Baked Penne with Corn, Zucchini and Basil

Faced with a rather large zucchini from my farm box, I decided I wanted to make a side dish from the way-back machine - a shredded zucchini, corn and tomato dish that I used to make frequently in my pb life ("pre-blog"). The problem is that I could not for the life of me remember the source of the recipe.

Thank goodness for friends. I gave up on my old recipe and tweeted my desire for a recipe with the same basic ingredients. My bloggy buddy Audrey of Food From Books suggested the zucchini and corn recipe pictured in the most recent, as in "it-came-in-the-US-Mail-this-week"recent, Williams-Sonoma catalog. As fate would have it, that issue was sitting on my front hall chest and when I saw the picture I was convinced. The recipe takes full advantage of high summer's bounty, incorporating corn, zucchini and tomatoes, as well as fresh oregano and basil.

Upon closer inspection I realized that my farm box vegetable was actually a cucumber and not a zucchini (I hope I'm not the only one who's made this mistake!). By then, however, I was fully committed to making the pasta, so I ran out to pick up some actual zucchini at the store.



n.o.e.'s notes:

- I had a partial bag of brown rice penne with exactly half a pound in it, which was perfect for this recipe.

- The recipe is not difficult but it also is not quick. The different vegetables must be individually cooked, but luckily they can all use the same pot, even if seriatum. I cooked my corn in one batch and the zucchini in three batches.

- I love using the fresh herbs from my garden! A homegrown hot pepper got chopped and added with the onion also.

- In place of mozarella, I used some Quattro Formaggio shredded cheese mix from Trader Joe's.

- I added some scraps of roast turkey from the freezer to boost the protein profile and make it a one-pot meal. Chicken sausage or white beans would make good additions also.

The smaller leaves are Cuban basil, the larger are Genovese

the verdict:

I knew when I planned the meal that my husband isn't the biggest fan of summer squashes, but I didn't realize that my daughter J.D.E., who loves every other vegetable under the sun, strongly dislikes zucchini. My only hope is that the mixture of other delicious ingredients would mask the zucchini-ness for my family members. I thought that the casserole smelled amazing while it was in the oven.

Luckily, everyone liked this dish! To me it had a great balance of cheesy and veggies, and the turkey was a successful addition. My husband went back for seconds, and gave the meal a rating of 9 out of 10. Could we have a summer squash convert? Daughter J.D.E. was very relieved that the zucchini flavor was not particularly noticeable and said "it's good." I'm hoping she isn't too disappointed when it appears on the table as leftovers later this week!

Linguine with Pesto, Potatoes and Green Beans

One of my current favorite cookbooks is Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. The hefty book is chock-full of recipes and variations, and is a wonderful kitchen resource. On the other end of the spectrum is Bittman's slim and spare book The Minimalist Cooks Dinner
which is based on his food columns in the New York Times. 100 recipes, one per every 2-page spread. Even with this economy, being Mark Bittman's work, the book does provide ways to vary each featured recipe.

I've paged through the book and marked a bunch of recipes, but given the bountiful basil supply in my garden, the Trenette with Pesto jumped to the front of the line this week. This traditional dish from Genoa combines pasta with potatoes and green beans, and sounded perfect for summer dining.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- You can find the recipe online .

- Bittman explains that in Genoa the trenette pasta shape is always paired with pesto. Linguine is a close substitute, so that's what I used.

- The recipe has very easy instructions for boiling all the ingredients in the same pot. The version in the book has the potatoes cook for 3 minutes before adding the pasta, so that's what I did. The beans get added when the pasta is half cooked (about 5 minutes after adding the pasta) It worked perfectly!

the verdict:

I served this pasta with grilled chicken Italian sausages. We enjoyed it so much that we didn't even mind eating it twice more that week!

Pim's "15 minute" Fresh Tomato Sauce

No matter how far afield I stray culinarily, I’m always glad to return to the familiar territory of pasta with tomato sauce. There are good jarred tomato sauces to be found, but it’s so satisfying to prepare one from scratch, especially one that promises to be both easy and delicious. I came across 15 Minute Tomato Sauce on the blog Chez Pim and was instantly intrigued. A super-quick sauce made from fresh tomatoes? This is one I just had to try.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- Pim has illustrated her recipe post with step by step photos which is useful and reassuring, even for a simple recipe.

- The first time I made this, I may have let the tomatoes break down a little bit too long – I ended up with a lot of juice and not a lot of pulp. You can see that in the picture below. I was much happier with my sauce the second batch, pictured up top.

the verdict:

I served this sauce over short pasta, alongside grilled hot Italian chicken sausage. There was enough sauce for two dinner-sized servings of pasta, so if you are feeding a (hungry) crowd, you’ll have to increase the recipe accordingly. The sauce was bright and fresh, and I how the nice acidic taste of the tomatoes comes through to the finished sauce.

This recipe is a great choice if you need a fast sauce and you have fresh tomatoes.

If you have less time and/or no fresh tomatoes, you can make Heidi Swanson’s 5 Minute Tomato Sauce with nice quality crushed tomatoes: I made it here.

If you have fresh tomatoes and a bit more time, here’s a great recipe from Delia Smith for Classic Fresh Tomato Sauce, a long-simmered tomato sauce: I posted it early in my blogging days.

And there you have it, a veritable quiver of tomato sauce recipes, fit for any occasion or type of tomatoes!

