RECIPES: Jamie Oliver's Pasta Faves

Dec. 15, 2009— -- Chef Jaime Oliver shares some of his secrets for making everyday pasta. Click HERE to read more about Oliver.

All recipes from "Jamie's Food Revolution" by Jamie Oliver. Copyright © 2009. Published by Hyperion. Available wherever books are sold. All Rights Reserved.

We've been able to buy fresh lasagne sheets in grocery stores for years and now there are also free-range and organic pastas available. The great thing about these sheets is that you can use them for more than just making lasagne: you can cut them up and use them in different ways, as I've done here. If you can't get fresh lasagne, improvise — I've made this in the past by breaking up dry sheets (but you'll need to cook them for longer).This dish is such an easy thing to make if you want to feed four people very quickly.

This is a north Italian pasta sauce, and they're more inclined than their southern neighbours to use butter in their pastas — it gives a silky texture and an extra layer of flavor.

Yield: 4 - 6 Servings

Ingredients:

Instructions:

To prepare your pasta

Cut the tomatoes into halves or quarters. Peel and slice the garlic. Pick the basil leaves off the stalks and put them to one side. Finely chop the stalks. Cut the lasagne sheets into 3 or 4 long strips and put to one side. Grate the Parmesan.

To cook your pasta

Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Put a large frying pan over a medium heat and add a couple of lugs of olive oil and the garlic. Add the butter and let it melt. When the garlic starts to brown, add the tomatoes. Give everything a good stir, then add the basil stalks and half the leaves. Add the vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Drop your fresh pasta strips into the pan of boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Drain in a colander over a large bowl, reserving some of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the frying pan with a splash of the cooking water and half the Parmesan. Give it a good stir. Taste and add a little more salt and pepper if you think it needs it.

To serve your pasta

Divide the pasta between your plates or bowls, or put the pan in the middle of the table and let everyone help themselves. Sprinkle over the rest of the Parmesan and the basil leaves, tearing any larger ones up. Lovely with a simple side salad

Special Pasta Recipe

Yield: Serves 4

Method (for both pasta recipes)

The making of pasta isn't some temperamental nightmare - you just chuck the eggs and flour together, no big deal. You don't need salt or oil, that's a fallacy. The only essential for the most superior pasta experience is the freshest organic eggs and good, finely ground, bread flour or semolina flour. We will knead these ingredients to a smooth, fine and silky-textured dough, and work it enough to develop and strengthen the structure of the gluten in the dough to make it elastic.