the noodles!

[thubby]

due to a rather amusing mishap, I now have way too much pasta in my house. so it seems like a good time to try something new.
glayground, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to share your favorite unique/foreign pasta based dishes :smallcool:

(i can't make anything with shellfish or with something not readily available in the north eastern united states, but feel free to post them anyway)

[Totally Guy]

I was surprised to discover my younger brother had never had pesto sauce recently. Is that common in the US? Nothing's simpler.

Is the word Pasta interchangeable with noodles over there? They're similar but definitely different things here.

[Perenelle]

Pasta is not the same as noodles!! :smallmad: Pasta is Pasta. Noodles are what you put in soups. or specifically the long and tubular pastas as well as egg noodles. My family goes nuts when we see someone call pasta noodles. :smalltongue:

this (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Alfredo-Primavera/Detail.aspx) recipy is pretty good. You can also melt a bunch of cream cheese and mix it with milk and sliced mushrooms to make a simple sauce. There's recipes all over the internet too. :smallsmile:

[Quincunx]

Take a side on the argument that ketchup does, or does not, belong on pasta. If you decide that it does, you are now dead to me. Follow up with trials of barbecue sauce, brown steak sauce, sweet chili sauce, garlic sauce, or any other thick sauce condiment.

Since you called it noodles, I'm assuming either you got spaghetti or those short tubes a la Kraft's blue boxes. Tubes and elbows make casseroles--the sauce has to bubble through those tubes to properly set the casserole.

[KuReshtin]

*is dead to Quincunx*

It's not really my fault. I was practically raised on the stuff. Hell, when we felt peckish as kids and my mom wasn't around, we grabbed a hot dog bun, put ketchup in it and started munching.

*tries to rerail train of thought*

There are a lot of easy ways to get something to go with pasta.
Just whisk up a bechamel sauce (melt butter, whisk in some flower, then add milk. season with salt and pepper to taste.) and add watever you've got lying around in a cupboard.
Got a packet of bacon lying around. Slice'em up and add to the sauce.
Got some cheese in the fridge? Grate it into the sace for a cheese sauce.
The possibilities are endless.

[Perenelle]

Take a side on the argument that ketchup does, or does not, belong on pasta. If you decide that it does, you are now dead to me. Follow up with trials of barbecue sauce, brown steak sauce, sweet chili sauce, garlic sauce, or any other thick sauce condiment.


Ketchup does not belong on eggs or mashed potatoes either. :smallyuk:

[Corlindale]

Pasta Carbonara is probably my favourite. It's easy to make and incredibly delicious. And like all good pasta recipes, it doesn't need no ketchup:smalltongue:

You can google a recipe, but the basic idea is to toss fried bacon, onions and garlic with cooked pasta, and then pour a mixture of eggs, cream and spices into the mix and heat it through. It tastes fantastic - but it's probably not exactly healthy:smallsmile:

Otherwise, I can recommend this (allrecipes.com), one of my favourite recipe databases. They have plenty of nice pasta stuff there, just type "pasta" in the search field and make it sort the results based on user ratings; then you're bound to get some good stuff.

[thubby]

Take a side on the argument that ketchup does, or does not, belong on pasta. If you decide that it does, you are now dead to me. Follow up with trials of barbecue sauce, brown steak sauce, sweet chili sauce, garlic sauce, or any other thick sauce condiment.

"belong" is an interesting choice. i would be inclined to say "no", but I'm not one to judge considering the things I've eaten.
_____
yes i realize there is a difference between noodles and pasta, we have both, and i felt "the noodles" sounded sillier, and thus better.
_____

I was surprised to discover my younger brother had never had pesto sauce recently. Is that common in the US? Nothing's simpler
it really depends on the means and the location. i live in a town of mostly polish, irish, and italian people (who butt heads a little too often :smallconfused:) so I've eaten or at least seen most of the stuff being talked about.

[CoffeeIncluded]

You know what's good? Pasta cooked in chicken broth.

[thorgrim29]

Step one: learn how to make tomato sauce (or buy some I guess, but making it is cheaper and better)
Step two: add random things in it to make it taste better (better results when said random things are meat and/or veggies, and if the herbs and spices in your sauce are added with said meat and/or veggies in mind)
step three: sprinkle some roasted pine nuts and grate some Parmesan cheese (grating is important, as it's the only way to be sure you're eating real parmesan and not some random white cheese)
step 4: ????
step 5: enjoy (profit)

[Jack Squat]

http://lbjsbrownbag.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/skyline-chili.jpg

Recipe for chili below:


Trog's Cincinnati-style Chili

3 lbs. lean hamburger (don't brown, chop up)
2 qts. water
2 lg. onions, chopped finely
2 (16 oz.) kidney beans (optional)
29 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
4 tbsp. chili powder or more
2 tbsp. vinegar
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate squares
1 1/2 tsp. salt
4 drops Tabasco sauce

In an 8 quart kettle combine hamburger, water and onions; simmer for 30 minutes. Then add remaining ingredients. Simmer for 2 or 3 hours, uncovered. Serve over spaghetti noodles or on top of a baked potato, add onions if you like and top with plenty of finely shredded cheddar cheese. Makes 6 pints and is much better the next day after the flavors have combined more. P=

Pour chili ontop of spaghetti/other noodles and top with fine-shredded cheddar. Optional to add onions or beans.

