Time isn’t always something we have a massive dose of from day to day. For me if I’m not writing something, I’m out there trying to track down a story, interviewing people or even promoting my books, so time isn’t something I have a large quantity of from day to day. I’m sure the same goes for you, dear readers. So when it comes to cooking, I let to get in, get out and walk away from the kitchen to my cozy chair with a heaping plate of pasta, so why not delve into these helpful 5 epic autumn pasta dishes you can whip up in 30 minutes or less.
I don’t know about you dear readers, but the fall is a time for comfort food and a warm helping of something hearty hitting your bones and your belly after a day out there in all that cooler air threatening a temperate winter on the way. Now I’m not sure what kind of winter we’re supposed to be having this year, but it’s been a mildly cold October thus far. Again, nothing says hearty to me like a beautiful helping of pasta, perhaps a little parmesan sprinkled on the top….
I used to work in the pro kitchen. It was what I did on a part-time basis as I got my writing career going and was able to write full-time, and let’s just say I picked up a few pointers along the way, as I’ve written before. My father is a classically trained chef, and although he hung up the apron and chef’s hat for good, he taught me a lot about Italian cuisine and what says Italian cuisine better than a perfectly sautéed pasta dish? I don’t think anything else, or at least not as well.
I ended up working a local Italian restaurant and I landed a spot on the sauté station. Now if anyone ever worked a sauté station at an Italian restaurant, then you know just how busy that station is. I remember the chef pointing to three four feet shelves just above the stovetop where I’d be working my first day and he said: “At rush, you’ll have those three shelves full of pans with ingredients already inside just waiting to be called. Be ready.”
I wasn’t necessarily ready for how right he’d turn out to be, but I kept up. The shift was indeed crazy, but it was also at that job that I picked up just how easy a pasta sauté can be, and so I got creative, which thank the good Lord, comes naturally to me, and now it’ll benefit you because these pasta dishes are easy, quick and delicious; your whole family will enjoy them, trust me and so will you.
Here are 5 pasta dishes you can whip up in 30 minutes or less
Italian Dried Sausage and Spinach Garlic Linguine
Sounds complicated, right? It isn’t. Trust old Dom on that one, dearest readers. Let’s get started.
You’ll need four dried sausage links which hopefully you can find at your local grocery store. The dried sausage packs a lot of salt and flavor and definitely cooks faster, which we of course want here. Cut them into rounds and set aside.
Six cloves of peeled garlic (the peeled garlic will save you the time of trying to peel the stubborn papery rind found on garlic). Chop or crush as desired and set aside.
Have your pack of frozen spinach defrosted already (do it in the morning before you go to work…place it in a bowl on your countertop or fridge—depending on how long you’re going to be gone).
And we’re ready to get started. In your frying pan, drizzle a little olive oil and add your sausage rounds in the pan and sauté. Once they’ve changed color and taken on the heat, add your garlic and watch it carefully. Burnt garlic can completely throw off the taste of a dish.
Let the oil take in the flavor and aroma of the garlic and let the garlic soften a tad, then add your spinach and sauté all ingredients together.
Now add a little bit of water to bring all those flavors together in a slight braise; at this point add about two pinches of salt, one pinch of black pepper and half a teaspoon of hot pepper flakes and let the water reduce and let those flavors come together.
At this point put your pasta water on to boil. Once it does, add a pound of pasta and stir until cooked. By the time the pasta is cooked, the sauce will be reduced. At this point, strain the pasta, add it to the pan and sauté; you’re ready to go in under thirty minutes.
Gigi Hadid Pasta!
This dish went viral on TikTok and for obvious reasons. It’s easy and delicious and is prepared very quickly. Moribyan on YouTube shows you just how to do it.
Pesto and Walnut Spaghetti
This one’s even easier, friends. You can find a really good pesto at your local grocery store, but choose carefully. Don’t skimp, because this is the key ingredient and the star of the dish, so choose a good one.
In a pan, drizzle olive oil and dollop a good five tablespoons of the pesto in the olive oil and break it up with your wooden spoon. Once that starts to heat up, add a full two cups of walnuts (quite obviously without the shell). The beauty here is you don’t need to chop any extra ingredients, as the pesto is rich with garlic, basil, pine nuts and a healthy dose of olive oil as well, so this one will heat quickly.
To really bring the flavors together though, I would add some water to the mix once you’ve added the walnuts and because of the water, add a pinch of salt, pepper and hot pepper flakes to the sauce and let simmer.
As with the other dish, once the sauce is together, set your water to boil and once it does, add your spaghetti (a pound). Once it’s cooked, the sauce should be good to go. Strain, sauté and this one goes really good with a really good salty Romano cheese folks. Enjoy; it’s a great vegetarian option.
Gordon Ramsay’s Carbonara in 10 Minutes!
Carbonara is a treasured dish of Italian cuisine and it sounds a lot more complicate than it is. Here the master blaster himself, Chef Gordon Ramsay, shows you how to make this classic dish in a few easy steps and it’s delicious folks. Trust me, I tried it. Just follow his precise steps…after all you’ve seen Hell’s Kitchen. I’m sure you don’t want to get yelled at now.
“Come on, you Muppet!”
Penne All’amatriciana
Hey, everything is better with bacon, right? For sure. Here bacon is the star of the dish. I have a way of making this classic that will definitely be quick and easy.
First things first. You’ll need to chop 2 onions. You can chop them how you want to but classically, the onions in this dish are sliced into thin slices. If you can manage that without cutting your fingers, then go for it. Or, you can use your electric food processor, but then you have to wash that, so I’d go for a rough chop, but do as your nerve—just be careful.
Then for quickness, I like to use pre-cooked bacon (low sodium). Make sure you have at least 24 slices. Chop into strips if possible.
In a pan, drizzle olive oil and add the onion. Once the onion has caramelized beautifully and slightly browned add the bacon. Allow the oil to get all that bacon flavor. At this point add your tomato sauce…. This is where a jarred tomato variety will definitely come in handy and they’re good.
I prefer Rao’s, but you can choose whichever one you like. I always like to add about half the jar of water. This also helps you get all that stubborn sauce stuck in the jar after you empty it, and it helps bring all the ingredients together as it simmers stovetop.
At this point add a pinch of salt, no sugar here…those jarred sauces are overly sweet, hence why I add the water…. Then some black pepper and hot pepper flakes.
Once the sauce is together, set your water to boil, while it does, the sauce should reduce perfectly and by this point it should smell amazing. Once the pasta is done (again, a pound), strain, sauté and voila.
See, the key in all of these recipes is really the time factor is cut because while your sauce cooks and reduces, the pasta will be ready to go. All five of these will be easy options for you.
Good luck dear readers, and let us know how they go. And do you have any quick and easy recipes you’d like to share? Please do. Happy cooking out there, Guilty Eaters.