Dish of the Day: Pasta with Yogurt Cream Sauce

kitchen,
originally uploaded by me.

The above pic is to show you what my kitchen looks like after I've cooked dinner, and before my wonderfully amazing husband cleans it up. Hopefully you can derive some satisfaction - as some do when watching Reality TV - such as "Phew....that's not my life!"

Tonight we had fresh pasta (asparagus and cheese ravioli) with kale, basil and a garlicky cream sauce. I do enjoy cream sauce but when it's made with real cream it's often too heavy for my liking. And it is summer. So I threw together a lighter yogurt sauce that you can do quickly, and customise it to your taste.

The Italian in me says all recipes should start with this first step:

- chop some garlic, throw in a pan and brown in olive oil for a couple of minutes

- bring a large pot of water to boil

- throw in your pasta and veggies (we used fresh kale and put it in for 2 minutes then added in fresh pasta that boiled for 4 more minutes)

- when cooked to your liking, dump pasta and veggies out of pot into a colander

- turn off heat and place pot back on the stove

- add yogurt to taste into the warm pot (I used 1 cup for 3 servings and this was too creamy for my liking; I'd use more like 1/2 to 2/3 cup next time)

- add in shredded or grated cheese, such as Parmagiano, to taste, about 2-4 Tablespoons

- place the pasta and veggies back into the pot and mix gently to coat with the yogurt mixture

- now place a dollop (1 Tbsp or so) of butter into the olive oil/garlic pan and warm it up until butter foams slightly

- meanwhile place the pasta on the plates

- remove garlic pan from heat and swirl the oil around several times and drizzle the contents over each plate of pasta

- top with chopped fresh herbs, salt and pepper and serve