Country Lasagne

If I'm going to the trouble of making lasagna, this recipe (scroll down for recipe) is the one I'll have open on the counter. It's a little more time consuming than some, but who makes homemade lasagna to save time? I pulled a pan out of the freezer this week, and we were in Italian-food heaven, with an arugula salad and ciabatta on the side (we always have carbs with our carbs!)

n.o.e.'s notes:

- This lasagne freezes beautifully; wrap in plastic wrap first then foil. Having a batch in the freezer always makes me feel prepared for anything (well, except for those folks in my life who don't eat meat/pork)

- I've used turkey sausage instead of pork.

- Fresh or dried pasta can be used.


the recipe:

Country Lasagne
from The Hay Day Cookbook

2 T butter
1 small carrot, finely chopped
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T chopped parsley
1 dried chili pepper, broken into pieces
1 lb lean pork shoulder, ground
3/4 c. dry white wine
2 c crushed tomatoes, or 6 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 lb hot pork sausage
1 lb fresh pasta sheets, cut in 2-inch strips, or 1 lb lasagne noodles
1 c fresh ricotta cheese
4 T grated Parmesan cheese
6 oz mozzarella cheese, grated

Melt butter an brown carrot, onions, garlic, and parsley. Add the chili pepper. Add the pork. Lower the heat and brown meat thoroughly. Add wine, boil until it evaporates, and then add tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and simmer gently until pork is tender.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Twenty minutes before pork is done (it should simmer a total of about 1 hour), add the sausage. Cook pasta, drain, and layer in a 2 quart baking dish with meat sauce, ricotta, and Parmesan, repeating the layers until the dish is full. Top with mozzarella and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

I'm sending this to Presto Pasta Nights, a creation of Ruth at Once Upon A Feast. This weekly round up of delicious pasta dishes from bloggers all over the world is hosted this week by Sara of I'm a Food Blog.

CI's Coq Au Vin

This was another joint cooking effort with my husband on a Sunday afternoon. A few days earlier he had been paging through my impulse-buy Cook's Illustrated Winter 2009 Soups and Stews issue and stopped at page 46. "I love Coq au Vin," he said, "Let's make this recipe." When Sunday rolled around, that's just what we did.
[general recipe at end of this post]

n.o.e.'s notes:

- Here's what this recipe claims:

"Put together and on the table far faster than I would have thought (in about one hour, give or take), this coq au vin proves that classic French, cooking can fit into any schedule."

A word to the wise: don't rely on this promise. You can immediately disprove it by reading through the recipe, at which point you will see that the the times specified for the individual steps add up to nearly 2 hours, without even counting time for chopping and prep. This recipe took us 2.5 - 3 hours, start to eating (one step, reducing the sauce, took us double the estimated time).

- This is a classic braised dish: brown chicken and set aside, saute vegetables in the same pan, add liquid and simmer chicken + vegetables until chicken is tender. Then reduce/thicken the sauce before serving all together.

- We used just over 4 lbs chicken - 2 large breasts and 6 small thighs.

- I had just 7 oz of mushrooms, so we were a bit short.

- 2 cups of pearl onions weighed 8 oz or more, not the 5 oz. the recipe says. We used the 8 oz. This would have been too many onions if we'd had the proper amount of mushrooms.

- Because of the size of our chicken pieces, we put the light meat and dark meat in at the same time, and it was all cooked in about 35 minutes of simmering.

- Reducing the sauce took a really long time. I don't think I'd reduce the sauce quite so much next time - 2 cups of sauce for 8 pieces of chicken means just 1/4 cup per piece - not much to cover a piece of chicken and some noodles! It would also be nice to have less time standing at the stove!

- We served the chicken with Light 'n Fluffy Extra Wide Egg Noodles - which are the noodles that are the highest rated by the Cook's Illustrated tasters (along with Black Forest Girl brand).

- For once, I think the number of servings in the recipe was too low - this would serve 6 people rather than 4 (at 4 servings, that would be a pound of chicken per person).

the verdict:

The end result was well worth the time and effort! The sauce was rich and brown and the layers of flavors and aromas were fantastic. Even though the chicken was nice and tender my husband said he'd simmer the chicken longer next time so it would be falling off the bones. The thigh meat was far better than the breast - we would do all dark meat in the future.

Goodness knows I'm not one to shy away from bacon, but we actually thought the bacon garnish detracted from the other flavors. Next time I'd skip the bacon and just use some reserved bacon fat from my freezer for browning the chicken.

The noodles were great with this dish.

This recipe is a serious contender for being our favorite "Fairly Complicated Chicken Recipe." We spent a bit of time debating whether it was more delicious than the Country Captain that we made a few weeks ago, and then finally realized it was like trying to choose a favorite child! (note to our children: although you are very different, you are equally wonderful and we love you both the same!) OK, Coq au Vin when you need a special "chicken + noodles" dish and Country Captain when you need that wonderful "chicken + rice". . .

I'm sending this over to Ruth for this week's Presto Pasta Night roundup (#107). Head over there on Friday to see a wonderful variety of noodle-y dishes.

the recipe:

Coq au Vin
Here are the ingredients:

6 oz thick-cut bacon, chopped medium (I used 4 oz of Benton's bacon)
4 lb. bone-in skin-on chicken pieces (CI says to use at least half dark meat for maximum flavor)
10 oz. white mushrooms (I used 5 oz white + 2 oz wild mushrooms)
5 oz frozen pearl onions, thawed (c. 2 cups)
1 T. tomato paste
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
3 T. unbleached flour
1 bottle - 750 ml - red wine (medium body)
2.5 cups chicken broth
1 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves (1/4 tsp dried)
2 bay leaves
2 T. unsalted butter
2 T. minced fresh parsley leaves

... And summarized directions:

First cook the bacon, remove it, then brown the chicken pieces in two batches, removing them to a plate when cooked.

