Spicy Crab Marinara Pasta
Spicy Crab Marinara Pasta is a must for Christmas Eve’s Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner and a family favorite to be enjoyed any time of the year. Just enough spicy heat and sweet crab meat, Spicy Crab Marinara Pasta is nonetheless easy to prepare and never fails to impress from its presentation to its rich and zesty taste. Choose a fun, fancifully-shaped pasta for this dish; we chose creste di gallo (cocks combs) but radiatore (radiators) or lumachine (small snails) would also work well to hold the zesty sauce and bits of crab meat. For a special dinner, start with Family-style Rustic Escarole Salad and move on to Spicy Crab Marinara Pasta, pairing both courses with a dry white wine or prosecco.
Prep Time: 10 minutes, Cooking Time: 30 minutes, Total Time: 40 minutes. Serves 4 to 6 persons.
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Hearty Pasta alla Boscaiola
Hearty Pasta alla Boscaiola evokes rustic autumnal and wintry flavors of deep, earthy mushrooms, combined with bacon and herbs into a delicious creamy sauce for pasta. Il boscaiolo is the woodsman in Italian and la boscaiola is the woodsman’s wife, hence Hearty Pasta alla Bosciaola is prepared as the woodsman’s wife would have it. There are many versions of Pasta alla Boscaiola, but of course, we are partial to ours. We’ve made the recipe a bit more approachable by using baby bella and white mushrooms, both readily available in most supermarkets, and using dried Shiitake mushrooms to deepen the woodsy mushroom element of the dish; feel free to use more exotic wild mushrooms, if you like. Similarly, we use tomato paste versus chopped fresh tomatoes or canned tomato puree; it’s doubtful the la boscaiola would have access to those products in the autumn and winter months, though she likely would have a supply of pomodoro passata stored away. Hearty Pasta alla Boscaiola works well with a variety of pastas: pappardelle, linguine or mafalde (our favorite, pictured) or cut pastas, such as penne rigate. Start with a simple Family-style Rustic Escarole Salad, then move on to Hearty Pasta alla Boscaiola, accompanied by a medium-bodied dry red wine like Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Pinot Noir or a red blend, and enjoy!
Prep Time: 30 minutes, Cooking Time: 1 hour, Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes. Serves 4.
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Steak and Mushroom Pasta
Steak and Mushroom Pasta prominently features sirloin and mushrooms in a rich, thick sauce which coats every bite of pasta. The idea for this sauce originated in the practice of basic, neighborhood Italian restaurants routinely serving steak with sauteed mushrooms accompanied by pasta with marinara sauce. We thought “Why not combine the steak, mushrooms, marinara sauce and pasta into one dish?” Browning the sirloin steak and mushrooms first, then preparing the sauce and incorporating the steak and mushrooms back into the sauce allows these elements to remain distinct yet blending in perfectly into the sauce. Steak and Mushroom Pasta takes a bit of time to prepare, making it perfect for a Sunday night dinner; start out with a Sicilian Orange Salad then enjoy Steak and Mushroom Pasta accompanied by a robust, dry red wine.
Prep Time: 30 minutes, Cooking Time: 90 minutes, Total Time: 2 hours. Serves 6 as a main course.
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Sausage and Broccoli Pasta
Sausage and Broccoli Pasta brings together wonderful flavors and textures to create a colorful and very tasty dish. Sausage removed from its casings, crumbled and browned, juicy, bright green broccoli florets, fun-shaped pasta and melted cheeses make Sausage and Broccoli Pasta a treat. Easy to prepare, this family-favorite recipe makes use of a few easily obtained ingredients to create a satisfying weeknight dinner. Use a cut dried pasta when preparing Sausage and Broccoli Pasta: cavatappi, mezze rigatoni, rotelle (wagon wheels), gemelli or rotini; their fun shapes really add to the textural element of this dish. Start out with an appetizer of Cream Cheese Celery Sticks, then enjoy Sausage and Broccoli Pasta with a medium-bodied, dry red wine like a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo or a Pinot Noir.
Prep Time: 20 minutes, Total Time: 50 minutes. Serves 2 as a main course.
