Pasta is always a good idea. It is warming and hearty for a midweek meal, a starter or a side dish for a weekend feast, or a simple and quick lunch. Here is your guide to the different kinds of pasta sauces.
Pasta sauces usually fall into three main types – tomato-based, creamy and rich, and herb and oil pesto sauces. These three types of sauces are the classics that you need, and are simple to make in Thermomix®.
1. Tomato-base sauces: Blend fresh or canned tomatoes, garlic, onions and olive oil for a classic tomato pasta sauce traditionally served with spaghetti.
2. Creamy and rich: The classic sauce of this type is the Carbonara sauce, with bacon, eggs and Parmesan. This is a favourite with the whole family for a weekday meal. Serve it with a salad for a balanced meal.
3. Pesto: Our basil pesto recipe has been tested to perfection, so that you can confidently make a batch and freeze it, or store it for up to 10 days in the fridge. Toss classic basil pesto through spaghetti for an instant and tasty meal.
Cook spaghetti quickly and easily in Thermomix®, using our clever method, drain it in Varoma and simply stir in tomato sauce to serve.
Pairing pasta and sauce for the perfect combination is a kitchen science. There are hundreds of pasta shapes if you want to really become a specialist, but only about ten of them are widely available in most supermarkets. Be inspired by these classics, but there are no hard and fast rules for pairing a pasta with sauce.
Now you know the basics, have fun experimenting with your own combinations until you come up your family favourites.
Some pasta dishes are a complete meal, in one recipe. Ham and leek sauce is a quick and easy sauce to spoon over pasta, ready and on the table in a short time. Puttanesca sauce is so simple and tasty, you will want to cook it often. Serve it with salad, and dinner is ready. For a bigger appetite, try chicken meatballs with spaghetti. It will hit the flavour spot every time, and is a one pot meal, simple to cook and prepare. Tuna and pasta is a classic family combination, serve this Tuna Polpette with a tagliatelle pasta, for family dinners.
Buying fresh pasta can often be disappointing, and good quality dried pasta is often better than shop-bought fresh pasta. But for flavour and satisfaction, there is nothing to beat homemade fresh pasta, and in Thermomix® it is easy. Be inspired by our failsafe fresh pasta dough recipe, and make it your own, for instance flavouring it with tomato or with basil. Roll out to the shape that you need, and cut it into tagliatelle, or lasagne, ravioli or cappeletti (hat shaped raviolis) to stuff with ham and cheese. Fresh pasta is so good, it makes a meal, and not much more is needed to make a weekend lunch extra impressive.