Pour off most of the fat. Brown the mushrooms and onions, then add garlic and tomato paste, cook briefly, then add the flour for a minute.

Add the wine, broth, thyme and bay leaves to the pot, then the chicken. Cover and simmered until the chicken is fully cooked and tender - about an hour for the dark meat. (White meat cooks faster, so should be added after the dark has cooked for a while. We judged this based on the size of our pieces of chicken.)

Remove the cooked chicken and let it rest while the sauce reduces to around 2 cups (the recipe says 20 minutes, but it was well over 40 minutes. I wouldn't reduce it so much - the extra sauce will not go to waste!) Then stir in the butter and season the sauce. Pour over the chicken pieces, garnish with bacon and parsley.

Voila!!

Fettuccine with Sausage, Garlic, and Mushrooms

A couple of years ago when I was browsing the Costco book tables - honestly those stacks of books can be a veritable treasure-trove - I picked up the Williams Sonoma cookbook Meats & Poultry in the series "The Best of the Kitchen Library." Every single recipe that I've tried from the book has been absolutely great (so good that I have now aquired several more titles in the same W-S series, also at Costco). So when I chose the Fettucine with Sausage, Garlic, and Mushrooms I figured it would be at least a decent plate of pasta. And I'm happy to report that WS came through again! [recipe at the end of this post]

n.o.e.'s notes:

- I ran out of white wine so I splashed in a bit of red too.

- I sliced up some Aidell's Chicken Andouille for the sausage

- When cooking the garlic, I added a shake of red pepper flakes.

- The pasta was a garlic and parsley flavored fettucine, made by Al Dente. I love this brand of pasta; the flavors are good and it cooks very quickly (2-3 minutes). [update: I've found this pasta at Whole Foods and also at our local Publix supermarket. The company's website is here]

the verdict:

This pasta recipe is excellent! My husband liked it so much that he went back for seconds when his first serving was only half gone! The garlic and the mushroom liquid combine for a fantastic earthy flavor. I think it could be just as good with chicken stock and a touch of vinegar as with the wine. We enjoyed the little kick from the spicy sausage and the red pepper.

I love that this pasta recipe is neither tomato-based nor dairy-based - makes for a nice variety.

I can also report that the leftovers were great from the freezer!


I'm submitting this to Presto Pasta Nights , a wonderful roundup of noodle-based dishes. This week's hostess is Pam of Sidewalk Shoes , so stop over there on Friday to check out all the delicious pasta dishes!

the recipe:

Fettucine with Sausage, Garlic, and Mushrooms

3/4 lb cooked low-fat smoked chicken sausages
1 T olive oil
2 lg cloves garlic, minced
1 lb white or cremini mushrooms, brushed clean and thinly sliced
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lb dried fettucine

1. Slice the sausages into rounds about 1/4 inch thick.

2. In a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil. When it is hot, add the sausage slices. Cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, about 3-4 minutes.

3. Add the garlic and mushrooms and stir until the mushrooms have softened and released some of their liquid, about 3 minutes.

4. Add the wine, bring to a boil over medium heat, and cook until the mushrooms are tender, about 3 minutes longer. Stir in the parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

5. While the sauce is cooking, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fettucine, stir well, and cook until al dente, 8-10 minutes, or according to the package directions.

6. Drain the fettucine and place in a warmed shallow serving bowl. Pour the sauce over the top and toss briefly to combine. Serve at once (stopping just long enough to photograph, of course!)

serves 6

Ultimate "Chicken" "Noodle" Soup

Meatballs? Yes please! I have never met a meatball that I haven't liked. Swedish meatballs from IKEA? I've bought them by the bagful. Meatballs made with grape jelly (those mainstays of Junior League cookbooks) served at cocktail parties? I'll be standing right there at the chafing dish. My mother's spaghetti and meatballs? This is what I'd likely consume at my 'last meal.'

I do have a problem with meatballs, though. They are a pain in the neck to make. I really dislike browning a big pile of meatballs on top of the stove. For spaghetti and meatballs, I try for the brown-on-6-side approach. They end up looking like oversized dice, rather than balls, but they still taste amazing. Because of the high "bother factor", I make meatballs rarely. (I should probably try baking my meatballs in the oven, but I really like the taste they get from browning in a skillet with olive oil)

Why all this meatball talk in a post about chicken noodle soup? Good question! Tyler Florence featured this soup on his Rainy Saturday episode of Tyler's Ultimate, and he presented it as the ultimate chicken noodle soup. Now I'll bet there are lots of grannies out there who would wag their fingers about this soup passing for chicken noodle. It has a chicken broth for a base, but the "chicken" is chicken meatballs and the "noodle" is tortellini. Really, this is an Italian Wedding soup without the spinach.

