by Lisa Kerrigan
Long, late afternoons in the garden mean coming in late. What better dish to put on the table in just a few minutes but pasta – healthy, fresh, varied, crisp and clean.
Take a good quality pasta – fresh if possibile and if you don’t want to make your own, fine food stores usually have a range of both fresh and high quality dried pasta – and add whatever takes your fancy.
If you keep a basic napoli (fresh tomato sauce) in the fridge you can use this as a base for almost any pasta dish (and a lot more besides) and once again, most delis should have stocks of home-made napoli sauce - but it is very easy to make. Saute your onions and garlic in some olive oil, splash over some white wine and cook off the alcohol. Add a mixture of fresh chopped tomatoes and canned Italian plum tomatoes. Cook over medium to high heat until the sauce thickens. Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt. I also add at this point a thick handful of chopped basil, italian parsley and a couple of bay leaves, and let simmer for another 15 minutes or so. Keep this in the fridge and you can add it to soups and sauces as well as on the side with meat dishes or as a base for your pizza. Very handy!
Other ideas for you: crumble ricotta, some fresh herbs and pine nuts and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil; stir fry some spanish onions in a knob of butter, toss through pasta with fresh thyme and shaved parmesan; blanch asparagus and snow peas, add a little cream to some napoli, then add your blanched vegies; melt some gorgonzola with cream, nutmeg and parsley and stir through hot gnocchi; grate some lemon rind, chop some chives, some basil, blend the lot with oil and lemon juice and stir through tagliatelle; cook up a ratatouille with eggplant, zucchini, red capsicum, tomato, throw in some pine-nuts and when you toss through some penne, also add some cubes of buffalo mozarella; blend in the processor some walnuts, garlic, cayenne pepper, a little oil and some basil and cream and stir through a short pasta; mushrooms are also a fantastic addition to pasta, just sauteed with some balsamic and rosemary or with some cooked pancetta and napoli, or even a little cream.
As you can see, the options are limitless. Use your imagination and fresh herbs, vegetables and your napoli base and you will never be short of a meal. Auguri!!