Pasta Amore
The tittle says it all....I love pasta and making pasta is a labor of love.
Now, in Italian cooking you can basically use two types of pasta- homemade pasta or you can opt for factory made pasta. Choosing one over the other depends solely on the pasta sauce you are using. If someone tells you one is always better than the other, that person does not know what they are saying. There are certain sauces and sauce bases that works well with factory made pasta and not so well with homemade pasta and vice versa.
What is the rule of thumb then?
- Factory made pasta works well with sauces that have olive oil as their vehicle, such as seafood sauces and a variety of light, vegetable sauces and some butter-based sauces.
- Homemade pasta works well with most butter-based sauces and sauces that use cream because it absorbs the sauces better than factory made pasta.
This rule should be followed strictly if you want to respect the ingredient and if you want the dish to turn out right. The thing that most people do not understand is that in a pasta dish, the sauce is just the condiment and the pasta the main dish (I heard this from one of my idols Mario Batali). That is why when you are in Italy do not order Meat-ball spaghetti but Spaghetti with Meat-balls (with the meat balls on the side not tossed with the pasta). This very simple idea is the main reason why you have to pick the right pasta for the type of sauce you are using. You should not let the condiment (the sauce) ruin the main dish (the pasta).
Some people say there is really not much difference in the final dish- well to someone not educated enough about Italian cuisine that may be true- but we should all be educated. Most people opt for factory made pasta for all types of sauces simply because homemade pasta is hard to make- my answer to this excuse is "if you do not have enough patience and passion to sweat it out in the kitchen then you have no right calling your dish Italian!" Italian cooking is about passion and patience and respect. Yes I admit homemade pasta is really really really hard to make but at the end of the day it is all worth your time.
Making your own pasta allows you to prepare the dish right because you can adjust the consistency of your pasta to suit your sauce, it also allows you to adjust the thickness of your pasta, and most importantly you are respecting the recipe and doing it right! If you are too lazy to make homemade pasta and the recipe your are planning on making calls for it you have two choices- 1. chose a different dish or 2. go to your local Italian delis shop and buy pre-packed homemade pasta (its the lesser evil).
When you finish cooking the pasta "al dente" do not let it sit in your colander! Most people make this mistake thinking they have to let the pasta cool before adding in the sauce- this is wrong! It is wrong because once the pasta cools it is going to be harder for you to allow the sauce to coat the pasta all over because most of them are already sticking to each other. Secondly a cold pasta does not absorb your sauce that well anymore. When you are preparing your pasta, make sure your sauce is ready and once the pasta is done toss them together right away and serve them hot. It is better for you to prepare the sauce ahead of time and just heat them once the pasta is ready- not the other way around- remember the pasta is the main dish not the sauce. Once served, you have to eat the pasta right away- do not wait for it to turn cold. In Italy it is bad manners to let the pasta cool right in front of you.
These are some of the reasons why this blog is tittled Pasta Amore because you have to treat it with love and respect both as a cook and as a diner.
Now, in Italian cooking you can basically use two types of pasta- homemade pasta or you can opt for factory made pasta. Choosing one over the other depends solely on the pasta sauce you are using. If someone tells you one is always better than the other, that person does not know what they are saying. There are certain sauces and sauce bases that works well with factory made pasta and not so well with homemade pasta and vice versa.
What is the rule of thumb then?
- Factory made pasta works well with sauces that have olive oil as their vehicle, such as seafood sauces and a variety of light, vegetable sauces and some butter-based sauces.
- Homemade pasta works well with most butter-based sauces and sauces that use cream because it absorbs the sauces better than factory made pasta.
This rule should be followed strictly if you want to respect the ingredient and if you want the dish to turn out right. The thing that most people do not understand is that in a pasta dish, the sauce is just the condiment and the pasta the main dish (I heard this from one of my idols Mario Batali). That is why when you are in Italy do not order Meat-ball spaghetti but Spaghetti with Meat-balls (with the meat balls on the side not tossed with the pasta). This very simple idea is the main reason why you have to pick the right pasta for the type of sauce you are using. You should not let the condiment (the sauce) ruin the main dish (the pasta).
Some people say there is really not much difference in the final dish- well to someone not educated enough about Italian cuisine that may be true- but we should all be educated. Most people opt for factory made pasta for all types of sauces simply because homemade pasta is hard to make- my answer to this excuse is "if you do not have enough patience and passion to sweat it out in the kitchen then you have no right calling your dish Italian!" Italian cooking is about passion and patience and respect. Yes I admit homemade pasta is really really really hard to make but at the end of the day it is all worth your time.
Making your own pasta allows you to prepare the dish right because you can adjust the consistency of your pasta to suit your sauce, it also allows you to adjust the thickness of your pasta, and most importantly you are respecting the recipe and doing it right! If you are too lazy to make homemade pasta and the recipe your are planning on making calls for it you have two choices- 1. chose a different dish or 2. go to your local Italian delis shop and buy pre-packed homemade pasta (its the lesser evil).
When you finish cooking the pasta "al dente" do not let it sit in your colander! Most people make this mistake thinking they have to let the pasta cool before adding in the sauce- this is wrong! It is wrong because once the pasta cools it is going to be harder for you to allow the sauce to coat the pasta all over because most of them are already sticking to each other. Secondly a cold pasta does not absorb your sauce that well anymore. When you are preparing your pasta, make sure your sauce is ready and once the pasta is done toss them together right away and serve them hot. It is better for you to prepare the sauce ahead of time and just heat them once the pasta is ready- not the other way around- remember the pasta is the main dish not the sauce. Once served, you have to eat the pasta right away- do not wait for it to turn cold. In Italy it is bad manners to let the pasta cool right in front of you.
These are some of the reasons why this blog is tittled Pasta Amore because you have to treat it with love and respect both as a cook and as a diner.
Comment (1)
March 14, 2010 at 1:46 PM
hello sandy. maka comment man lagi ko.
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