No matter what it's called, when I watched the episode with this soup, I decided to brave the meatball experience to try the recipe.

n.o.e.'s notes:

I cooked this soup the same week that I watched this episode, and even took notes, but when the time came to prepare the recipe I couldn't find my notes and didn't remember some of the steps and tips. Here are the things I learned from making this recipe (a lot of meatball-making tips!):

- The most important thing is to be sure to use fresh - raw - sausage. The comments section of the online recipe is filled with tales of meatball woes, and many of the people used the fully cooked sausages, which do not work with this recipe. If you want to use those cooked sausages, just slice them and add them to the soup (you will save the meatball-making hassle, but the flavor will suffer a bit, imo).

- I couldn't find raw chicken apple sausage (the flavor Tyler used), so I purchased chicken Italian sausage - which was fine b/c of the tortellini and parmesan gave it a slight Italian flavor. (Shredded basil could be added to the soup at the end to further empasize the Italian aspect.) I found the sausage at Whole Foods, used 5 links, .8 lb total, and removed the casings.

- I don't think it would be very difficult to start with ground chicken and add some spices to make homemade bulk sausage.

- There's a mysterious lack of direction in the recipe. You use half the garlic for the broth part and then it doesn't say what you do with the other half. I put it in with the meat.

- I thought the food processor was unnecessary for the meatballs - and I just hate washing it when I don't need to use it! In fact, as the recipe is written, the mixture ends up overprocessed by the time the parsley is chopped. The next time I would either: 1. chop the parsley and mix the meatballs by hand instead of in the fp. Or 2. put the onions and parsley in, process, then add the other ingredients just to incorporate.

- Because the meatball mixture was kind of wet I added some panko crumbs. Crumbled bread would work also.

- I took Tyler's tip to use a 1 tsp disher to form the meatballs. (When I make my bigger meatballs for spaghetti, I roll them between my palms. This mixture was a lot wetter than meatballs I usually make.)

- These meatballs were so small that I couldn't give them the six-sided dice browning treatment. Instead, it was more like browning on 5 or even 4 sides. They went into the frying pan as adorable little balls and came out with funny angles and flat places.

- I used a 9 oz pkg of Whole Wheat Tortellini from Monterey Pasta Company, in Classic Italian Cheese flavor. This is my favorite brand of the pre-made pastas - it comes in a refrigerator case but I when I buy it I always throw it right in my freezer until I'm ready to use it. I always have a couple of packages of these in the freezer for those "desperation dinners!"

- Half the broth was my homemade turkey stock. Because my stock was so strong, I didn't want to use it for all the soup's liquid. I filled in with purchased chicken broth.

- I added "hot salt" (a salt blended with hot red peppers) to the broth and the meat mixture. I also added ground black pepper, which is not in the recipe.

- Tyler served this soup with grilled cheese sandwiches and brownies for lunch. Whoa, that's a lot of food for lunch! We enjoyed the soup with a salad and bread for dinner.

the verdict:

This was tasty soup! Making and browning the meatballs was a bit of a bother, but luckily we got enough servings out of the soup to make more than two dinners for the two of us. To be honest, a good part of the great flavor was from the homemade turkey stock I used.

My biggest beef with this "ultimate" chicken noodle soup is that your really can't call it that. It isn't chicken noodle - not from the perspective of the chicken or the noodles. It is, however, a really good soup that features meatballs and tortellini - and "ultimately" that's a good thing.

I'm submitting this to to Tyler Florence Fridays, a group devoted to exploring Tyler's recipes on a weekly basis. Stop by and see what the Tyleristas are cooking up!

Penne with Vodka Cream Sauce

This recipe for Penne with Vodka Cream Sauce, sporting just 1/4 cup of cream, stopped me in my in my tracks when I came across it in Cooking Light's 20th Anniversary Issue. Cooking Light featured this recipe to illustrate two basic healthy eating principles:

"All foods have a place in a healthful diet" (ie, cream doesn't need to be a pariah), and

"Embellish convenience products with fresh ones" (fresh basil livens up the canned tomatoes that form the base of this sauce.)

n.o.e.'s notes:

This recipe was straightforward and fairly quick.

The only problem I have with Cooking Light recipes is that the stated portion sizes are pretty small (1 cup of the finished pasta/serving in this case). Depending on whether this will be a main course or a side dish, keep in mind that the recipe calls for just 1/2 pound of pasta, and yields 4 cups.

the verdict:

The recipe is quick and easy, and oh, so delicious! I can't believe I've never tasted this sauce before, but from now on it will have a firm place in the pasta recipe rotation at our house.


I'm submitting this post to the Preso Pasta Night's gala 100th roundup. That's a lot of fantastic pasta, folks. Stop by and browse the roundups - you're guaranteed to find a recipe you just can't live without. Congratulations, Ruth and all of the PPN regulars, for a consistently bringing us all of that delectable pasta week after week!

Pasta All'Aglio e Olio

I've made this classic Roman dish, many times, from different cooks' recipes (but really, this is a simple pasta, so there's not a whole lot of difference how it's done). This time I thought I'd try Mark Bittman's Linguine with Garlic and Oil, from his book How to Cook Everything (a Christmas gift), and use his Fresh Herb variation. Here's his recipe which includes some of the variations, but not the one I chose, so here's the Fresh Herb variation: (from the book)

[you skip the parsley in the basic recipe, and] "When the garlic is done, toss in a mixture of 1 cup or more fresh herbs, whatever you have on hand.... The mixture will absorb all the oil, so, ... when you toss it with the pasta, be sure to add more oil or some of the pasta-cooking water. Garnish with more chopped herbs."

cook's notes:

- My olive oil of choice for this dish was a nice Spanish (shh!) one.

