Pasta is one of those kitchen staples that comes to the aid of all cooks looking for a quick and tasty meal from the home pantry. It easily adapts itself to many ingredients in the kitchen and can be as elaborate as the imagination of the cook. Like soup, established favorite pasta dishes can accept ingredients not originally meant for this purpose and thus deliver new and delightful flavor combinations.
Chinese cuisine has favored noodles in its cooking for 5,000 years, but the pasta we associate primarily with Italian cooking is dated back to the Etruscans. The simple mixture of flour and water, sometimes enriched with eggs, was a simple way to process wheat flour and when dried preserve such food. Rice has been long substituted for wheat in many Oriental noodles and health-conscious cooks find bean and other legume pasta a source of different flavors.
Farfalle pie (Photo courtesy I. Winicov Harrington)
Farfalle pie
Cook ½ lb. farfalle (bow tie pasta) in salted water for 12 minutes and drain. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a bowl mix 2 cups cut or shredded chicken, pork-butt, browned ground turkey or beef, with ½ cup flavorful spaghetti sauce.
In another bowl blend 1 ½ cups cottage cheese with 1 egg, ½ tsp. salt, ½ tsp. oregano, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional), ¼ cup parmesan cheese.
Spray a 10-inch pie plate with baking spray and spread with 2-3 tablespoons spaghetti sauce.
Spread out ½ of the cooked pasta in the plate, cover with the meat sauce and then spread the rest on the pasta on top. Cover all with the cottage cheese blend and sprinkle with another ¼ cup parmesan cheese.
Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to set for 10 minutes before cutting in wedges to serve.
As indicated in the last recipe, pasta dishes adapt easily to different kinds of meat and as I found recently, even adapt by substitutions of pasta itself.
Pita-torta-lasagna
Pita-torta-lasagna (Photo courtesy I. Winicov Harrington)
This is a lasagna-like torta, easily adapted for a smaller number of diners that uses pita bread (white or whole wheat) instead of the traditional lasagna noodles.
Refresh 3 pita if stored in refrigerator with a sprinkling of water and 20 seconds in microwave. Slice 1 linguine in very thin rounds.
In a bowl beat 1 egg with 16 oz. flavorful pasta sauce, ¼ cup chopped parsley, 1 tsp. oregano and ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes (optional).
Spray a pie plate with baking spray or olive oil and spread with 2 tablespoons of the sauce mix.
Layer the torta starting with 1 pita, spread with 3 tablespoons sauce, ¼ cup cottage cheese, ½ sliced linguine, ¼ cup shredded mozzarella. Repeat with another pita and the rest of the first layer. Place the last pita bread on top and spread with the remaining sauce.
Top with 4 overlapping sliced rounds of provolone and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Cool slightly and serve in wedges with a crisp salad for lunch or dinner. Any leftover torta reheats well in the microwave, with improved blended flavors.
It’s spring, time for new tastes and textures, so let us innovate with pasta – or other familiar food items. Think of pasta primavera- linguine with a simple sauce of olive oil sautéed shallots, red pepper strips and asparagus spears, just sprinkled with coarsely grated parmesan. Delicious!
(I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; winicov-harrington.com)
