Pasta-bilities
I have three favorite food backbones (you know, the starch a meal is build around): Rice, Noodles (Asian), and Pasta (or Noodles, Italian). Today, we’re going to talk a little about pasta.
Novel, I know, but bear with me! Is there anything more wondrous than a pasta-meal? Long pasta, short pasta, fun shapes, the different sorts of flavors and supporting cast (you know, ingredients) that pair well with the various sorts…the pasta-bilities are endless (sorry not sorry). I love a trottole with a cheesy sauce + chunky veggies. I love a fettuccine with a white wine and caper sauce. I love a baked ziti filled with red sauce and covered in vegan cheese. I love a cavatappi with broccoli, olive oil, and red pepper flakes. I love a farfalle pasta salad with lots of celery and olives. I love an oriechette with vegan chicken and lots of lemon. And I love a cappellini with ‘meat’ sauce.
When I was a kid, I remember a set of meals that were regular in our house: burritos, macaroni and cheese with boiled hot dogs on the side, fried bologna sandwiches, fajitas, potato soup, stir fry, and spaghetti with meat sauce. We did eat more variety than that, but these are the ones sticking out in my mind as the real regulars. A lot of what I gravitate towards when I’m creating my own dishes revolves around stuff I grew up eating. I eat a lot of pasta and stir fries and unauthentic Mexican food.
I didn’t cook a lot as a youngin’, but sometimes I would be assigned the task of stirring the ground beef as it browned. Other than that, I didn’t really learn to cook until after I stopped eating meat in 2007. I don’t usually mess around much with meat substitutes because they can give me indigestion (and they’re usually expensive), but occasionally I splurge on some fake stuff to recreate meals from my pre-vegan life. I found a box of dehydrated wheat-based ground beef-esque crumbles at a Middle Eastern grocery store here in Austin and picked it up on a whim (sometimes I like to do a little grocery store tourism and pick stuff up even though I don’t have a plan); it eventually made its way into my red sauce!
When I cook something like this, I am filled with nostalgia. All of the plates and bowls of spaghetti I’ve eaten come rushing back to me like a warm blanket as the scent of garlic and herbs waft their way up at me while I stir. Even the smell of pasta right when you drain it is comforting, the starchy water splashing away to leave perfectly cooked strands or shapes steaming away in the strainer. The astringent scent of parsley as I chop a few fresh leaves to top the mound, the funky smell of vegan parmesan (they’re doing a really good job here, y’all) before it all gets stirred up into a mess of slurpy, savory goodness.
If you’d like to make something similar and take your own trip down pasta-memory-lane, you can find my red sauce recipe here. After sautéing the onions, I added this ground beef sub (you can use any you like, there are many out there) and stirred until brown before finishing the recipe as written (I also added about a tablespoon of capers with the garlic, but you can omit if you’re not in the mood). Use it to top a pound of pasta of your choosing. I prefer skinny and long noodles for this one, myself. I use Follow Your Heart shredded parmesan on top of that, but they also make a powdery one like we used to have in my house growing up. They smell about the same and have a similar effect in this recipe, so you have your pick.
While we’re here, what’s your take on plates vs. bowls for pasta? I went the bowl route (these dishes count, notice the tall rim) several years ago for any and all pasta (even when I’m not photographing lasagna, it goes in a bowl), and have never looked back. Are you team bowl or team plate?