Mediterranean chicken pasta / Lumaconi á Mediterrânia / Pasta a la Mediterrania

How to Cook Pasta properly.
We all know what pasta is. It's that huge range of funny shapes made out of dried flour and water that are a centrepiece in Italian cookery. What we don't all know is how to cook it properly. The first mistake people make when cooking pasta is the size of the pan to use. Pasta needs a lot of space to move around in while it cooks. If it doesn't have this space, then there is a good chance that the pasta will stick together or to the sides of the pan, with disastrous consequences for the finished dish. To cook 500g of pasta (the amount needed to feed four people), you will need to use 4 litres of water. This requires an enormous sized pan by normal UK culinary standards. But there really is no alternative if you want to make a high quality pasta dish. You may very well have to go out and buy yourself a new giant saucepan just for pasta, but it will be worth it. Salt should always be added to the water when cooking pasta. You need to add 30g (2 tbsp) of salt to the water when cooking pasta for four. The addition of salt is vitally important to the cooking process, as it ensures even cooking throughout the depth of the pasta. If you don't add salt, the integrity of the surface of the pasta is destroyed and it acquires a slimy texture when cooked. Very little of the salt stays with the pasta when it is served as it is all in the cooking water. So there is little reason for those on a low salt diet to worry about the amount of salt that goes into the water. When cooking short pasta such as macaroni or penne, it is a good idea to add a small amount of oil to the cooking water to ensure that the pasta doesn't stick together in the pan. For some recipes you can add herbs and spices to the cooking water to impart a mild flavour to the pasta. Its a nice addition where required, but not generally necessary for most dishes. Timing is quite simply the most important part of successfully cooking pasta. A guide to the cooking time for the pasta will be given on the packet, and it will depend upon the type of pasta that is being used. Three minutes or so should be enough for fresh pasta, 10 to 15 minutes for dried varieties. But these timings are only a guide and the final decision is down to individual circumstances. Bring the water, complete with salt, to a nice vigourous boil. Add all of the pasta to the water in one go and bring the pan back to the boil. Give it a decent stir with a wooden fork just to make sure that nothing is sticking together at the start. Don't ever add pasta to cold water or to water that isn't fully boiling, or you will end up with a glue like mess! Once the pan is boiling again, keep a very close eye on the clock. From time to time lift out a piece of pasta with a fork and bite it to see if it is cooked. Repeat this more and more frequently as the pasta nears the point of perfection. The pasta is cooked when it is slightly firm to the bite, a condition called "al dente". As soon as this point is reached you should stop cooking straight away and drain the pasta through a colander. If you've slightly overdone the cooking, adding cold water to the pan before draining the water will stop the cooking process immediately and you can then drain the pasta as normal. If however you've totally overcooked the pasta, then there is no hope. You would be better off throwing it away and starting again, as there is no better way of ruining a meal than to use overcooked pasta.

Takes 45 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

1 red onion, cut into 8 wedges

1 yellow and 1 orange pepper, seeded and cut into strips

2 garlic cloves, unpeeled

3 tbsp olive oil

300 g pasta, such as lumaconi

4 tbsp ready-made green pesto

200 g cherry tomatoes, halved

100 g firm goat`s cheese or feta

1 Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Gas 6. Put the chicken, onion, peppers and garlic cloves in a roasting tin and drizzle with the oil. Season. Mix with a spoon to ensure everything is coated in oil and roast for 25 minutes.

2 After the chicken has been cooking for 5 minutes, cook the pasta in a pan of boiling, salted water according to packet instructions. Drain well.

3 When the chicken and vegetables are cooked, remove form the oven. Slip the garlic out of its skin and mash in the tin with a spoon, then tip in the pasta, pesto and cherry tomatoes and carefully mix together. Crumble the cheese over the mixture, check the seasoning and serve. 

