Quadratto Pasta, Chilli, Garlic and Parsley

This vegetarian treat is based on the Italian classic (aglio e olio), dried pasta cooked with chilli, garlic and parsley.  Then, I heard of adding toasted crumbs (from a real Italian) and some tomato juice happened to be in the fridge.  The furtive culinary brain suddenly has a plan.

We have a chilli, garlic, tomato and parsley sauce (parmesan being optional and was most welcome).  The plated pasta was topped with toasted sundried tomato crumbs.

A meal fit for both a king and queen (and a classic with a few cheerful harmonious twists).  Furthermore, you can scratch cook it in 20 minutes.

Tip: good quality dried pasta is relatively inexpensive and holds up well when finished in the sauce.

Tteokbokki Reinvented: Spicy Korean Rice Cakes with Smoked Sausage, Bok Choy & Melted Cheese

 Why This Tteokbokki Recipe Works:

This isn’t your average tteokbokki. It’s a bold, indulgent twist on Korea’s iconic street food—where chewy rice cakes meet a fiery gochujang sauce, balanced with smoky sausage, fresh greens, and creamy melted cheese. The result? A deeply satisfying dish that hits spicy, savory, smoky, and umami all at once.

Linguine alla Puttanesca

Following the recent pangriata post, I realised a puttanesca is yet to be shared.  This is easily fixable and it's an interesting puttanesca too, there's tuna and onion with anchovy, capers, black olives, garlic, chilli and tomato.  

I mixed an old favourite version of the sauce; garlic, chilli and anchovy with Tuscan Italian cooking school inspiration that included tuna and onion.  The toasted crumbs are a welcome later addition to this firm favourite.  The sauce is easily made from a few tins and cooks in around 30 minutes.

Pictured here, served with linguine, bucatini and spaghetti work equally well too.  Choose your pasta depending on mood and of course finish with those delicious crumbs, pangriata.

One final observation, many Italians and foodies like Mutti tinned tomatoes (me too) however Cirio (from further south in Italy) work better for me in this dish.  

Thai Style Bolognese: Spicy Italian Pasta with Lemongrass and Thai Basil

 Thai Style Bolognese That Reinvents Classic Ragù

Every cook eventually plays with the idea of reinventing a classic. This Thai style Bolognese is exactly that: a comforting Italian ragù that travelled east and came back full of spice and fragrance. It was born during a night of eating and heavy drinking with Asian friends.

At its heart, this dish is still a traditional spaghetti Bolognese recipe built on the classic Italian foundations: carrot, celery, onion, pancetta and a mix of pork and veal mince slowly cooked with tomatoes and red wine.

But this version becomes a true Italian Thai fusion pasta thanks to a few powerful Southeast Asian ingredients: bird's eye chilli, lemongrass, Thai basil, cilantro and oyster sauce.

The result is a spicy Bolognese pasta that remains deeply comforting while adding brightness, heat and aromatic complexity.

Rustic Minestrone with White Beans, Salted Lard and Ditali Pasta

 Few soups feel as generous and comforting as a proper minestrone. It is the kind of dish that celebrates simple ingredients: vegetables, beans, a bit of cured fat for depth and small pasta to give body.

My version stays close to the rustic spirit of traditional Italian home cooking. A base of red onions, garlic and salted lard slowly releases flavour before vegetables and beans simmer together into a rich broth.

One small twist adds extra depth: a touch of Marmite, which melts into the soup and quietly boosts the umami without overpowering the vegetables.

Cotechino on Tagliatelle Verde with Mushrooms, Cherry Tomatoes and Fresh Basil

 A rustic Italian classic meets fresh green pasta in this comforting yet elegant plate: sliced cotechino laid over tagliatelle verde, sautéed mushrooms, sweet cherry tomatoes and vibrant fresh basil. Simple ingredients, bold character, pure Italy.

What Is Cotechino?

Cotechino is a traditional Italian fresh pork sausage originating from Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Unlike dry cured sausages, cotechino is raw and must be slowly simmered before serving.

