Farfalle Alfredo. You Can Thank Me Later.
Pasta night. Yup…tonight was a pasta night.
To my wife, when I say, “Hun… tonight is a pasta night.”, it means two things:
1) I need comfort food because I’m frazzled and stressed from something and 2) get ready for a plate of carb lovin awesomeness, that is not your Mama’s boring pasta dish.
Yup…that’s right…I just went there.
What’s that you say? “Bring it!”
Oh…It’s brought…..
Let’s get to carbo warfare….
I love pasta.
Lasagna, fettuccine, rigatoni, capellini, fusilli, spaghetti, vermicelli, spaghettini, tagliatelle.
Hell. I even like Conchigliette, but don’t tell anyone. An Irish guy like me isn’t supposed to know that there are about 350 different types of pasta available for you….but I do.
That’s our little secret.
For this particular dish I chose to use Piccolini Mini Farfalle, or small farfalle.
They look like cute little butterflies and have grooves that hold sauce and seasoning very well.
If I don’t have immediate access to the fresh homemade pasta, I like Barilla.
As a kid it was called Butterfly pasta or bowtie pasta. I guess my mom had to say anything to make me eat.
I love sticking with the traditional recipes and building upon them. Creating new flavors and tastes, adding new items and experimenting.
That being said..it’s no longer traditional, per se, but that’s really how new innovations in cooking and culinary greatness is made. You need to think outside the pasta box every now and then.
To add some more flavor and as they say, to increase the flavor profile, I have added sun-dried tomatoes.
My friend has a home food dehydrator kit and loves to experiment with everything she has in the house.
She made an awesome batch of sun-dried tomatoes…a labor of love that takes about 8 hours to make.
Long story short….they were awesome, full of flavor and sweet as candy.
Mixed with a bit of olive oil and my favorite Maldon sea salt…these sweets were incredible.
Not everything I cook is super low-fat and has the promise to give you energy for hours…this dish a pure example of that, however, “Everything in moderation.”
Pasta is one of those versatile, go-to dishes that bring family together.
It makes old memories surface again just from the aroma of it boiling in the pot and creates new ones as you gather up what’s left in your refrigerator.
Experiment with the shapes. See what ones you like best. Which one’s hold cheese in better for mac and cheese.
Does marinara sauce stick to angel hair better rigatoni?
Can I put bleu cheese in with my pasta primavera?
You’re the boss. You’re the head chef. Go for it.
- Fold sauce into your farfalle, sprinkle with a dusting of grated parmigiano cheese and top with fresh basil leaves.
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