How to Setup a DIY Pasta Bar and Barilla Pasta Giveaway

With the holiday season and festive entertaining coming up, I am sure like me, many of you might be wondering what flavourful delicious meals we can make for family and friends when they come over. I love this idea of setting up a DIY pasta bar from Barilla that will be easy to prep and it also gives our guests the freedom to customize their own dish and make it the way they prefer. 

Lentil Tomato Soup and Giveaway

This Lentil Tomato Soup is from David Rocco's cookbook Made in Italy. I like that we can use this book as a guide and adjust the ingredients to suit our own preferences. There are delicious and easy to make recipes with beautiful pictures presented in this book that I plan to try soon. To make this soup you will need

Gluten Free Rotini and Nutrition Tips

I haven't had Gluten free pasta before, and for the first time enjoyed making and tasting the Barilla Gluten free Rotini pasta. This pasta is made with corn and rice without any wheat ingredients in a dedicated Gluten Free facility. I made spiced and flavoured the Barilla's Rotini pasta with minced meat and spicy sauce. 

Tofu Shirataki Noodles

Everyone in my family enjoyed these healthy, unique Tofu Shirataki Noodles.  

It is a pasta alternative that has a little bit of a chewy texture and is made with tofu and a blend of soybean and yam flour.  Unlike pasta, it's gluten-free, low in calories and low in carbs.  These noodles are also cholesterol-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, vegan and kosher certified. It is offered in a variety of shapes including, macaroni, spaghetti, fettuccine and angel-hair.

I served this filling Tofu Shirataki spaghetti Noodles with pasta sauce, feta cheese and Italian seasoning.  I also served it with soup, which tasted fabulous.  I like the ease of preparing it.  We have to rinse the pasta thoroughly, drain then boil it for about 2 to 3 minutes and drain again before serving.  Since the pasta is perishable keep it in the fridge.  The product is made in USA and is available in all these stores in Canada, USA and online.

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Pasta Frittata

The Tuscan Sun cookbook is a colourful well-written book with delicious Italian recipes that are easy to follow and make.  The book is written by Frances and Edward Mayes.  The photographs by Steven Rothfeld capture the Tuscan life and cuisine beautifully.

Pasta with spinach, almonds and Nudo garlic flavoured oil

I had a good time at the Nudo olive oil taste testing event last week.   I am very impressed by the taste of this delicious flavoured Nudo olive oil.  One taste of this oil and you'll know how uniquely flavourful it is.

I tasted a few simple, healthy and delicious food preparations from the chef, Nicole Rumball at All the Best Fine Foods.  I made this pasta dish at home, which is an adapted version of the orecchiette pasta the Chef served.

2 tbsp Nudo garlic flavoured olive oil 
1/2 cup chopped spinach or collard
1/4 to 1/2 tsp chillie flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 cup pasta uncooked


Cook the pasta according to package instructions.
Heat 1 tbsp oil and sauté the spinach or collard, then add the sliced almonds.  Add the chillie and salt.  Toss this to the cooked pasta, drizzle a tbsp of Nudo garlic flavoured oil and serve hot.
I found that we don't have to use a lot of this oil to get its flavour.

Nudo olive oil is unique in taste and is made differently compared to other extra virgin olive oil that is in the market.  Nudo is an artisanal olive oil that is cold pressed by a small group of farmers in Loro Piceno La Marche, Italy.  The olives are pressed within hours of picking so it is fresh with flavour.  This high quality low acidity oil has high proportions of beneficial antioxidants.
I tried a few recipes with this oil and found it gives a delicious special flavour and taste that we really enjoyed.  We like the aromatic smell of the flavour and the taste, which is prominent.

The flavoured Nudo oils are stone ground with the flavouring ingredients such as lemon, garlic, basil or Sicilian chillie.  I really enjoyed tasting the flavoured oils at the event.  I couldn't pick a favourite as all of the oils are delicious.  I liked the spice in the chillie flavoured olive oil, the citrus flavour in the lemon Nudo olive oil, the taste of the flavourful herb in the basil olive oil and the delicious instant taste of garlic in the garlic flavoured oil.    
When the olives are pressed with the flavouring ingredients it is more intense and has the real flavour it is supposed to have, unlike the infused oils in the market.
The production of Nudo olive oil is done in a small scale.  All the ingredients are from Italy and most products are certified organic; soon all the products will be organic.  
The oils are packaged in recycled tin containers, which are cute, eco friendly and preserves the quality of the oil compared to glass bottles.  The flavoured oils are in 250ml containers and the cold pressed extra virgin oil is in 500ml.

Nudo olive oil is available at All the Best Fine Foods *, online and at these retailers from many parts of the world.  