- I threw in a generous shake of hot pepper flakes. We love our food good and spicy. You can add as much or as little as you'd like.

- I chopped a scant cup of: basil, sage, oregano and thyme. About half was basil, with a tablespoon or so of each of the others. I didn't have time to chop any more herbs or I would have used a bit more, and would have saved some for garnish.

- My pasta was done just a few minutes before my oil+herbs so I stirred in some olive oil and some of the pasta water.

- Just before tossing the pasta into the oil and herbs, I added in some pre-toasted pine nuts (I keep these in my freezer). I contemplated adding some bacon lardons (I also keep these in my freezer) but decided that would be overkill. If you add untoasted pine nuts, put them in the pan and toast them before cooking the garlic.

- This recipe works with any pasta shape. I had some that I was dying to use, and this recipe was a perfect vehicle for it.

the verdict:

This was a really good weeknight dinner for us, combined with an arugula, tomato and parmesan salad. It would have been good with even more herbs, but I ran out of time to strip and chop them. The pine nuts were a great addition and the bacon a good omission.

Since blog cooking roundups seem to work for me, I'm going to try something new, and submit this dish to Presto Pasta Nights. This week's host is Ivy of Kopiaste. I've got to thank the creator of PPN, Ruth of Once Upon a Feast, who makes it all happen! To see some fantastic pasta dishes, hop over to Ivy's blog on Friday and view this week's Roundup.

Pasta + Bacon = Heaven on a plate

Food blogging has its positives and negatives. On the plus side, we're eating a whole lot more variety, as I either stumble across new recipes or research new ways to cook what I have on hand. The baking has been a challenge, because I just don't need that many sweets. So I've made a deal with myself: if I work out 4+ times in the preceding week, I can bake my TWD challenge. Then I can justify, somewhat, the extra sweets that creep my way.

I typically watch the Food Network when I'm at the gym. Actually I never watch it any other time. Anyway, one lucky Friday I managed to catch Guy's Big Bite (and the beginning of Tyler's Ultimate). It was the "Oak Town Squawk" episode, and Guy was making a chicken dish and a pasta side dish. Well, the chicken sounded pretty good, but that pasta really got my full attention. It had a tomato/bacon sauce. Now if that's not my idea of nirvana, I don't know what would be. It's the perfect type of main course for us, and it has bacon, so I immediately put it on the "urgent" list. Bacon gets to automatically cut to the beginning of the line.

cook's notes

- It's nice to watch the chef make the food and then check online for the recipe and read reviews of, oh, 39+ other people who have cooked this before me.

- I gave my husband the choice of pasta and he picked whole wheat linguine. The sauce has enough heft to hold its own with a whole grain pasta. Spinach pasta could also be good.

- I used 8 oz of Benton's bacon. It is a strong slowly-smoky-cured bacon , and I figured that would be enough (plus, that's all I had in the freezer). It would have been fine with a few more ounces, but a full pound would have totally overpowered the sauce. With regular bacon, I'd say 10-12 oz would be great.

- I drained my tomatoes, and reserved the juice in case I needed to add it back in later. As it turns out, the tomatoes were still really juicy. In fact when I added the red wine, there was nothing to "deglaze" = it just joined the tomato juice in the pan. I turned up the heat a bit and reduced it. Of course that also cooked the tomatoes a bit more than I'd have liked.

- If you're concerned about the red pepper flakes, what Guy did was keep them in one edge of the pan while everything was cooking. This infuses the oil with some of the heat of the peppers. Then you could remove them when you add the tomatoes or the wine. We like spicy food so I didn't worry about the pepper flakes.

- add the pasta to the sauce slowly, stopping when the right proportion of sauce/noodle is reached. Mine actually had more sauce than the pictures show.

the verdict:

- Guy Fieri is my new hero! This is possibly the best pasta I've ever put on the table. The funny thing is that it's very similar to sauces that I whip up all the time: garlic, onion, olive oil, wine, tomatoes. A quick saute, toss with basil and cheese, and there's dinner. But the BACON takes it to the veritable heights of pasta perfection.

- The red pepper flakes gave this some heat but they didn't stand out.

- My pictures don't begin to do this dish justice. It had a lot more sauce/pasta

- I served this with arugula salad, with freshly picked arugula from our garden!

Bacon and Tomato Pasta

Ingredients
2 tablespoons kosher salt
16 ounces spaghetti pasta I used whole wheat linguine
1 pound thick-cut bacon or pancetta, chopped (or less) - I used 8 oz Benton bacon lardons
3 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup red onion, diced
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
3 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 cups Roma tomatoes, diced, (he said more will make it saucier. I used 3 cups fresh slicing tomatoes, diced, and drained)
¼ cup red wine he used cab. sauv, I used shiraz
4 tablespoons basil, chiffonade
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan I used asiago
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
1. In a large stock pot, boil 3 quarts of water, when boiling add 2 tablespoons kosher salt and the pasta and cook until the pasta is al dente.
2. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, add bacon and sauté until bacon is crispy. Remove bacon to drain on a paper towel-lined plate and remove 3/4 of the bacon fat from the pan. Add extra-virgin olive oil, onions, and red chili flakes. Cook until onions are translucent, add garlic, cook for 2 minutes then add tomatoes. Sauté for 5 minutes, then deglaze with wine.
3. Drain pasta and add to the tomato mixture pan. Add basil and bacon. Toss with Parmesan, and add salt and pepper, to taste.

