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OT pasta

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bluedevil

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I love pasta...I know whole wheat is healthier but doesn't taste nearly as good....any suggestions?
 
Dreamfield is what I use. Pretty good stuff. Not cheap.

www.dreamfieldsfoods.com

Home - Dreamfields Foods

The dream is real. We believe eating healthy should bring joy. That’s why Dreamfields Pasta is not only delicious, but also a good source of fiber, with 5g per 2 oz. dry serving. Available in seven popular shapes, making it an easy swap for the recipes you already enjoy.
www.dreamfieldsfoods.com www.dreamfieldsfoods.com
 
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We only buy whole wheat, with the exception of linguine. I like Barilla, but I bought some Delverde and it was quite good. In the beginning, elbows were the easiest to eat.
 
I bought edamame pasta at Aldi that was pretty good. Otherwise, I go with smaller portions of real pasta instead of a normal size of stuff that I don't enjoy eating.
 
bluedevil said:
I love pasta...I know whole wheat is healthier but doesn't taste nearly as good....any suggestions?
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1. Try one of these brands. They are said to be tastier. Gia Russa, DeLallo, Garofalo, Barilla, Rustichella d'Abruzzo, and Bionaturae.
2. Toast you pasta in a 350° oven for 10 minutes or so. Watch it. Don't walk away. Should result in a nuttier flavor. Might be possible to use a frying pan. Never tried a frying pan for pasta but I have toasted nuts in frying pan and it works. Just toss them.
3. Try a thicker sauce. No oil in the water when boiling pasta. Drain it, let it dry a bit, then add the pasta to the sauce, mix, and let sit together for 10 minutes or so.
4. Salt the water!!! More than you think is necessary.
5. Finally make a nice anchovy based sauce. You won't taste the pasta!
 
Plebe said:
At the risk of upsetting the premise of the thread:

Scientifically speaking, there is no preponderance of evidence that whole wheat pastas and breads are in fact healthier than the regular varieties. Some say in fact they are less healthful.

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My cholesterol was borderline high. We made one change to what we eat. We gave up white rice and pasta for brown and whole grain. Three years late, my cholesterol is normal and we don’t miss the processed stuff. The exception is linguine. Some things aren’t worth sacrificing.
 
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bluedevil said:
I love pasta...I know whole wheat is healthier but doesn't taste nearly as good....any suggestions?
Expand ...
Depends on what you put on top of it and no matter what that is, crushed red pepper always works. With apologies to the healthier BYers, pasta was never meant to be consumed for fiber or dietetic purposes. Maybe your problem is with the sauce( gravy if you are from North Jersey) and the combination of the two you are making. For example, rigatoni goes with Bolognese sauce, penne goes with vodka sauce( although you can do rigatoni in a pinch) , linguine goes with white or red clam sauce, and orrechiette is best with sausage and broccoli rabe in an oil and garlic sauce. It's also tortellini Alfredo not spaghetti Alfredo. By the way, there are great other names for sauces. Marinara is derived from the Italian word for sailor because it was a fast and easy sauce that you only need garlic, crushed tomatoes and oil for. Speaking of fast sauces, try puttanesca, derived from the Italian word Puttan or prostitute. As Casey said, you can look it up.
 
My wife made shrimp scampi yesterday with wine ,roasted red peppers, garlic, spinach, and butter and put it over linguine. she often uses angel hair in the recipe, but we were short on supplies. It was molto buono. Delizioso! Mangiare, mangiare.
 
Bama fan said:
My wife made shrimp scampi yesterday with wine ,roasted red peppers, garlic, spinach, and butter and put it over linguine. she often uses angel hair in the recipe, but we were short on supplies. It was molto buono. Delizioso! Mangiare, mangiare.
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So not fair as we approach dinnertime. Shrimp scampi that way, which is perfect, would taste great over shoe leather. The fact that she usually serves it over angel hair tells me that you are a very lucky person since she really knows her stuff. We will be over right after the quarantine is lifted to try some. Don't worry, we'll bring a nice bottle of Italian white for sure......... or maybe a case if we have more BYers!
 
BBallF said:
Depends on what you put on top of it and no matter what that is, crushed red pepper always works. With apologies to the healthier BYers, pasta was never meant to be consumed for fiber or dietetic purposes. Maybe your problem is with the sauce( gravy if you are from North Jersey) and the combination of the two you are making. For example, rigatoni goes with Bolognese sauce, penne goes with vodka sauce( although you can do rigatoni in a pinch) , linguine goes with white or red clam sauce, and orrechiette is best with sausage and broccoli rabe in an oil and garlic sauce. It's also tortellini Alfredo not spaghetti Alfredo. By the way, there are great other names for sauces. Marinara is derived from the Italian word for sailor because it was a fast and easy sauce that you only need garlic, crushed tomatoes and oil for. Speaking of fast sauces, try puttanesca, derived from the Italian word Puttan or prostitute. As Casey said, you can look it up.
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Other pasta matches - fresh tagliatelle with Bolognese, penne with arrabiata, fettucine with Fra Diavolo.
 
