3 Easy-to-Make Classic Italian Pasta Recipes

Only have about 15 or 20 minutes to make dinner tonight .

No problem .

I'm gonna show you three delicious , easy to make classic Italian pastas that you can make tonight .

The first pasta we're gonna get into is one of the four classic Roman pastas known as , which translates to cheese and pepper .

Very easy .

Four ingredients .

Here's how you do it .

Speaking of pepper , we're going to add two tablespoons of black peppercorns to a medium size saute pan .

We're not gonna need that much pepper .

But while we're doing this , why not make a bunch , we're gonna add it to the cooktop , turn the heat to medium low .

What we're looking to do is toast up the peppercorns .

The reason we do this is because the pepper will become very aromatic and actually a bit spicier making this very full flavored .

Now , it's only going to take about two minutes or so .

Once you start to really smell it , turn the heat off , we're gonna remove it , set it to the side on a plate to let them completely cool .

Now , for some more prep , I'm going to grade up one and a quarter cups of Pecorino Romano cheese .

This is the classic cheese to use in this recipe .

If you only can get a hold of Parmesan cheese , I suppose that will work .

But what we do want to do is obviously finally grate it .

I like to do it right on parchment paper .

It just keeps everything clean and it's very easy to transport and move .

You can do it on a plate or a platter as well .

No problem .

Let's go back to our peppercorns .

They're nice and cool .

I'm going to add them to a mortar and then use a pestle to grind everything up until it is ground with some nice chunks in here .

You could obviously use a spice grinder or just add them to your pepper mill .

This is the exact consistency .

I'm looking for some nice fine grinds and some bigger grinds as well .

Set it to the side .

Let's go back over the cheese .

It's crazy that a little bit of cheese can render one and a quarter cups of grated .

I'm gonna separate them into three piles .

A larger , a medium and a small .

Now they do not have to be perfect size at all .

Just sort of divide them like this .

We're gonna start off by taking that bigger pile of cheese .

We're gonna add it to a saute pan over low heat .

We're gonna add in one quarter teaspoon of the correct black pepper .

Let's go over to our water .

It's not boiling yet , but it is nice and hot .

We're gonna add a four ounce ladle right to our cheese , using a rubber spatula or a spoon .

Begin to move everything around until the sauce comes together like almost like an emulsification .

The cheese will blend in with the water .

Now , back over to our water , we're gonna add enough salt to make it salty like the ocean .

It's got a nice little boil on here .

Perfect .

I'm going to next add in eight ounces of fresh pasta .

I've got some leftover .

Perfect .

If you want to use dry pasta , no problem , just cook it according to the time on the package .

Now , fresh pasta cooks very quickly .

Maybe two minutes .

It would begin to float to the top .

That's a good indication that I'm just about done .

But what you do need to do is add the pasta in batches into our saute pan with the cheese .

If you add too much at one time , it's gonna become waterlogged and it's not gonna work out once your pasta is completely in there .

After adding them in batches , we're gonna begin to immediately stir everything together , using that rubber spatula almost like a stir fry .

Now , I've got a few clumps of cheese in here .

That means my pan is way too hot .

I'm going to turn the heat completely off and to help bring down the temperature a little bit more .

I'm gonna bring in four more ounces of that hot water and that medium size pile of grated cheese .

Let's of course , not forget to season it up with a little bit of salt at this point .

Grab your rubber spatula and move everything around again .

This should absolutely work to make it perfectly creamy like this .

No lumps , no chunks .

It's all about heat control when it comes to catch you paper .

Perfect .

Now , let's remove this from the heat and plate it up .

I like to wrap it around a very large fork , plate it up in a bowl or a plate .

And I like to make these little nests .

That's why I do that .

Wrap it around the fork just looks really pretty .

We're gonna finish it with that small pile of grated Pecorino , Romano cheese and then of course , finish it with some more freshly ground black pepper .

This looks amazing .

One of the issues that can arise when you're making a cheesy pasta like a queue is that the cheese clumps together ?

What this means is your pan is way too hot .

That's why you keep it on low heat or no heat .

That's why I use hot water , not boiling water when the pan is super hot or the water is super hot , the cheese congeals and you get clumps , you gotta continue to mix it as well .

Don't forget that those two things I promise will have a creamy , delicious pasta every time .

OK ?

For the next pasta , we are gonna make pasta .

Here we go .

We're going to grate one and a quarter cups of Pecorino , Romano cheese .

Again , this is a very classic cheese to use in this recipe .

If you only have Parmesan fine , again , finally grate it right on the parchment paper again , makes it super easy to transport , set it to the side .

Now , I have some guan choli also very classic to use in this .

I need four ounces total , which is half of this big chunk here .

Now , if you cannot get a hold of Guan choli , you can't substitute for pant and bacon .

Would it be classic ?

No , but it'll still be delicious .

Remove it from the plate again .

I said I'm going to cut it in half , but to do that , I'm gonna do four individual slices that are about a quarter to a half inch thick .

The next thing you want to do is then turn the sliced guana and we're gonna make nice big chunks just like this .

You could cut them smaller if you'd like .

This is much more of a classic cut that you'll see in a pasta .

Set them to the side on a plate , then take that plate over to a medium size saute pan .

We're gonna add them in there .

We haven't turned the heat on .

But when we do , we want to turn it to medium low heat immediately start stirring the guana .

It has a lot of fat on there so it can burn really quickly .

But we don't want it to burn .

What we're looking to do is get it nice and cooked perfectly with Guoli .

