What do you put on your pasta?

United States
April 11, 2013 11:05pm CST
I would like to hear what you all put on your pasta. I'm actually allergic to tomatoes, so I can't use the typical tomato-based, store bought pasta sauce. I enjoy throwing some seasoning (Jane's Crazy Mixed Up Salt is my fav!) and parmesan, or even better, pesto! I'm not sure how popular this is but this evening for dinner I made a batch of pasta then cooked a few eggs, seasoned them and mixed them in with the pasta, parmesan on top and enjoyed my unique dish :-) So, what all you you guys put on your pasta (would especially like to hear non-tomato options). Thanks!
4 people like this
22 responses
• United States
12 Apr 13
I love using cheese, parmesan or cheddar and mixing vegetables in with my noodles. Especially broccoli. I love broccoli!
1 person likes this
• United States
13 Apr 13
I enjoy broccoli too (I do have to fight with my guinea pigs though, they love broccoli too). Have you ever tried this pasta topping?: brown butter with mizithra cheese and broccoli. I love this flavor combination! It's actually a dish served at The Old Spaghetti Factory, got the idea from their menu and tried it at home...amazingly delicious!
• India
12 Apr 13
Hello oldsoul, I prepare a white sauce and season it with black pepper, little salt, little chopped garlic, few crushed basil leaves and some oregano. I also add a lot of cheese to it and mix it with the pasta. Toss some olive oil and it is ready to eat. It tastes really good as well and I am sure you would like it as it has no tomatoes! :)
• United States
12 Apr 13
That sounds amazing! Definitely a great no tomato pasta dish I will try, thank you!
• India
12 Apr 13
Do try and let me know how you liked it!!
• India
12 Apr 13
Forgot to mention that you can also add vegetables like green, red and yellow peppers, beans, carrots etc. that have been sauteed in a little oil!
@jennifer611 (2514)
• United States
12 Apr 13
I have small children who love anything pasta, so we make pasta a lot. I love spaghetti sauce. however, my husband hates any tomato type sauce. so what I do is make alfredo sauce. depending on how much energy I have left after dealing with kids all day and everything that goes with being a house wife, I might make it home made or take the easy way out and buy a jar or two at the store lol. my family loves shrimp so I cook the noodles and the shrimp and alfredo sauce and add them all together and make garlic bread on the side. sometimes a salad as well. another thing I seen on tv on a cooking show was a lady put a little olive oil in her pasta. I've not tried it but I know I do like to cook with olive oil. I also love those boxed pasta salads, the kind that you mix the seasoning packet with italian dressing or the bacon and ranch one. I'm sure their are tons of recipes online for simple quick pastas that do not include any tomato. oh, now I want pasta! lol. I'm cooking steak tonite so I guess we will add pasta to the list too. who knew going on mylot could make me hungry! lol.
• United States
14 Apr 13
Yes, I get hungry each time I read a good post/response to what kind of pasta everyone here on mylot like. Everybody describes their recipes so well, makes my mouth water sometimes haha. I do like to cheat at times and make those boxed pastaroni with the packet of seasoning, they are so good! Shrimp and alfredo sauce sounds like a nice combination, I will have to give that a try. Thank you for your input and suggestions!
@sonusd (1547)
• India
13 Apr 13
I do not add neither tomato nor any other vegetables, I just added some (lemon coriander juice) to give a sourness to my pasta and the look of pasta will be little glazed which makes me happy before I eat. This is for my break fast or during evening snax or else if I have to eat for dinner then I add lot of tomatoes and capsicum to give a colorful look
• United States
14 Apr 13
Wow, that sounds unique! I like the idea of just putting lemon juice on pasta; I will give that a try, thank you!
@randy2611 (134)
• United States
12 Apr 13
I love all things on my pasta and I eat a lot of it that and rice. I eat everything from tomato sauce to cheese, like mac and cheese... But mostly I really love pesto it's a nice change from the normal red sauces, the only sauce I really tend to avoid would be alfredo... :-( In my mind I just see it like a huge opaqe plate of food not a tone of color and mixture yay know what I mean? I have to have a colorful plate no matter what I am eating... :)
• United States
14 Apr 13
Yes I agree, the more color - the better when it comes to a great dish! Pesto is amazing, definitely has a great flavor and you don't need any other toppings, perfect as is :-)
• Canada
13 Apr 13
Hi and Welcome Oldsoul I love pasta I could eat pasta twice a week I usually like it with spaghetti sauce but I have had it with just plain butter and salt and pepper. I know this sounds plain but if you have not tried it yet give it a shot you may like it.
• United States
14 Apr 13
Thank you for the kind welcome, much appreciated :-) Something I enjoy that is a great alternative to salt and pepper (and adds a really yummy and unique flavor) is Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt.
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
12 Apr 13
I'm a pasta lover. So I sometimes instead of tomato-based type sauce I will put some olive oil on it then add some seasonings. Such as, garlic, oregeano, italian seasoning, some red peppers, pepper and basil. It is so delicious. I sometimes will also just had a pesto sauce. I have even used Wishbones Italian seasoning that you would usually use for a salad along with red peppers.
• United States
12 Apr 13
I like the sound of Wishbones Italian seasoning, I will definitely give that a try, thank you! I do also enjoy olive oil on my pasta but haven't lately because the type I have tastes too watery; it's extra virgin olive oil. What type of olive oil do you use/tastes the best?
