Fettucine Napoletana

I have never had much success with pasta. Sure I can make a good pasta salad or a tuna pasta casserole but I'm talking about using linguine, making a fantastic carbonara, or a creamy fettucine. I could just never get it right. Was I using the wrong pasta? Perhaps. Was the heat too high? Maybe. What I really believe is that I was simply using a recipe far more complicated than was required to make a great pasta dish.

One evening I was watching an episode of Food Safari with Maeve O'Meara- an Italian episode- and an Italian Chef- Maurizio Esposito- was demonstrating how to make a Fettucine Napoletana. I took notes, I wrote down everything that he said and I copied everything he did- except for the way he flicked his wrist to toss the sauce around in the saucepan. I tried that once and ended up with tomato based sauce all over my stove top. Not a good thing when you consider that my stove top still had the coil elements meaning that the sauce dripped right down through the coil and cooked itself onto the tray underneath. After much scrubbing later I promised to leave that arm action to the real chefs.

The great thing was that my Fettucine was a success. I could cook pasta! You know- fancy pasta. And the key to this recipe is its simplicity. . . and fresh pasta. Sure you can make your own pasta if you like- I don't have the time- but there are some fantastic brands that do fresh pasta that can be found in your refigerated section of the supermarket. The one I use is Latina Fresh, but as long as its fresh pasta that's all that matters.

Ingredients:
1 large Can or two small cans of whole tomatoes
2 gloves Garlic
Olive oil
Salt
2 shallots chopped finely
500 gFresh Pasta
Fresh Basil
Grated Parmesan Cheese

Chop garlic and throw in a pan with shallots and olive oil. Fry briefly. Using hands- and this bit does make a difference- mash the tomatoes from the can into the pan and pour in all the juice from the can. Heat on a medium heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Meanwhile cook pasta as per instructions on the packet. Latina Fresh usually requires you to boil the water, throw in a pinch of salt and then add pasta and boil for two minutes and then drain. Remove half of the sauce and add the pasta to the pan. Splash on a generous amount of olive oil and toss through. Just before serving tear up basil leaves and toss through. Serve with grated cheese on top.

While most Italian chef's would roll in their graves if they knew- I play pretty loose with the rules of this recipe. I add or leave out things depending on my mood, what is available in my fridge or garden or who is coming to dinner. However there are some things about this recipe that I do not change.

1. Always use fresh pasta
2. Always use olive oil
3. Always put a pinch of salt in the pasta water
4. Always get a brand of tinned tomatoes that has a thicker sauce. Some of the homebrand varieties have a watery juice and, while this works perfectly well for other dishes, you need the thicker base for this one.
5. I always add the extra olive oil to the pasta/sauce mix because it prevents the sauce sticking to just the top, or bottom, of your pasta.

Other than that it's pretty much a free for all when it comes to what I put into it and, granted, its probably not a traditional Fettucine Napoletana but. . .who cares! As long as it tastes good that's all that's important.  Some of the things I do to change the recipe are:

a. I substitute onion for shallots- depending what I have available at the time.
b. I like lots of sauce so I don't always take out half the sauce before adding the pasta
c. If I'm being lazy I don't finely chop anything- I have chunky Napoletana
d. If I have meat lovers coming over I sometimes add bacon, or left over shredded roast chicken
e. I have been know to add ingredients such as English spinnach, Kalamata olives, capsicum, zucchini, corn, carrots, mushrooms- whatever left over, lonesome vegetable is in my fridge that needs using.
f. I've used dried herbs when fresh aren't available
g. I sometimes don't have parmesan cheese so I grate the block of cheddar that I do
h. I've even added chilli

It all comes down to what you like. This is a recipe that you can make your own and even the kids will like it. Best of all it's so simple that it takes about all of 15 minutes to make. In fact, I always have a can of tinned whole tomatoes in the cupboard and I always pack the necessary ingredients when I go camping.

And I thought I would never be able to cook good pasta!