For the Light and Tasty column today, I’m presenting a nice plate of creamy cheese tagliatelle, cooked by none other than… my daughter. 😀
Here’s the photo Flavia sent me. 😊 Not bad for a quick lunch during a university break, right? 💛
Today’s recipe topic for the Monday Light and Tasty column is a new, slightly different topic than usual. We’ve titled it ‘Lunch break alone.’ Or to put it more conversationally: ‘Today I’m home alone (or alone), so I cook what I want, just for myself!’
I rarely eat alone, and the last two times it happened, I ended up: eating ice cream for lunch the first time, and working without a break or lunch the second time (😂). So, for several days, I was wracking my brain about what to cook for myself in a single portion that I could share with you today, when Flavia, indeed, read my mind. I heard a ding from the phone, and guess what? It was her sending me photos of her lunch based on tagliatelle with cheese fondue (even in a light version without salt!). As they used to say? Ah yes, telepathy take me away!!! 😁
She had cooked just for herself creamy tagliatelle she was so enthusiastic about that she cooked them again the next day and insisted I try them too. Which I immediately did, with an attached phone exchange of messages and photos and questions and explanations… in short, a beautiful cultural exchange from a distance.
And so, the recipe became the perfect recipe for Light and Tasty because it was Flavia’s lunch – that day home alone – during the break between morning classes and the afternoon work shift: a perfect example for today’s theme!
I am very proud of how Flavia has learned to organize herself in her demanding life as a student-worker, finding the time (and the desire, let’s say!) to cook truly tasty things like these creamy tagliatelle, which are even prepared faster than the famous student’s tuna pasta or a stuffed sandwich. What more could you want? 🤩
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Flavia’s recipes present here on the blog are almost all recipes from when she was younger and had (obviously!) little experience in the kitchen. But now I foresee that Flavia’s Recipe category can be updated a bit more frequently, and with some pretty nice recipes.
If you feel like browsing through her recipes from a few years ago… here are a few: the carrot cream she made at 11, the quiche she wanted to cook by herself (kicking me out of the kitchen!), the ‘famous’ rainbow cookies, and the latest recipe in chronological order, the fruit cake: 👇
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 1
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for 1 serving
- 2.29 oz tagliatelle (one nest)
- 3 tablespoons milk kefir (1.5 oz)
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese (1 oz)
- 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese (0.5 oz)
- 1 light cheese slice (or 0.7 oz of stracchino cheese)
- 1 teaspoon butter (0.17 oz)
- hot paprika
- pepper
Tools
- Frying Pan
- Grater
Steps
First, bring water to boil for cooking the tagliatelle.
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce in a non-stick pan.
Melt a teaspoon of butter over low heat with the kefir, cream cheese, and a cheese slice or 0.7 oz of stracchino or another cheese.
👉 Those without kefir can, as I always suggest, replace it with plain yogurt.
👉 The light cheese slice is part of Flavia’s original recipe (a perfect student recipe ingredient!). When I replicated the recipe, I used – after getting her approval 🤪 – stracchino (0.7 oz, equivalent weight to that of the cheese slice).
Mix. Once everything is well melted, add the grated Parmesan cheese.
Stir to dissolve the Parmesan well.
Add a sprinkle of paprika and a pinch of pepper.
When the tagliatelle is cooked, drain it, reserving 2-3 tablespoons of cooking water, useful for better mixing the sauce.
Quickly sauté.
Serve the creamy tagliatelle immediately while the fondue is still soft.
And this is my version, made with stracchino instead of the light cheese slice. 😊
If desired, you can add another sprinkle of paprika (or pepper, or both) directly on the plates.
Enjoy your meal!
Salt-Free Tips
Up until some time ago, making a low-sodium cheese-based dish was not easy, because finding low-sodium cheeses on the market was practically impossible.
🔹 Recently, however, things have gradually been changing: low-sodium mozzarella and stracchino now exist (with 30% less salt), I first mentioned them in the recipe for baked spelt gnocchi, do you remember? These are Granarolo products, so they’re accessible to everyone because they are available even in supermarkets.
🔸 But a great ‘trick’ that I always suggest is to make your own cheeses. Of course, these are fresh cheese or ricotta or spreadable cheese, not aged cheeses, but they still allow us to always have a stock of salt-free cheeses in the fridge, and to cook many cheese-based recipes drastically reducing the amount of salt in the dish. Like in today’s creamy tagliatelle, where we can limit the use of purchased cheeses (thus containing salt) to just the Parmesan. 😉
If you’re interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
▫ Decrease the salt gradually, the palate needs to get used to it slowly and should not notice the progressive reduction.
▫ Use spices. Chili pepper, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
▫ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
▫ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
▫ Use spicy vegetables or fruit. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
▫ Use my salt-free vegetable granules
▫ Prefer fresh foods.
▫ Avoid boiling methods, prefer methods that don’t disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
▫ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
▫ Occasionally break the rule. It’s good for morale and helps to persevere.
If you don’t want or can’t give up salt:
▫ You can still try my recipes by salting according to your habits.
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Light and Tasty:
And my colleagues from the Light and Tasty Team who knows what they ate that time they had to lunch alone! 😀 I’m curious to find out!
Carla Emilia: Carpaccio with fennel and anchovy sauce
Cinzia: Cabbage Rolls with Meat
Daniela: Sandwich with Omelette, Arugula, and Raspadura
Elena: Spinach, Pear, and Walnut Salad
Milena: Bruschetta with Lemon Ricotta and Spicy Catalogna
