Original subtitles

♪♪

I'm ree drummond, the pioneer woman.

Here's what's happening on the ranch.

I am fast-tracking my favorite pasta dishes.

First, there's a mash-up of two worlds

with great grilled steak

over saucy pappardelle in steakhouse pasta.

Then adorable orecchiette

in fresh and delicious lemon pasta pronto

with flecks of zest and a crispy topping.

There's red wine and insanely good flavor

in drunken spaghetti,

and I am frying the farfalle.

Fried pasta is a thing, for real.

Exactly how fast and fabulous is faster pasta?

I'll show you.

Welcome to my frontier.

♪♪

pasta is my go-to meal whenever I'm in the mood

for something scrumptious, but it's also my go-to meal

when I'm in the mood for something fast.

I'm gonna make steakhouse pasta.

It is a classic in our house,

and it's gonna be finished

by the time this pappardelle finishes cooking.

I'll pour the rest in, and I'll let that cook

while I start on the sauce for the steakhouse pasta.

I've got a skillet full of olive oil,

and I'll add a good amount of garlic.

This steakhouse pasta is a bit of a mash-up.

I'm bringing in all the flavors that I usually see

when we go out to dinner at a steakhouse,

and I'm going to top the pasta

with a steak that I'm going to grill.

I mean, how perfect does this meal sound?

Okay, the garlic is starting to cook.

So I'm going to add some booze to the mix.

Got some brandy.

I'm going to add about a 1/2 a cup.

Now, you can use white wine, red wine,

whatever booze you feel like grabbing.

I really like brandy for this.

It reminds me of a steak sauce that I had when I was in my 20s.

I went to a steakhouse.

They had this brandy cream sauce.

Obviously, I haven't forgotten it.

That's what I based this sauce on.

Okay, this skillet was so hot that

that brandy has pretty much reduced to half,

so I'm going to add a large can of diced tomatoes,

and I actually drained the juice out of them first.

I don't need all that juice.

And then just to keep the tomatoes

from being too acidy,

I'll add a little bit of sugar

and then salt and pepper, of course.

And then some crushed red pepper for a little spice.

So it needs to cook for just a bit,

and that'll give me time to season the steak.

I'm using a skirt steak,

but absolutely any steak will work.

You could do a rib eye, a strip,

piece of fillet.

I'm just sprinkling on some salt and pepper,

and then the standard steak seasoning

that I use in our house is good old lemon pepper.

Nothing fancy.

And good old seasoned salt.

Got to keep it real and authentic around here.

Now I have a grill pan,

and I just put vegetable oil on it,

and I'm going to put the steak seasoned side down.

Now, skirt steak is very thin,

and you don't want to overcook it,

so I'm going to grill the first side for 3 minutes.

♪♪

now I need to season the other side of the steak,

salt, pepper,

lemon pepper,

and seasoned salt.

Second verse same as the first.

Now I need to turn it over and let it finish cooking,

and it won't take long at all.

[ timer ticking ]

[ bell dings ]

the second side of the steak

took about 3 minutes too.

And just look at that beauty.

Okay, I'm gonna let this rest.

Just needs a couple minutes.

And I'll keep moving forward on the sauce.

So I'm gonna add some heavy cream.

I love a tomato cream sauce.

And then I'm gonna add a little half and half

just to keep it from getting too thick.

I want to turn up the heat and give it a stir.

So I'm going to add

a generous spoonful of prepared horseradish.

It looks amazing already.

I'm going to add a little bit of salt and pepper,

and then here comes the cheese.

I have a good amount of grated fontina.

I knew I wanted to use a cheese that melted really well.

I don't want the sauce to separate.

Now, speaking of cheese,

I'm going to add blue cheese to this sauce,

but blue cheese, to me, can get pretty overpowering,

so I'm really just adding about 1 tablespoon

to the sauce itself.

I'm gonna let that simmer away while I slice the steak.

When it comes to steak, I am a medium-rare girl.

If you go beyond medium-rare and get into the medium,

I think it just really messes up the steak in general.

You want to have some pinkish-red in the middle.

Now, if my father-in-law, chuck, had grilled this steak,

he would have thrown it on the first side

for about 3 seconds,

flipped it over for another 3 seconds,

and that is his idea of a steak.

Needless to say, I don't let my father-in-law

grill steaks for me very often. [ chuckles ]

okay, I'll give the sauce one final stir.

Now, to me, this sauce is just craving something green,

and spinach is perfect for that.

So I have quite a bit here, but as you know,

spinach shrinks almost instantly when it goes into a hot sauce.

I think you could also do sliced kale.

That would be really delicious.

There's something about spinach

that I think is just right for this.

And what did I tell you? [ laughs ]

that spinach has totally shrunk and become one with the sauce.

So now it's pasta time, also known as my favorite time.

I'll let the water strain out.

Okay, so it goes in.

This pappardelle is so pretty.

I love the wide noodles.

Of course, you could use rigatoni,

penne, bow-tie pasta,

whatever you happen to have in your pantry.

