I am on the hunt for pasta recipes that don't use marinara or alfredo sauce. I make one that we love - it has diced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil mixed with olive oil. Anyone else have ideas to share? Thanks!
We do pasta with cheese, tomatoes and Honey Mustard or italian dressing.
Pesto can work well.
Plain olive oil with a little Parmesan and basil is good too.
You can toss some shrimp or chopped sauteed clams over that and it tastes wonderful.
Some people like buttered noodles.
Pasta just with butter and a lot of parmesan cheese is very good, if you want you can put salt and pepper. Simple and delicious.
Even my “I don’t like greens” children love this one. Wash, stem, and cut a bunch of swiss chard or rainbow chard into short ribbons. Wilt it in a little olive oil. Set aside. In the same pan, saute some coarsely chopped red bell pepper and some garlic. Toss everything together with some hot, freshly cooked hearty pasta, such as orecchiete (sp?) or penne. Add a little soft goat cheese and stir it in to melt and lightly coat the rest of the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper as you like. To add flavor (and calories) add crumbled crisp-cooked pancetta. In fact, if you do use the pancetta, start with it in the pan first, crisp, remove, then cook the greens without draining the pan. Can be served hot or cold.
If you want to make this vegan and lower calorie, you can leave out both the pancetta and cheese, but in that case you’ll want more garlic, and you’ll need to salt it more.
It’s also good with red onion added in - pretty, too.
Sure - first steam broccoli. Then saute it with olive oil and fresh garlic. Put over pasta. You can add shrimp, too.
My family loves chopped up tomatoes, onions and zucchini sauteed in garlic and oil over pasta.
All you do is cook the pasta.
Whatever kind you want. My kids like the ones in shapes.
Then drain it. Do not pour water over it to cool it. Just let it drain.
Then, put it in a big bowl and while still hot, put butter in it, however much you want, and toss it so the butter melts.
Then, add salt to taste.
That’s, all.
My family, even my picky eating son, LOVES this.
Or, I put deli ham in it. And toss.
Or minced up fresh garlic. And toss it all together.
Eating it this way is very simple.
My Husband who is from Europe/Mediterranean, said this is all they do.
Very simple. And good.
One of our favorites is a variation on yours. Tomatoes, french feta, basil, and a balsamic dressing. One that I sometimes bring to parties is to get the three bean salad at the deli counter and toss with pasta and extra dressing. I guess they are more “sides” than “entree” dishes, though…
Pesto
Ham/pancetta, peas, cream (or extra olive oil), cheese
Olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, cheese
Olive oil, crushed garlic clove (remove after cooking), chopped fresh sage, cheese
Olive oil, can good tuna (meditteranean), crushed garlic clove (remove), either chopped fresh sage or red pepper flakes (or both)
Love pasta with sauteed greens (chard, broccoli raab, mustard) with garlic and red pepper flakes
I have a couple I love.
Melt some butter and sautee any veggie you like (I use asparagus) for a couple minutes. Add a box of your fav cooked pasta. I then add a bit of lemon juice (just to your liking) and some toasted sliced almonds (pine nuts are good too, but so expensive). Then fold in a package of arugula until it’s all mixed. Top with parmessan. Hubbie and I can’t get enough.
My other fav is a Meditarranean dish. Sautee some garlic in olive oil (a couple glugs). Add a box of your favorite cooked pasta. Add a jar (drained) of calamata olives (I cut them in half - get the pitted ones, much easier for you), a jar of diced tomatos in their juices and a jar of roasted red peppers (chopped before putting in). Add some oragano, basil and yumm!
I found both those recipes on webmd.com. I signed up for weekly healthy recipe emails.
My kids always request a red pepper sauce. I use a recipe from allrecipes. I serve it with chicken or shrimp, they love it.
We also do Vodka sauce a lot.
Hubby loves to make carbonara.
I make pasta with a brown butter sauce a lot --great on ravioli. Sometimes I then throw in toasted pine nuts too. Easy!
Sautee shrimp in butter with garlic and shallots. Toss with pasta and top squeeze a little lemon over it and top with some fresh thyme.
Cook pasta and drain. In separate pan heat up pepperoni, onion, green peppers and garlic in a little olive oil, when heated put pasta in pan to coat in oil. Serve with parm cheese. The original recipe called for a scrambled egg in it. I omitted the egg.
Good luck to you.
the other Suzanne
We use a lot of cheese ravioli that is fried and the kids like it without sauce. I usually eat it with pesto, though. In fact, I put pesto on most pasta. Or butter and parmasan.
I have a recipe where I cook the pasta al-dente, then throw it into another pan that has: sauteed garlic, chicken broth, salsa, and bell pepper. Then add cooked chicken and white kidney beans. Heat throughout. In our individual bowls, I top with shredded cheddar cheese. I call the dish “Mexican Lasagna” b/c it’s cheezy and salsa-y and noodly. Yum.
I also do warm tortelini or ravioli. Cook - add to italian dressing and coat noodles. Done. Yum. Add garlic if desired.
Also - with italian dressing I will do regular noodles, toss in italian dressing and olive tempenade. Refridgerate. Pasta salad. Yum. (Our fav italian dressing for both recipes mentioned above - Kraft “Classic Italian” vinagrette).
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/broccoli-with-bow-ties-and-peas-recipe/index.html
This is dinner tonight. Sometimes I serve it as a side with a rotisserie chicken, but tonight we will skip the meat.
I do the noodles then stir in some sausage and sprinkle with cheese. 
Love this! The kids eat it up! I mash up the broccoli so it’s easier to have a bite of everything.
I make a spinach pesto. My family loves it.
Red pepper pesto
Basil Pesto
Aioli (great w shrimp)
Harissa
Sesame oil (chicken or shrimp)
Pasta Carbonara (Bacon & egg & onion)
Puttanesca Shrimp
Chimichurri & rare beef
Cajun (holy trinity, peanut butter roux, protein)
Chicken Marsala
Olive oil based
- caccio al pepe (fresh ground pepper & parm)
- herbs
- mushroom (shiitake, oyster, portabello, whatever
- tomato, basil pesto, fresh mozzarella (variation of yours)
- seared scallops & herbs
- fresh fennel & pork sausage
- pecans and chard
- capers, lemon, clams or tuna
- lemon, carne asada
- fried sage leaves & veal
- zatar (similar to caccio al pepe, but middle eastern zing)
- fresh seared veggies
- chorizo seared shrimp