Very quick recipe today, decided on the spot and so good that it deserved to be written down immediately. 😊 Here is the pasta with friggitelli sauce, which was our lunch yesterday and we loved it a lot.
I took a photo of the friggitelli sauce while cooking it and then two photos of the dish just before sitting at the table (I always take a couple of photos out of habit, just to remember what I cooked, always useful for the blog archive 😀), even though I didn’t intend to write the recipe, the idea was to taste it and maybe repeat it. Once at the table, I remembered I had some spicy provolone cheese in the fridge, so I decided to add it thinly sliced, like flakes. A combination that turned out perfect and transformed our main dish with vegetable sauce into a delicious single dish, truly a great combination between the savoriness of the provolone and the bitterness of the friggitelli. 😋
In short, a real treat that I recommend you try!
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Affordable
- Preparation time: 2 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer, and Fall
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz pasta (I used fusilli)
- 8 friggitelli (small, weighing about 5.3 oz)
- 1.5 cups tomato passata
- Half red onion
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- aromatic herbs (oregano, marjoram, and mint)
- 1 chili pepper
Tools
- Frying Pan
- Pasta Pot
- Peeler
Steps
Preparing the friggitelli sauce is very simple:
Chop or slice the onion and put it in the pan with a drizzle of oil.
Wash the friggitelli and add them to the pan whole.
👉 Small friggitelli are entirely edible, the seeds are not bothersome and can be eaten without any problems.
Sauté them for a few minutes, then pour in the tomato passata.
Cook for 15-20 minutes on high heat, then in the last minutes of cooking add the aromatic herbs and chili pepper, if desired.
My chili pepper eventually wasn’t even spicy, but, spicy or not, this sauce owes everything to the goodness of the friggitelli. 😊😋
While the sauce is cooking, boil water and cook the pasta.
Drain it and toss it with the sauce.
Serve the pasta with friggitelli sauce hot, sprinkling each plate with a shower of spicy provolone shavings or grated with a coarse grater.
👉 Adding provolone is not mandatory of course (also because it is quite savory), this pasta with friggitelli sauce is an excellent main course, but if you are cheese lovers it is worth a try. Then when I make the recipe again… I promise I’ll take a picture of the version with provolone and add it! 😀
Salt-Free Tips
For those who cannot consume salt, it is important to consider that provolone is a savory cheese. Typically, the value for 100 g of product ranges from 2 g to 2.5 g of salt; I found one that declares 1.8 g on the label.
The salt content in cheeses is an eternal dilemma: cheeses are delicious, but unfortunately salty. The nice thing (let’s say “nice” in quotes) is that since provolone is a savory cheese, just a little is enough to give the dish an extra taste, so please… just add a few flakes without overdoing it. And anyway, if we don’t put salt in the sauce or in the pasta water, a bit of cheese, come on, we can indulge. 😉
If you are interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
■ Gradually decrease the salt, the palate must get used slowly and should not notice the gradual 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 and gomasio.
■ Prefer fresh foods.
■ Avoid cooking in water, prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
■ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
■ Occasionally break the rules. It’s good for the mood and helps to persevere.
If you don’t want to, or can’t, give up salt:
■ You can still try my recipes by salting according to your habits.
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On the WhatsApp channel and on Instagram, on the Facebook page, on Pinterest, in my two groups: Catia’s group, in the kitchen and beyond and Just what I was looking for! and if you like… subscribe to my Newsletter
