Quick, Easy, and Delicious Pasta Recipes Ideal for Weeknight Dinners (2024)

FAQs

What can I add to pasta for dinner? ›

There are many different varieties of pasta. They are usually sorted by size, being long (pasta lunga), short (pasta corta), stuffed (ripiena), cooked in broth (pastina), stretched (strascinati) or in dumpling-like form (gnocchi/gnocchetti).

There are four classic Roman pasta dishes: cacio e pepe, carbonara, amatriciana, and alla gricia. Each one is a variation on the other — alla gricia is cacio e pepe plus guanciale, carbonara is gricia plus egg, and so on. These four dishes are famous in all of Italian cooking, not just in Rome.

Cheese is an excellent way to add flavor to your pasta without having to rely on sauce. Try mixing your angel hair pasta with goat cheese, and toss in sun-dried tomatoes to make an amazing meal with just a few ingredients. Garlic butter is a terrific way to season all types of noodles.

Olive oil or butter and herbs. Adding a fat to the pasta makes it taste better if you're poor and need something. I also add oregano and/or basil. Butter, eggs, and cheese.

If you don't have sauce in the house, grilled, stir-fried or baked veggies can add lots of flavor and texture. Butternut or acorn squash, zucchini, bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, and onion are all great options to add to a pasta dish, along with some minced garlic, olive oil, and herbs.

Make sure to put the right quantity of water in the pan, so that pasta can move about. For every 100g of pasta there should one liter of water. Always bring water to the boil before adding pasta. Otherwise the exterior will start to turn mushy before the center softens.

Fresh or dried herbs will also add flavor to pasta dishes.

"I use a lot of parsley, either fresh or even dried," Montillo said. "Oregano, garlic powder, onion flakes, black pepper all work well in a variety of sauces."

What is a thick spaghetti called? ›

Thick Spaghetti, also known as Spaghettoni, is a wider version of an old favorite. Spaghetti is long and round, and the name means "lengths of cord" in Italian. Barilla® Thick Spaghetti is made with non-GMO ingredients.

Typically known as mafaldine, this is a type of pasta has a ribbon shape, similar to lasagna but more narrow.

Drop into any trattoria worth its salt in Rome and you'll find these four classic pasta dishes on the menu – cacio e pepe, spaghetti alla Carbonara, bucatini all'Amatriciana and pasta alla Gricia.

Spaghetti. SHAPE: Long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta. It's the most popular in the U.S. and the best-known pasta shape. SERVED: Spaghetti has a lot of versatility and mixes with a variety of sauces.