[ghost_warlock]

Ketchup does not belong on eggs or mashed potatoes either. :smallyuk:

The only proper place for ketchup is on french fried potatos. And, even then, fries are better dipped in chocolate Frostys from Wendy's. Barring that, chili-cheese fries are also significantly better than fries with plain kechup.

@v: Again, chili-cheese is far better on hot dogs. Failing that, mustard and saurkraut.

[Jack Squat]

I only use ketchup on hot dogs, and then it's coupled with sweet relish and maybe some horseradish.

For everything else that ketchup can be used in, barbecue sauce works better.

[Eldan]

Okay. After you've made a correct italian tomato sauce, start adding the following things (not all at once, of course. One at a time).

Tuna
Small Shrimps
Clams
Fried bacon and garlic
Red chilli peppers
Mince meat

Or pretty much anything else.

Seriously, I've made enough different kinds of spaghetti sauce to last me a month. Just go online and find some recipes for that, there are hundreds.

[Perenelle]

The only proper place for ketchup is on french fried potatos. And, even then, fries are better dipped in chocolate Frostys from Wendy's.


fries dipped in chocolate frosty's are amazing. Perenelle highly approves. :smallbiggrin:

[ForzaFiori]

it really depends on the means and the location. i live in a town of mostly polish, irish, and italian people (who butt heads a little too often :smallconfused:) so I've eaten or at least seen most of the stuff being talked about.

So I don't know many recipes for pasta, but I guarantee you that if you go to any of the Italian families in your town, each will have their own special recipe that they can teach you the basics of.
That is, if their Italians that kept their roots. If their Italians like my family, then not so much.

[Innis Cabal]

Since you called it noodles, I'm assuming either you got spaghetti or those short tubes a la Kraft's blue boxes. Tubes and elbows make casseroles--the sauce has to bubble through those tubes to properly set the casserole.

Pasta is a kind of Noodle. Not the other way around.


As for a recipe, I have a Laotian soup recipe, but its pretty involved and would take almost a day to make. I'll try to actually put it into recipe form, the woman who taught me just showed it to me, there isn't anything currently written for it

[Exeson]

Soy sauce. :smallsmile:

Just soy Sauce.

Ok. Ok, stir fry some pork and add that too.

...

If you really want add vegetables. Heretic :smallyuk:

[GrlumpTheElder]

Have you ever had Spaghetti and Custard???

It is the simplest, most amazing dish you can make with pasta!!!

It may sound weird, but it's great!

[golentan]

Peanut butter noodles. Take any pasta (but long thin noodles work the best). Get chili oil (very hot) and peanut butter (not sweetened grocery store crud, actual ground peanuts) and cucumbers. Mix the chili oil and peanut butter, getting a mixture that is slightly runny but not really liquid. Cut the cucumber into very thin strips. Toss with noodles until evenly coated, and serve cold. Waaaaay better than it sounds.

Just to irritate Quincunx, meat loaf casserole. Onion soup mix, ground beef, and ketchup, casseroled with the noodles.

Egg soup: mix noodles with chicken broth, as many greens as you can fit in the bowl, and scrambled eggs (no milk required). Season to taste.

Curried noodles: Cook them exactly as you normally would. When they are boiled to tenderness, instead of taking them off the heat and draining simply pour off excess water, turn it down to simmer and stir in spices (you can find some blocks of curry at local stores occasionally, otherwise you have to improvise). Add assorted fixins, and continue to simmer until thick. Only do with very thick noodles.

Mutton Noodle Casserole (a personal favorite). Cook your noodles, and arrange them in a casserole dish with mutton (or lamb in general), gravy (preferably made from prepping the sheep), celery, and sage. Bake (about 10 minutes at 350).

Toss noodles with olive oil and fresh vegetables, add spices to taste.

And to mix it up: For desert. Cook pasta until extremely tender (do not use salt), and drain. Using either honey or a sugar syrup, thickly coat the noodles. (for bonus points prepare the sugar syrup with fruit juice). Place half of noodles in serving dish, top with heavy whipped cream (cool whip is an acceptable but vastly inferior substitute), and mixed berries, and then cover with the remainder of the noodles. Serve cold.

