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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW8l4o5sHlE

2023-08-19 20:39:11

These 15 Minute Pastas Will Change Your Dinners Forever!

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So it's very clear that from the past episodes of 15 minute meals , you all really like the pasta recipes .

So what I wanted to do today is really just focus on an entire episode just for pasta .

And what I love so much about making pasta is that you can make an entire meal just from one pan .

Plus they're really customizable .

So you can just use whatever you have lying around in the fridge or the pantry .

So what I'm gonna be showing you today is four unique but very easy to execute pasta dishes that you , you can bring together during your weeks in under 15 minutes .

So as you can see , we are right in the middle of a kitchen renovation about two weeks out , but we're in the kitchen because of one reason , which is this thing right here .

If you remember from the last studio in Brooklyn , my dad and I built out this incredible butcher block , one of a kind kitchen island made out of Walnut .

So I knew that would be the centerpiece of this kitchen .

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But this is kind of 2.0 version we built in two shelves that gives me easy access to bowls or compost or whatever it is .

And then also on the other side , you can pull up some counters stools and actually sit , which is a nice option .

And this should give you a nice sense of what's to come in this kitchen .

I cannot wait .

But all I really need is one table , a few burners .

And speaking of burners , first step is getting , oh , that was nice .

This is the first time I'm using this induction burner .

Get your pot of water , get ahead of it .

And then you can start prepping your aromatics .

So this pasta dish is a bit unique .

You're probably not gonna see it on an Italian menu because I kind of concocted it and it all starts with the flavor that is packed into a jar of sun dried tomatoes filled with oil .

So I'm gonna get a pan on a medium heat .

I'm using a nice wide stainless steel saute pan with a high lip .

My favorite for making pasta .

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And what I'll do is I will dump in all of this oil .

We've got garlic in here .

We've got basil , we've got oregano really fill the pan .

You do not want to hold back on fat .

It is going to infuse the whole pasta with flavor .

Now onto our fennel , we're just gonna cut off the bottom root , cut off the tougher top pieces and then slice this right in half .

Give this a really thin slice just like you're cutting some onion , the thinner you slice it the quicker we'll cook , which is the goal for a 15 minute dinner .

And then get that immediately into this pan and fennel to me is one of the most underrated aromatics and bases of a pasta dish or soup .

When you taste it raw , it's got that ay flavor , which is fantastic .

But when it sweats down and Caramelizes , there's not much better .

We'll get a little salt in there and we don't need any other aromatics because it's already in the oil .

So , while that's cooking down , I'm gonna take out .

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Now , the sun dried tomatoes give them a rough chop .

I've got a little bit of parsley .

I think this is the last ingredient that I need to prep , which is crazy .

So , I mean , this is all your flavor right here , which is incredible .

How quick it was to prep that you don't want to skimp on the oil .

You see this fennel just really breaking down .

That's because this pan is certainly not dry .

We're boiling over here .

I've got some nude skis , but jet , you don't wanna know my Italian accent .

I'll give a little salt in there and dump .

Just take a look at this panel .

I'm cooking for like four or five minutes basically , just gonna melt into the sauce .

And now what I'll do is I'll throw the tomatoes in .

Those are just gonna lightly saute in that oil .

For about 30 seconds .

Now , we have all of this incredible aromatic flavor , but we need to build out a sauce .

And one of my favorite ways to do that with pasta is white wine .

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And don't listen to people that say like use a white wine .

If you want your pasta taste good , use a good white line .

So we'll just dump that in probably about a cup that will reduce that alcohol will cook out .

Turn the heat up sauce bubbling away .

Reducing nicely noodles , clumping up , be done in just a few minutes for maybe the first time in 15 , 15 minute dinner history , we have about a minute to spare .

So instead of grating the cheese right in , I'll just pre grade it right now .

Just using the micro plain .

My favorite way to grate parm into pasta because it's so fine and it just melts right in .

That looks like a good hunk .

Try a noodle .

You can see there's still a good bit of uncooked starch in this .

See that ring right on the inside .

