Gail W. sent me the following email:

“Please Help! I’ve tried everything with the final top layer of pasta for my lasagna. It always cooks too crispy and hard. I’ve even tried a double layer and peeled the top off to still find the second layer also crunchy and too difficult to chew around the edges. I’ve covered it completely with sauce to have it drip all over the oven because of the bubbling.”

“HOW CAN I GET PERFECT TOP LAYER OF PASTA???”

When I asked Chef Ricco what to do, he had a simple answer we can all try at home. He said, “This is simple, before Gail covers the pan with aluminum, first cover with plastic wrap then the aluminum foil over the plastic wrap. And don’t fret, the plastic won’t melt.

Now, there is a basic lasagna recipe at The Reluctant Gourmet website with some simple step-by-step instructions. And if you want to try something a little more involved but really just as easy, check out Spinach & Roasted Pepper Lasagna.

Last night my wife was out with some friends so I asked my daughters what they wanted for dinner. “Pasta Daddy, Pasta”.

I asked them if they wanted me to make a sauce but they just wanted butter and grated Parmesan cheese. I gave them what they wanted with some carrots and they were happy.

I wanted a sauce with my pasta but something extremely quick, easy and delicious. There was some sweet Italian sausage and sweet grape tomatoes in the refrigerator so I had the basis for a good sauce.  I was going to make my Quick Pasta with Tomato Sausage Sauce for the family but since the kids only wanted butter, I only needed sauce for one.

I remember a chef once telling me about making fast, delicious sauces, “Keep it stupid simple,” he said or maybe it was “Keep it simple, stupid.”   Not sure now. But I do remember him telling me that sometimes the simplest dishes he makes for his customers are his most popular.

This sauce is extremely simple but I was surprised how incredibly delectable a little sausage, a dozen or so grape tomatoes, some high quality extra virgin olive oil, some grated Parmesan cheese and a little salt & pepper can be.

The trick to this dish is the olive oil. You can purchase various qualities of extra virgin olive oil; I purchase a big jug of it at Costco that I use in lots of various ways but for this sauce, I wanted to use an extra special high-end extra virgin olive oil.

For this sauce I used some Tuscan style olive oil by Georgio Zampa that I found at ClubSauce.com. It is not cheap but I only use it sparingly as a dipping sauce or for sautés like this. You can find plenty of great olive oils at your own favorite market and one of these days I’ll work on an article about the differences between olive oils.

Penne Pasta with Simple

Ingredients

Pasta – amount to be determined by your appetite and if you are feeding some to your kids with butter

2 sweet Italian sausages
10 – 12 sweet grape tomatoes cut in half
3 – 4 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper to taste

How To Prepare This Simple Sauce

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add a pinch of salt to the water and then your pasta. See my tips on cooking pasta.  When the water comes to a boil, add your pasta, stir immediately and cook to al dente. Be sure to stir frequently to prevent the pasta from sticking.

While the pasta is cooking, heat a saucepan over medium-high heat and squeeze the sausage meat out of the sausage skin into the saucepan. Break it up with a wooden spoon into bite size pieces. Brown the sausage meat until cooked through.

Add the tomatoes and cook with sausage meat for a few minutes. Add the olive oil and stir to coat the meat and tomatoes. Season with a little salt & pepper. Cook for an additional minute or two.

Drain the pasta and add some of it to the saucepan. It is easier to add more pasta if you have enough sauce than take it away if you don’t have enough sauce. It really doesn’t matter because the sausage and tomatoes are going to give the olive oil a lot of flavor and the oil should coat a decent amount of pasta.

Serve the pasta topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

You are going to be surprised just how good this simple pasta dish tastes. Your going to wish you made more for leftovers.

Here’s a “shortcut” meal that takes as long as it takes to cook a ½ pound of penne pasta. It’s quick, easy, and delicious and if there are any leftovers, you’ll have a great lunch the next day.

The idea for this recipe originally came while my wife and I were on our honeymoon in Italy years ago. We visited my sister-in-laws friends who lived in Rome and invited us over for dinner. They made this dish with canned or jarred Italian tuna, fresh artichoke hearts and olives that they just brought back from Sicily while visiting family.

As simple as this dish was, it was one of the best meals my wife and I had on our trip and that’s including some very nice restaurants. I think it had something to do with being in someone’s home, sharing a meal with new friends and being on an adventure.

The reason I call it a shortcut meal is because I used canned artichoke hearts instead of fresh and I’m sure this pasta dish would even be better with fresh artichoke hearts but I needed to prepare this in a hurry.

I also used a jar of solid tuna imported from Italy and a can of artichoke hearts imported from Spain. The artichoke hearts should be packed in water not oil. Both these items were picked up at an Italian specialty store.

There is really nothing to cook but the pasta. Oh yeah, I did sauté some garlic in the oil the tuna was packed in. The rest of the ingredients just need to be heated up while the pasta is cooking. Here’s what I did.

Ingredients:

½ pound penne pasta (1/2 a box)
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 - 10.5 oz  jar of imported tuna packed in olive oil
1 – 14 oz. can of artichoke hearts packed in water, cut into quarters
10 or 12 Kalamata olives, pitted and cut in half or quarters
Salt & pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese, optional

How to Prepare at Home

Get a big pot of water boiling for the pasta. Add some salt and throw in the penne pasta. Immediately give it a stir and cook until al dente. (You can read my page on how to cook pasta here)

While the pasta is cooking, sauté the garlic in some of the oil the tuna is packed in. When the garlic gives off that incredible fragrance when cooked in oil, add the artichoke hearts, tuna (with oil) and olives.

While the sauce is heating up, the artichoke hearts and tuna will breakup into smaller pieces. No problem.

When I was preparing this at home, I thought the sauce was too thick so I added a few ladles of water from the pasta pot. It helped thin out the sauce just a little so it would be easier to cover the penne. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper.

Once the pasta is done, drain it and plate it. Add your sauce and serve. I’m not sure if Parmesan cheese is right with this dish but my wife grated some on hers and it looked good so I did the same. It was delicious.