Several weeks ago, I enjoyed a simple yet delicious dish at the delightful Positano Coast consisting of rigatoni that had been cooked al dente and topped with a pureed parsley sauce.
The sauce was rich green, blended with olive oil, the right touch of garlic and a hint of white wine, and could have been a distant cousin to pesto, which has a far more complex flavor. Still, the parsley sauce was rich with goodness and also could have enhanced a piece of grilled chicken or fish.
When we think of sauces, we instantly think of the French, who elevated sauce-making to an art form. We associate the sauces with butter and cream, but even the French have lightened up a bit on the ingredients.
Many people are on low-carb diets but can still enjoy a small serving of pasta topped with a healthy sauce. Three to 4 ounces per serving is the recommended amount of pasta. The parsley sauce I enjoyed was rich in vitamin C and calcium. We often forget leafy greens are packed with calcium – an important nutrient for strong bones.
We all fall into a pasta-sauce rut. I make Bolognese about once a month during the winter, but I found delicious alternatives to this famous rich meat sauce in Lidia’s Family Table by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich ($35, Alfred A. Knopf, hardbound with full-color photographs). This new cookbook is packed with more than 200 everyday recipes. Bastianich also offers variations and improvisations for any number of her easy-to-follow recipes.
Although this is a soup-to-nuts cookbook, I first turned to Bastianich’s quick and easy sauces and discovered what she calls "skillet sauces," many of which can be prepared in minutes.
Here is my recipe for parsley sauce, along with sauces from Lidia’s Family Table.
Parsley Sauce
Ingredients:
2 bunches Italian parsley, leaves only, washed and patted dry
2 to 3 fat cloves of garlic
3/4 cup olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Sprinkling of hot pepper flakes
Directions:
Place the parsley and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse on and off a few times to chop the parsley. While the machine is running, add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream. The sauce should be well-pur�ed.
Place the sauce in a saucepan. Add the salt, pepper and hot pepper flakes to taste. Simmer the sauce while the pasta cooks.
Serves four.
Note: This sauce is delicious on chicken and fish. Simply warm it up while the chicken or fish is cooking. If the sauce is too thick, add a little water from the pasta pot.
Basic Aglio e Olio
Oil and Garlic Sauce
Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if desired
5 plump garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 teaspoon dried "peperoncino" (hot red pepper flakes), or more to taste
Hot water from the pasta cooking pot
1/4 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano
Directions:
Boil a large pot of salted water. If using dry pasta, plunge it into the boiling water five minutes before starting the sauce; fresh pasta is added at the same time you start the sauce.
Pour 3 tablespoons of the oil into the big skillet, scatter the garlic slices in the oil and set over medium heat.
Cook for one minute, add the peperoncino and cook another minute, shaking the pan now and then, until the garlic slices are an even light gold.
Ladle in 2 cups of boiling pasta water and cook rapidly for two to three minutes, reducing the liquid by a third or so. Taste the sauce; add salt as needed. Keep at low simmer until the pasta is ready.
When the pasta is not quite al dente, bring the sauce to an active simmer, then add the pasta.
Finish the sauce and pasta by tossing them together in the skillet over low to moderate heat until the pasta is tender to the bite. If the dish is dry, incorporate more hot pasta water; if soupy, reduce with higher heat and a bit more cooking. Add the parsley during the initial tossing. Off the heat, toss in the cheese and the final tablespoon of olive oil just before serving.
Makes enough sauce for 1 pound of pasta.
Note: Bastianich recommends capellini, linguine or spaghetti for this sauce.
Butter and Fresh Sage Sauce
(A three-minute sauce)
Ingredients:
1 to 1-1/2 sticks butter
10 whole fresh sage leaves
Hot water from the pasta cooking pot
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano
Directions:
Melt the butter in the pan over medium heat, lay in the sage leaves and heat until the butter is sizzling gently. Toast the leaves for a minute or so.
Ladle in 1 cup boiling pasta water, stir the sauce and simmer for about two minutes, reducing the liquid by half, before adding the pasta. Grind the black pepper directly into the sauce.
Keep the sauce hot over very low heat; return to a simmer before adding the pasta.
Finish cooked pasta and sauce in the skillet. Off the heat, toss in the cheese just before serving.
Makes enough sauce for 1 pound of pasta.
Note: Bastianich recommends any fresh pasta, gnocchi, ravioli or a box of ziti for this sauce.
Salsa Arrabbiata
Spicy Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
1 (28-ounce) can San Marzano or other plum tomatoes, with juices
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, sliced in 1/4-inch half moons
6 ounces prosciutto ends or thick bacon, cut in 1/2-inch strips
3 bay leaves
8 to 10 whole Tuscan-style peperoncini in vinegar, drained, seeded and sliced in strips
Hot water from the pasta cooking pot
1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Dump the tomatoes and juices into a large bowl and squeeze the tomatoes into small chunks with your hands.
Pour the olive oil into the skillet, toss in the onion slices and the prosciutto or bacon strips and set over medium-high heat. Stir well, toss in the bay leaves and cook, stirring and shaking the pan occasionally. If using bacon, start over medium heat and turn it up as the bacon releases its fat.
After five minutes or so, when the onions have softened, drop the peperoncini strips into a clear part of the skillet and toast them in the hot spot for a minute. Pour the crushed tomatoes into the pan; rinse out the tomato can and bowl with 1 cup of pasta cooking water and pour it into the skillet. Add the salt and stir well. Bring the sauce to a boil, then lower the heat so it is bubbling steadily.
Cook at a gentle boil for eight to 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened and reduced by a third or so. The onions and peppers should be cooked through but still retain their shape and texture to the bite.
Remove the bay leaves. Add the cooked pasta to the skillet and toss well. Remove from the heat and add the cheese just before serving.
Makes enough sauce for 1 pound of pasta.
Note: Bastianich recommends any dry pasta for this sauce.