[Pyrian]

Pasta is a kind of Noodle. Not the other way around.Pasta and noodles are intersecting sets - there are non-noodle pastas and non-pasta noodles. The word "noodle" itself, though, originates from pasta noodles and was widened to include other kinds of similar edibles.

[Innis Cabal]

Noodles are any kind of unleavened dough cooked in a boiling liquid, according to my culinary dictionary. Pasta is a wide family, all being made from either unleavened wheat or buckwheat flour, commonly mixed with eggs and vegetable products. Thusly, any pasta fits under the definiton of noodle, unless cooked in another medium outside of boiling, then again the same can be said for any noodle family not cooked in boiling water. Pasta is part of the noodle family, not a distinct or seperate culinary family.

[Pyrian]

I can't speak for the jargon in your particular culinary dictionary, but the normal meaning of noodle includes thin or ribbon-shaped by standard definitions.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/noodle

Furthermore, if you wade into technicalities, you hit another one: ravioli are considered pastas but include more ingredients.

[Mystic Muse]

if you have ramen noodles here are my suggestions for things to put in it.

canned corn
fresh sliced onions
garlic
sliced mushrooms
sliced carrots
one egg (the boiling water should cook the egg)
chicken or turky

don't put all these things in at once however. You might not be able to eat it all.

[Innis Cabal]

Thats one of many definitions, though I would consult an actual culinary dictionary over one off the internet. Not that dictionary.com isn't a good source, but there are other, better, sources when speaking about the culinary arts.

Also, ravioli is made from wheat or buckwheat flour (unleavened) and boiled. Those are the only criteria it has to meet, not the only critia they -can- meet to be considered pasta. You could wrap it around a leather shoe and still claim it pasta. Who'd eat it I don't really know, but it'd be pasta.

Yes, its food snobbery, but I'm a chef. Its what we do.

[Fridesgerte]

To get back to receipes/suggestions:

This is a comfort food from my childhood that I still do occationally. It is a sweet, rather than savory dish that works for breakfast or a snack, or even desert.

Cook and drain pasta as usual, toss with a good amount of butter, sprinkle with generous amounts of granulated sugar and ground cinamon, stir and enjoy.

This works best with small pasta such as elbows or shells. (Don't use pre-mixed cinamon suger, though, there's never enough cinamon in it.)

[Mary Leathert]

When I was a child, my father used to make the tasties minced-meat sauce for pasta ever. Or at least that was my opinion. I did try to replicate it, but I didn't truly succeed. However, it goes along these lines:

Minced meat
Water
Flour (to thicken the sauce)
Black Pepper
Oregano (quite a lot)
Basil (very much of it)
Garlic (fresh, according to taste, but I like garlic so I used a lot)
Sweet pepper spice (Not sure what it is called in English, but it is dried and ground sweet red pepper. In the sauce it mostly functions to bring in some colour.)
Soy sauce (About two tablespoons.)

Is tasty if done right. Works especially well with spaghetti.

[Quincunx]

"Sweet pepper spice" is 'paprika' in English. Yes, it's backwards compared to the Nordic naming convention.

Can I still try golentan's first suggestion if he's now dead to me? That plus spring onions reminds me of an appetizer that some fool of a restaurant discontinued.

[Telonius]

I was surprised to discover my younger brother had never had pesto sauce recently. Is that common in the US? Nothing's simpler.

Is the word Pasta interchangeable with noodles over there? They're similar but definitely different things here.

It's not uncommon for people to have never had pesto, mainly due to how expensive pine nuts are - about $12 per pound (about 16 British pounds per kg), depending on where you are. It's a very "special occasion" sort of sauce. (Which makes me very sad - wish I could afford the stuff more often).

[thubby]

It's not uncommon for people to have never had pesto, mainly due to how expensive pine nuts are - about $12 per pound (about 16 British pounds per kg), depending on where you are. It's a very "special occasion" sort of sauce. (Which makes me very sad - wish I could afford the stuff more often).

i find their cost rather bizarre considering the stupid trees are everywhere

[Totally Guy]

I had a gorgeous salad a while back.

Pasta,
A little pesto,
Olive Oil,
Fresh Spinach,
Small Parmasan slices,
Pine Nuts and
Whole Cherry Tomatos.


It was amazing. I thought that by opting for the salad it was automatically the healthy choice... not so. On food packaging here there's a diagram showing Fat, Salt, Sugar etc with a "Traffic light" to allow you to intuit some of the nutritional information at a glance.

This salad had 4 red segments out of the 5.

It bacame known as the death salad.