bang bang pasta

Bang Bang - because its fast and as BANG it up even more with red pepper flakes!

Ingredients:

• 2# of Thin, long or flat pasta (spaghetti or fettuccine) work well 
• Reserve 1 cup of pasta water ( ¾  for sauce and ¼ for later to thin the sauce if needed)
• 5 oz finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• 1T Olive Oil
• 2T Heavy Cream
• ½T (or to taste) course ground Black Pepper
• Add a bit of hot pepper flakes for a bang!

Instructions:
Put ½ the water the pasta (penne regatta) instructions call for in a pot and bring to a boil. DO NOT add salt.

Add Pasta to boiling water – the water should be about a ½ inch over the dry pasta.

Remember to stir the pasta from time to time. Because there is less room it can stick more to the bottom and to each other. Also the stirring helps to release the starch from the pasta. That starch is what will thicken the sauce and help it to cling to the pasta.

Put the grated cheese in a ceramic or plastic heat proof bowl. I know crazy – but they insulate / retain the heat that we need to make the cheese melt. I use stainless and everything cools too fast and the cheese doesn’t fully melt - it ain’t pretty.

When Pasta is al-dente drain in a colander over a bowl to catch the pasta water. The water will have a yellow milky appearance – that’s a good thing.

Put the drained pasta back into the warm pot – cover.

Measure out 1 cup of the water.

Whisk in 3 parts ¼ cup of the pasta water to the grated cheese.

The sauce will be the consistency of wet paint wait I mean...heavy cream (more appetizing) . Don’t worry if it looks too thin.

Whisk in Olive Oil next Heavy Cream and then the ground Pepper.

Pour mixture on pasta in the pot. Using a wooden spoon…I know – but it will not cool the sauce and make it stick to the spoon instead of the pasta. Anyway as I was saying - Use a wooden spoon and gently stir the pasta and sauce together to coat the pasta. You should notice the sauce thickening even more. If the sauce gets too thick – just add a little more (a couple Tablespoons at a time) of the pasta water a little at a time so that it is nicely coated and velvety.

Taste and add Salt to taste.

Variations:

The great thing about this sauce is it is great all by itself - simple and delicious but you can also go nuts and stir in all kinds of stuff.

Stir in ½ # of browned Italian sausage and English Peas.