This Weeknight Pasta Formula Will Change Your Life

**Pasta Perfection: A Journey Through Two Delicious Recipes**

As we dive into the world of pasta perfection, we find ourselves in the midst of two delectable recipes that will tantalize your taste buds and leave you craving for more. In this article, we'll explore the intricacies of cooking the perfect pasta dish, from choosing the right ingredients to mastering the art of sauce-making.

**Recipe 1: Tomato Pasta with Pork Belly**

To begin our culinary journey, let's start with a hearty tomato pasta dish featuring pork belly as the main protein. The recipe begins by rendering fat in a pan, which is then used to cook aromatics such as small sweet onions and garlic until they're soft and caramelized. This step sets the foundation for a rich and flavorful sauce. For the sauce itself, we use a can of whole peeled tomatoes, which are added to the pan along with some water to create a smooth consistency. The mixture is then simmered for about 5-10 minutes, allowing the flavors to meld together.

As we continue with our recipe, we find ourselves at the stage where we add additional vegetables to enhance the dish. In this case, frozen kale is thawed and blanched in pasta water before being chopped up and added to the sauce. The pork belly is also reintroduced to the pan, along with some cooked pasta, which helps to create a perfect balance of flavors and textures. To finish off the dish, we add some pasta water to achieve the ideal consistency. And finally, we garnish our tomato pasta with cured egg yolks, which provide a creamy, salty finish.

**Recipe 2: Shrimp Pasta**

For our second recipe, we opt for a lighter and fresher approach, featuring wild-caught shrimps as the main protein. The process begins with boiling tagliatelli pasta until it's perfectly al dente. Meanwhile, the shrimp are seasoned with salt and pepper before being seared in a pan with some olive oil to achieve a golden-brown crust.

Moving on to our aromatic component, we keep things simple by using four cloves of sliced garlic, which is cooked in the same pan until its aroma fills the entire kitchen. For the sauce, we use white wine as the base, reducing it by half before adding a pat of butter to enhance its richness and flavor. A pinch of salt and pepper are added to complete the seasoning.

The final touch to our shrimp pasta comes from the addition of frozen corn, which may seem like an unusual choice but adds a delightful sweetness and texture to the dish. When the sauce is cooked to perfection, we add the cooked noodles, followed by some chopped parsley for freshness. A sprinkle of Parmesan cheese provides a salty kick, while a dash of pasta water brings everything together.

**Recipe 3: Fucili with Herb Sauce**

In our final recipe, we venture into the world of vegetarian cuisine, featuring gluten-free fucili as the main starch. The process begins by boiling the pasta until it's cooked through. Meanwhile, olive oil is heated in a pan to cook thinly sliced fennel, which is then seasoned with salt and allowed to caramelize.

For our sauce, we blend together parsley, basil, garlic, almonds, apple cider vinegar, and olive oil to create a smooth, herbaceous emulsion. The pasta is then tossed in the herb sauce along with blanched spinach, which adds a burst of freshness to the dish. To finish off the recipe, we sprinkle some Parmesan cheese over the top, allowing the flavors to meld together for one final minute.

