A few words about pasta

9th July 2018 Lenka Pagan

Dried pasta is mainly made of two ingredients flour and water and is one of the most essential cupboard staples today. There are so many brands out there to explore.

I have personally tried and enjoyed various kinds of pasta made of spelt, buckwheat, brown rice, corn, and of course whole-wheat flour. There are also less common kinds made of millet, quinoa and lentils.

Good quality brands I can recommend to you are King Soba, Biona, Doves Farm, Seeds of Change, Garofalo, Mr Organic, etc. Just as for any other products, you get what you pay for and you will see that the cheaper pasta does not taste as good as it becomes flabby in texture when you cook it.

Here are a few tips for cooking your pasta:

Cook pasta in plenty of water, add sea salt and make sure you never add your pasta until the water is boiling fast.
Right after you add pasta into the boiling water, mix it with a spoon and cover the pot until the water comes back to the boil.
You do not need to add any oil to the boiling water unless you cook a large quantity of filled pasta.
Cook your pasta according to the instructions and try a piece when nearly done. When it is soft enough to eat but still has a little bite, drain and rinse in a colander.
Add it to the pot with sauce, mix it and voila, your pasta is ready to be served.

You may find just pasta with sauce a boring dish and I would agree with you as I like to eat pasta with either steamed vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, carrots, corn, peas. And or stir-fry veg such as the vegetables above or bell peppers, kale, asparagus, courgettes, tomatoes, mushrooms, Savoy cabbage, tofu and more.

You can also flavour it with herbs, spices, and seaweed (Arame is my favorite) like I do. It is so much more colourful, tastier and definitely more nutritious with all these delicious toppings.

For an inspiration, below are some simple variations of pasta dishes I like to prepare with: