When you don’t have much time to cook, but you do have a hankering for something homemade and tasty, put on a pot of water and cook some pasta. It will be ready before you know it, and it won’t take a series of complicated ingredients to make it very flavourful. That means you’ll have dinner on the table at home not long after you’ve said your goodbyes at work.
That should definitely be the case with today’s three recipes. The first is penne, a type of pasta formed in short tubes, tossed with ripe, red cherry tomatoes and emerald-green baby spinach. Bolstering the flavour of those three ingredients is aromatic garlic, chilies and oregano. When all are cooked and tossed together, the pasta gets topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and looks — and is — most appetizing.
My second pasta dish, tortellini with pesto alfredo sauce, is on the rich side, but if you’ve been slogging all day at the office, it sure will taste good. The best part is it’s very easy to make.
Start by cooking fresh cheese-filled tortellini, which is sold at most supermarkets, until tender. Now drain and toss it into the simple sauce made by simmering cream and flavouring it with basil-rich pesto and tangy asiago cheese. You end up with a stick-to-your-ribs kind of pasta dish that tastes even better, as the penne above does, when sprinkled with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
My last recipe uses gnocchi, which, according to the New Food Lover’s Companion, is the Italian word for dumplings. That’s an accurate description for these almost pillowy bites you can buy ready-to-cook in the deli department of supermarkets and at Italian food stores. They cook quickly, so if you’re serving a sauce with them like I did, have it ready before cooking them.
My sauce for the gnocchi started by removing the casing from three Italian sausages. The sausage meat was then pulled into small, meatball-like pieces that I fried until nicely coloured. The excess fat was drained away, and I then stirred in some diced onion and bell pepper, cooked them a while, and then added some tomato sauce and stock and simmered this simple sauce for 10 minutes. As it simmers, the spices and herbs used to flavour the sausage permeate the sauce, which meant I didn’t need to add any other seasonings.
To finish the dish, you cook the gnocchi, scoop it into serving dishes, top it with sauce and voila, a yummy dinner is ready. In the recipe, as above, you can sprinkle the gnocchi with Parmesan cheese, and, if desired, for a hit of green, some chopped fresh basil or parsley.
Penne with Cherry Tomatoes, Spinach, Chilies and Garlic
Pasta adorned with red and green colours and simple flavours that add a lot of taste.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: About 10 minutes
Makes: four servings
3/4 lb. (375 g) penne or other bite-sized pasta
2 Tbsp olive oil
18 cherry tomatoes, each halved
1 to 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/8 to 1/4 tsp dried, crushed chili flakes, or to taste
3/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock
5 cups loosely packed fresh baby spinach
• salt to taste
• freshly grated parmesan cheese to taste.
Bring a large of pot of water to a boil. Lightly salt and then add the pasta and cook until just tender, about 8 to 10 minutes.
While the pasta cooks, place the oil in a very large skillet set over medium heat. Add the cherry tomatoes, garlic, oregano and chili flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the stock and bring to a simmer.
Swirl the spinach into the skillet and cook until it just wilts, about 2 minutes.
When the pasta is cooked, drain well, reserving 1/2 cup of its cooking liquid. Add the pasta, reserved cooking liquid, and salt to the skillet and toss to combine.
Divide the pasta among bowls, sprinkle with cheese and serve.
Tortellini with Pesto Alfredo Sauce
This rich and divine pasta is flavoured with pesto, and ingredient that adds the tastes of basil, nuts, cheese and garlic to the dish all in one go.
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: About 10 minutes
Makes: three to four servings
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 (350 gram) package three-colour fresh cheese-filled tortellini
1 cup grated asiago cheese (about 75 grams)
2 to 3 Tbsp homemade or store-bought pesto
• salt and white pepper to taste
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Bring a large of pot of water to a boil. While that occurs, pour the cream into a large, wide skillet and set over medium, medium-high heat. Bring the cream to a simmer and cook until cream has reduced by a quarter and has thickened slightly, about 4 minutes.
While it simmers, add the tortellini to the boiling water and cook until tender, about 4 to 5 minutes.
When the cream has simmered 4 minutes, add the asiago cheese and pesto and stir until the cheese is melted. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, and then turn the heat to low.
When cooked, drain the tortellini, toss it and the 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese into the pesto alfredo sauce, and then serve.
Gnocchi with Italian Sausage Meatballs and Sauce
The meatballs in the sauce for this hearty dish are simply made by removing the casing from Italian sausages and pulling the meat into bite-sized pieces and cooking them. Fresh gnocchi is sold in the deli department of most supermarkets and Italian food stores.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: About 20 minutes
Makes: three to four servings
3 mild, medium or hot Italian sausages (about 85 grams each)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup diced onion
2 cups tomato sauce or passata (strained tomatoes)
1/2 cup chicken stock or water
1 (500 gram) package fresh gnocchi
• freshly grated parmesan cheese, to taste
• chopped fresh basil or parsley, to taste (optional)
Remove the casing from each sausage and pull the meat into small nuggets.
Place the oil in a 9-inch wide pot and set over medium, medium-high heat. When hot, add the pieces of sausage and cook until nicely browned, about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain away the excess fat, and then mix in the bell pepper and onion and cook 2 to 3 minutes more.
Add the tomato sauce (or passata) and stock (or water) and bring to a gentle simmer. Loosely cover and simmer the sauce 10 minutes, adjusting the heat as needed to maintain a gentle simmer. While the sauce simmers, bring a large pot of water to boil.
When sauce has simmered 10 minutes, add the gnocchi to the boiling water. When it rises to the surface of the water it is cooked. At that point, scoop it out of the pot and into serving bowls. Top the gnocchi with the sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and, if desired, some freshly chopped basil or parsley, and then serve.
Eric Akis is the author of the hardcover book Everyone Can Cook Everything. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.