One of my favorites is marinara sauce with shrimp, sea scallops and fresh spinach. That goes over either thin spaghetti, angel hair or linguine. Of course, served with hot garlic bread!
 
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The big key is salting the water. I always put a pat of butter and a teaspoon of salt for 4 servings.

Now if you want a great spaghetti sauce, it's all in the meat. Get your skillet, touch of oil, start reducing onions, touch more oil, add meat, season to taste. I use garlic, McCormick's SeasonAll, black pepper, red pepper, touch of lemon, salt (lightly)if the meat isn't seasoned right, the rest just doesn't turn out well.
Then add your tomatoes or other base.
 
j66kicker said:
Puttanesca on black squid ink linguine. Is Hot Tomato's still there in downtown Hartford? They did a great job with this.
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Everytime I have tried squid or the little octopus tentacles they are just too chewy. Taste is good, but it drives me nuts how long it takes chewing.
 
garddog said:
Everytime I have tried squid or the little octopus tentacles they are just too chewy. Taste is good, but it drives me nuts how long it takes chewing.
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Try the squid raw - it's way different, like a cottonball, melts in your mouth. To me squid and octopus are opposites. Octopus is tender when cooked, chewy - even hard - when raw. Squid is the opposite, chewy when cooked - especially when overcooked (a steak made from the tube of a large squid, cooked flat on the bbq grill, can be very tender).

In any case, although Hot Tomato's did put calamari in their puttanesca, you can do it without that and just enjoy the squid ink linguine.
 
Some quick recipes.
Spaghetti or Linguine (or any other long pasta), butter and topped with Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Any pasta tossed in Ricotta with black pepper (lots of it).
Any pasta tossed with Ricotta topped with a simple Marinara sauce and Romano cheese.
 
mbr33ct said:
Some quick recipes.
Spaghetti or Linguine (or any other long pasta), butter and topped with Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Any pasta tossed in Ricotta with black pepper (lots of it).
Any pasta tossed with Ricotta topped with a simple Marinara sauce and Romano cheese.
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Butter and cheese ( P-R of course) on spaghetti is really delicious and very old school. I also like black pepper with it. Ricotta on pasta is luxurious. I have had it recently with Marinara and of course cheese and it is great. Have to try it with just pepper. I though this was a basketball site. I didn't expect to gain weight. Then again, Geno is the coach!
 
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bluedevil said:
I love pasta...I know whole wheat is healthier but doesn't taste nearly as good....any suggestions?
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Is it the taste/flavor or the texture that you don't like?

I'm with all the above posters, that a strongly flavored sauce should mask any strong flavor from the whole wheat pasta. But if it's texture thing, I'm not sure there's much to do about it. A couple above have cited textured sauces like Bolognese (even plain-old meat sauce), but that only goes so far.

My daughter loves beans. All kinds of beans. Except chickpeas. It's a texture thing, no matter what I do with chickpeas (except unrecognizable things like falafel or hummus), she'll never touch them.
 
Frozen squid that is to be cooked should be soaked in milk overnight. I have had octopus in Greece, Italy and Spain and have never had it when it wasn't like chewing an inner tube.
 
garddog said:
The big key is salting the water. I always put a pat of butter and a teaspoon of salt for 4 servings.

Now if you want a great spaghetti sauce, it's all in the meat. Get your skillet, touch of oil, start reducing onions, touch more oil, add meat, season to taste. I use garlic, McCormick's SeasonAll, black pepper, red pepper, touch of lemon, salt (lightly)if the meat isn't seasoned right, the rest just doesn't turn out well.
Then add your tomatoes or other base.
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So what type of skillet do you use? When I'm cooking meat with onions and other ingredients, I use m big cast iron skillet. Nothing like cooking with cast iron.
 
huskeynut said:
So what type of skillet do you use? When I'm cooking meat with onions and other ingredients, I use m big cast iron skillet. Nothing like cooking with cast iron.
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Cast Iron, just don't put tomatoes in them. Acid eats into the season on the cast iron.
 
Bama fan said:
My wife made shrimp scampi yesterday with wine ,roasted red peppers, garlic, spinach, and butter and put it over linguine. she often uses angel hair in the recipe, but we were short on supplies. It was molto buono. Delizioso! Mangiare, mangiare.
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Shrimp Scampi, just one of the reasons we know God loves us.
 
Bigboote said:
Is it the taste/flavor or the texture that you don't like?

I'm with all the above posters, that a strongly flavored sauce should mask any strong flavor from the whole wheat pasta. But if it's texture thing, I'm not sure there's much to do about it. A couple above have cited textured sauces like Bolognese (even plain-old meat sauce), but that only goes so far.

My daughter loves beans. All kinds of beans. Except chickpeas. It's a texture thing, no matter what I do with chickpeas (except unrecognizable things like falafel or hummus), she'll never touch them.
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The taste...I try to eat healthy...hence whole eat..but now I mix reg pasta and whole wheat pasta..
 
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