MANILA, Philippines — These days, preparing a pasta dish like a true Italian is no longer a problem.
Ready-to-heat pasta sauces are now readily available off the grocery shelves. Just cut the pouch or pop the glass jar open, and pour over cooked pasta, and you’ve got a meal. Most Filipinos, though, prefer to cook the pasta sauce with onion and garlic, add ground meat, chicken strips, shrimps and other seafood, or even vegetables like grilled eggplants and zucchini, and season with additional herbs before folding in the cooked pasta to create variations to a basic pasta recipe. Either way you like your pasta should be fine.
Just recently, Filippo Berio introduced two new red sauces—Basilico and Arrabbiata—to the local market. Basilico is bursting with the natural sweetness of ripe tomatoes and aromatic basil, while Arrabbiata offers a perfect balance of tangy tomatoes and the heat of red chili peppers. Both are prepared without preservatives and artificial ingredients.
Before we tackle the complex Arrabbiata, let us celebrate Basilico with this recipe of Gnocchi and Basilico Pasta.
Gnocchi and Basilico Pasta
INGREDIENTS:
1 jar Filippo Berio Basilico Pasta Sauce
250 grams gnocchi
125 grams mozzarella cheese
Fresh basil leaves for garnish
PROCEDURE:
1.Preheat oven to 180?C.
2.Pour 250 grams of gnocchi into a heatproof baking dish. Stir in a jar of Filippo Berio Basilico Pasta Sauce.
3.Cut mozzarella cheese into small chunks and scatter over the sauce. Space them evenly.
4.Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until the gnocchi pasta is cooked through and beginning to brown.