I know that Ambrosia is supposed to be THE food of the gods. But if I were in charge of the gods' menu, I'd make it something savory. And this recipe might just be what I'd feed them!

Here's another pasta + bacon recipe that I've wanted to try:
Pasta with Tomato Broth, Bacon, Peas and Ricotta, adapted from the Little Owl

Mac n Cheese for the masses

I have a small breather now, in which I plan to:

1. take a nap

2. bake kugelhopf for this week's TWD

If I had sense, I'd take the nap while the dough was rising, but I'm just too tired.

One thing that was keeping me busy:

Cooking macaroni and cheese for 20, for a party at my house last evening.

I used my recipe (which I posted at the end of this post)

I tripled the recipe, which I prepared in two batches.

My rule:

Whenever I make mac n cheese, I have to make a pan to give away. This time I made some with gluten free pasta to give to my good friend and neighbor who is having an extremely stressful time right now.

The best part:

There was so much other good food (which I did not have to cook) that I ended up with lots of leftovers. Some for the freezer and more to give away!

Night, night...

{Cooking Light Night} Pasta with Prosciutto and Parmesan

I was paging through my September 2007 Cooking Light Magazine and ran across this recipe for Cavatappi with Prosciutto and Parmesan. It was cited in the magazine as an example of the principle to "seek quality ingredients." Sounds like a good idea to me. The recipe uses small quantities of a few ingredients, so it's not too difficult to bust out the best olive oil in the pantry.

cook's notes

This recipe came together quickly - everything can be assembled in the time it takes for the pasta to cook.

- There was no cavatappi in my pasta drawer, but I happened to have exactly half a pound of Montebello organic Conchiglie that I'd picked up at Cost Plus World Market last week.

- I bought about half a pound of Bora proscuitto, sliced thin but not shaved. I trimmed the bands of fat, and then cut the remaining meat into medium/small pieces. I froze my extra meat in 1 oz packages for future use.

- The parmesan is easy to shave with a vegetable peeler.

- To save time later, you can freeze chopped italian parsley, and measure it straight from the freezer.

- It pays to use as high quality ingredients as you can for this dish, and it's fairly economical to do so because you use so little of each ingredient.

- If you wanted to make this vegetarian, you could probably substitute sliced sun dried tomatoes or black olives or sauteed mushrooms for the prosciutto.

- I was tempted to toss in some spinach or arugula (or even chard) at the end and let it wilt on top of the pasta, but I recently learned that my husband doesn't like greens mixed into his savory food. A side dish of cooked greens is his idea of heaven, and he loves salad (eating a mixing-bowl full every night at dinner) but doesn't like them in pastas or soups. Hmm, I learn something new about this man even after 27 years of marriage!

- This recipe says it makes four 1-cup servings, which imo is not enough for a full dinner. For us it served 2 as a dinner main course. My plate is pictured above, and my husband's had about 30% more. A big salad accompanied the pasta.

the verdict

This was a perfect quick weeknight supper. The simplicity of the recipe really allowed the ingredients to shine. It was a great vehicle for the "good" olive oil. And the prosciutto really added a special touch. The flavor combination is reminiscent of a pasta carbonara, but without the high calories from the egg and/or cream. We loved it so much that I will make it regularly.

btw, thanks again to CB of I Heart Food4Thought for giving permission to use her "Cooking Light Night" logo. I haven't yet been disappointed by a CL recipe!

Macaroni and Cheese, Aged and Saged

If I can be said to have a "signature" dish, it would be my macaroni and cheese. I started with the basic Mueller's recipe and have altered it over the years. The resulting dish is cheesy near-perfection. I cook it for practically every family gathering, and it's loved by adults and children alike.

So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I decided to try a different pasta + cheese recipe. But my love affair with Benton bacon lardons, and my little patch of sage outside the front door made me sit up and take notice of two recipes:

1) Delia's Penne with Leeks and Bacon and
2) Classic Macaroni and Cheese with Smoked Bacon, Aged Cheddar, and Fresh Sage on the Food Network's site

After reading both recipes numerous times, I finally chose the Food Network one. Honestly, I should have just flipped a coin and saved myself some time. I made a few changes to the recipe and have a few more things that I'd change next time. My version of the recipe is at the end of this post.

I served the macaroni with steamed rattlesnake green beans from my weekly box o' produce.

cook's notes

I...

- used fully precooked Benton bacon lardons. 2.5 oz (cooked weight) was the perfect amount in this recipe. That should work for any strongly-flavored bacon. For more mild bacon, 4-5 oz cooked would be about right.

- sauteed the onion in a tiny bit of olive oil, and added the bacon with the garlic.

- used 1 can of evaporated skim milk + enough skim milk to make 4 c. total

- used two different cheddars (because I didn't have enough of one kind in my fridge.) Half was Palatine sharp cheddar, a local cheddar that I brought back from Central New York, and half Seaside Cheddar, an aged cheese from England that I bought at Whole Foods. These were both very flavorful sharp cheeses.

- liked the vidalias in this dish. If they are not available, use another sweet variety of onion (walla walla, etc.) or leeks.