Olive grove Image from Nudo site

Check out Dolce Vita diaries to see delicious recipes from the owners of Nudo, Jason Gibb and Cathy Rogers.  With the initiative of making consumers from all over the world feel closer to their food Nudo has an adopt a tree program.  We can adopt a tree from the olive groves and receive information, photos and oil from the tree two times a year.  This program provides consistent reliable payment at a fair price to the small scale farmers without depending on harvest.  This advance commitment to tend their trees organically helps the labour intensive work of the farmers, as they make this healthy oil with passion for tradition and love for the real olive oil.   

*All the Best Fine Foods is a speciality gourmet food store located at 1101 Yonge Street, Toronto.  Jane Rodmell the author of All the best recipes is the founder of this speciality store.  The store has lots of high quality, new, exclusive food that is fresh and frozen.  They have an artisanal cheese room, gourmet food, different types of mayonnaise, mustards, pastas, preserves, coffee, cakes, oils, gift baskets and lots more.  

All the Best Fine Foods sells seasonal soups, freshly prepared sandwiches, salads, side dishes, vegetarian specialties, casseroles that would be good to serve at the cottage, picnics, backyard, dinning etc.  There are no chemical, additives or preservatives in their food.  They also service catering and event planning services.  It is a destination for people who enjoy high quality natural food that is from local farms.  

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Teriyaki stir fry

1/2 cup beef boneless cut into small slices *

1/2 cup carrots

1/2 cup beens

1/2 cup mushrooms

1/2 cup broccoli

1/4 cup onion

1/4 cup tomatoes

marinate

1/4 tsp chillie powder

1/4 tsp turmeric

2 tbsp teriyaki sauce

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 tbsp tamarind pulp

* Can use chicken, mutton, tofu cubed, seafood or paneer cubed instead of beef and marinate.

Marinate the meat for a few hours (1 hour or more depending on how much time you have).

Heat oil add meat without the marinate and fry. Add onions to the meat and saute. Add the vegetables then add the marinate and stir fry everything.

If the meat is not cooked to preference, keep it covered and cook on low heat.

Toss the stir fry with pasta, noodles or rice or it can be served as a side.

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Pasta quick and easy

2 cups of pasta

1 cup tomatoes

1/2 cup onions

1 tbsp curry leaves optional

1 tsp garlic

1 tsp ginger grated

If using meat

2 tbsp oil

1 cup minced meat

1/2 tsp chillie powder

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp coriander leaves

Boil pasta in salted water with 1 tsp of oil according to the directions on the package.

Heat oil, then add onions, curry leaves if using, ginger, garlic, meat and spices, then add tomatoes and cook the meat covered in low heat until it is cooked. If you like add the tomatoes without skin or grate the tomatoes into the meat, this will be like adding sauce.

Put the pasta into a colander, hold it under cold water. Then toss the cooked drained pasta into the sauce. Add pomegranate seeds or diced bell peppers or cheese on top and serve hot.

If you don't have minced meat or you want to make it vegetarian avoid the meat and spices and make a sauce; heat oil add onions, curry leaves, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Then add it to the cooked pasta.

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Lasagna

1 box of oven ready lasagna
1 cup minced meat
1 tbsp oil

1 cup vegetables *

2 to 3 tbsp onion

1 tsp garlic chopped
1 tsp ginger grated
1/2 tbsp chillie powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp salt

1 can pasta sauce

1 1/2 cans of water

1/2 cup coriander leaves

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups ricotta or cottage cheese

1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese grated

2 cups spinach

1 tomato sliced

* grated carrot, zucchini sliced, mushrooms anything or a mixture of vegetables

Heat oil sauté the onions, garlic and ginger. Add the minced meat with the spices and sauté. When the meat has separated add the vegetable and sauté. Add the sauces and water, cook covered for about 10 minutes.

The sauce should be thick but in a pourable consistency if it is too thick add water.

In a bowl mix the egg, ricotta or cottage cheese and spinach if using.

Pour meat sauce in a 13 x 9 dish and layer the lasagna strips without overlapping, spread mozzarella cheese, egg mixture, another layer of the lasagna and repeat with the cheese and sauce, ending with a layer of sauce. Place tomato slices and put some cheese over it.

Bake at 400F covered with foil for 35 to 40 minutes, open the foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and keep covered for 10 minutes before serving.

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Macaroni cheese baked

4 oz macaroni

1 tbsp oil

2 oz margarine

1 oz flour

2 cups milk

6 oz cheddar cheese

3 tbsp parsley

salt

pepper

3 oz breadcrumbs

1 oz parmesan cheese

1 tomato

Cook the macaroni in boiling salt water with oil. Melt the butter, add flour cook 2 minutes stirring. Add milk when it is thick add macaroni, cheddar cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Spread into a dish, mix the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese, put the tomato and the mixture on top and bake at 350F for 30 minutes until the top is golden brown.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Torviewtoronto © 2010 unless mentioned. Please Ask First