A lot of times you'll see some that are loaded up with spice and pepper for some reason .

This one didn't have too much on it .

So I'm gonna add in an additional quarter teaspoon of black peppercorns just like that .

This is the consistency you want a little bit crispy , perfectly brown cooked throughout , not burnt .

Now to slow down the cooking process , we're gonna add four ounces of that hot pasta , water right to the pan .

We don't want the bacon to cook anymore , but it still is too hot for cheese .

So what you want to do is completely turn the heat off .

Let's go over to that cheese , speak of the devil .

And we are going to separate it into three piles again , a small pile .

Next thing we wanna do is do a larger pile and a medium pile does not have to be perfect measurements here .

We know we have one and a quarter cups total .

Let's take that bigger pile of cheese .

We're gonna add it right into our pan with the guano and water using a rubber spatula or spoon , mix everything together until it is combined .

It will emulsify .

And when I say emulsification , think of vinegar and oil when making a vinaigrette .

This is exactly what it will look like .

It's perfect .

It's creamy , no big chunks .

It's combined .

Excellent back over to our pot of boiling water .

We're gonna add eight ounces of fresh pasta again .

I already seasoned it with salt .

So it's nice and perfect here .

It will only take about two minutes for fresh pasta to cook .

When you're doing dry spaghetti .

It probably takes about 8 to 10 minutes to get that nice al dente .

Move it around once it's floating .

Let's take it out in batches again .

Just like with our Que Pepe recipe .

Add them in there in little batches until all of it is completely in there .

What we're going to do is immediately start to move it around , stir it around , get those flavors moving .

We do not have the heat on .

Remember we turned it off .

We don't want the cheese to clump up .

This looks absolutely excellent .

It's already creamy , but let's take it to another level of creamy and deliciousness .

Grab that medium sized pile of Pecorino Romano cheese that we grated up .

We're gonna add that right in there .

We're also gonna add in four more ounces of hot pasta water , four ounces just so you know , it translates to a half cup of water .

Then what we wanna do is season up well with salt and fresh cracked black pepper .

Remember Pecorino Romano is a little bit salty like I said before .

So season to taste , move everything around just like a stir fry .

Should become nice and creamy and completely coat the noodles .

This looks fantastic .

Plating it up is very similar to the queue .

I like to do it in a little nest wrapped around a large fork .

You can use a carving fork too .

No problem .

Then you're gonna finish it with that Pecorino Romano cheese .

So dang tasty and just like the queue .

Make sure your pan's not too hot .

Keep stirring and such amazing flavors .

All that cheesy goodness .

So tasty .

OK .

For the last 11 of my all time favorites again .

Super simple .

Well , that translates to garlic and oil .

So we're gonna start off with three garlic cloves and I'm going to thinly thinly slice .

You can't run them through a garlic press , finely mince them , put them on a mandolin , whatever you wanna do .

I just like those big chunks of garlic .

I think it adds a lot of flavor to this for the other main ingredient .

I'm gonna be using a red finger pepper .

You can use a Fresno pepper or even a red Serrano trim off the ends , slice it in half .

And then what we wanna do is remove all the seeds .

So sort of filet that out of there .

Be very careful with your fingers here and go slow .

Then we're gonna julienne these into nice little slices .

If you don't have access to a fresh pepper , what you can do is substitute for a half teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes .

I feel like the fresh pepper just adds so much flavor .

We're gonna add it to a bowl .

Take that and the garlic over to a medium size saute pan .

We're next going to add in a half cup of extra virgin olive oil .

I know that seems like a lot .

Turn the heat to medium low .

We do not want this too hot .

We do not want it smoking .

Maybe after 30 seconds add in the garlic .

All we want to do is cook this until we smell it until it's tender .

Maybe going to take 45 seconds to one minute for this to finish at this point .

Grab your sliced Fresno peppers or red finger peppers , whatever you have .

We're gonna add that in there and cook this for another minute or so to stop the cooking process , go over to our pasta water .

We're gonna take four ounces or a half cup out of there .

Add it right to the oil .

This is gonna seem like a lot of liquid but do not worry .

Once we add the pasta in there , it's gonna soak it up .

It's gonna be perfect .

Just give it a quick little mix .

We're gonna turn the heat completely off back over to our pot of boiling water .

Eight ounces of fresh pasta .

Just like all the other recipes in this video .

Give it a quick stir .

Break everything up again .

About two minutes total for this to cook .

You can use dried pasta , as I've stated before .

Add it in clumps as well .

So it doesn't overload our sauce with too much water .

And then once everything is in there , we're gonna add in one tablespoon of finely minced fresh flat leaf Italian parsley and we're gonna season it up with salt .

Now , parsley is optional .

You may not see that in a super classical recipe , but it is oftentimes in a , once it is combined , it will literally come together with these , gonna wrap it around a big fork just like the other recipes .

Gonna make a beautiful little pasta nest .

And then what I'm going to do is just finish it off with a little bit more fresh chopped parsley looks amazing .

Smells amazing .

Can't wait to try this .

Putting into practice these fundamental basic techniques will help elevate your everyday cooking , continually stirring the pasta to make sure the cheese and the water comes together , making sure your pan's not too hot , cooking that garlic just right doing these things over and over again .

I'm telling you it will help make your homemade food from scratch that much better .

That's always been my promise to you .

Let's take a look at a few more of these beauties .

Oftentimes , simplicity is always so elegant , minimal ingredients , always accessible .

Absolutely delicious .

Be sure to make this tonight and let's get in this .