Real Pasta: Edible without Sauce?!?

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A friend recently (and graciously, I might add) gave me a package of Pappardelle's Spicy Thai pasta, purchased from her local farmer's market (it was Estes Park...or may have been Longmont?). Dried and in a package, I knew it would be better than what you get at the supermarket, but probably not quite like eating fresh pasta. I'm fairly certain I've never had fresh pasta, but the whole concept was brought to my attention in the book Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany (Vintage). (I didn't love the book BTW, but if the story of someone moving through the ranks of a kitchen and then setting out to Italy to learn from the masters sounds captivating, then you'll probably like it).

I had no sauce. The pacakge (ie. clear ziplock bag) had no instructions. But I was hungry.

Surprisingly, it was ready in what seemed like 5 or 6 minutes, about half the time it takes to cook supermarket pasta. My sauce would be a mushroom concoction (not a sauce) from a recent failed attempt at dinner involving Fillo dough we forgot to thaw first.

Result: excellent!

Of course, I couldn't resist. The Thai-ness of the noodles lead me to the fridge for some Simply Boulder Coconut Peanut Dressing & Culinary Sauce. Even better.

What's more, there was pasta leftover in the strainer. Well after finishing my meal, I went over to what remained, dreading the inevitable crusting that normally occurs. To my surprise, it was almost as soft as the moment it had come out of the water. Real pasta!

I never would have guessed that all these years the problem with my cooking was the ingredients. But at this point, it seems like I can pretty much throw anything together and end up with a fantastic meal. Pretty cool, huh?