Pasta casserole - general principles and methods of preparation
Culinary experts believe that pasta is the same part of the global culture as poetry, sculpture, painting, and much more. Countries and differ from each other in the culture of production and consumption of pasta (by the way, having anti-cancer properties). The victorious procession of pasta on the planet has been going on for more than 4000 years - since the time when some peasant accidentally discovered that the dough he had thrown out not only did not go bad, dried in the sun, but turned into a long-term storage product. Under the Russian word pasta, our compatriots often understand any pasta.
The Italian word Maccheroni describes only tubular products hollow inside and made of flour and water. Pasta casseroles with the addition of various ingredients are called noodles and pasta. There are recipes for already boiled or dry products. Meat, fish, vegetable or mushroom pasta casseroles are poured with a mixture of milk or cream with an egg and sprinkled with cheese. When baking, an appetizing crust is formed. Sweet dessert casseroles are made from noodles and cottage cheese with the addition of pieces of fruit, berries or cream cheese. Such casseroles can be sprinkled with cinnamon, dark sugar, pour over honey or jam.
Pasta casserole - preparation of products
When buying pasta, you can focus on the type of flour and the appearance of the pasta.
- Grade A - hard varieties of wheat, under grade B produce products from soft varieties.
- Products from premium flour belong to the 1st class. First grade - products of the 2nd class.
There should be no crumbs in the package, pasta should have a plain color, smooth surface. Colored products are obtained as a result of herbal supplements. Mushroom or cereal mixture for diet food is added to gray-brown products. For storage of products, it is best to use transparent jars or compacts to prevent the penetration of moisture and insects. In the packaging, they can only be stored closed in the kitchen drawer.
Pasta casserole - best recipes
Recipe 1: Pasta Casserole with Minced Meat
Ingredients: minced meat (pork + beef, 1 kg), pasta (shells, spirals, horns, etc., 400 grams), tomatoes in their own juice (400 grams), hard cheese (300 grams), onions (200 grams), pepper , salt, vegetable oil, milk (1 liter).
Cooking method
Boil pasta according to the instructions on the package. Drain the water. Cooking the sauce. Lightly fry the melted butter with flour, pour the milk in a thin stream and mix well, bring to a boil. The sauce should resemble sour cream in consistency. Add nutmeg and pepper. Rub the cheese on a coarse grater. We spread the cooked pasta into a shape, level it. Sprinkle with cheese, spread the minced meat and level it. Put the remaining sauce on the minced meat and put in the oven. Bake at a temperature of 180 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.
Recipe 2: Pasta Casserole with Cottage Cheese
Fine and quick breakfast, quite thorough and satisfying. Suitable for adults, and very useful for children.
Ingredients: pasta (250 grams), cottage cheese (250 grams), eggs (2 pcs), milk (1 cup), vegetable oil (50 grams), butter (100 grams), flour (3 tablespoons), dill.
Cooking method
Add a little vegetable oil to boiling water, add salt, and boil pasta for 10 minutes. In a stewpan, melt the butter, add the flour and, stirring, pour the milk in parts. First a third of a glass, a minute later the next part, then all without a trace. Add the grated cheese and 1 beaten egg to the sauce. Mix everything and combine with pasta. Then add finely chopped greens and cottage cheese. In a mold greased with butter, spread the contents and send to the oven (180 degrees) for 15-20 minutes.
Recipe 3: Pasta, Cheese and Chicken Liver Casserole
dried pasta and toasted liver is a serious meal in itself. But if you design it in the form of a casserole, its value will increase several times, not to mention the taste.
Ingredients: pasta can be of any shape and size (450-500 grams), chicken liver (300-400 grams), onions (1 pc), flour (1 tablespoon), milk (1/2 cup), butter (50 grams), breadcrumbs (2 tablespoons), egg (1 pc.), cream cheese (1 jar) vegetable oil (3 tbsp. tablespoons), salt, pepper.
Cooking method
Boil pasta and toss them on a sieve so that water flows. We cut chicken liver into small pieces, chop the onion well and fry in butter with the liver. Add flour, mix. Pour half a glass of milk, salt and pepper sauce. In a deep bowl, mix the egg, the processed cheese from the jar. Grease the form with butter, put a layer of pasta, then liver with onions. Put a layer of pasta in a greased baking dish, put the fried liver with onions on them. Above is a cheese-egg mixture. Sprinkle the casserole with breadcrumbs and cover with butter. Bake pasta in the oven at 200 degrees until golden brown (15 minutes).
Pasta casserole - tips from experienced chefs
- To prevent pasta from sticking after cooking, add a spoonful of vegetable oil to the pan;
- Pasta casserole is cooked in approximately the same way, the only difference is in the presence of ingredients. There are a lot of recipes, and listing everything is simply impossible. The excellent property of the casserole can be used to save food - for example, you can cook a dish with feta cheese, ham, slices of boiled meat or liver, apples or vegetables.
Something about pasta
Historians find three possible traces in the origins of the pasta: the Etruscan civilization, the Arabs, or the Chinese. Egyptian tombs have stored more than IV millennia of images of people making something harmful noodles - this is the manufacture of products for the path to the kingdom of the dead. On the bas-reliefs of the 4th century BC e. in the Etruscan necropolis "Banditaccia" depicts kitchen utensils for making pasta.
After the conquest of the necropolis by the Romans, the life of the conquered peoples was also mastered and used. This is understandable - after all, Ancient Rome was, in fact, a huge metropolis with a population exceeding one million people. Food supply was the main task, and pasta was the best way possible to solve it. Modern pasta still has oriental roots. In 2005, on the banks of the Yellow River in an archaeological site, a pasta pot was discovered, the age of which scientists determined to be 4000 years old!
Long thin pasta in the east is still considered ritual: “toshi-toshi”, long noodles are given to everyone on New Year's Day so that life is as long as noodles.
In Russia, the first pasta factory was founded in Odessa at the end of the 18th century. There is a legend according to which pasta factories in the USSR were strategic objects. Their diameter supposedly coincided with the diameter of the cartridges, and in wartime equipment can be used to produce cartridges. Of course, these are just legends and rumors, although on such equipment it is quite fashionable to produce tube gunpowder for rocket artillery.
