Cold Pasta Salad ©
This is one of my children’s most favourite pasta dishes. It can be prepared ahead of time and makes an excellent summer meal, light and tasty.
Easy.
4 Persons
Preparation Time: 1/2 hour.
Ingredients
300 g Fussilli Pasta
480 g (3 tins) tuna, broken up.
2 tbs capers
10 Kalamata Olives quartered stones removed
3 slices of ‘sliced cheese’ (Gouda) cut into small squares
4 tbs grated parmesan cheese
1 medium lemon juice
1 tomato, seeded and cubed
3 tbs chopped parsley
4 tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp salt for Tuna mixture
1-2 tsp salt for pasta water
Freshly grated black pepper added just before serving
Basil leaves for decoration
Method
1. Boil pasta in salted water, until “Al Dente.” 8-10 minutes.
2. Drain and place in serving dish. Drizzle well with olive oil while still hot and a little extra lemon juice.
3. Place all other ingredients in bowl, except for cheeses.
4. When pasta is cold and you are ready to serve, pour tuna mixture and cheese over pasta. This can be done up to an hour before serving.
5. Preparation can be done several hours before. Reserve pasta and sauce in separate bowls in refrigerator.
This is an excellent light summer dish!
N.B “Al Dente” meaning: You can just bite into it, NOT soft! Viva Italia!
Boil salted water for pasta. Add pasta once rapidly boiling. Do not cover with lid, or it will boil over.
Cut sliced cheese into squares and reserve separately, so that it doesn’t soften.
Place capers, stoned olive quarters, cubed seeded tomato, tuna, lemon juice in bowl. Reserve in refrigerator until ready to amalgamate with pasta. You can amalgamate the ingredients an hour before serving once your pasta is cold.
Drain cooked pasta in colander and place hot, in serving bowl. Drizzle generously with olive oil and a little extra lemon juice and leave to cool.
Once cold if not eating straight away, cover with cling film and reserve in refrigerator.
Once pasta is cold, pour over prepared ingredients, together with finely chopped parsley and parmesan and sliced cheese and mix well with two forks. Taste, drizzle with a little extra olive oil, salt and lemon, if necessary. Add freshly ground black pepper.
It should be really tasty, not bland.
N.B. The pasta can be prepared before hand and topping, but don’t combine until half to an hour, before eating.
Final result!
Serve in a bowl of your choice. Decorate with fresh basil.
Penne Alla Vodka ©
We eat this at least once a week! Updated with slide show!
Easy
4 Persons
INGREDIENTS
1 medium onion sliced into rings
3 small dried red chili
3 tbs olive oil
2-3 tbs Vodka
400g tin chopped tomatoes, or freshly grated, skins removed
200g carton of Greek thick Yogurt (‘Fage Total’)
250g ‘De Cecco” Penne Rigate No. 41.
1.5 tsp salt for sauce
1 tsp salt for pasta water
Sprig of basil for decoration
METHOD
1. Put large saucepan of salted water on to boil for pasta. Place serving dish and plates in oven to warm. 50.C.
2. Peel and slice medium onion into rings, place in saucepan together with olive oil and 3 dried chili peppers.
3. Fry until just turning color. Now with “great care,” and holding saucepan lid in left hand add Vodka. Place lid very quickly back on as the Vodka WILL make the oil splutter! This is a quick action,” in with the Vodka, on with the lid.” Cook rapidly for 2-3 minutes, until alcohol has evaporated. Add tomatoes and 1.5 tsp salt and leave to simmer gently for at least 15 mins. Remove from heat and leave with lid off to slightly cool before adding yogurt. ( 2 minutes)
4.When water is boiling add pasta and cook until “al dente”. 8-10 minutes.
5.Drain pasta and place in warmed serving dish. REMOVE 3 chillies from sauce and add yogurt. Mix sauce in with pasta, serve straight away on heated plates.
This is quick and just the thing for a Sunday evening, when the fridge is empty!
IMPORTANT : LESSON ON FIRE PRECAUTIONS :
Always keep a fire blanket in your kitchen! Always fry with a saucepan lid next to the stove, especially when adding alcohol. Never leave oil, once you start heating it and if it gets so hot that it is smoking, the next thing that will happen is it will catch fire, so remove it immediately and leave to cool down. Fire with out oxygen goes out. A properly fitting saucepan lid starves the fire of oxygen straight away and thus puts the fire out. Always remove saucepan off the heat, and turn hot-plate or gas OFF.
These notes all cooks need to know about, I have given myself a fright twice in my cooking career and I was so relieved to know exactly what to do. A friend telephoning is fatal ! Ha though portable phones or mobiles do help ! Like when driving, you need to keep fully focused when cooking.
What's Cooking In Jane's Kitchen 