Truques e dicas:
A quantidade certa.
Prepare 80 - 100 g por pessoa para um prato principal. Nos casos de preparar uma sopa, conte com apenas 40 - 50 g por pessoa. Coza as massas num recipiente com água abundante, a proporção deve ser de 1 L de água para cada 100 g de massa. Tempere com uma colher de café de sal por cada litro de água utilizado para a fervura da massa. Pode utilizar um fio de azeite ou óleo para que a massa fique mais solta. Coloque a massa apenas quando a água estiver a ferver. O tempo de cozedura das massa alimentícias varia entre 10 a 15 minutos. Depois de cozer a massa, acrescente água fria e reduzir o lume. No fim deve escorrer muito bem a massa que preparou.

Preparacão e confecção 45 minutos
Para 4 pessoas
Ingredientes:

3 peitos de frango desossados e sem pele, cortados aos bocados

1 cebola vermelha, cortada em cunhas

1 pimento amarelo e pimento laranja, retirar as sementes e cortar em tiras

2 dentes de alho, inteiros e com casca

3 c. de sopa de azeite de oliva

300 g de massa lumaconi
4 c. de sopa de pesto, comprado

200 g de tomates cereja, cortados ao meio

100 g de queijo de cabra ou queijo feta, aos bocadinhos

1 Pré-aqueçer o forno a 180ºC/Gás 6. Coloque o frango, cebola, pimentos e o alho numa assadeira, regue com o azeite e tempere com sal e pimenta preta recém moída. Misture tudo muito bem e assar durante 25 minutos.

2 Coza a massa em água e sal de acordo com as intruções de fabricante. Escorrer bem.

3 Quando o frango e os vegetais estiverem cozidos, retire do forno. Abra os alhos ao meio, triture e misture á massa. Junte a massa cozida á mistura de frango, adicione o pesto e os tomates á massa e envolva tudo muito bem com cuidado. Salpicar a massa com o queijo e servir.

La cocción de la pasta es un detalle al que a veces no prestamos la atención necesaria. Los profesionales de la cocina siguen unas normas de fácil aplicación que permiten obtener una pasta al dente, que es la forma tradicional de consumir este alimento. Recomiendan cocer la pasta en 1 litro de agua por cada 100 g de alimento. Al agua de cocción, se le añade un chorro de aceite de oliva y cuando rompe a hervir, un puñado de sal. Cuando alcanza el punto de ebullición, se añade la pasta y se remueve de vez en cuando para que no se apelmace. La pasta está "al dente" cuando está cocida en el exterior, pero en el interior queda un pequeño hilo de pasta cruda. En ese momento, se saca del fuego y se escurre. Si se va a consumir en el momento no es preciso refrescar la pasta, pero si no se consume al instante, se pasa por agua fría, se escurre y se unta con un poco de aceite de oliva para que no se apelmace.

Tiempo de preparación 45 minutos
Rinde 4 porciones 
Ingredientes:

3 pechugas de pollo, deshuesadas y sin piel, cortadas en trozos

1 cebolla roja, cortada en cuñas

1 pimiento amarillo y 1 naranja, retire las semillas y cortar en tiras

2 dientes de ajo, enteros y con cáscara

3 cucharadas de aceite de oliva

300 g de pasta lumaconi

4 cucharadas de pesto, comprado

200 g de tomates cherry, cortados a la mitad

100 g de queso de cabra o queso feta, rallado

1 Pre-caliente el horno a 180ºC/Gas 6. Coloque el pollo, la cebolla, los pimientos y el ajo en una fuente de horno, añada un chorrito de aceite de oliva y sazonar con sal y pimienta negra recién molida. Mezclar todo bien y hornear durante 25 minutos.

2 Cocer la pasta de acuerdo con las instrucciones de fabricante. Escurrir bien.

3 Cuando la mezcla de pollo esté bien cocida, retire del horno. Triturar el ajo y mezclar a la pasta. Despues añadir el pesto y los tomates, envolver con cuidado. Añadir el queso y servir.

Print / Imprimir receita / Imprimir receta