We've been talking about cooking without recipes a lot lately. We're exploring flavors from world cuisines and ingredients that play well together.
Another way to approach cooking instinctively is the idea of template recipes. These are recipes that can be easily deconstructed into just a few basic elements to be mixed and matched at will, like the Asian summer rolls that we showed you yesterday.
One of our very favorite template "recipes" is the Italian standby of pasta, meat, and greens.
This is one of the easiest one-dish suppers we know, and it's a great way to mash most of the essential food groups together in one big pot. It's also easily updated for the vegetarians; leave out the meat and substitute beans, if you're so inclined, or extra vegetables.
Cooking pasta along with all the mix-ins and meat is a new thing for us; we are big fans of basic marinara sauce ladled over fresh, unadulterated pasta. But mixing everything together in one big pot is also delicious, and it helps coat every bite of pasta with a mix of rich and well-developed flavor.
Let's take our recent recipe for Anelletti Pasta with Sausage and Greens and break it down into its elements.
First off, choose your pasta, meat, greens and cheese. Take a look at our growing list of Italian ingredients and flavors:
• Italian Ingredients and Flavors
Pick out the freshest greens at the market: spinach, arugula, broccoli rabe, kale, turnip greens, watercress.
Choose some meat: Spicy Italian sausage, chorizo, bacon, salt pork, smoked sausage. A little will go a long way, since it flavors the whole dish. Use less than you would if you were eating it alone.
Cheese: Parmesan and pecorino are classic. But try Swiss too, and Gruyere. Delicious with arugula and fresh sausage!
Now, here are the basic steps of this template recipe.
1. Build flavor
Cook garlic and sometimes onions in a little olive oil. This will build flavor and strengthen the dish.
2. Brown the meat
Add some meat. Sausage, bacon, ground beef, shredded chicken. Cook in the oil until well-cooked and browned.
3. Cook and drain the pasta
Meanwhile cook the pasta just until al dente and drain.
4. Combine
Add the pasta in with the meat and toss over medium heat in a big pot.
5. Wilt the greens and melt the cheese
Add a few handfuls of fresh greens and cheese and cook quickly until all is just melted and wilted. Don't cook too long - you don't want to make the pasta chewy or too soft.
This may seem very basic and second nature to many of you, but it may be new to others. What would you cook in this template? What are your favorite pasta-meat-greens-cheese combinations?
More recipes in this template
• Ricotta Pasta with Fava Beans and Bacon
• Pasta With Greens and Feta
• Strozzapretti with Pecorino, Prosciutto and Something Green
Pasta with Vegetables
• Pasta with Pesto
• Heat Wave Eating: No-Cook Tomato Sauce
• Fettucini with Butternut Squash, Sage & Brown Butter
• Ridiculously Quick Pasta al Pomodoro
• Lemon Pepper Pasta with Capers
(Images: Faith Hopler)
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Meat, greens and cheese. That's pretty much all the food groups!
view art's profile
Ooops, and pasta!
view art's profile
I love doing Rotini, Broccoli Rabe, and Tempeh with olive oil, red pepper flakes, and parmesan.
view snickitysnack's profile
One of my favorite not-every-day ways to do pasta (I saw this on a cooking show) is to boil the pasta in the contents of a bottle of red wine rather than in water. If you have a plain colored pasta, it takes on the red color and a neat taste. I do it with broccoli rabe and some red pepper flakes, and I'm thinking a basic spicy Italian sausage would be excellent to throw in as well. It's fun and kitschy to serve at Christmas time!
view Mercy Street's profile
Cavatappi, a mix of sweet and hot Italian sausage, onions 7 garlic, spinach, fresh ricotta.
view ah-ha's profile
my current favorite is orzo, peas, ham or bacon and goat cheese, with a little lemon zest. it comes together in 2 minutes and makes great leftovers. if i'm feeling frisky, i might put a poached egg on top.
you can see it here (sans egg): http://thursdaynightsmackdown.com/2008/03/24/when-life-gives-you-lemons-make-orzo-with-goat-cheese-and-spring-veggies/
view UsVsFood's profile
I make this way more than I should: kale (or broccoli), chickpeas, tomatoes, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes. (And garlic, of course!) I add vegetable broth and a little tomato paste to flavor it up and serve it over a short pasta, couscous, or rice.
view mel.d's profile
I have been working off this template a lot this spring. So far, my favorites are:
*penne, ground turkey, spinach, and parmesan, with a little nutmeg for flavor
*orzo, peas, feta cheese, and chicken, with a little vinegar and olive oil for flavor
I think I might do a variation on mel.d's suggestion, and make orzo, broccoli, tomatoes, garlic, and a little mozzarella. Sounds yummy.
view gretchenann's profile
We're having pasta (haven't decided what kind) with arugula and parmesan tonight!
view RebeccaCT's profile
I'd like to share this as i did it last nite having some people over and really craving pasta.
Rigatoni (Ladini is my fav pasta brand it's kinda expensive but it's really the best, and it's made in Roma) with caramelized onions turkey bacon fresh tomatoes and ricotta.
what i did is "frying" the bacon in a nonstick pan, with no oil or butter, then i removed it and put 1 white onion in the pan, and cooked it slow with a bit of white wine, planty of water nut meg and 1 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar. added then the bacon stirred.
in the meantime i mixed the ricotta with 1 tomato oil salt and pepper.
when the pasta is ready mix the onions and bacon, then add the ricotta mix, some peocrino or parmigiano and ..it's sooooooo good.
this is what i had in the refrigerator that's why i made it.
view troz's profile