Two-dozen pasta recipes to cure the weeknight blues

Weekdays be like rush, rush, rush, rush, pasta.

Red lentil penne with prawn ragu Source: Jono Fleming

--- Want to brush up on your Italian cookery? Catch the brand-new second season of Cook Like an Italian with Silvia Colloca at 8pm, Thursdays on SBS Food and streaming on SBS On Demand ---

 

It's hard enough trying to fit everything into your day without that nagging little dinner elf sitting on your shoulder going 'so, what're we cooking tonight? Anything good? Anything at all?' Because we all know that pesky elf isn't going to hang around and do any of the actual planning, let alone the cooking.

You know what they say, when life hands you a dinner elf, make spinach and lemon polpette. There's not a weekday dilemma in the world that a bowl of pasta won't solve. Especially when you can make it quickly and easily. Hop to it, elf.

1. Spinach and lemon polpette

These are lovely, light spinach and nutmeg polpette to serve with spaghetti and a quick tomato sauce. Source: Anna Jones

A lovely little vego option to end the day just right. Polpette are Italian meatballs, but this recipe brings you a hearty plant-based version through the magic of lentils and oats.

2. Rigatoni alla Gricia

This dish uses guanciale, which is a tasty cured pork jowl available from most delicatessens. Source: Jono Fleming

Four ingredients and 15 minutes is all you need to make Silvia Colloca's satisfying evening meal. Actually, even less time if you put your feet up for five minutes while the guanciale gently simmers.

3. Orecchiette with mussels

Resembling something like an Italian paella, fresh mussels are dotted around the pot with pasta, white wine and capers. Source: Jono Fleming

It's hard to believe you can get such depth of flavour into a dish in just 25 minutes, but this orecchiette proves you can. It's a fresh, herby recipe that packs plenty of heat to fire you back up after a tiring day.

4. One-pot penne

This penne is a Mediterranean breeze to clean up. Source: Cook like an Italian

Even better than a quick cooking time is a fast clean up. A midweek dinner like this penne with tuna, olives and capers is surely perfection because you get both.

5. Quick "risotto"

Bring together this cheat's risotto with fresh pippies cooked in white wine, and cherry tomatoes. Source: Cook like an Italian

One of Silvia Colloca's genius shortcut recipes, this favourite has all the appeal of a risotto without the tedious stirring. The secret is to use quick-cooking rissoni instead of rice.

6. Bucatini Amatriciana

According to the Amatrice mayor’s office, Amatriciana sauce is traditionally made with six ingredients: guanciale, white wine, San Marzano tomatoes, pecorino cheese, pepper and chilli. Source: Chris Chen

This quick midweek staple originated in Amatrice in Lazio, central Italy. It's so good that it's been recognised as one of Italy's national treasures. So, not your average Tuesday night dinner then!

7. Orecchiette

You'll soon have your head in a big bowl of little ears. Source: Cook like an Italian

Orecchiette translates as 'little ears', but this pasta shape is the boss when it comes to scooping up big flavours. In this recipe pangrattato (olive oil-infused sourdough breadcrumbs) add crunch to a bowl full of anchovy, broccolini leaves and chilli zing.

8. Pasta and potatoes

Pasta mista with potatoes, pancetta and provola makes the ideal Monday night dinner when possibly the only thing left in the pantry is broken up bits of leftover pasta. Source: Cook like an Italian

If adding potato to your pasta seems a little carby, just go with it. The potato adds a luxurious creaminess to a recipe that basically asks you to use up whatever pasta shapes and sizes you have in the pantry. Which are many random packets for most of us.

9. Red lentil penne

Silvia pairs the red lentil pasta with a classic prawn and cherry tomato sauce. Source: Jono Fleming

Inject some extra nutrition into your meal by using a lentil penne instead of your regular wheat version. It adds plenty of additional fibre and protein and asks little of any simple sauce that accompanies it.

10. Farfalle with zucchini

Probably the most satisfying pasta salad you'll ever encounter. Source: Jono Fleming

Brimming with homemade walnut pesto and zucchini, this is one extra-creamy pasta dish. We bet you'll make it once and then declare a new Friday Farfalle night ritual.

11. Casarecce with roasted tomatoes

The tomatoes are roasted before having the pasta mixed through to bring through the juices and add an exceptional flavour. Source: Cook like an Italian

It's rare for a baked pasta dish to make 'weekday' status, but this one makes the grade because it's literally 10 minutes prep then into the oven. That's 10 minutes of faffing when you first get home, and 35 minutes of book reading while the oven goes to work. Bon appetite indeed.

