Pasta dishes, how to make them delicious (IMHO).
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| No! |
I'd like to say that there is nothing more upsetting, to me, than to see glossy pictures of spaghetti Bolognese with boiled pasta and a mound of sauce poured on top. No matter what you do you are eating two separate entities, and no matter how much you mix it the pasta won't hold the sauce. Not to mention the fact that spaghetti Bolognese doesn't exist in Italy as spaghetti is not designed to hold a meaty sauce. Ask anyone from Bologna, the dish is made with Fettuccini or Tagliatelle, flat ribbons of pasta with more surface area to grip the sauce.
Rant over. No matter what shape of pasta you are serving, once it's cooked to your liking, drain it into a colander reserving half to one cup of the boiling water. To the still-hot pot from cooking the pasta, add some of your sauce. How generous is up to you but make sure to retain some to top the dish at the end. Add the reserved cooking liquid then the pasta. On high heat stir well to thoroughly incorporate the sauce, the heat will make the pasta soak up the flavour. Once the pasta has absorbed the sauce and liquid you will start to feel it stick slightly to the bottom of the pot. Now remove from heat, serve and top with the remaining sauce. Perfect, now you have a pasta dish where the flavour is throughout not just isolated on top. Believe me, it is a very different flavoursome dish.
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| Yes, yes, yes! |
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| No! |
While I'm on the subject of pasta, can I give a short explanation of Lasagna Bolognese. It was a method of making a substantial and balanced dish out of a little meat, vegetables, pasta, white sauce and cheese. It is not a mince pie, though the media would show you photos of layered mince with a little pasta in between. As a chef, I have had to defend making and serving a classic lasagna to cries of 'my wife has a lot more mince in it'. On more than one occasion I have personally gone to face the complaint and suggested they stay at home next time and leave me to clients who understand the dish.
This is the tried and tested order of making up a Lasagna Bolognese:
- Bechamel
- Pasta sheets
- Bechamel
- Bolognese
- Grated Parmesan
- Repeat from step 2 till you reach the top of your dish
- Bake
Yes, yes, yes!
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