These three recipes showcase the versatility and creativity that can be achieved when cooking pasta. By experimenting with different ingredients and techniques, you'll find yourself on your way to creating the perfect pasta dish, every time.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso as a home cook by far the meal that I rely on the most on a weekly basis is pasta and it seems like a lot of you agree with that statement and the reason for this at least for me is that pasta is quick and easy to make it is very filling but most importantly it is extremely easy to customize which is crucial in this ongoing game to avoid takeout at all costs we got to keep things exciting in the kitchen and I have created hundreds if not thousands of pasta dishes over the years for myself and my family and the reason I've been able to do this is because of one specific pasta formula which if you follow and you really study these techniques I can guarantee that you'll be able to make an unlimited variety of quick and easy pastas for the rest of your life so the first half of this video is going to be breaking down this formula right here then I'll show you how it works in action with three different pasta dishes and the very first piece of this formula the first decision you have to make as a home cook is what type of pasta you're going to use now outside of pasta being delicious I do think one of the biggest reasons it's so popular for home cooking is because of this instantaneous variety you get from choosing different pasta Styles and shapes and colors and flavors without you doing any cooking at all you already have this amazing selection of variety to keep things interesting which gives it a leg up on so many other meals out there now traditionally certain pasta shapes and sizes work better with certain sauces but for this video I'm giving you permission to just use whatever is inspiring whatever you have in the pantry for me when I'm shopping I like to get a few different varieties and just have them in the pantry so I can just pop it open and say okay this looks good let's start with that in the end we're trying to produce a meal here it's all pasta and there are so many different brands there's so many different styles it's fun to try out new shapes and sizes there's now a ton of great glutenfree options on the market which for me is very important cuz I eat a lot of bread already so that tends to balance the wheat intake out a little bit so stock your pantry pick your pasta and we're moving on now the next piece of this formula the next decision you're making on your pasta journey is do you want protein in your pasta or do you want to keep it vegetarian now you got to remember today we are focusing on quick pastas you get home from work and you just want to whip something up for a week night meal so to do that if you're going to add a meat you want something that's going to cook quick like a piece of sausage or some bacon or Panetta and also these types of proteins when rendered out you can remove the crispy goodness and then you have built in fat and flavor at the base of your pasta which is a huge bonus now when talking about Seafood we're not getting any extra fat from rendering but you still want to think about things that cook quickly like clams or shrimp or scallops things that can cook quickly and develop a ton of flavor in a short period of time is going to be key now if you want to keep it veget vegetarian just wait a minute we will cover that in a second all right the next decision on your pasta Journey are aromatics the key to really building out a good base to your sauce is developing that nice aromatic Aroma and flavor and we can do this with different aromatic veggies now this could be as simple as sautéing some garlic and some olive oil maybe you want to step it up a little bit and get some sweetness in there with some onions and garlic or you can get a little bit adventurous break out of the box a little bit and maybe try some fennel or some carrots or celery in there these might take a little bit longer to cook down but if you slice them thin it's a great way to add additional flavor to your sauce and keep things interesting for me it all depends on my mood it depends on what I have in the fridge or the garden and it depends on the sauce that I am making which brings us into the next piece of this formula Let's Get Saucy baby so the next piece of this formula is a big decision now when I'm making a quick pasta there are three sauce options that I'm going with 99% of the time the first one I'm calling a light sauce now this would typically be built out with either say some white wine or some stock in most cases for me it's chicken stock because that's what I make the most of that's what I have in the freezer in the fridge and this is going to help create body in our sauce while still keeping things light and when you pair that with some aromatics plus maybe a little hit of some pasta water to thicken things up you've got a delicious sauce now the second option is tomato or marinara a tomato based pasta sauce and there's a few ways to accomplish this you have of course great canned tomato options and since we're developing flavor quickly we're not cooking things down for a long time you really want to get a high quality canned tomato product you can always use fresh cherry tomatoes I've shown you that technique Which packs a punch of flavor by just cooking them for a short period of time or the best