Fregula Sarda with Herbs, Bacon and Courgette

Fregula is a pasta, like pearl cous cous (little balls).  Fregula can be used in a pasta salad but I prefer to cook it in a stock, finishing with cheese and herbs (like a fast and easy risotto).  Sarda simply means from Sardinia, a home of some unique pasta (gnocchetti Sardi is another favourite).  This fregula is toasted although I still like to toast it a little more.

Bacon and courgette first crossed my path in a risotto with fresh parsley, mint and parmesan/pecorino.

This pairing is fabulous.  Courgette loves both mint and parsley.  The pasta is quicker and easier to cook than a risotto.

Coarsley grating the courgette and wringing of juice in a cheesecloth (that you can later clean in the dishwasher- I should know) means it will cook super fast.  Keep the courgette juice for stock to use cooking the fregula.

Linguini with Lemon and Courgette

A simple and quick mid-week italian supper can still be tasty.  We also have a professional tip for preparing the courgette/zucchini.

The courgette is Julienned (matchsticks, as long as the courgette is straight) and lightly salted to remove moisture.  After 20 minutes, the courgette is almost rubbery, in a good way.  Then, when we cook it with linguini, both will wind around the fork happliy together (like they just got married).

Georgio Locatelli shared this preparation in a food magazine I bought, he served the courgette with tomato and anchovy.  Here, I just used the same method with a different sauce.

There are aromats, lemon and chilli, black pepper, white wine, crème fraiche and garlic. Let's not forget pecorino cheese for the Italian umami hit.

Tip: I like to use small to medium courgettes here, there's no spongy center to discard and more green from the skin (looks pretty on the plate).  

Nduja Burrata Mezzelune with a Vodka Cream Sauce

Spicy and red for February 14th.

Penne alla vodka is a retro Italian classic.  I like classics, they're there for a reason (meaning good).  I had bought this n'duja burrata filled pasta and thought it might pair well with a tomato and cream, vodka sauce.  If you can't find this particular filled pasta, we still have a great sauce.  N'duja is a spicy, Calabrian (southern Italian) meat paste and Burrata is a creamy mozzarella type cheese.  Cullinary Yang and Yin in pasta parcels (I thought fitting for today).

A rich tomato sauce (more later) with onion, carrot, basil and celery.  I also add a cheeky piece of parmesan rind to the sauce, scraped of wax.

Then, we mash or blend the cooked sauce and simmer it with chilli and vodka.  Finally, add cream or crème fraiche and parmesan.

Finish your partly cooked pasta of choice in the sauce.

Cauliflower, Bacon, Mac and Blue

This is a pasta bake, I like a one pot so we have veges, bacon and pasta baked together in a cheese sauce.  

200g of pasta, cheese sauce and there's a meal for two plus one leftover lunch.

We have cauliflower, kale, bacon and blue cheese sauce today.  Once mastered, the permutations soon become almost endless.  A green, a brassica and bacon is a good start though.

There are  roasted cauliflower leaves for garnish too.

Roasting the leaves in a drizzle of oil, alongside the baking pasta.  A pretty and tasty garnish and a pro chef trick.

Tagliatelle with prawns and nduja

 Tagliatelle with prawns and ’nduja is the kind of dish that feels indulgent but comes together in minutes. Fresh pasta, sweet prawns, gentle heat from Calabrian ’nduja, and a creamy finish with stracciatella make this a perfect balance between comfort and elegance.

Recipe: Tagliatelle with prawns and ’nduja

Ingredients (2 servings)

– Fresh tagliatelle

– Raw prawns, peeled and deveined

– ’Nduja, I used half a sausage but adjust to desired level of heat

– A small splash of cream

– Stracciatella

– Fresh basil

– Olive oil

– Salt, black pepper

Pasta Shells with Sausage and Greens

This firm winter favourite is typically (and happily) made with sausage and broccoli. Usually, there's orecchiette (and a plan to home make some was thwarted by time).

I've learned food tricks though and whilst the sausage stayed..I went green with a truck load (technical term) of parsley and pasta shells, conchiglie rigate (to be precise). Rigate means ridged and otherwise known as a sauce trap.

