Quick sauce for farfalle?

[raisa]

I have got a few boxes of farfalle pasta at my shelf. I love spaghetti aglio olio but that tastes good with spaghetti only. I often toss the farfalle with butter, garlic and cheese. What are theother easy and quick ways of making farfalle? Something that doesn't take long like a marinara or bolognese sauce?

I serve pasta as a side dish most of the time. So idea for a light and fast pasta dish would be highly appreciated.

[another_adam]

I was reminded tonight of a forgotten favorite: pumpkin sauce. The basic idea is: for a pound of pasta, I start sauteeing one small finely minced onion and some garlic in a pot, then add about half to 2/3 of a 15oz can of pumpkin, and enough stock to make it a sauce. (It can take surprisingly much stock, like maybe a cup and a half or two cups? The sauce will thicken a little as it cooks, so I start it out a bit thinner than I want it to be in the end). You can also add finely chopped celery, or red pepper, etc. Depending on your mood, you can add various seasonings when adding the stock:

- A sprinkle of crushed red pepper, salt, pepper, a slight drizzle of honey and some lemon juice. (Sprinkle the sauced pasta with parmesan, or with gorgonzola)
- Sage, nutmeg, parsley, salt. (Sprinkle later with parmesan or grana)
- Cumin or curry (Sprinkle later with fried onions)

When the pasta is nearly done, add some heavy cream to the sauce, and then toss with the cooked pasta. As is so often the case, it tastes better if the sauce is made ahead, but it works just fine to make it while the pasta water is coming to a boil and the pasta is cooking!

[JeremyEG]

Just had it tonight. I cooked down a few tablespoons of leftover heavy cream from the farmers market. It's really great, thick stuff. I chopped some oyster mushrooms and threw them in. Tossed the cooked farfalle in at the end and finished with some salt and grated parm. Nice dinner for a cold night!
JeremyEG
HomeCookLocavore,.com

[greygarious]

I think stroganoff works with farfalle.

Lately I have been dressing pasta a la minute, to use up some sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil. I slice the tomato into smaller bits, put them into a pan to melt the olive oil, add thin-sliced onion, garlic, anchovy paste, a small squeeze of tomato paste from the tube, red pepper flakes, and parmesan. When the onion is cooked, I stir in the cooked pasta. The sauce takes less than 5 minutes to make. Today I also threw in some cubes of paneer that need using up. It's pretty similar to ricotta salata.

[raisa]

I LOVE all the suggestions here. Thank you all very much.

[Terrie H.]

Farfalle is sturdy and will work well with recipes calling for rigatoni, penne, etc. Your basic olive oil, garlic and cheese is a great starting place. Add the leafy greens of your choice - kale, escarole, spinach, cabbage, chard, etc. Fennel, celery, squash, herbs. Add sausage if you want to make it a main course.

[HillJ]

Some variations my family enjoys with farfalle:
light pesto cream sauce
panko breadcrumbs, grated parm, nutmeg and diced ham, toss with o.oil
sundried tomato, grilled artichoke hearts and mozz balls. as a cold salad
Thinly sliced grilled skirt steak, snap peas and saute mushroom caps in brown butter

[ChiliDude]

Chicken livers (fegatini) and mushrooms (funghi) sauteed in olive oil (olio d'olive). Add to cooked pasta just before serving.

[hotoynoodle]

ooh, that sounds good. i'd zing it up with some lemon zest, maybe capers. even without the pasta. this cold dreary weather makes me want offal awfully bad.

[ChiliDude]

Buon appetito! Mangia bene!

[jmcarthur8]

Toss the farfalle (off the heat) with a good dollop of sour cream, add fresh or dried basil, garlic powder, pepper, and lastly a mitt full of freshly grated parmesan.
Quick and easy.

[tim irvine]

I have a cream/puttanesca variant I have developed that is great with farfalle. Dice onions and cook until clear in olive oil. Add diced fresh tomatoes, seeds and all, halved kalamatas, and capers. Add white wine and red pepper flakes, salt to taste, and stir in a couple of spoons of cream. Top with chiffonade of basil if you have it. So easy, about as long to make as it the farfalle takes to boil. It also works without the cream. Sometimes I top it with grated Romano.

[lunchslut]

How about a sophisticated pasta salad with fresh spinach, sudried tomatoes, black olives, and bococcini? This is one our fast and easy side dishes. Also works well with orzo.

