"It wasn't hard."
That's what my colleague Mindy Fox said to me when I asked about the test kitchen's experience developing three new pastas that use only five ingredient each. And, as if to prove her point further, she immediately rattled off three rules to keep in mind when making quick, weeknight pastas at home.
The test kitchen sought out ingredients that would have major impact on the flavor of their five-ingredient pastas. Number one on that list? Sausage. It was what the test kitchen thought to use in place of ground pork because "sausage is already flavored," Mindy notes. "You don't have to use herbs or spices because it's already in there."
These five-ingredient pastas are packed with shelf-stable pantry items that pack powerful flavor punches: sun-dried tomatoes, briny olives, crunchy panko bread crumbs. Keeping a few items like this on hand means that a satisfying pasta is never more than a shelf-grab away. But the quality and type of pantry item is key. Take the paprika. "Instead of using regular paprika, we maximized flavor by using smoked paprika."
Salt, pepper, and fats (that is, olive oil or butter) aren't included as one of the five ingredients in these recipes, because we assume that these items are already in your pantry or fridge. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't pay attention to them. The better the olive oil, the more freshly-ground the pepper, the more flavor your pasta will have. And if you're using butter,turning it into brown butter,正如我们下面的红薯南瓜面条,dds a deep layer of flavor—no extra ingredients required.
