15 Minute Creamy Garlic Pasta Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What can I put on pasta when I have no sauce? ›

Cheese is an excellent way to add flavor to your pasta without having to rely on sauce. Try mixing your angel hair pasta with goat cheese, and toss in sun-dried tomatoes to make an amazing meal with just a few ingredients. Garlic butter is a terrific way to season all types of noodles.

Add some mix-ins

Now's the time to get really creative with your pasta. Add in some chopped olives or jarred tapenade, quartered artichoke hearts, or sun-dried tomatoes in oil, capers, sliced pickled chiles or roasted red peppers, drained canned tuna or other tinned seafood.

Behind every great pasta dinner is a great sauce. It's not just the flavor of a sauce that matters. It matters when and how the sauce and pasta come together. Properly saucing your pasta is the difference between cooking an authentic Italian meal and simply preparing Italian ingredients.

Whole Milk or Heavy Cream: Add a splash and let the sauce simmer for a few minutes to thicken. Hard Cheeses: A half cup of grated parmesan, pecorino, or other hard cheese adds a deep savory note to the sauce. Fresh Cheese: Try adding a scoop of ricotta, mascarpone, crème fraîche or even simple cream cheese!

Because of the naturally high acidity of tomato sauce, I find that most store-bought tomato sauces tend to be way too abrasive and sharp-tasting. The addition of butter really rounds out the flavor of the sauce and helps to temper the acidity. It also gives the sauce a nice sheen, which is a fun bonus.

Add more cream to keep the sauce from separating

Bring the sauce to room temperature first, then pour it into a pan and gradually raise the stove's temperature while adding cream bit by bit. The fat in the cream helps prevent the sauce from separating.

You can add some cream, cheese and also a little boiled water in which the pasta was cooked. Adding all these elements will give your pasta sauce a thick and creamy structure.

What not to do when making pasta? ›

There is also one basic ingredient in almost every single genuine Italian pasta dish — extra virgin olive oil. The star of the show, able to liven up any dish, bind sauces (or ruin them, if you don't use good quality olive oil), and add that unique taste that makes dishes really stand out.

Vegetables — The type of veggies are up to you, but we love zucchini, yellow squash, jarred roasted red peppers, leafy greens, peas, corn, and cabbage. Options are endless, here.

The thin tomato juice in canned tomatoes (diced, crushed, or whole) can be used in the same way as tomato sauce or puree. For every 1 tablespoon of tomato paste called for in a recipe, use 3 tablespoons of the canned juice.

Cheese it up.

A dollop of ricotta or mascarpone adds lightly sweet creaminess, while soft goat cheese or even a humble cream cheese adds tangy richness to elevate dull tomato sauce. A generous sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan cheese makes any plate of pasta look all dressed up, while adding a welcome kick of umami.