- used deep-ish 2 qt casserole dish and didn't need all of the cheese that the recipe calls for on top.

recommendations for next time
There are some easy ways to further reduce the hefty fat content of this dish:

- First prepare the sauce and set it aside briefly while the pasta is cooking.

- Drain the pasta and put it directly into the sauce. This cuts down on the olive oil/greasiness of the finished finished dish.

- Reduce the cheese by 1/3:
- - Put 2/3 cup cheddar and 2/3 cup parmesan in the topping, (just enough for a thin layer across the top of a deep 2 qt casserole.) This recipe would also work with some bread crumbs on top.
- - For the sauce, use about 9-10 oz. of shredded cheddar

I'd also double the sage and eliminate the Italian parsley

the verdict
the flavor of this macaroni and cheese was perfect. Well, the onion, bacon, and cheese were perfect. I wasn't able to taste the sage as much as I'd like. The sauce was a tiny bit oily. The olive oil can be reduced significantly, which I've reflected in the notes and the recipe below. That should help a lot.

My husband liked this better than my regular mac n cheese! With the onion/sage/bacon flavors, I don't think this would be as kid-friendly, however.

Here's the recipe as I'd make it next time:

Classic Macaroni and Cheese with Smoked Bacon, Aged Cheddar and Fresh Sage
(Derek Wagner, edited by Nancy E)

Ingredients

• 2.5 ounces cooked chopped strongly flavored smoked bacon, or 4 ounces cooked regular bacon, chopped
• Salt
• 1 pound dried pasta (elbow macaroni, small shells or orecchiette)
  
• Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed
• 1 cup finely diced Vidalia onion
• 2 tablespoons fresh minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 can evaporated skim milk + skimmed milk to total 4 cups
  
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 9-10 ounces grated aged sharp Cheddar, and 3-4 ounces grated Parmesan
  
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheese: Cheddar and Parmesan (for topping)
  
• Kosher salt
• Cracked black pepper
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh sage leaves, plus leaves for garnish
• 0-1 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley, plus leaves for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 2 quart deep baking dish (or smaller individual dishes).

2. In a saucepan, on medium-high heat, saute onion with a light amount of olive oil until translucent.

3. Add the onion and cook until translucent then add the garlic and cooked bacon.

4. Dust with flour, whisk in milk, cream, nutmeg, and mustard powder. Bring to simmer stirring constantly for several minutes.

5. Whisk in 4 cups of Cheddar and half a cup of Parmesan. Stir until all the cheese is melted. Adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Reserve.

6. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook elbow macaroni until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain.

7. Fold the pasta, sage and parsley into the reserved cheese sauce.

8. Place into baking dish. Top with remaining cheeses, place dish on baking tray, and place in the oven.

9. Bake until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool about 5 minutes, garnish with parsley and sage leaves and serve!

{update: I'm posting my usual mac n cheese recipe below. It's not too different from the one above, but the sage, bacon, and onion of the other one makes it more 'grown up.' Also, one uses flour and the other cornstarch to thicken the sauce.}

Some of my favorite little people enjoying the mac n cheese at a party at our house several years ago.

Nancy's Macaroni and Cheese

16 oz small pasta shells, cooked al dente (approximately 10 minutes) or other pasta shape such as elbows
4 T. corn starch
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/8 tsp. ground white pepper
dash nutmeg
dash cayenne pepper
5 cups milk (combine 2% and evaporated skim milk)
4 T. butter
16 oz. (4 cups) shredded cheese (combine gruyere, sharp white cheddar, mild cheddar, jack)
1 oz. (1/4 c.) grated Parmesan cheese

1. In large saucepan, combine dry ingredients.

2. Stir in milk and whisk until smooth.

3. Add butter.

4. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly to avoid scorching.

5. Boil sauce 1 minute, then remove from heat.

6. Reserve ½ cup cheese for topping, and stir remaining cheese into sauce until melted.

7. Add shells to cheese sauce and turn into greased 3 quart casserole.

8. Sprinkle with reserved cheese and extra parmesan.

9. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 25 minutes, or until hot and bubble with crust on top.

note: this recipe is wonderful to give away, as either a main dish or a side. At home we always serve it as a main with salad and a veggie.

Of Pesto and Pestles

My basil plants have done very well this year, so I've made multiple batches of pesto for the freezer.

Pesto is just about the easiest thing to make. If you have a food processor, that is. Although I was at the gym recently, watching the Food Channel*, and saw an Italian guy make some amazing-looking pesto by hand with a HUGE mortar and pestle. It went quickly for him, but it would have taken me all day to get that stuff ground. Bopping around the internet, I learned that chopping is considered an inferior way of making pesto. Apparently the flavors only release properly when the basil leaves are crushed - in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle no less - rather than cut, as happens in a food processor. (see references here, here, and here)

Sigh. I am so not a foodie. I like my food processor pesto. And it's easy.

I used a mini processor for years, working in small batches if I were making a lot of pesto. The full-size food processor made a whole batch in seconds. Literally.

Here's my recipe, although it's fairly standard:

Basil Pesto
3 medium garlic cloves
1/3 cup pine nuts
1 tsp salt
2 cups of packed basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup shredded or grated parmesan cheese

1. Process the garlic, pine nuts and salt until roughly chopped.
2. Add the basil and process until chopped but not totally smooth
3. Add the olive oil and process until incorporated.
4. Add the cheese and process briefly.

note: If you are freezing the pesto, omit the cheese, and add it later when you are getting ready to serve. I've read that the cheese doesn't freeze as well as the other ingredients. I always add a reminder on the freezer package, or I would forget all about adding the cheese when I take it out of the freezer.