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Creamy Peppadew Chicken Pasta
Creamy Peppadew Chicken Pasta is a shout-out to our South African friends. Peppadews are sweet-hot pickled peppers from South Africa; deliciously addictive and now available worldwide. Lightly-seasoned chicken breasts are grilled, then sliced down and incorporated into a creamy Peppadew-rich sauce with pasta. Use fanciful-cut dry pasta like cavatappi, radiatore, or rotelle/ruote (wagon wheels), as shown, when preparing Creamy Peppadew Chicken Pasta; the pasta will not only catch and hold the rich sauce but provide a great, fun, textural element to the dish. Prepared with a few, easy to follow steps, Creamy Peppadew Chicken Pasta is a colorful and tasty main course. Start with a Grilled Radicchio and Arugula Salad appetizer, then move on to Creamy Peppadew Chicken Pasta; accompany your meal with a well-chilled, dry crisp white wine.
Prep Time: 10 minutes, Total Time: 1 hour. Serves 2 as a main course.
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Grilled Red Pepper Sauce and Shrimp
Grilled Red Pepper Sauce and Shrimp brings sweet red bell peppers and spicy red Fresno chilis together for a sauce which starts at the grill and finishes in the sauce pan. The sweet and spicy sauce balances and complements simply grilled shrimp, with fettuccine pasta filling out this eye-catching dish. While the flavors of Grilled Red Pepper Sauce and Shrimp are complex, the preparation really is not. The sauce prep and cooking can be done ahead of time, as we do, leaving you free to concentrate on the shrimp, pasta and final presentation. Start your dinner with a Grilled Radicchio and Arugula Salad appetizer and then on to the main event, Grilled Red Pepper Sauce and Shrimp, accompanied by a dry white wine or sparkling wine.
Sauce Prep Time: 15 minutes, Sauce Total Time: 45 minutes.
Shrimp Prep Time: 6 minutes, Shrimp and Pasta Total Time: 10 minutes. Serves 4.
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Fettuccine Thai-fredo
Fettuccine Thai-fredo is a Thai-inspired take on classic Alfredo sauce. Classic Thai ingredients combine in this fusion dish, which, like its Italian namesake, is very rich. The addition of Makrut lime leaves and fish sauce cut the strong flavor of the coconut milk just enough and reducing the sauce really brings all the flavors together. The bright green flecks of lime leaves and small rings of red Thai chilis in the velvety cream sauce serve to make Fettuccine Thai-fredo as attractive as it is delicious. A starter of Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad or Wilted Arugula Salad work very well with Fettuccine Thai-fredo as your main course, all accompanied by a very cold, very dry white wine, like a Sauvignon Blanc or Vinho Verde.
Prep Time: 15 minutes, Total Time: 40 minutes. Serves 2.
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Dirty Martini Pasta Sauce
Inspired by the dirty martini cocktail, Dirty Martini Pasta Sauce is luscious, rich and surprisingly simple to prepare. The shallot and garlic melt into the sauce and the gin and dry vermouth are reduced to their herbaceous essences yet not lost in the final thick, creamy sauce. Dirty Martini Pasta sauce pairs well with pasta shapes which can hold the sauce, we recommend penne rigate, rigatoni, cavatappi, gemelli, or radiatore. We suggest an appetizer of Fresh Figs and Prosciutto or Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad, followed by Dirty Martini Pasta Sauce with one of the recommended pastas, accompanied by a lovely, dry New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Buon Appetito!
Prep Time: 20 minutes, Total Time: 40 minutes. Serves 2.
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Thai Red Clam Sauce Pasta
Thai Red Clam Sauce Pasta takes an Italian standby and gives it a Thai twist. A classic Pasta alle Vongole in Rosso is enhanced with fresh, savory elements from Thai cuisine to create a rich, aromatic and colorful fusion dish. We created this recipe after several trips to Thailand and Vito made the connection between Thai and Italian cuisines, which both use local ingredients at the height of their seasonal freshness, often combining them with noodles or pasta or rice to create Thai Red Clam Sauce Pasta.
While spaghetti or linguine are the traditional pasta used for this dish, one could substitute rice noodles or shirataki noodles, as we did. Begin your dinner with an appetizer of Fresh Figs and Prosciutto followed by Thai Red Clam Sauce Pasta, accompanied by a cold, crisp, dry white wine.
Prep Time: 20 minutes, Total Time: 50 minutes. Serves 2.
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Pasta alle Vongole
Pasta alle Vongole is “Pasta with Clams” in Italian. Traditionally made with either spaghetti or linguine, this recipe is also in bianco or, as they say on the East Coast “white clam sauce” as opposed to in rosso, which adds tomatoes to the dish. With a simple list of ingredients and easy to prepare, Pasta alle Vongole is a summertime classic. Start off with a Wilted Arugula Salad, then prepare Pasta alle Vongole while enjoying a glass or two of very dry white wine; dinner has never been easier.
Prep Time: 15 minutes, Total Time 30 minutes. Serves 2.
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