In any healthy and balanced diet, it is essential to include a good pasta meal at least once a week. Pasta fills us with energy and it is a great choice as a main dish if you pair it with a delicious sauce. Furthermore, it is one of the favourite meals of children at home. Do you know which spices work best with pasta? Remember the ones you can’t be without in your spice rack.
Spices for pasta, let’s look at the most commonly used ones:
- Black pepper: these are dried still-green peppercorn drupes. Its elegant, slightly spicy aroma goes perfectly with pretty much any food, and especially with pasta.
- The recipe: black pepper works with most pasta dishes, but if you want to make this spice the star, you can prepare delicious spaghetti with a simple cheese and pepper sauce: A supertasty recipe!
- Paprika:it is obtained from certain types of smoked and dried red peppers ground into a fine dust, and is full of aroma and power. It is often used in many Spanish recipes and it is an essential ingredient in cured pork products, cheese, etc.
The recipe: a good idea is to prepare a delicious and economical meal like garlic pasta with paprika and extra virgin olive oil. And if you want a more intense twist, add a little sprig of fresh rosemary. Delicious!
- Saffron: this spice is also known as “red gold” because it lifts the flavour of any dish to the maximum. With fresh fish, in desserts, or in a sauce for pasta, saffron gives a characteristic slightly bitter taste and an unmistakable orange colour.
- The recipe: for those days when you don’t have much time to cook, but still want to have a delicious meal, the perfect recipe for you is: pasta with saffron. You will just need a few threads of saffron, your favourite pasta and parmesan cheese to prepare a delicious dish in just 15 minutes!
- Cayenne or chili pepper: these are a variety of small spicy peppers or chili that can be found fresh, dried or ground. It is used carefully on strong flavoured dishes or sauces, and it gives pasta lots of personality.
- The recipe: if you want to prepare a simple yet tasty pasta dish, you only need 4 ingredients: pasta, chili, olive oil and garlic. You can sprinkle a little bit of grated cheese on top to give it an even tastier touch.
- Nutmeg: this is a solid seed used grated on soups, vegetables and pastas. It is the essential ingredient of bechamel sauce that kids love so much, and it works perfectly with recipes like macaroni cheese.
- The recipe: besides macaroni cheese, a recipe that can not be overlooked with this spice is bolognese sauce. Although this sauce is made differently in every household, don’t forget to lift the flavour with a little nutmeg!
- Oregano:this has been used in homemade remedies for thousands of years and is a key ingredient in Mediterranean cooking. It goes perfectly in dressings for salads, with cheese, meat, eggs and, of course, pasta. It can be used fresh, but its aroma is stronger when dried. Oregano loses its flavour during the cooking process, so it is best to add it at the end.
The recipe: although oregano goes great with most pasta recipes, one of the most popular ones is macaroni with tomato and oregano. You will see how this spice lifts the flavour of this delicious and simple recipe!
- Capers: these are the green buds of a Mediterranean plant. We usually find them jarred or pickled, and the smaller they are the more intense their flavour.
- The recipe:capers are essential to prepare puttanesca sauce, which is made by cooking chopped garlic, onion, anchovies, pitted olives, fried tomato, carrot, parsley and pepper. A tip to make it extra special? Add some wine (ideally, red).
Different spices for pasta
Spices are the best possible pairing for pasta. And although we have just discussed a few options, truth is, there are many more! Try new things: Take a risk with new flavours, add an original twist with the best spices and prepare a delicious pasta dish!