I know this sounds totally strange, but trust me, it's good.
One of the cookbooks that every parent should have in their arsenal is Joie Warner's No-Cook Pasta Sauces. Shoot, I bought it long before I ever became a parent because I love uncooked sauces. Using her cookbook you can make wonderful pastas even in the warm summer months. Yes, you still have to boil water for the pasta, but you can escape from the kitchen since the sauces cook themselves. Then you can sit outside and enjoy your dinner as we did when I made the uncooked salami pasta. My recipe is adapted from hers, but the technique of putting everything into a heat-proof bowl is hers.
PENNE WITH UNCOOKED SPICY SALAMI SAUCE
Put salted pasta water on to boil.
Meanwhile, in a heatproof bowl combine:
- 2-3 glugs of fruity olive oil (use your best olive oil for uncooked sauces, you want the flavor to shine)
- 2 pats of unsalted butter
- 1 clove of garlic, pressed or very finely minced
- 8 ounces of "gourmet/best quality" dry salami, Molinari if you can find it (don't use cooked or cotto, nor Oscar Mayer. Ask your deli for a good salami), sliced into matchsticks
- a good handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1-3 small dried red chilis, crushed (or omit)
Set this bowl on-top-of or next to the pasta pot while water comes to a boil and pasta cooks so that butter melts and flavors meld.
Cook one package of penne (or other short pasta) until al dente (usu. 1-2 minutes less than what the package recommends). Before draining reserve a cup of pasta water. Drain pasta and return to pot. Add the "sauce" from the bowl along with any pasta water needed to loosen the sauce.
Just before serving toss pasta with:
- a handful of torn fresh herbs (I used marjoram, oregano, and Italian parsley)
- grated cheese
I found that because the salami and cheese are so salty, no salt was needed. No pepper either.
Sounds perfect since I just bought this great-looking salami from T.J's today. Will give it a try.
Posted by: izzy's mama | March 19, 2007 at 08:41 PM
yummy!I love salami, and am all about saucy things. Not that we've discovered that me and my little one can't eat wheat our pasta tends to be rice based, and you _really_ need a good sauce or topping to carry that off. I am so going to try this!
(btw: I've tried a few times to 'subscribe to this feed', and it didn't work; I got sent to a weird page. I'll try again later)
Posted by: Jules | March 23, 2007 at 10:14 AM
I sought out this recipe for dinner tonight (we have dee-lish salami on hand) and i'm so glad i did: even hazel, who usually hates salami, love it in this. this is fabulous. thanks!
Posted by: Alisyn | June 15, 2007 at 06:48 PM
This gets my vote especially because I am from the Caribbean where cooking veggies in coconut milk is quite popular.
Posted by: buy propecia | April 23, 2010 at 03:51 PM