@sishy7 (27169)
• Australia
12 Apr 13
Baked pasta is a favorite in my family. We'd cook a batch of macaronies, then add eggs, milk, edam cheese, and corned beef. Mix them up, pour in a pyrex dish, then put it in the oven for about half hour covered with aluminium foil. We can add shredded cheese or parmesan on top. And we like to have ketchup or tabasco sauce as optional condiments if preferred.
• United States
12 Apr 13
That's a tasty idea! I've actually never tried baking up a pasta dish before, great and helpful suggestion, thank you very much!
1 person likes this
@riempie9 (1021)
• South Africa
12 Apr 13
There are a few ingredients I can have with my pasta although I should say I prefer squash to pasta - the old adage that you can eat from a tree, the earth and the sea. Usually though I love basil pesto with my pasta as well almond butter with plain pasta. You do not use the almond butter with pesto... but for a nice Italian taste and not going wild on breads and pastas, going with some of these choices is a good idea. Of course you can put together your own combinations too. Just not heavy on the sauces.
• United States
12 Apr 13
It sounds like you make some great food choices. I really need to work on making better choices, eating healthier. I do enjoy almond butter, that's a neat idea to try it on pasta. You talked about pesto, do you happen to know of a good recipe for some homemade pesto? I've tried so many store bought pesto sauces and haven't had any luck.
• Philippines
25 Apr 13
I am a big pasta lover especially the tomato sauce based, but you've mentioned no tomato based pasta, I'll tell you about the white sauce pasta that I love. It is just made of white cream and sometimes I also use cream of mushroom soup to go with that (because that tastes yummier).
@kemak28 (724)
• United States
12 Apr 13
I like to put olive oil on mine with some pesto and parmesan cheese. Tonight I'm making pasta tossed with tomatoes, black olives, garlic, basil, olive oil and feta cheese. I'm excited to see how it turns out.
• United States
14 Apr 13
That dinner you were making sounds great! I've never tried that combination before, I'm sure it turned out great! Hope you enjoyed it!
@srisahara (4508)
• Indonesia
12 Apr 13
Usually, I put tomato sauce, a bit slice of chicken or meat or fried egg, and then I add fried onion, soy sauce. I also put some slice of cucumber to replace slice of tomato because I also dislike with slice of tomato, although it make my pasta looks beautiful.
• United States
12 Apr 13
Cucumber is a nice idea to replace tomatoes, thanks for the suggestion! Having a colorful dish is definitely a beautiful thing when cooking :-) Bon appetite!
• Singapore
12 Apr 13
My favourite pasta is actually aglio olio, so just olive oil, parmesan cheese, some chilli and garlic and I am happy!
• United States
12 Apr 13
What a flavorful combination! I'm a fan of all those ingredients, I will definitely give that a try, thank you!
@joizee (502)
• Philippines
12 Apr 13
Never heard someone who's allergic to tomatoes. But this is interesting since I've never tried other sauces than white and red sauces. But my friend, who's now my neighbor, loves experimenting on food. She told me that she's going to try pasta with seaweed. Something kind of pesto I think because its green. (this only shows I don'e really cook, haha). Then she even tried sardines or tuna in oil. It's so flavorful since the oil or water in it soaked all fish flavor. And since it's salty, no need for salt. Speaking of seafood, have you heard black pasta? It comes from squid's ink and they say it is divine! So you can try to take out the juice out of veggies or fruits or other foods to try their taste with pasta. Pasta's so flexible so you can experiment very well. Happy eating! :)
• United States
13 Apr 13
I had never heard of black pasta before. I wonder if that would only be carried at a specialty store...thank you for the ideas! Bon appetite!
@Fishmomma (11377)
• United States
12 Apr 13
My daughter is allergic to tomatoes also. We have put the pasta into soup and its been successful in my crock pot. One other way I like to serve pasta is with vegetables mixed into the pasta gives the dish a colorful appearance using different colored vegetables.
@mermaidivy (15395)
• United States
12 Apr 13
I like to put mushroom in pasta a lot, whether I made red sauce pasta, alfredo sauce pasta etc, I like to add mushroom into the pasta sauce, I think they go with it very well. Besides, I definitely put cream cheese into the pasta sauce, it makes it more creamy, the texture also get better, at last, of course some shredded cheese and melt it to serve.yum
@marguicha (215470)
• Chile
15 Apr 13
I love pesto so much that I make enough to freeze for the whole year. This year I planted so much basil that I made pesto for the whole family. But there are several other sauces for pasta besides that. There are several that are made with a base of white sauce. To that you can either add cream cheese, diced ham, mushrooms, seafood or diced boiled chicken. THere`s no need to use tomatoes if you are allergic to them.
13 Apr 13
I love pasta it is a cheap way to make a filling meal,one of my favorite's is bacon,onion,garlic and cream,not a very healthy meal but taste's great.
• Philippines
12 Apr 13
try cream or pesto. they're good for italian recipies of pastas.
• Philippines
13 Apr 13
I have prepared pasta with sardines and Carbonara/Fettuccini, Tuna Carbonara to be exact. =) My mom always request that to me. Pasta with sardines is just the sardines from the can together with its sauce, season some lemon, a little soy sauce, ketchup to your desired taste, and toss in the pasta. add cheese then its done! =) I love pastas, so anything that goes with it, I'm experimenting,.