Now , we don't want to overcook the pasta because it's gonna spend a good bit of time infusing with that sauce .

Probably a minute and a half away .

Just take a little chunk of butter , throw that into the sauce , pasta should be done .

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I think the easiest way to do this is just to bring this over here and start scooping and you can see this beautiful starchy pasta water .

Just keep letting that reduce because we're gonna use that to our advantage , thicken up the sauce and now just sort of gently toss you see how liquidy that is right now , that's gonna completely transform in the next minute or two .

Just crank the heat up .

I'm just gonna stick a little bit of pasta water and that these are the moments where pasta really comes together and you're in fusing and thickening up that sauce .

So now we have no liquid right at that point , we can go in with both our cheese and our parsley .

Hit it with a little bit of pepper , bring together .

Wow .

Hit it with a little , a little more pasta water to thin it out .

Sweet baby Jesus .

That just looks so good .

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So I've made this pasta so many times that I didn't even taste it for seasoning .

Look at the flavor on that one noodle .

I mean the amount of flavor that you can build just from this one jar that is the key to this pasta .

And that is why I love this dish .

And what we're gonna make now is a pistachio pesto , which is one of my favorite pastas I've been making recently .

Now , I originally found out about it from my animator's Instagram .

He posted a video of this and I instantly needed to know how it was made and he actually found this recipe from his Italian friend whose grandmother made it post World War Two out of necessity .

When she didn't have traditional pesto ingredients , she just use what she had , which was pistachios .

And the first thing we're gonna do is toast these pistachios just like you would the pine nuts for traditional pesto .

And then I'm also gonna take some asparagus .

Yeah , some beautiful in season .

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Asparagus actually growing in my garden right now .

But it won't be ready for harvest for a few years And once that pasta water is ready to go , I'm gonna give it a blast .

So in the meantime , we'll prepare our pesto .

So we're gonna hit it with the juice of some lemon .

Of course , every pesto needs some garlic .

Now , herbage for this dish is actually optional , but when I recipe tested it , I enjoy just a little bit of parsley for that fresh sort of pungency .

You can also throw in some basil if you want .

But again , these pistachios right here are the star starting to brown up just a bit .

Smelling really nice .

You get this in and come on .

Come on , come on on one hand .

OK .

I don't need all of these asparagus and the veggies are completely up to you .

But because it's a 15 minute meal , I like taking advantage of this boiling water .

So I'm just gonna blanche the asparagus for literally one minute .

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In the meantime , we can blend this up .

Do you need a little bit of salt in there ?

A little pepper a little olive oil and these asparagus are definitely done .

Uh Where do I go ?

Oh , since my sink is out of commission , I'm going , I'm not blending these .

This is just the cool demo , by the way .

Look at the vibrancy on that blanched asparagus , one of my favorite ways to cook it .

So , since I'm pretty much ready to blend , it's a great time to get my pasta going .

This is some fresh fettuccini , the only fresh pasta I'm using today .

So it should only take , I don't know , two minutes , three minutes in here .

Get that going .

We're also gonna want some of that starchy water for pasta .

We'll start this and see what we get before the water is added .

So once it stops blending , that's when we will add our pasta water .

Don't do that .

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You're gonna need a good bit to get a nice creamy presto that check the noodle .

Oh Yeah , these noodles are ready .

This dish comes together very , very quick .

I would say you can make it in 12 minutes .

12 minute pastas .

You probably won't need all that sauce .

We'll reserve a little bit and then finally we'll take some of those asparagus .

I'm gonna cut off the heads .

I'll toss those in , then I'll just slice these thin for a nice little crunch and pop .

And this is completely optional .

You can hit this with Parmesan , you can keep it plain .

I'm gonna hit it with a dollop of ricotta , a little more pasta water .

You don't need to cook this too long .

Just really , so that cheese melts in and we're done .

That took no time .

I could really use some tongs right now , but I just don't know where they are .

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So , two spoons , we'll have to do just a little bit of cracked pepper on top .

