Pasta Ideas

haha i absolutely love that name! :)

 

and i think you describe cooking so well...it's such a great feeling when something turns out really well and also interesting to figure out what went wrong when something doesnt!

 

firstly about wholemeal pasta and brown rice - i switched almost entirely to brown rice about 6-7 months ago...i'm completely used to it now - as long as it's basmati. the trick is to soak it for about half an hour before cooking it. and also to add a little more water than you would to white rice. definitely worth a try. i will say that it will take a few days to get used to it. i don't regret making the switch though. i only eat white rice when i'm out now...we decided not to buy any to avoid temptation :)

wholemeal pasta - most of the dried pasta (spaghetti or linguini mainly) that i buy is wholemeal...but we often buy fresh pasta (stuffed etc) from the supermarket and that one is usually white

wholemeal dried pasta tastes fine...just have to be a little more careful when cooking it to ensure it doesnt overcook...i know that's the general rule with pasta but with wholemeal pasta the texture is really off when it's overcooked...again worth a try

 

pasta sauces - the one totally original sauce i made that turned out great was with roasted red peppers/capsicum. you can roast it yourself too but i bought a bottle of pre-roasted peppers from the supermarket. i was tired of the tomatobased sauces so wanted to try something different. i put in the pre-roasted peppers with a handful of toasted almonds (i wanted something that would make it creamy and didnt have any cream so randomly decided to add almonds) with chilli flakes, salt and garlic into a blender and blended the whole thing together. the sauce can be used with anything - veggies, chicken etc...i did it with shrimp and mushrooms. (i usually use frozen pre-cooked shrimp cause i'm always up for shortcuts!)

 

my favourite pasta sauce - and this may sound really lame - is super super simple especially with stuffed pasta...olive oil, loads of chopped garlic and chopped basil/dried basil. as simple as it sounds i l-o-v-e it

 

my hubby came up with his own creation the other day - a "mushroom pesto" he called it. he put a bunch of button mushrooms with green chilli, garlic and olive oil into the foodprocessor. it was really good i have to admit :)

he also likes to use pre-bought store tomato based sauce but make it a 'meat sauce' - where he will saute vegetables and ground turkey in the pan and then add in the store bought sauce with more spices...that's pretty nice too

 

so there's a few ideas :)

 

luv

megha, another sister of the travelling kadhai