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17 December 2008
Are there any other weirdos that like to eat pasta WITHOUT sauce?
I get a lump in my belly just imagining the consumption of dry pasta. It at least needs some lubrication -- oil or butter, at minimum. That's my basic threshold for pasta ingestion, I guess.
I like a very wee bit of sauce. But it's only a problem with red sauces. (I think this is due to the fact that my mother puts mushrooms in red sauce, but never in any other kind of sauce.)
On a certain level, I can enjoy the flavour of plain, cooked pasta. I wouldn't, however, want to eat much of it. I do like some angel hair pasta with a bit of olive oil, and nice, fresh Parmesan. I don't need to bury it in sauce all the time.
I do really like my homemade tomato-based meat sauce though.
I'll eat egg noodles with butter, salt, and pepper. That's as minimalist as I'll get on pasta.
We're actually eating a pasta dish tonight. Pie is creating his version of Tuna Casserole for me. It's funny, but everyone I know has some version of this in their memory, but everyone's recipe is different.
On a certain level, I can enjoy the flavour of plain, cooked pasta. I wouldn't, however, want to eat much of it.
This is me, too. I always snack on a few pieces of plain pasta when we're making anything that involves pasta, but I wouldn't sit down and eat a whole plate of it that way.
Pasta holds up the sauce, y'know, like the purpose of cake is to hold up the frosting. That said, I often make pasta and lightly butter or oil it, then add sauteed garlic, salt, red pepper, and lemon juice. Delish.
Pasta's that stuff with all the carbs, right? Actually, I lost my taste for red sauce years ago and switched to sauteing gobs of veggies, fresh herbs and sausage, then tossing them with a handful of pasta and a touch of sauce.
Whenever my mother made lasagna when I was growing up, the best part was that I got to eat the little bits of lasagna noodles that didn't fit in the pan or that broke off during boiling. I thought that was the best thing in the world.
So I don't eat any other kind of pasta plain, but I definitely would eat plain lasagna noodles.
(Though when I make lasagna, I don't use the ruffly noodles that my mom did, which makes eating them plain less exciting. It's all about the ruffly edges.)
Does eating it just with browned butter count as with our without sauce? Because, dude, pasta with nothin' but plenty of browned butter (and a little parmesan) is sublime. (Throw in some sage while you're browning the butter and be prepared for scody to NOM NOM NOM till the cows come home.)
With some good olive oil, a crackle of salt and pepper, drop of lemon juice and parmasan cheese. So close to having nothing on it but OMM NOM NOM NOM NOM.
Fresh pasta sure doesn't need a lot added to it. But nothing? No thanks. Though I do always eat a bit straight up as it's cooking to test the level of al dente-ness. Simple is good though - fresh pasta tossed in olive oil with parmesan reggiano is a sublime thing.
I... I eat pasta plain too. You're not alone, desjardins. In my case, though I'll eat it if I have to, I'm not a huge fan of the flavor or texture of tomato sauce - particularly not as much as most people put on! (I mean, if I wanted to eat soupy lukewarm tomato sauce, I'd skip the pasta part entirely.) And honestly, adding olive oil or butter adds grease and makes pasta physically more difficult to eat without adding very much flavor. So if I'm cooking pasta for myself, it's generally plain, with a little salt added into the water at most. Though I don't say no to cheese, if offered: gnocchi with cheese in the middle is delicious, for example.
photo by splunge
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