It's very creamy but it's very light and the pistachio flavor , it's not super aggressive .

I wouldn't say it's like eating a pistachio ice cream .

It's just a nuttiness but balanced out with the acidity and the fat from the Rica .

That's awesome .

Completely different taste experience than a traditional pesto .

It almost leans more towards uh an Alfredo because of the creaminess , but a great quick option for your weeknight dinners .

So we've been recipe testing all of these pasta dishes for the last few weeks and we already have a sauce that features tomatoes , but that was actually a white wine sauce .

So , of course , we wanted to come in with an actual canned tomato based sauce because everyone's got a can of tomatoes hanging around .

But we wanted to make it a little more special .

So that specialness is gonna start right here .

Pancetta .

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Now , you can use any cured or cooked pork products .

Bacon Prosciutto , the pancetta is nice because you get these chunky pieces .

So I'm just cutting them up into little cubes .

Now , while that's frying , we're gonna slice up our aromatics which are really simple .

We've got one little sweet onion right here .

I'll just slice that nice and thin , a little bit of garlic .

And then generally for 15 minute pastas , I just slice through it .

No need to do a fine shot .

Plus it will cook a little more even with the onion aromatics prepped .

And this has been cooking for about four minutes .

You can see we are rendered but not overcooked .

We want a nice chew .

We don't want to burn the hell out of it .

Gonna remove that .

Go in with my aromatics .

How good does that look ?

Uh turn that heat down to a nice medium .

We don't want anything burning .

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And now , oh yeah , my favorite pasta brands Vani and these are hemp radiators .

So they're just like infused with a little hemp .

I find this shape is just fantastic for holding onto sauce .

One of my go to for just a nice week night meal and then we'll just watch this for the next minute before we add our sauce .

Now you can see in just about two minutes .

How nice those onions and garlic look smells incredible .

And usually I just go right in with the tomato sauce , but this pancetta is a little different .

It left a good bit of faw on there .

And since I have just a little bit of white wine left over , I'm deglazing just to make sure all of that flavor gets upended from the bottom of the top , but you can just go straight in with the tomato sauce or you can use red wine too just right there .

That's an incredible just steak sauce .

Plop that on a steak .

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I've got just a standard can 14 ounces , crushed tomatoes .

So we'll just let that come up to a bubble and simmer for like three minutes .

That's really all it needs for the flavors to come together pasta on .

That's looking good .

A few more minutes .

There , there's two more things I have to do .

One is right in here .

Another key player , frozen green peas again .

Just another great week night ingredient .

A lot of people have just a bag of frozen veggies lying around and then I'm gonna pick some fresh basil to garnish .

I like a lot of basil in this dish to really freshen it up at the very end .

Now , this is looking great , slightly reduced .

So we'll slice open these peas .

Let's say that's a cup .

Add back your crispy pancetta .

Oh Look at that .

And let's check on our pasta .

We're about two minutes away .

All the pasta is finishing .

Just give it a taste .

OK ?

That's why you taste food that pan on its own .

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When you taste it is very salty .

But when it comes together in this sauce , the salt actually leeches out a bit and I didn't add any salt to anything else and that's like perfectly Sead .

So you gotta taste because every ingredient is not made equally perfect .

Ok , scoop these out and all the extra residual water that's kind of caught up in those squiggly that will just help build out the sauce a bit .

That is feeling just a little bit dry .

So I'm gonna take this can .

Now I kill two birds with one stone , extra tomato flavor and pasta liquid and we'll stir it up .

Now , I just want to take a quick second to thank today's sponsor because it has been an absolute pleasure cooking in their stainless steel pans today .

And what I love about these pans is that stainless steel has always been a big investment .

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But since Mien goes direct to consumer as a home cook , you can actually afford to build out your own set with an affordable but really high quality option and they offer only the essentials making the process of buying much less overwhelming .

But if you're going to buy just one pan , when it comes to making a pasta , it's gotta be their three quart saute .

This thing is so all purpose .

As you can see , I can fit a big old pasta for like four people in this one pot .

