Presto Pasta Night #154 - The Round Up

Welcome to Presto Pasta Night! I'm so excited to be hosting the first week of the fourth year. This is a wonderful array of pasta dishes, literally from around the world, including Asian and Greek inspired dishes, in addition to the traditional Italian ones. Check out all of the lovely offerings in this week's round up.

Cynthia of Kitchen Slave loves pasta and Asian style curries, particularly red Thai curry. She created her own Asian fusion dish,Red Curry Fettuccini with Chicken, Bamboo Shoots and Green Beans. The pasta served as an excellent backdrop to the spicy Thai curry and the bamboo shoots and green beans provided some crunch and texture, all to splendid effect.


Ruth of Once Upon a Feast - Every Kitchen Tells Its Stories made Eggplant Roll-ups, her answer to a need for a pastaless pasta dish in preparation for Passover. Velvety eggplant makes a superb replacement for silky pasta, creating the illusion of elegant canneloni. This is a great recipe for folks looking for gluten-free alternatives as well.


Katerina of Culinary Flavors of Athens, Greece wanted a lighter version of mac and cheese than what she found in a box so she created her own version. Combining three different cheeses - gruyere, emental, and regato - and adding some mushrooms she created Macaroni and Cheese My Way
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Mansi and I were channeling the same pasta gods of roasted tomatoes and garlic, but her dish ups the ante with spinach fettuccine and champagne. Her recipe for Fettuccine in Roasted Garlic Tomato & Champagne Sauce, is on her blog at Fun and Food Cafe. Using wine (or champagne) always adds depth of flavor to any dish, and makes everything feel just a little fancier!




Over at Lemon and Cheese, Nic, continues her attempts to find new cauliflower recipes to excite her taste buds. For this week's round up she made Cauliflower Cheese and Spinach Pasta Bake. While she still isn't counting cauliflower as her new favorite ingredient, this dish was a winner.



Pam, who writes at Sidewalk Shoes, sent in Pasta with Chicken and Spinach and Feta. Here is one of those "mother of invention" dishes; too worn down to make the meal she had planned earlier in the week, Pam pulls from the freezer, pantry and refrigerator a luscious pasta dish that is both satisfying and delicious. She even included the empty wine glass for you to fill with your own favorite vintage!




Martha of Seaside Simplicity had a scrambled menu week similar to Pam - luckily the "mother of invention" makes housecalls! Instead of using ricotta to stuff shells, she combined it with bacon, mozzarella and cheddar and whipped up this Italian Mac and Cheese and everyone ate happily ever after.



Reeni who blogs at Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice had a dream and followed it, literally, to create Cheesy Lemon Pasta with Salami, Olives & Spinach. This is a gal after my own Mediterranean loving heart - cheese, olives, salami and spinach. She lovingly calls it "Kitchen Sink" pasta but it sounds like it was heaven sent!



Joanne of Eats Well with Others, made Pioneer Woman's Baked Lemon Pasta. This very busy woman - Med School Student, Ardent Runner, Foodie Extraordinaire - delves into Pioneer Woman's Cookbook to make this simple but delicious dish and we're the beneficiaries!


Christine writes at Kit's Chow and she sent in Spaghetti with Fried Zucchini. Cooking from her pantry, this dish is both easy and inexpensive and is one that she notes every newbie cook needs to have in their repertoire. Combine pasta with garlic, olive oil, and red pepper flakes, accent with a fresh vegetable like zucchini and you have a fabulous meal. It is a great reminder of how simple pasta is both delicious and easy on the wallet!

Cool Lassie brought us Pulled Chicken Noodle Soup from her blog, Pan Gravy Kudai Curry. Although she was feeling under the weather, Cool Lassie managed to put up a fantastic chicken noodle soup to enter in today's round-up. Check out her take on homemade chicken stock, it looks like one of the best I've ever seen.


Sherra, writing at Our Taste of Life, wins the prize for the most creative time for serving pasta - Breakfast! She put together this quick Corned Beef Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes for her kids who promptly ate it all up! So even when you're running late and trying to get out the door (instead of just walking in after a long day) pasta comes to the rescue!


Chaya at Chaya's Comfy Cook was on the same wavelength as Ruth, thinking ahead to Passover meals. Faced with lots of baby carrots, she got really creative and made her gluten-free Carrot Pasta. Adding cherry tomatoes, red onion and parmesan cheese to peeled baby carrots she produced a colorful and light pasta dish that pleased her most important customer, her husband!

Lastly, my own entry is Cheese Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Sauce. Pulling homemade ravioli out of the freezer is a singular joy that never fails to make me feel just a bit smug. I served them with a roasted cherry tomato and garlic sauce I have been playing around with, blending in avocado to achieve a creamy sauce. Frozen ravioli can be tossed into boiling water without defrosting, so convenient!


Thanks to everyone for participating! Next week's round up is hosted by Aquadaze from Served with Love. Send your entries to aquadaze (at) rediffmail (dot) com and cc ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com by March 18. Check back for the roundup on March 19!

Hugs!