Eat Together, Make Life Delicious...

Pasta is the world's most versatile ingredient. I love to combine it with lobster meat and seafood but of course anything goes and other great ingredients to try are: grilled chicken, thinly sliced broiled meat, baked fish, sauteed veggies, freshly chopped herbs, just to name a few.

When using pasta as your base ingredient you can quite literary create anything on the spot and the best part, is you don't even have to breaking out the measuring cups.

So how's that work?

Prepare a pot of pasta in salt water. Follow the manufacturer's instructions.

And for the pasta topping, just use your favorite ingredients, for example if you like Italian flavors-try minced garlic, chopped parsley, and cherry tomatoes. Saute these ingredients together in a skillet with a little olive oil and then add in the cooked pasta. Mix the pasta around to absorb the juice from the tomato, which takes a few minutes. At the very last minute, add in cooked lobster meat (or the other ingredients I mentioned) and stir again until it becomes warm. Turn off the heat and serve.

If you like Asian flavors, the ingredients to try with pasta would be: minced garlic and ginger, hoisin or oyster sauce, and a sprinkle of lime and cilantro.

If you like Indian flavors, the ingredients to try with pasta would be: ground curry, coconut milk, raisins, and sauteed veggies.

Using this technique, it's super easy to create amazing dishes based on whatever it is you like.

Another really neat thing about pasta is it can be as down to earth or fancy as you would like. For a home cooked feel, just serve with little to no fanfare, however, to dress up the pasta, simply lay it fancifully on the plate and sprinkle it decoratively with freshly chopped herbs. Adding a thin sliver of a piece of cheese or as shown in the photos, a piece of lobster meat, the dish suddenly takes on a very sophisticated feel.

Labels: lobster meat, Pasta, seafood

My great grandmother Sebastiana used to make this dish when there was stale bread in the house. She shredded it up to resemble breadcrumbs. This trick is an inexpensive way to add flavor and texture to pasta, an old Sicilian trick that we still use today. My aunt Paola uses store-bought breadcrumbs. Either homemade or store-bought breadcrumbs: whichever you prefer.

If you like this technique you can also include a few of these ingredients listed to dress up the dish: sautéed thinly sliced garlic cloves, finely chopped parsley, shredded Parmesan cheese, roasted thinly sliced cauliflower, your favorite cooked seafood, sautéed asparagus, diced roasted eggplant, finely diced cherry tomatoes, to name a few.

Spaghetti with Toasted Breadcrumbs
makes 4 servings

1 pound pasta, such as spaghetti, cooked according to manufacturer’s directions
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 heaping cup day-old bread, shredded into breadcrumbs (use a food processor if you have one)

Prepare the pasta according to the manufacturer’s directions. Add one tablespoon of salt to the pasta water. Cook, drain, and drizzle it with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Meanwhile prepare the toasted breadcrumbs. Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot add in the breadcrumbs and lightly sauté them for about 4 minutes, or until golden brown. Move them around the pan so they don’t burn. Reduce the heat to low and add in 1 tablespoon of olive oil to moisten the crumbs and transfer them to a deep bowl.

Plate the spaghetti and lightly coat it with the toasted breadcrumb mixture and serve. To dress up this dish, consider adding some of the optional items from the head note.

Labels: Pasta, Sicilian family recipes, Spaghetti with Toasted Breadcrumbs