchen-nasty blues."
So... Are you sick of Christmas fare? How about a bit of Italian to switch it out?
Let me present to you: Pasta with Olive Oil or Butter.
This is fairly simple to make.
Again, there are no exact measurements. Just eyeball these. I promise to share something with cup measurements soon. ...Sometime.
What you'll need:
Pasta (preferably angel hair spaghetti)
Olive oil or butter (Olive oil is healthier, but it tastes the best if you use o. oil WITH lots of good fresh or canned garlic).
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan Cheese
**Everything above is to taste.
Cook one pound of pasta according to instructions on box in boiling water. You want it to have a bit of resistance when you bite into it. Nothing is worse than soggy noodles. Yick. Italians call it al dente. I technically can call myself that as I was born in Italy and maintain dual citizenship.
While pasta is cooking, put a pan on the stove with about half the pan covered in olive oil (extra virgin light is best).
Then, what you want to do is add garlic to it. If you're using real cloves of garlic or minced garlic from a can, you want to saute it in the pan for a few minutes until it becomes translucent. Crack pepper and salt (lightly) in the olive oil. Cook in pan for a bit.
Drain pasta. Add to pan.
Mix in well.
Taste. If pasta is very dry, add a bit more olive oil to the pasta so that it is slightly more moist and crack extra garlic powder/garlic salt/salt/pepper to taste on top. Mix in on low heat.
Remember- it's always easier to add at the table and much more impossible to try and remove it after you've done it. Less is more in cooking.
Grate fresh parmesan cheese and serve on the side. When eating, you'll want to douse it in parmesan and add more of the above ingredients to your dish to taste.
Enjoy!
This is a quick and tasty dinner.
For the butter, you can do the same thing.... but you have to prepare for the pasta ahead of time.... Slicing butter on top of the pasta will not be an accurate measure of how much you have, though you can do four or five small chunks on top of people's plates and heat these in the microwave, then add the above ingredients- if you do this by this method though, you might want to use garlic powder or garlic salt instead.
^_^ I hope you enjoy one of my favorites.