So I'm gonna turn off the heat under the pasta.

Oh, come to mama.

This is my idea of a good time right here, guys.

I think I'll just have a date with myself tonight. [ laughs ]

okay, now the steak goes on top.

♪ oh-ho-ho ♪

I'm a happy woman.

I've got some fresh basil, which adds that unmistakable flavor,

probably my favorite green herb.

And then to finish it off, a little more blue cheese,

and there it is, guys -- steakhouse pasta.

I'm a big fan of pasta.

I'm a big fan of steakhouses.

This is the best of both worlds right here.

Up next, pasta with lemon,

pasta with wine, and pasta that's fried,

all over-the-top delicious and turbo-charged fast.

♪♪

♪♪

I am whipping up a simple lemon pasta

that is made over-the-top delicious

with cream, pancetta, peas, and a crispy crumb

that I sprinkle over the top when it's done.

It's lemon pasta pronto.

You could also call it creamy lemon pasta and peas.

It really doesn't matter what you call it.

What matters is that you make it and eat it

at the earliest possible convenience.

It is that good.

I just zested and squeezed the juice out of two lemons,

and I am going to get the pasta started.

I'm using orecchiette.

It translates to "little ears," and I really love this pasta.

It is absolutely perfect for this sauce.

And speaking of the sauce,

I'm gonna get started on that.

I have a whole stick of butter that I melted into the skillet.

I'm going to add some finely diced onions.

I've got some diced pancetta

and some minced garlic.

Okay, I'm going to let this start to cook and sizzle away.

And I've got some fresh thyme,

so I'm going to add half of it to the pan.

I need the other half in a little bit,

and I'll let these keep cooking.

Now, remember those crispy crumbs I mentioned?

I'm gonna get started on those.

I've got a separate little skillet,

and I'll add some olive oil

and then about a 1/2 a cup of panko bread crumbs.

♪♪

okay, I'll just let those toast until they get nice and golden.

So I'll give this stuff another stir,

and I'm gonna add the lemon juice

and then most of the lemon zest.

I'm going to save a little of that back.

I really can't be trusted

with a whole skillet of this stuff by myself.

It is irresistible.

Okay, that has started bubbling up, so now I'll add the cream.

This is heavy cream.

This is a super-rich pasta dish, as you have probably deduced,

and it makes a good amount,

so you want to make it when you're having friends over

or when the whole family is home.

If you serve it with a salad, a little goes a long way.

Oh, that looks amazing.

I need to let this cook until it starts to bubble up and thicken,

and while it does,

I'm going to run to the freezer and get some peas.

♪♪

I love adding frozen peas to pasta sauce.

You don't even have to thaw them out.

If the pasta sauce is hot enough,

which this happens to be, I'll just add it right in.

I'm going to add about 2 cups.

1, 2...

And stir,

and then those peas are gonna thaw

and heat up in no time at all.

So while that happens, I'll go back to the crumbs.

Look at these.

Look how quickly they changed color.

Beautiful.

So just to brighten these up,

I'll add the rest of the lemon zest

and a little bit of thyme that I have left,

and I'm going to go ahead and turn off the heat

'cause the crumbs are ready.

I'm gonna let them sit.

And back to the sauce.

Sure enough, those peas are nice and hot.

Everything's bubbly.

So I have some pecorino romano cheese,

and I'm going to add most of it.

I'll leave a little back for the very end.

I'll give it a little stir.

And then comes the pasta.

♪♪

this is such a cute pasta shape.

And what I love about this pasta is they're little cups,

and they seem to just hold the sauce.

Every bite has a nice bit of sauce to it.

And then it's just about stirring

until every little ear

is filled with sauce.

So now the rest of the pecorino

goes on.

And then I'll grab these gorgeous crumbs.

Ohh.

These crumbs are not just crunchy.

They're also lemony, so there's basically lemon

everywhere you turn in this recipe.

♪♪

I like to save a few back, and then everybody can just

sprinkle on a little extra over their own portion.

And finally, I'll cut a lemon into wedges

just to drive home that lemon point,

and so that if the pasta is not already lemony enough

for somebody, they can squeeze more juice in.

I cannot imagine that being a thing.

♪♪

and I just serve this family style

right out of the skillet.

Super fast, super creamy,

super lemony, super good.

♪♪

up next, the spaghetti is drunken, the pasta is fried,

and it's all about new ideas and speed.

Faster pasta is the best pasta.

♪♪

♪♪

I know I'm not supposed to play favorites,

but this pasta dish is my favorite of the moment.

It's drunken pasta, and when you see how I make it,

you will understand the name.

I'm getting the pasta started first, as I like to do,

and it's just regular spaghetti.

Interestingly, I'm only going to cook the spaghetti

for about 3 minutes,

and you'll see why I'm doing that too.

Now, I've got a skillet over here

with some butter and olive oil, and I'm going to add some garlic

and some crushed red pepper flakes for heat,

along with 1 teaspoon of italian seasoning.

And then I'm gonna stir this around

and let the herbs start to cook a little bit.