Here's the pesto, with the cheese added, all ready to be tossed with pasta:


*I know I can't be the only one who watches the Food Channel while exercising on the elliptical machine. It does get a little surreal when Paula Deen is on...

Make it Quick: 5 Minute Tomato Sauce

I love a good tomato sauce on pasta. The simpler the better. Earlier this year, I tried Delia Smith's sauce, made from fresh tomatoes. It is easy and delicious, but takes a lot of stove top simmering until it is done. A perfect cold weather recipe.

Cookbook author Heidi Swanson, of the vegetarian recipe blog 101 Cookbooks, makes some extravagant claims about the superiority of this recipe for tomato sauce. Not only that, she asserts that it can be thrown together in 5 minutes' time.

Cooking Notes:
1. My crushed tomatoes, Hunt's Organic, were more of a puree in consistency. I would have preferred a less smooth texture.
2. I had a hard time getting the olive oil to incorporate with the tomato.
3. I used the zest from a very small lemon, and it was enough.
4. My sauce had a generous measuring of red pepper flakes, probably closer to 2 tsp., and had quite a kick.
5. The recipe is very quick; with the measuring and chopping, I'd say it took me 10-12 minutes. Can be made while the pasta water is coming to a boil.
6. I'd recommend that you zest your lemon away from the sauce pan. If you drop the lemon in the sauce while zesting, the sauce will splatter all over your kitchen. Trust me on this one.

The Verdict:

This was a fantastic addition to my busy-day-dinner repertoire. I served it plain, over whole wheat spaghetti, with an arugula and parmesan salad and hot crusty Tuscan bread. My husband gives the sauce a 9 out of 10. I agree. Next time I will use crushed tomatoes with a more rustic texture.

I've frozen the remainder for future uses. mmm, food in the freezer is like money in the bank!

I can see why Heidi says this sauce "is the little black dress of my cooking repertoire." I will make it again and again, but I'm not sure it will completely supplant Delia's sauce (or my mother's tomato sauce recipe, for that matter). Also, I want to try Chez Pim's 15-Minute Tomato Sauce.

more of Delia's pasta

In the summer we love eating light dishes made from fresh ingredients (especially with all of the baking we've been doing). Delia's recipe-of-the-day yesterday was Lemon Pasta with Herbs and Cracked Pepper . I was intrigued by the combination of lemon with mint and basil - and arugula (I'm obsessed with arugula) - so when I was out running errands I picked up the things I needed to make it for dinner last evening. I topped the hot pasta with toasted pine nuts, and served it with crusty bread and a salad. Dessert was a fruit galette (more about that at a later date!)

The Verdict:
We loved this pasta. It was very refreshing. It looks like pesto but is lighter and has a bit of a bite from the herbs and the lemon. The flavors were balanced, but we could see that any one of the flavors could dominate if too much were added. The recipe is super-easy and can be eaten hot or cold, according to Delia.

I say "tomato"

After making gazpacho, we still had tons of very ripe tomatoes on our countertop. Time for Delia Smith's Classic Fresh Tomato Sauce! We have plenty of basil, so with just some onion and garlic we were all set.

This sauce is very easy, you just let the ingredients simmer on the stovetop for a couple of hours until "jamlike." I got mine almost as thick as Delia's, but then it thinned out a bit when the remaining uncooked tomatoes are added in at the end.


The Verdict:
This sauce is wonderful and will be my "go to" recipe when I have an excess of tomatoes. The flavor is very concentrated but still fresh. Much brighter than anything I've had from a jar, and I've had some delicious specialty jarred sauce.


Food in the freezer is like money in the bank!

Here's the recipe, with some of my notes:

Delia's Classic Fresh Tomato Sauce

ingredients:
2 lb 8 oz (1.15 kg) fresh, red, ripe tomatoes (around 12 plum tomatoes)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion weighing about 4 oz (110 g), peeled and finely chopped
1 fat clove garlic, peeled and crushed
approximately 12 large leaves fresh basil
a little Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano), to serve
salt and freshly milled black pepper

directions:

1. First skin the tomatoes. To do this, pour boiling water over them and leave them for exactly 1 minute or, if the tomatoes are small, 15-30 seconds, before draining and slipping off their skins (protect your hands with a cloth if they are too hot).

2. Now reserve 3 of the tomatoes (around 10 oz) for later and roughly chop the rest.

3. Next heat the oil in a medium saucepan, then add the onion and garlic and let them gently cook for 5-6 minutes, until they are softened and pale gold in colour. Now add the chopped tomatoes with about a third of the basil, torn into pieces. Add some salt and freshly milled black pepper, then all you do is let the tomatoes simmer on a very low heat, without a lid, for approximately 1½ hours or until almost all the liquid has evaporated and the tomatoes are reduced to a thick, jam-like consistency, stirring now and then.

4. Roughly chop the reserved fresh tomatoes and stir them in, along with the rest of the torn basil leaves, and serve on pasta with a hint of Parmesan – not too much, though, because it will detract from the wonderful tomato flavour.

5. When serving this sauce, it is a good idea to give the pasta 1 minute less cooking time than you usually would, then return it to the saucepan after draining and give 1 more minute while you mix in the sauce.