option maybe you made some of your own sauce you can some up or you froze some it's funny cuz I get so sick of tomatoes by the end of the Tomato growing season and then right now in the end of winter I am just decimating my stash of frozen tomato sauce and finally the third sauce option is an herb Bas sauce like a pesto but traditionally when people think of pesto they think about the classic basil and pine nut pesto and the truth is there are so many different pesos from different regions of Italy that use different ingredients and if you're going to choose an herb sauce hone in on that concept you don't have to be stuck to just the standard you can use different fresh herbs you can use different nuts there's a lot of different combinations to keep things interesting so up next on the pasta formula are the addition of veggies not your aromatics but to really bulk this up you always have the option at home to add on veggies which for me is happening most of the time because pasta It's starch it's carbs and it's sauce so to make this a viable weeknight meal like on the regular adding veggies just completes the nutritional balance of things or helps out with it and when making a quick pasta there's a few main ways that I add veggies which is one by blanching them right in the boiling pasta water such a great technique then you just incorporate the blanch veggies into the pasta after you've made the sauce another good method is simultaneously roasting a veggie on the side saying your air fryer or your oven in order to save that stove top space then you can just incorporate those delicious roasted veggies right into your pasta and finally if it's something quick cooking you could just throw it in raw let it cook into the sauce or you could take some frozen veggies out like some peas or Corn Pop those right into your sauce bulks things up a little bit and it keeps it interesting the final piece to this pasta formula the last decision you have to make is your garnish which could be just some fresh herbs sprinkled on the lighten things up to freshen up your pasta but I'm also including cheese in this garnish section so that's when you're grating on your parmesan to give it a little salty creamy kick or whatever cheese you have on hand some people do this when the pasta is plated right on top when I'm making a big portion I tend to do it to my entire portion and just creamy everything and give it that extra delicious kick all right now that you understand this pasta formula it's time to put it into action but first since so many of you have really connected to these quick meals over the years the 15-minute meal Series has been by far my most successful series on this channel but a lot of you have been asking for the actual recipes so what I've done is I've compiled the greatest hits together into a book and it's completely free so if you're interested in being one of the first people to get the 15-minute cookbook click the link below in the description or right above here and you can download a free copy so you can have an actual companion when you're in the kitchen to keep you inspired keep you pumping out quick delicious meals throughout the week now we can make some pasta so for pasta one I made a tomato sauce with crispy pork belly and the first decision was the pasta I went with a casatelli that's from SWOG lini a Brooklyn founded Pasta Company and for the protein decision I was rumaging through my freezer and I actually found some pork belly that I believe I cooked in an air fryer video a few months ago I had some extra so I defrosted that and I chopped that up into the little pieces and got that rendering off in a pan you can of course use bacon and Panetta for the same effect and once it was nice and crispy I removed it leaving that render fat and then for the aromatics I went with one chopped small sweet onion and a bunch of sliced garlic and I cooked that until it was nice and soft and caramelized for the sauce I went in the Tomato Direction with a can of whole peeled Tomatoes which I added right to the aromatics along with some water so it could cook down a bit and I used this Mash PR to break up those whole tomatoes and just let that simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes now for the additional veggie when I was rumaging through the freezer I also found some frozen kale that I picked fresh in the summer since we're deep into the winter it's time to start using this stuff up so I actually blanched it in the pasta water for about 1 minute and then added in the pasta to get that boiling I transferred the kale into cold water then I removed all of that water and chopped it up and when the sauce had reduced I seasoned it up I added back the pork belly along with the kale along with the cooked pasta which was finished as well as some of that pasta water just to get the perfect sauce consistency and I would generally garnish a tomato pasta like this with some Parmesan but I found these cured egg yolks that were hanging in my fridge for months which will give me a similar effect to parmesan adding a little creaminess a little salty finish and boom pasta one done so for pasta 2 the first decision being the pasta I chose tagliatelli which I got boiling right away for my protein option I'm going with these little shrimps that are wild caught but they were frozen so I defrosted them and seasoned them up with salt and pepper and I got my Pan on a medium heat added in some olive oil and got those shrimps