I like recipes like this that I've not heard of very much.

I hadn't heard of drunken pasta until a few months ago,

and I knew that I had to give it a try.

The main ingredient is red wine,

which is my favorite kind of wine,

and I like food that has red wine flavor.

So I tried it,

I fell madly in love,

and it's been a constant love affair ever since.

Okay, the herb mixture is hot,

so I'm going to add an entire bottle of red wine.

Now, a lot of times, when you cook with wine,

they say to get a bottle that's kind of cheap, inexpensive,

and you can definitely do that here,

but you want to grab some red wine that you like to drink.

You want it to have the flavor that you like.

And it needs to be dry.

Sweet red wine doesn't pack the same punch with this pasta.

Now, I'm gonna turn the heat up because I want this mixture

to come to a boil, and in the meantime,

I'm going to start on some mushrooms.

I have a separate skillet,

and I've got some portobello mushrooms

and some white button mushrooms.

Any combination of mushrooms is just fine though.

And the mushrooms needs plenty of salt and pepper.

♪♪

okay, those mushrooms are going to start cooking in no time,

so I'll let those go.

And I am gonna grab the spaghetti.

It is very unusual to take pasta out of the water

before it's at least al dente,

but in this case, you'll understand why.

I'll pour the spaghetti right into the boiling red wine.

You heard me.

It's a world gone mad.

And this pasta is actually going to finish cooking

in the red wine.

The mushrooms are going to keep cooking.

The whole thing is going to take another 5 minutes.

♪♪

prepare to be amazed.

Look at what happened to this spaghetti.

It has almost totally absorbed that bottle of wine.

This is a miracle. I love this stuff.

Now, the mushrooms look amazing, too.

I'm going to add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

just to give them a little punch.

And I'll stir the vinegar in.

And then back to the pasta,

just to add a little creaminess and richness,

I'll drop in 1 tablespoon of butter.

It's really soft, so it'll basically disappear

into that sauce.

All right, I'm gonna put the mushrooms

into the skillet.

As I mentioned, I'm impatient.

I'm just going to dump them in there. [ laughs ]

I don't have time to spoon them mushroom by mushroom.

All right.

I like this dish 'cause it's just dark and delicious.

The pasta is dark. The mushrooms are dark.

And I'm going to sprinkle on a little bit of parmesan cheese

and then good old basil.

Again, who has time to chop?

I'm just going to tear it. All right.

There it is, drunken spaghetti, ranch-style.

I'm in love with it now.

I'll probably be in love with it 10 years from now.

You have got to try this sometime.

Up next, fabulous pasta, but not as you know it.

The farfalle is fast and fried.

♪♪

♪♪

caution -- I'm getting ready to push the boundaries.

If you haven't heard of fried pasta,

you might be a little bit shocked

'cause that's exactly what I'm making.

Fried pasta is so delightful.

It makes a really yummy appetizer or snack,

really savory.

And, hey, it's fried pasta.

How bad can it be?

Now, I've got some cooked bow-tie pasta,

and I drained it, and I let it dry completely,

and that is really important.

And I'm just dropping it into...

[ sizzling ] a pot of vegetable oil.

The temperature of the oil is 375 degrees,

and you need to kind of play around with them

after they go into the oil

and make sure they don't stick together.

It's important to fry them in small batches

and not have the oil very high

because the inherent moisture of the pasta

makes everything rise really quickly.

So I'm gonna let those keep frying,

and I'm going to make a spice mix

to be sprinkled over the pasta.

It has several things, all of them really simple.

1 teaspoon of dried basil, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder,

1 teaspoon of thyme, and 1 teaspoon of rosemary.

Oregano, same amount.

And then just 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes,

and then salt and pepper.

I'm also going to sprinkle parmesan over the top,

so that'll bring a little bit of salt to the mix.

I'll put the lid on the spice grinder

and let it do all the hard work.

I'm making savory version of fried pasta,

but you can do a sweet version by just mixing together

cinnamon and sugar and sprinkling it over.

All right. That's the seasoning mix.

Now I'm going to check on the pasta.

It fries really quickly, about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes.

Look how crispy and golden it is.

It's really fun to do different shapes of fried pasta.

Actually, I saw some really thick rigatoni

that was fried once,

and then they let it cool and fill it with cream mixture.

They were like little cannoli. I'm going to try that sometime.

All right, I'm gonna sprinkle a little bit

of the seasoning mix over the pasta.

Now I just need to fry two more batches

and get the fried pasta onto a platter.

♪♪

look at all these crispy little bow-ties.

So cute.

Now, I want to serve these with some marinara sauce.

You could really do any sort of sauce.

A really simple pesto mayo would be delicious, too.

All right.

Get the sauce on the plate,

and then I've got some grated parmesan,

and I'm gonna be very generous with it over the pasta,

and then a little bit on top of the marinara, just for fun.

Behold, fried pasta.

You have to see it to believe it.

Actually, you kind of need to taste it to believe it.

♪♪

[ crunch ]