Got Pasta ? Get Sauce

 What do you do with left voer pasta ? Create a quick and tasty sauce. This revitalizes any kind of leftover with fresh ingredients.It makes for a fast yet delcious hot dinner.

Tis is how I flt .I boiled plain fettucine the other night and had it with just Lidl's It' tastes LIke Butter on top. This was ok, a really simple meal for a busy Saturday. I had almost too much pasta left over. What to do? Bring out the fresh veggies, olive oil and plant butter and create a delicious sauce.

There's nothing like combining spinach with sliced baby bellas and sauteing it in the oil- plant butter mix. I just added a good amount of garlic powder (you can used fresh minced garlic in stead) and a good amount of salt and pepper.

I microwaved the pasta with more of It Tastes Like Butter for five minutes and comnined the two. Thanks to a combo of fresh and leftover I had a hot flavorful dinner. You can do the same with any veggie. Try a burst tomato sauce with cherry or grape tomatoes. A kale and garlic sauce is another easy make and goes well with any kind fo pasta from spaghetti to penne. Have leftover chicken? Mix it with some peas , heavy cream garlic and milk for an Alfredo sauce.

Plain leftover pasta is a good canvas for a quick , fresh sauce.create the spinach and mushroom one or with  any vegtables of your choosing. The nd result is a tasty hot diinner makes in minutes.

Pasta Thick And Thin

 There are so many different kinds of pasta out there. What do you choose from?A delicate  angel hair or a robust bucatini? What holds sauce better Strads or pasta or the chunky , twisty kind? There are so many to choose from - yet which is the right one?

Keep in mind that not all pastas work with sauces or even as sides.Long strands or twiny ones like spaghetti which means twine and angel hair are perfect for those sauces that don't have chunks of tomatoes in them. Creamy sauces such as  carbonara or an Alfredo sauce work well with these too. These also make the perfect side pasta , especially with chicken or seafood. Definitely use the thinner and flat shaped linguine for any of the clam sauces or to accompany lobster Fra Diavolo.As for salads  - no. There;s a reason you rarely see any of these "long" pastas with mayo at a backyard barbecue. You could use the spaghetti or angel hair if you do want to make Thai peanut salad but that's about it. What about these pastas in soups? There is a trend now to make spaghetti soup which is a kid pleaser. Normally , however smaller  chunkier pastas are used for different kinds of soups. Think smaller orrichete or orzo along with pastina and wagon wheels for this. These are easier to manage on a spoon than slippery strands of angel hair or fettuccine.

What are the thicker pastas? Fusilli is one and it can be short corkscrews or long resembling thick coily  hair. The first is good with a thick  sauce rich with tomato chunks and mushrooms. I also think this kind makes for the perfect salad too.Mayo, even the vegan kind sticks to it as does a vinaigrette. It also is a great foil for celery and tomatoes as well as torn broccoli and cauliflower bits. Rotelli  is one of those rare chunky pastas that also works well in soup too. It's perfect with a hearty beef based minestrone. A thick and fun pasta to make is bucatini. Meaning little mouth in Italian it's as thick as a drinking straw and is perfect with a Bolognese sauce. You can use a ground beef sauce like that or be a bit more creative and try it with leftover London Broil cubes added to the sauce.Thicker pastas would also be great with vodka sauces as well.This a a creamy blend of whole cream cooked with tomato paste and a splash of vodka. The sauce can also work with calamarata , which look like short dense tubes. Try this kind too with a sauce brimming with veggies like broccoli,  and whole tomatoes.

Nothing beats a good pasta dish. It can be made with thin stands like angel air or thick like bucatini. Serve it with the right sauce and enjoy a delicious dish.

A Spin On Sauce

There's nothing like a good sauce over any kind of pasta. However some home chefs get into the same rut and pour the usual over their spaghetti and ravioli. Tomato sauce is fine but variety adds more spice to the same old dishes. Tomatoes can  be used along with other veggies and ingredients. Sometimes all it takes it a new sauce to liven up a boring dish.

Tomatoes are fine for any pasta, whether it's for a baked dish like lasagna or freshly boiled like spaghetti or linguine. However think about adding other veggies such as porcini mushrooms , broccoli  and cauliflower, Instead of a thick sauce just have the olive oil and garlic that the veggies  were sauteed in. Another variation is having just one veggie. There's the famed cavatelli and broccoli . Both flavors play well off each other, with the broccoli's strong taste working  with the pasta's blandness. Another alternative is pesto. This Genoa based basil sauce can accentuate any pasta from meat ravioli to simple fettuccine or tagliatelle.It's a strong , acquired taste, however and usually made with fresh basil leaves.

Cream sauces are also good. The two most famous are carbonara and Alfredo, Both require cream or milk. The first was made by Italian charcoal workers hence the name, is a rich , hearty, almost decadent blend of peas ,bacon and eggs. It is an excellent sauce for winter dishes, Alfredo is somewhat similar however it has more cream and instead of eggs and meat, more Parmesan cheese in i,t Vodka, another lush sauce,  is a combo of cream and tomato with a cup of vodka and chopped prosciutto thrown in for flavor . Most cooks serve it over penne, however it's good over any meat ravioli or even tortellini.

Just as there are many types of pasta , there are just as many different sauces .Some require the traditional tomatoes. Some do not Make your pastas exciting by trying them instead of the tried and true. They'll put a different spin on favored dishes.