Orzo pasta, which can be served with minced meat.
Picada pasta dishes combine finely chopped or ground ingredients with pasta, the pasta that is a starchy staple of Italian cuisine. Not all minced pasta is Italian style, and the minced ingredient is not always red meat, an assumption sometimes made due to the association of the word “minced” with the minced filling. Fish or vegetables can be minced food. The final dish usually takes one of two forms: pasta with sauce on top, or a casserole.
Spaghetti bolognese, a type of minced pasta.
Although the minced pasta dishes are different, the size of the minced food pieces is almost the same. The culinary terms “bite” and “dice” are sometimes confused. Diced foods tend to be cubes with sides from 0.125 to 0.25 inches (3.175 to 6.35 mm); chopped ingredients are smaller and irregular in shape. The term “chopped” generally refers to larger pieces of food.
Many pastas are delicious when topped with a little Parmesan cheese.
Different types of minced food require different types of dough. The weight and thickness of the ingredients generally correspond to the size of the dough. A mix of chopped vegetables like garlic, onion, and celery works well with a medium weight pasta like spaghetti. If a light meat such as ham is used along with the vegetables, the bowtie-shaped farfalle effectively traps the minced ingredients in the pockets. Sauces with ground beef often take on hard dough forms, such as rigatoni.
Fresh basil leaves are often used to season pasta dishes.
Pasta Bolognese is a famous Italian minced pasta. Ground meat, usually beef, though sometimes a combination of beef and pork, is browned on the stovetop. The minced onion and garlic are cooked separately in butter and oil. These ingredients are then cooked with chopped carrots and tomato puree for an hour or more, and this Bolognese sauce is served over a strong type of hot pasta.
Other ground pastas meet the requirements of a vegetarian diet. The sauce for an Indian-style dish contains a slice of garlic, onion, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro, plus chopped tomato and spinach. The vegetables are sautéed in olive oil and served over freshly cooked spaghetti.
Sometimes the chopped ingredients go into the dough instead of covering it. Dry pasta types that are strong enough for minced meat include large shells, manicotti, and cannelloni. Some cooks like to make their own dough along with the filling and can make shapes that will close completely, such as ravioli and tortellini.
A minced meat that works inside any of these types of pasta consists of garlic, ground beef, and basil. These ingredients are cooked in olive oil for about three minutes. They are then drained, cooled and mixed with egg yolk, ricotta cheese and Parmesan cheese.
Ground pasta also comes in the form of stews. After cooking the pasta in boiling water, it is usually placed in a deep plate together with a mixture of vegetables, meat and dairy products. Creamy soups are sometimes added for added flavor. The ingredients are mixed on the plate to get a uniform consistency and the dough is cut, then baked in the oven for about 30 to 45 minutes.