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Video: Simple 30-minute pasta

TODAY recipes
updated 9/10/2009 10:29:30 AM ET 2009-09-10T14:29:30

If you love Italian food — and pasta in particular — then these recipes are for you. Here Italian chef and cooking school teacher Giuliano Hazan, author of “Thirty Minute Pasta: 100 Quick and Easy Recipes,” shares the secrets behind two sumptuous pasta dishes: fusilli with tomato and mozzarella, and spaghetti with melon.

Recipe: Fusilli with tomato and mozzarella, or fusilli “Margherita” (on this page)

Recipe: Spaghetti with melon (on this page)


Recipe: Fusilli with tomato and mozzarella, or fusilli “Margherita”

“This pasta dish resembles a pizza Margherita, the basic pizza found on pizzeria menus all over Italy,” writes chef, cooking teacher and cookbook author Giuliano Hazan. “Because the tomatoes are only very quickly sautéed in olive oil, I remove the seeds so the sauce will not be too watery. Make sure to drain the pasta when it is still a little underdone so that it can sit in a covered bowl to melt the mozzarella without becoming overcooked.”

Ingredients
  • 2 pounds fresh tomatoes
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • Salt
  • 2–3 sprigs fresh oregano
  • 8 ounces fresh whole milk
  • Mozzarella
Preparation

1. Fill a pot for the pasta with about 6 quarts of water, place over high heat and bring to a boil.

2. Peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Cut the flesh into ½-inch dice. Put the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet and place over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the tomatoes. Sauté for just 2 to 3 minutes, then season with salt and remove from the heat. Transfer to the bowl you will be using to serve the pasta.

3. When the water for the pasta is boiling, add about 2 tablespoons salt, add the fusilli and stir well. Cook until very al dente (about 30 seconds less than you normally would).

4. Coarsely chop enough oregano leaves to measure about 2 teaspoons and add them to the tomatoes in the bowl. Cut the mozzarella into small ¼-inch dice.

5. When the pasta is done, drain well and toss with the sauce in the bowl. Add the mozzarella, toss again, then cover the bowl and let stand for about 30 seconds to allow the cheese to melt a bit. Uncover the bowl, toss one last time and serve at once.

Serving Size

Serves 4

Recipe: Spaghetti with melon

“I remember eating with my parents many years ago at a restaurant in Venice that specialized in unusual dishes, none of which were seafood or risotto, the staples of Venetian cuisine,” writes chef, cooking teacher and cookbook author Giuliano Hazan. “The restaurant is no longer there, and I don’t remember its name, but I do remember this delicious dish of pasta with cantaloupe. Its flavor is rich and almost tangy — not as sweet as one might imagine. My mother started making it at home, and now I often make it when we have friends over. Once it is cooked, the melon is mostly unrecognizable, and it’s great fun seeing if people can guess what the sauce’s secret ingredient is.”

Ingredients
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons tomato paste
  • 1.5 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Preparation

1. Fill a pot for the pasta with about 6 quarts of water, place over high heat and bring to a boil.

2. Cut away the rind of the melon down to the orange flesh. Cut the melon in half, discard the seeds and cut the melon into ½-inch dice. Put the butter in a 12-inch skillet and place over medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted completely, add the melon and season generously with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the melon begins to break down and
most of the liquid it releases has evaporated, about 10 minutes.

3. Add about 2 tablespoons salt to the boiling pasta water, add the spaghetti and stir until all the strands are submerged. Cook until al dente.

4. Add the tomato paste and lemon juice to the melon and stir well. Add the cream and cook until the sauce thickens and reduces by about a third, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

5. When the pasta is done, drain well, toss with the sauce and the Parmigiano-Reggiano and serve at once.

Serving Size

Serves 4

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