frying off which only took about a minute since they were so tiny I removed the shrimp and for my aromatic choice I kept it really simple with four cloves of sliced up Garlic that went right into the same pan in the same oil and I cooked the garlic until those Aromas just filled the entire kitchen and then for the sauce I'm going with a light sauce in this case some white wine to pair nicely with the shrimp I dumped in about 2 cups of white wine and ignited that up and just let that Reduce by about half which I then added a little bit of butter to just enhance the richness of this sauce plus a little bit of salt and pepper to season now for the veggie addition I found some frozen corn in the freezer which might sound a little bit weird but the sweetness and texture is a great addition to this pasta so I added that right to the sauce and just let that heat up and when the sauce was looking perfect the noodles went right into the sauce which left me to my final decision of the garnish which was some parsley chopped up super fine to lighten things up when I tasted the pasta it definitely needed a little bit of salt and it was also slightly dry so I grated in some Parmesan for a salty kick and added a little bit of pasta water for just pure perfection so for this final pasta I'm starting out with a fucili that is completely gluten-free which I'll get boiling right away and this pasta is completely vegetarian so no protein here we're skipping that and we're moving on to the aromatics so I added some olive oil to a pan and I'm just going in with a bunch of thinly sliced fennel which I'll be frying off with some salt of course until this fennel is super sweet and nice and brown now for the sauce I'm going with a really simple herb sauce so I added parsley and basil to a food processor along with a clove of garlic some almonds a little bit of apple cider vinegar because I was out of lemon and I blended that up emulsifying in olive oil and water until it was nice and smooth the pasta was finished so I dumped that in over the cooked fennel and for the veggie decision well even though we got a bunch of snow the greenhouse is still going strong so I picked a whole bunch of spinach that I blanched in boiling water for just about 30 seconds and then to bring everything together I added the herb sauce to the pasta with some of that Blan spinach and it was a little dry so it needed some pasta water as well and then finally for the garnish I hit it with a healthy supply of parmesan and let all of those flavors really just mend in the pan for just another minute or so so obviously there are so many pasta techniques this doesn't cover everything but hopefully this formula just gives you a little bit of confidence to stay creative stay inspired with those quick week night pasta dishes and remember to click this link right here for your free download of my 15minute cookbookso as a home cook by far the meal that I rely on the most on a weekly basis is pasta and it seems like a lot of you agree with that statement and the reason for this at least for me is that pasta is quick and easy to make it is very filling but most importantly it is extremely easy to customize which is crucial in this ongoing game to avoid takeout at all costs we got to keep things exciting in the kitchen and I have created hundreds if not thousands of pasta dishes over the years for myself and my family and the reason I've been able to do this is because of one specific pasta formula which if you follow and you really study these techniques I can guarantee that you'll be able to make an unlimited variety of quick and easy pastas for the rest of your life so the first half of this video is going to be breaking down this formula right here then I'll show you how it works in action with three different pasta dishes and the very first piece of this formula the first decision you have to make as a home cook is what type of pasta you're going to use now outside of pasta being delicious I do think one of the biggest reasons it's so popular for home cooking is because of this instantaneous variety you get from choosing different pasta Styles and shapes and colors and flavors without you doing any cooking at all you already have this amazing selection of variety to keep things interesting which gives it a leg up on so many other meals out there now traditionally certain pasta shapes and sizes work better with certain sauces but for this video I'm giving you permission to just use whatever is inspiring whatever you have in the pantry for me when I'm shopping I like to get a few different varieties and just have them in the pantry so I can just pop it open and say okay this looks good let's start with that in the end we're trying to produce a meal here it's all pasta and there are so many different brands there's so many different styles it's fun to try out new shapes and sizes there's now a ton of great glutenfree options on the market which for me is very important cuz I eat a lot of bread already so that tends to balance the wheat intake out a little bit so stock your pantry pick your pasta and we're moving on now the next piece of this formula the next decision you're making on your pasta journey is do you want protein in your pasta or do you want to keep it vegetarian now you got to remember today we are focusing on quick pastas you get home from work and you just want to whip something up for a week night meal so to do that if you're going to add a meat you want something