Pasta toppings other than cheese

VeraBlue

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
For the most part, cheese is king when it comes to topping a plate of pasta.

But, there are other things to sprinkle on top of pasta. If it's a plate of pasta with seafood, I love to top with toasted breadcrumbs, seasoned with cheese and herbs.

I've also been using crushed amaretti cookies to top pastas that have sweeter ingredients. An example is butternut squash ravioli, or tossing butternut squash into a pasta and cream sauce. Instead of topping with cheese, try topping with crushed amaretti cookies.

Anyone else?
 
Mama

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
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Sometimes I just like egg noodles tossed with a little butter, salt and pepper.
 
Cooksie

Cooksie

Well-known member
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I really like a pink sauce/vodka sauce. There's a little hole-in-the-wall place that I frequent, and they have a pasta dish with chicken, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and a pink sauce that I just have to have every time.
 
lilbopeep

lilbopeep

🌹🐰 Still trying to get it right.
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Vera did you mean toppings ASIDE from the sauce of choice?

If so my toppings depend on my mood:
  1. Grated Romano & Parmesan cheeses
  2. Mozzarella
  3. Ricotta
  4. Fried herbed bread crumbs
 
luvs

luvs

'lil Chef
Gold Site Supporter
i luv ricotta on my tomato-sauced pastas; i place that in my cladware & gently cook while stirring before placing on my pasta.
 
luvs

luvs

'lil Chef
Gold Site Supporter
luvs said:
i luv ricotta on my tomato-sauced pastas; i place that in my cladware & gently cook while stirring before placing on my pasta.
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that is cheese, huh..

i was 'thinkin of toppers other than parmesan & that, though, lol also, there's olives & other salted (or vinagery) items
 
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VeraBlue

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
Yes, generally, I was talking about other than the type of sauce, but...if people want to talk about the sauces, I'm fine with that, too. Since I opened the restaurant, I'm pretty much up to my eyes in pasta and sauce!

Peeps, when you do the ricotta, do you do it like I do....just dollop it right into the middle of plate? Then, put a bit on the fork with a few pieces of pasta? I love it that way. The pasta is hot but the ricotta is still cool.

Luvs...what kind of vinegary items? Peppers?
 
lilbopeep

lilbopeep

🌹🐰 Still trying to get it right.
Site Supporter
VeraBlue said:
Yes, generally, I was talking about other than the type of sauce, but...if people want to talk about the sauces, I'm fine with that, too. Since I opened the restaurant, I'm pretty much up to my eyes in pasta and sauce!

Peeps, when you do the ricotta, do you do it like I do....just dollop it right into the middle of plate? Then, put a bit on the fork with a few pieces of pasta? I love it that way. The pasta is hot but the ricotta is still cool.

Luvs...what kind of vinegary items? Peppers?
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Yup Vera thats the way I do it!! Is that an Italian thing? Because non-Italians think I am weird when I do that. I asked for a bit of ricotta with my pasta at a restuarant once and got strange looks. They came back and asked if I wanted baked ziti or lasagna!! JEEZZZZZZ!!

Oh and I like the ricotta with macaroni NOT spaghetti/linguine. Not sure why though.
 
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lilbopeep

lilbopeep

🌹🐰 Still trying to get it right.
Site Supporter
Ok

Sauces of choice:

  1. Meatless tomato sauce
  2. Meat (tomato based) sauce using ground beef
  3. Meat (tomato based) sauce with meatballs/sausage/braciole/gravy meat (any or all)
  4. Oil & garlic
  5. Oil, Garlic & broccoli
  6. Green olive
  7. Alfredo
  8. Assorted Veggies & Oil
  9. Assorted bell peppers, onions, garlic, hot pepper & fresh tomatoes with or without sausage
  10. White clam sauce
  11. White Pasta Fagioli - Sausage (out of casing), fresh garlic, fresh parsley, cannelliniand/or kidney beans & olive oil
Those the most common but there are others that I create on the fly.
 
GotGarlic

GotGarlic

New member
I have lots of fresh herbs in my garden, so I often top pasta with whatever herbs I've used in the main dish. I also have a recipe for pasta mixed with 5 tbsp. of different herbs pureed with olive oil, garlic and Parmesan or Romano, topped with fresh chopped tomatoes. If tomatoes are out of season, I use roasted red peppers.

When I make a pasta side with garlic, oil and SP&, we like to sprinkle it with capers for a little more flavor.
 
C

CaliforniaCook

Banned
BACON:pig: w carbonara.

Cooksie said:
I really like a pink sauce/vodka sauce. There's a little hole-in-the-wall place that I frequent, and they have a pasta dish with chicken, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and a pink sauce that I just have to have every time.
Click to expand...

Luv Vodka sauce over penne. I have one recipe w/ vodka sauce & penne topped w/ capicola (or pancetta); and another lemon/vodka/dill sauce over pasta w/ shrimp. Yum.
 
UncleRalph

UncleRalph

Quo Fata Ferunt
Site Supporter
dried tuna flakes or the lil dried shrimp available at Asian markets. Tobiko. Fresh herbs. Toasted nuts(as said prior).
 
luvs

luvs

'lil Chef
Gold Site Supporter
vera~
pepperoncini, & also capers- my sauce sorta picks my toppers
 
buckytom

buckytom

Grill Master
the first one not of a tomato sauce that came to mind was a old fave: farfalle con salsicce italiana e broccoli di rape.

it's one of the easiest to make that i know, but really delicious.

first, while seperately boiling a pound of farfalle, crush then brown chunks of sweet italian fennel sausage in evoo with a load of sliced garlic in a deep saute pan.

set aside, then in the same skillet melt butter and quickly fry some broccoli rabe. add a bit of chicken stock, let simmer for a minute or two until the broccoli rabe is tender, then add the sausage and garlic back to the pan.

add the cooked (al dente) farfalle to the pan and toss to combine all ingredients. drizzle with a little evoo.

sprinkle with a healthy amount of dried red pepper flakes, and some grated parm.

this also works well with orecchiette, or penne, or any short pasta.
 
VeraBlue

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
People down here are unfamiliar with broccoli rabe. The first two weeks I was open I tossed more than I sold...but yesterday, I sold 5 orders! A record.
 
lilylove

lilylove

Active member
Mama said:
Sometimes I just like egg noodles tossed with a little butter, salt and pepper.
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Everynight for the last 50 years my father (fat and unhealthy) gets up in the middle of the night boils a bag of noodles and tops them with a cube of butter and Ketchup... :) lololol. It might be a little on the yummy side but not :heart::heart: healthy at all.
 
C

CaliforniaCook

Banned
If it's an Italian pasta dish with a tomato-based sauce, I usually put the sauce over the pasta & pass the cheese at the table, or the cheese is incorporated into the sauce. Depends on the dish.

If it's an asian dish like pad thai noodle, peanuts cilantro & lime. If it's a layered pasta salad - the toppings depend on the ingredients & dressing. Fresh herbs like italian flat-leaf parsley or fresh basil are at the top of my pasta topping list. Sometimes - crunchy croutons. Smoked salmon over penne (etc) with a vodka/tomato sauce, crushed biscotti over pumpkin/squash ravioli. I have noticed crispy sage leaves popping up all over the place. Might give it a go over gnocchi, ravioli etc.
 
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