So if you want to start up your stainless steel collection , click the link below in the description , use code word , home cooks for 20% off your first order and we are just about there .

You can see this thing is just loaded with goodies , but that sauce has been completely absorbed into those radiators .

That's just like an ideal weight .

Quick pasta .

Oh , boy .

One more thing , I almost forgot .

I'll just take this basil and rip it up and let it do its magic and infuse and perfume .

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That pasta for this one .

I'm gonna do parm right on top .

This to me is just the ultimate use up .

What you have type pasta .

You're taking classic pantry ingredients .

Really ?

You can use any protein you want .

Most people have onions and garlic hanging around can of tomatoes , any frozen vegetable and you're turning it into something substantial .

This is hearty .

This is delicious .

You're gonna love it .

Your family is gonna be happy .

A really fun place on a classic tomato sauce pasta .

All right .

So the plan was to end things at those three recipes .

Hopefully you've found some inspiration there .

But yesterday , I was walking around in my garden and I found something very , very special .

So we had a big rain and I'm walking in the back yard and look at this , an entire mushroom field all around and these beauty , these are called wine caps because of this nice reddish tone to the cap of the mushrooms .

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So there's five categories of wild mushrooms ranging from deadly at the worst , which you certainly don't want to eat to choice , which is the top rated mushrooms like the chants and mores and actually wine caps , which are growing all over my yard .

I had no idea are part of that choice category .

So I'm gonna make a pasta with these .

But if you are ever foraging for mushrooms , make sure that the mushroom you're picking is 100% safe to eat .

Don't take any chances .

And even if you've identified it as safe , cut up just a tiny little piece of it , fry it up and try that before you eat a bunch , which I did yesterday .

So I'm gonna harvest a bunch of these and we're gonna whip up just the last quick little mushroom pasta .

So for this last dish , I'm just gonna let these mushrooms shine by creating a really simple garlicky butter mushroom sauce .

First thing I'll do is pop off all the caps .

The stems are a bit too woody at this point in the growth .

So they'll just get composted and then I'll rattle through all of those caps and slice them nice and thin .

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I'll pop all of the mushrooms in a bowl and roughly chop up three cloves of garlic .

And then to my , and I'm gonna add a little bit of olive oil and a whole bunch of butter .

Since this is one of the main flavoring to the dish and when the butter melts , I'll throw in that garlic and just saute that on a low heat until it starts to smell nice and nutty .

And then I'll drop in all of those mushrooms which are about 90% water .

So this is going to reduce down pretty quickly .

And after about two minutes , you can see here , mushrooms have released a ton of liquid , which is fantastic because that liquid is gonna mix in with our fat and create a beautiful sauce .

I'm gonna add a touch of salt at this point .

And then I'll go in with my cooked pasta .

I had some elbows lying around in the pantry but use whatever you have .

And then initially , that sauce is going to be pretty liquidy .

But after about three minutes cooking on a medium heat , things are gonna start to really thicken up .

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And when the liquid has gone from thin to sauce consistency , that's when I'll add in some fresh grated Parmesan cheese along with some chopped up parsley .

I'll give it a final season of some salt and pepper and give that a final few tosses to bring the pasta together .

Things just got very interesting out of nowhere .

I love having a garden .

To me .

My best description , the texture of a shiitake mushroom .

They cook down just like a shiki very quickly .

You don't need to cook them long .

But the flavor is much more mellow , more like a cremini style mushroom with a little like cashew tone , a little more nuttiness .

But it , it's a solid mushroom .

Definitely a level up from your standard button mushroom or Portobello .

Wow .

Wow .

Just a simple butter , garlic mushroom sauce to really highlight the fresh products .

So hopefully you're inspired to make one of these recipes at least or just craft something from your own original take , get creative with it .

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And thank you again to me for sponsoring this video with quality tools like their pots and pans .

It was incredibly easy to nail down these recipes and just in general to stay on my game in the kitchen .

So click the link below in the description and use code word , home cooks for 20% off your first order and I'll see you in the next video .

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