The dressing is made up of olive oil, herb infused white wine vinegar, and lemon juice. The portions in the dressing are 2:1:1. I toss in part of the dressing in when the pasta is still warm. The spinach will wilt with the dressing so you need to time its addition with how soft you like the spinach. My DH doesn't like the metallic taste of raw spinach so we add it earlier when the pasta is still a bit warm.to wilt it a bit.

[ChiliDude]

OK, che cosa i bococcini? Non lo so? In other words, educate me because I never heard of it in almost 52 years of marriage to my wife of Italian heritage.

[dmjordan]

They are little bite sized fresh mozzarella balls.

[lunchslut]

I spelled the name wrong it is bocconcini and they are balls of unripened mild cheese often made from cow or buffalo milk. They are often used in the classic tomato basil cheese salad. The stuff you buy here in North America is a type of fresh mozarella. They come in balls that are anywhere from the size of a baseball to that of grapes and are sold in tubs where they are soaked in liquid whey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bocconcini

[ChiliDude]

Thanks for the clarification. We often have the classic salad you mentioned during the summer when we have ripe tomatoes on our garden plants. It's known as 'insalata Caprese.' Store bought tomatoes are not worthy of being used in the salad.

Vivi, ama, ridi e mangia bene!

[escondido123]

If they're summertime heirloom tomatoes bought at their peak of ripeness, even if you get them in a store they're still great.....too bad the season is so far away.

[hotoynoodle]

farfalle's shape makes it nice to "trap" little bits of stuff. dice zucchini very small and sweat in butter. finish with lemon and mint. toss with pasta.

this works well with peas too. put frozen peas in a colander while yhou cook the pasta. drain the boiling water and pasta over the peas. this will thaw them, but prevent them from being mushy. in the saucepot, add olive oil or butter, or both, to warm. add some thyme or mint. toss everything. garnish with chopped almonds.

cook off some bacon or pancetta. remove from pan, reserving the fat. warm mushroom duxelles (which i make and freeze in portions), in this, then thin with a bit of cream. toss with pasta.

left-over sausage and bleu cheese also go quite well on this. finish with chopped walnuts.

[scunge]

Just prior to draining ,add frozen peas then add the peas and pasta to a large bowl tossing with E.V.O. ,course black pepper, and pecorino romano . Fava's can be substituted.

[basildip]

hotoynoodle, can you please clear up paragraph two. I read it over and over. I just don't get, but the ingredients sound good. Well I just read it again. This time was the charm. I get it. Thanks for the tip.

[escondido123]

With good canned tomatoes, you can make a basic tomato sauce in about 15 minutes. Slice two cloves garlic, saute in olive oil until light gold, add one can of tomatoes crushed by hand (along with juice in can). From there, your choices are many. 1. Add chopped olives, proscuitto/ham, parsley and hot pepper flakes. 2. Stir in some cream for a pink sauce. 3. Add onion/peppers browned with Italian sausage 4. Add browned eggplant/zucchini 5. Add diced mozzarella right before serving for a stringy cheesy sauce 5. Add any leftover meat cubed or shredded.

[porker]

I used to think Italian dishes should be complicated to be great. I realized simple can be a route to greatness as well. I had an older Italian friend who I'd make sausage with. His wife would cook us lunch or dinner and pasta was always part of the meal. her sauce was quick, simple, and very good. I must admit it took me a few times to fully appreciate its simplicity.
FWIT,
1/2 head garlic, minced
1 onion chopped fine
2 stems worth fresh basil chiffonade
~ 2 TBL dried oregano
~ 2 TBL dried parsely
pinch of chili pepper
1 bottle Italian strained tomato
1 can quartered Italian tomatoes

Sweat garlic/onion in oil (do not brown)
Add strained tomatoes, stir in spices and basil, stir, simmer 10min
Add tomatoes, break up a bit with a spoon, stir, simmer 10min
Voila

[iL Divo]

1/2 lb ground veal
3Tb butter
salt pepper onion garlic to your taste
(1/8 ts ground cumin)
1small finely chopped tomato
brown meat in butter add all else stir till right consistency drop cooked far fallow in stir

[dmjordan]

I love Giada Di Laurentiis' Farfelle with Broccoli from the Food Network website. Sometimes I serve it as the main dish and others as the side dish. I don't know if you are an anchovy fan or not. But I hate anchovies, but when I saw Giada make it she swore you would never know that there is anchovy in this and she was right.

[raisa]

That sounds nice. I think sometimes broccoli can be substituted by spinach. Thank you.

[dmjordan]

That sounds like a great substitution! BTW, here's a link to the recipe
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gi...