Other greens would be fine.  Cavalo nero, Kale, spinach, Turnip tops or chard. If it's bitter, green and leafy then we can absolutely consider it fair game.

Orzo Pasta with Squash, Kale, Pancetta and Pecorino Cheese

If you're looking for something easy and tasty, we've covered it!

Butternut squash, peeled and diced, pan roasted then added to toasted orzo pasta.

Kale, pancetta a squeeze of lemon and coarsley grated pecorino cheese finish the dish.

I like pan roasting squash, it's convenient and only takes around 10 minutes to become tender.

Timings are convenient as the cooked squash can be tipped into the orzo and hang out with the other ingredients.  The uncooked kale can also be added straight into the simmering orzo, it will become tender in around 5 minutes.  Perfect.

If you're new to orzo, it really is handy to have in the cupboard, it cooks up quickly and is very useful for using up 'bits and pieces' in the fridge.

Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe

 The great Roman classic.

Sometimes the simplest dishes are the most perfect ones. Cacio e pepe is an icon of Roman cooking: just pasta, pecorino, and black pepper transformed into something creamy, peppery, and deeply satisfying. No cream, no butter – just good technique and great ingredients.

The name literally means cheese and pepper. Traditionally it is made with spaghetti or tonnarelli and aged Pecorino Romano. The magic happens when the starchy pasta water emulsifies with the cheese to create a silky coating on each strand.

Fettuccine with Baby Scallops, White Wine and leeks

 This dish sits halfway between classic French seafood cookery and Italian pasta culture. Delicate baby scallops are gently poached in a leek, white wine and stock sauce, bound just enough to coat fettuccine without masking the natural sweetness of the shellfish. Trout roe adds a final saline pop and a subtle textural contrast.

Elegant, restrained, and built on depth rather than creaminess.

Tortellini in Spinach and Tomato sauce

I know, in Italy Tortellini is usually served in brodo (in broth) and mine is in a tomato 'soup.'

I like it, particularly with spinach and ricotta tortellini.  There's onion and spinach in the soup and the selling point,  we cook the totellini in the liquid thus it's a one pot dish.

Bonus Points for efficiency here.

Traditional croziflette (Savoie)

 Croziflette is a Savoyard mountain classic, a cousin of tartiflette where potatoes are replaced by crozets, the small square pasta traditionally made with buckwheat or wheat. Rich, comforting and deeply alpine, it is the kind of dish born for cold evenings after a day outdoors.

What is croziflette?

Crozets are a regional pasta from Savoie, historically prepared with buckwheat and cut into tiny squares. In croziflette, they are combined with lardons, onions, cream and Reblochon cheese, then baked until bubbling and golden. The result is rustic, indulgent and unmistakably mountain food.

Bucatini with Onion, Anchovy and Parsley

This might appear unusual, admittedly I hesitated before giving it a shot.  Would onion and anchovy work?  Heck, why not find out?  I did and there's a reason for sharing.

The answer is, yes.  Mine is topped here with extra anchovy crumb (pangriata) a southern Italian creation of fried seasoned breadcrumbs with garlic, parsley and anchovy (this stores well in the fridge, bonus points for that).

Ravioles du Dauphiné with Comté, Brousse and Pata Negra

 Ravioles du Dauphiné are one of those regional French specialities that prove simplicity always wins. Tiny, delicate squares of fresh pasta, traditionally stuffed with Comté, parsley and a touch of fromage blanc, cooked in seconds and meant to be treated gently. Here, they’re paired with brousse cheese and ribbons of pata negra—an Alpine dish taking a respectful detour through Spain.

Bronte Pistachio Pasta with Prawns — Sicily on a Plate

 Bronte pistachios are the green gold of Sicily. Grown on the volcanic slopes around Catania, protected by a DOP and harvested only every second year, they deliver a deep, almost buttery aroma that transforms even a simple pasta into something unique. This dish is one of the island’s modern signatures: prawns, pistachio cream, and spaghetti coated in a rich, nutty sauce with just enough sweetness from the shellfish to balance the earthiness of the pistacchio.