that's going to cook quick like a piece of sausage or some bacon or Panetta and also these types of proteins when rendered out you can remove the crispy goodness and then you have built in fat and flavor at the base of your pasta which is a huge bonus now when talking about Seafood we're not getting any extra fat from rendering but you still want to think about things that cook quickly like clams or shrimp or scallops things that can cook quickly and develop a ton of flavor in a short period of time is going to be key now if you want to keep it veget vegetarian just wait a minute we will cover that in a second all right the next decision on your pasta Journey are aromatics the key to really building out a good base to your sauce is developing that nice aromatic Aroma and flavor and we can do this with different aromatic veggies now this could be as simple as sautéing some garlic and some olive oil maybe you want to step it up a little bit and get some sweetness in there with some onions and garlic or you can get a little bit adventurous break out of the box a little bit and maybe try some fennel or some carrots or celery in there these might take a little bit longer to cook down but if you slice them thin it's a great way to add additional flavor to your sauce and keep things interesting for me it all depends on my mood it depends on what I have in the fridge or the garden and it depends on the sauce that I am making which brings us into the next piece of this formula Let's Get Saucy baby so the next piece of this formula is a big decision now when I'm making a quick pasta there are three sauce options that I'm going with 99% of the time the first one I'm calling a light sauce now this would typically be built out with either say some white wine or some stock in most cases for me it's chicken stock because that's what I make the most of that's what I have in the freezer in the fridge and this is going to help create body in our sauce while still keeping things light and when you pair that with some aromatics plus maybe a little hit of some pasta water to thicken things up you've got a delicious sauce now the second option is tomato or marinara a tomato based pasta sauce and there's a few ways to accomplish this you have of course great canned tomato options and since we're developing flavor quickly we're not cooking things down for a long time you really want to get a high quality canned tomato product you can always use fresh cherry tomatoes I've shown you that technique Which packs a punch of flavor by just cooking them for a short period of time or the best option maybe you made some of your own sauce you can some up or you froze some it's funny cuz I get so sick of tomatoes by the end of the Tomato growing season and then right now in the end of winter I am just decimating my stash of frozen tomato sauce and finally the third sauce option is an herb Bas sauce like a pesto but traditionally when people think of pesto they think about the classic basil and pine nut pesto and the truth is there are so many different pesos from different regions of Italy that use different ingredients and if you're going to choose an herb sauce hone in on that concept you don't have to be stuck to just the standard you can use different fresh herbs you can use different nuts there's a lot of different combinations to keep things interesting so up next on the pasta formula are the addition of veggies not your aromatics but to really bulk this up you always have the option at home to add on veggies which for me is happening most of the time because pasta It's starch it's carbs and it's sauce so to make this a viable weeknight meal like on the regular adding veggies just completes the nutritional balance of things or helps out with it and when making a quick pasta there's a few main ways that I add veggies which is one by blanching them right in the boiling pasta water such a great technique then you just incorporate the blanch veggies into the pasta after you've made the sauce another good method is simultaneously roasting a veggie on the side saying your air fryer or your oven in order to save that stove top space then you can just incorporate those delicious roasted veggies right into your pasta and finally if it's something quick cooking you could just throw it in raw let it cook into the sauce or you could take some frozen veggies out like some peas or Corn Pop those right into your sauce bulks things up a little bit and it keeps it interesting the final piece to this pasta formula the last decision you have to make is your garnish which could be just some fresh herbs sprinkled on the lighten things up to freshen up your pasta but I'm also including cheese in this garnish section so that's when you're grating on your parmesan to give it a little salty creamy kick or whatever cheese you have on hand some people do this when the pasta is plated right on top when I'm making a big portion I tend to do it to my entire portion and just creamy everything and give it that extra delicious kick all right now that you understand this pasta formula it's time to put it into action but first since so many of you have really connected to these quick meals over the years the 15-minute meal Series has been by far my most successful series on this channel but a lot of you have been asking for the actual recipes so what I've done is I've compiled the greatest hits together into a book and it's completely free so if you're interested in being one