Pasta Consumption

karadekoolaid

karadekoolaid

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My curiosity was aroused by a random pasta post just recently.
As I mentioned there, Venezuelans are huge pasta consumers. Not only are there hundreds of Italian restaurants here, but you'll also find local restaurants offering pasta dishes. The more creative, the better.
However, I just wondered whether, in other climes, folks stuck to the tried and tested, or branched out a bit.
So in the past few months, what pastas have you eaten or prepared? Lasagna, Mac n Cheese, Spaghetti Bolognese, Fettucine Alfredo; or have you gone for the Italian classics like Carbonara, Cacio e Pepe, Arrabiata, Amtriciana, Aglio e Olio?
 
Before MrsT went on WeightWatchers, we’d eat pasta usually twice a week.

We wouldn’t branch out much, though. It was usually either linguine with different things mixed in (maybe olives and cherry tomatoes one time, broccoli and diced ham another time), spaghetti and red sauce, buttered egg noodles as a side, and something like lasagna or baked penne/ziti now and again.

Now, though, we might have pasta once every six weeks or so.
 
I've had lasagne recently and will have it again soon.
I don't tend to eat much pasta because it has to be gluten free and know what I'm missing with the real deal!

I have just bought a boatload of gf cannelloni with really good reviews, they say it's been "bronze drawn and slow dried" using the same method as their normal pasta and apparently it really shows 🤷‍♀️ I don't have high hopes but it's worth a try.

For pasta to work in a gluten free form it can't be the centre of the show, it simply lacks the wheaty flavour and wheat gluten texture.

But Ziti, Lasagne and the tiny tiny shells in soup I enjoy a lot.
Spaghetti and Linguine are good but the dish has to be done exactly the opposite way round to the Italians generally accepted style ie it's majority sauce and other content and minority pasta.

GF works and is worthwhile but the whole dish ends up far removed from the cheap easy staple of pasta.
It tends to be a far more involved and expensive ingredient than the simple pasta that most people enjoy, it's more of a luxury event! 🤣
 
Not eating nearly as much because I don't cook as much, and Craig extremely rarely cooks anymore. I don't think we've ever gotten stuck eating any particular kind. We have our favorites of course, just like I imagine most do, but if we see something we'd like to try, we go for it.
 
TastyReuben said:
I’ve never made it, but it’s been on my short list…for about 25 years! :laugh:
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I'm on a site called something like "Italian Recipes and Traditions". I'd say most of the participants are from the US. You should see some of the hysterical virtual fist fights when someone mentions that! And "Pasta with Chicken". OMG - you can feel the indignation through the keyboard. :hyper: :hyper: :laugh: :laugh:
 
karadekoolaid said:
I'm on a site called something like "Italian Recipes and Traditions". I'd say most of the participants are from the US. You should see some of the hysterical virtual fist fights when someone mentions that! And "Pasta with Chicken". OMG - you can feel the indignation through the keyboard. :hyper: :hyper: :laugh: :laugh:
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Just go out there and say, “I put some sugar in my spaghetti sauce,” and watch the fireworks! :laugh:
 
karadekoolaid said:
I'm on a site called something like "Italian Recipes and Traditions". I'd say most of the participants are from the US. You should see some of the hysterical virtual fist fights when someone mentions that! And "Pasta with Chicken". OMG - you can feel the indignation through the keyboard. :hyper: :hyper: :laugh: :laugh:
Click to expand...
I love pasta with chicken, LOLOLOL! A nice chicken picatta with some angelhair, yum.

Oh maybe throw out some bait for them and tell them you like fish with cheese over pasta and see the sparks fly then! I actually do like parmesan cheese with shrimp or fish over pasta. Nothing wrong with that in my book!
 
TastyReuben said:
Just go out there and say, “I put some sugar in my spaghetti sauce,” and watch the fireworks!
Click to expand...
I put sugar in mine too, sometimes. depends entirely on the acidity of the tomatoes.
Mind you, if you don't use San Marzano tomatoes, the Mob will be at your door within minutes :laugh: :laugh:
 
JAS_OH1 said:
I love pasta with chicken, LOLOLOL! A nice chicken picatta with some angelhair, yum.
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That's because the US is the world's biggest chicken consumer. I wouldn't be surprised if some folks eat cornflakes with chicken.
Seriously though...
There are NO Italian recipes, anywhere, with chicken and pasta, except one - in Sardinia. they prepare a very complicated pasta ring ( which looks a bit like a hair tie), serve it with a tomato sauce, and serve chicken on the side.
Still, who said you can't eat what you like? My wife wants Parmesan cheese on shrimp pasta, and I'm not going to argue with that...:hyper::hyper::hyper:
 
karadekoolaid said:
That's because the US is the world's biggest chicken consumer. I wouldn't be surprised if some folks eat cornflakes with chicken.
Seriously though...
There are NO Italian recipes, anywhere, with chicken and pasta, except one - in Sardinia. they prepare a very complicated pasta ring ( which looks a bit like a hair tie), serve it with a tomato sauce, and serve chicken on the side.
Still, who said you can't eat what you like? My wife wants Parmesan cheese on shrimp pasta, and I'm not going to argue with that...:hyper::hyper::hyper:
Click to expand...
I've actually seen people use crushed cornflakes for breading to fry chicken, so yeah!!!!

I like to make a dish called "chicken marinara pesto" that I used to eat at the Italian restaurant where I worked when I was going to college in Tallahassee, FL. The owner, Lorenzo, immigrated to NYC from Italy when he was 15 and started out as a dishwasher, then line cook, etc. eventually making his way to Florida and opening his own restaurant. He could make a really great chicken piccata too. I always just assumed that those were authentic Italian dishes but I guess he must have learned them from Italian-American restaurants and not from his childhood home. I don't care though, it's pretty darned delicious. And those people who eat at Olive Garden have no idea that their chicken Alfredo probably isn't served anywhere in Italy...and at home the buy it in a jar and pour it over their chicken and noodles, not realizing how easy it is to make from scratch (and tastes nothing like that floury roux stuff they buy in the jar) LOL.
 
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