Saturday Night Pasta

One of the great things about Saturday night is just taking it easy. This applies to cooking as well.It doesn't pay to make an elaborate supper because you may be doing that tomorrow. One of the simplest and most tastiest is pasta.It's just a quick boil and then an easy sauce is added.

Spaghetti is a hearty and hasty  meal. It's a ten minute cook up and then a canvas for any kind of sauce Try  just melted butter on it for pasta con burro Add about two or three tablespoons of the pasta water to give it some body. Another snap sauce is aglia e olio, garlic and oil. This is just chopped garlic sautéed in a light  olive oil  and then poured over the pasta (you can also use angel hair or linguine too for this.). For heat add a scant sprinkling of red pepper flakes or for more zest some chopped anchovies. The anchovies can be cooked down  in the oil for a kind of bagna calda sauce. Many pasta affectionados go mad for a breadcrumb sauce. Even a novice home chef can make this. It involves toasting just plain breadcrumbs in a bare pan and then adding two tablespoons of butter to stop the browning as you take the pan off the stove. More butter, approximately six tablespoons   along with a cup of the pasta water is added for an incredibly delicious sauce. Keep in mind that most sauces require pasta water (see tomorrow's New York Times Magazine  Food section about this) because it does add extra flavor along with thickening the sauce.

A truly delicious pasta is when you cook it in any kind of broth or even the sauce. For this last mix five cups of water with one can of tomato paste. Four boullion cubes and four coarsely chopped garlic cloves are also tossed in along with four tablespoons of oil. It basically a one pot meal. It can be reheated with either margarine or more broth for a soupier pasta. Leftovers are great for sauces too. That leftover chicken or steak can be used as a variation of a Bolognese or chicken caccciatore. A can of tuna can yield a very flavorful sauce.It's just basically tomato sauce with the fish added. For a smoother texture try it with Genoa tonno e olio, This is simply the tuna packed in olive oil, and on it's own it's heaven,In sauce it is amazing,Veggies can be repurposed as well. Spinach  and onions go well with any pasta, especially with rigatoni or cavatelli. A sofriso sauce, made with onions is a nice change from the usual garlic studded one. You can even mix eggs with it for a classic and truly simple dish. It's just adding beaten eggs to al dente or semi cooked spaghetti  and cook it up in a frying pan.

It's Saturday. Kick back with a simple but easy pasta dinner. It's a nice way to enjoy a lazy Saturday .