12. Penne with Sicilian pesto

Adding ricotta to your pesto gives it a creamy texture and a lighter flavour. Source: Cook like an Italian

Another whirl for red lentil penne, this time it's stepping out with an almond, parmesan, tomato, ricotta and basil pesto which is every bit as dashing as it sounds.

13. Zoodles with prawns

Zoodles bring the luxurious feel of pasta but with far fewer calories. Source: Smith & Gilmour

Zoodles (ie zucchini spiralised into noddles) have become so ubiquitous that including them in a 'pasta' round-up feels okay. Ish. If you're not on board with this, feel free to quietly substitute spaghetti in this chilli and lemon recipe.

14. Mushroom carbonara

Soft mushrooms, sage and parsley mean you won't miss the bacon, much. Source: Mushrooms Australia

Staying with the healthier takes (for now), how about a mushroom carbonara that says no to bacon and cream? It's an easy meat-free Monday meal.

15. Silvia's carbonara

Silvia Colloca flexes her Italian for us all to enjoy. Source: SBS Food

We are fairly certain that Silvia would not be on board with a carbonara that lacks meat, but she would definitely okay the lack of cream. Here's her classic carbonara to whip up tonight.

16. Puttanesca

In a world of 'big, bold' flavours, puttanesca is an extraverted giant. Source: One-pot puttanesca (Wok Vs Pot)

No other pasta dish earns the 'weeknight' badge like puttanesca. This version is a one-pot dish that you can pull together in no time at all. Plus it uses ingredients most of us have on hand most of the time. Hello, dinner!

17. Aglio olio e peperoncino pasta with broccolini and streaky bacon pangrattato

It might sound daunting, but we're basically talking broccoli pasta with bacon. Source: Byron Keane

Fortunately, this recipe with the very long name takes a very short time to cook.

18. Spicy sausage and ricotta pasta

'Nduja is a particularly spicy pork sausage from Calabria in Southern Italy. Source: Bonacini's Italy

A bit of heat in your dinner will rev you up for the night ahead and Italian sausages always do the trick. Feel free to add an extra pinch or two of chilli to the sauce to blow your head off.

19. Broccoli and sausage rigatoni

This vibrant broccoli and sausage rigatoni is a taste of Sicily. Source: This vibrant broccoli and sausage rigatoni is a taste of Sicily. (Bonacini's Italy)

Keeping with the sausage theme, let's turn down the heat with this easy recipe. You basically just toss together a small list of ingredients over a good heat and you're eating.

20. Spaghetti alla bottarga

This simple pasta dish is one of the best ways to showcase the unique concentrated flavour that is bottarga, “the gold of the sea”. Source: Sharyn Cairns

If you can get your hands on some bottarga, dinner will practically make itself. This gorgeous dish is on the table in under 15 minutes. If bottarga eludes you, any other fish roe will be a good substitute, particularly mullet or tuna roe.

21. 'Green bits' pasta

If you've been busy at work and really want something comforting and healthy to eat, this is it. Source: Bloomsbury Publishing

Trawl the bottom of the crisper for any green veggie leftovers to make this nutritious midweek meal. Broccoli, asparagus, spinach, rocket, frozen peas - whatever you find will work well.

22. Lazy lasagne

This cheat's version of a lasagne is a great way of turning a weekend favourite into an easy weeknight meal. Source: Bondi Harvest

The word 'lazy' indicates that this is a midweek meal we're on board with. It's basically a seafood lasagne with all the fuss and bother removed. All of the oven time is removed too, so you'll have this on the table in under half an hour.

23. Orecchiette with cauliflower

This is a lovely pasta dish to make if you feel like having a non-meat meal with clean, zingy flavours. Omit the anchovies to make it vegetarian. Source: China Squirrel

Another good midweek meal where the oven takes over to give you a bit of breathing space. Prep time is 25 minutes, but it's worth it to bring out the best in cauliflower, olives, anchovies and capers. Plenty of flavour here and the leftovers taste even better for lunch the next day.

24. Mac 'n' cheese

Way to make the work day fade away! Source: China Squirrel

Some workdays are so rough that only mac and cheese can fix them. This version of the comforting pasta dish is made midweek-healthy with ricotta stepping in for cheese and wholemeal pasta doing the lifting for mac. Goodbye work, hello life.