of the first people to get the 15-minute cookbook click the link below in the description or right above here and you can download a free copy so you can have an actual companion when you're in the kitchen to keep you inspired keep you pumping out quick delicious meals throughout the week now we can make some pasta so for pasta one I made a tomato sauce with crispy pork belly and the first decision was the pasta I went with a casatelli that's from SWOG lini a Brooklyn founded Pasta Company and for the protein decision I was rumaging through my freezer and I actually found some pork belly that I believe I cooked in an air fryer video a few months ago I had some extra so I defrosted that and I chopped that up into the little pieces and got that rendering off in a pan you can of course use bacon and Panetta for the same effect and once it was nice and crispy I removed it leaving that render fat and then for the aromatics I went with one chopped small sweet onion and a bunch of sliced garlic and I cooked that until it was nice and soft and caramelized for the sauce I went in the Tomato Direction with a can of whole peeled Tomatoes which I added right to the aromatics along with some water so it could cook down a bit and I used this Mash PR to break up those whole tomatoes and just let that simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes now for the additional veggie when I was rumaging through the freezer I also found some frozen kale that I picked fresh in the summer since we're deep into the winter it's time to start using this stuff up so I actually blanched it in the pasta water for about 1 minute and then added in the pasta to get that boiling I transferred the kale into cold water then I removed all of that water and chopped it up and when the sauce had reduced I seasoned it up I added back the pork belly along with the kale along with the cooked pasta which was finished as well as some of that pasta water just to get the perfect sauce consistency and I would generally garnish a tomato pasta like this with some Parmesan but I found these cured egg yolks that were hanging in my fridge for months which will give me a similar effect to parmesan adding a little creaminess a little salty finish and boom pasta one done so for pasta 2 the first decision being the pasta I chose tagliatelli which I got boiling right away for my protein option I'm going with these little shrimps that are wild caught but they were frozen so I defrosted them and seasoned them up with salt and pepper and I got my Pan on a medium heat added in some olive oil and got those shrimps frying off which only took about a minute since they were so tiny I removed the shrimp and for my aromatic choice I kept it really simple with four cloves of sliced up Garlic that went right into the same pan in the same oil and I cooked the garlic until those Aromas just filled the entire kitchen and then for the sauce I'm going with a light sauce in this case some white wine to pair nicely with the shrimp I dumped in about 2 cups of white wine and ignited that up and just let that Reduce by about half which I then added a little bit of butter to just enhance the richness of this sauce plus a little bit of salt and pepper to season now for the veggie addition I found some frozen corn in the freezer which might sound a little bit weird but the sweetness and texture is a great addition to this pasta so I added that right to the sauce and just let that heat up and when the sauce was looking perfect the noodles went right into the sauce which left me to my final decision of the garnish which was some parsley chopped up super fine to lighten things up when I tasted the pasta it definitely needed a little bit of salt and it was also slightly dry so I grated in some Parmesan for a salty kick and added a little bit of pasta water for just pure perfection so for this final pasta I'm starting out with a fucili that is completely gluten-free which I'll get boiling right away and this pasta is completely vegetarian so no protein here we're skipping that and we're moving on to the aromatics so I added some olive oil to a pan and I'm just going in with a bunch of thinly sliced fennel which I'll be frying off with some salt of course until this fennel is super sweet and nice and brown now for the sauce I'm going with a really simple herb sauce so I added parsley and basil to a food processor along with a clove of garlic some almonds a little bit of apple cider vinegar because I was out of lemon and I blended that up emulsifying in olive oil and water until it was nice and smooth the pasta was finished so I dumped that in over the cooked fennel and for the veggie decision well even though we got a bunch of snow the greenhouse is still going strong so I picked a whole bunch of spinach that I blanched in boiling water for just about 30 seconds and then to bring everything together I added the herb sauce to the pasta with some of that Blan spinach and it was a little dry so it needed some pasta water as well and then finally for the garnish I hit it with a healthy supply of parmesan and let all of those flavors really just mend in the pan for just another minute or so so obviously there are so many pasta techniques this doesn't cover everything but hopefully this formula just gives you a little bit of confidence to stay creative stay inspired with those quick week night pasta dishes and remember to click this link right here for your free download of my 15minute cookbook\n"