caprese pasta

i’m not trying to sound like i invented the wheel here, because there is nothing more traditional that the combination of tomatoes, mozzarella, garlic and a green (lettuce, basil, etc). that said, there may also be nothing more delicious. as common as it is, i never get tired of it.

for this more fall-ish version of the summer classic, i roasted cherry tomatoes with garlic and olive oil, and wilted a bunch of arugula with it. (you could easily use baby spinach instead.)

crazy how much the arugula cooks down, huh!? so make sure you start out with much more than you think is necessary.

while the arugula is doing it’s thing, boil your pasta – i used whole wheat linguini

and cube up a generous amount of fresh mozzarella. add it to your serving bowl.

when the pasta is done and drained, quickly pour it over the cheese and mix with tongs to get some melty action going on.

then add your vegetables and mix well. if i had had any fresh basil, i would have torn some over the top, but the dish was certainly not ruined without it.

the tastes of summer in a cool-weather comfort food!

ultimate stuffed shells

you know that show tyler’s ultimate where tyler florence adds a ton of butter to everyday foods to make them taste better? well this is icf’s ultimate stuffed shells. except without the butter.

start with a lot of garlic – 4 cloves – because there are going to be lots of strong flavors, so you need each to shine through. heat it in olive oil over medium heat in a good-sized pot.

then i added coarsely chopped button mushrooms (remember never to wash mushrooms! wipe dirt off them with a damp cloth) – coarsely chopped because they will cook down and you still want them to have some substance – and onion.

and coarsely chopped black kale (from the box, bien sur).

i sauteed all this until the mushrooms were soft and the kale turned bright in color (this is when you know kale is done if you don’t want your kale overcooked).

i let this mixture cool while i started my pasta water and made sure my shells were mostly unbroken.

(using one of my fave techniques, i tossed the green beans i was going to serve on the side in with the pasta for the last 3 or so minutes.)

do remember to NOT cook your pasta all the way! it will finish cooking in the oven and you don’t want your shells to just dissolve away.

while the pasta was cooking, i mixed about half a carton of ricotta cheese into the vegetable mixture. season to taste with salt and pepper.

when the shells (and green beans) were done and (barely) cool enough to handle, i filled each with a spoonful of ricotta mixture and arranged them in a baking dish. (before starting to stuff i recommend preheating your oven to 375 degrees.)

once the shells were stuffed, i topped them with at least a cup of jarred tomato sauce (by all means, use homemade if you have it!)

thinly sliced fresh mozzarella (because i had some around and it wasn’t going to last another day)

and some seasoned bread crumbs (panko would work great here if you have it) mixed with grated parmesan cheese. this was designed to create a nice crispy crust.

don’t feel like you have to have all the fillings or cheeses i used. the point of this is to be creative with what you have around.

bake until the sauce bubbles, the cheese melts and/or the top gets brown and crispy. i didn’t do this (because i didn’t have any) but i recommend covering the dish with tin foil for the first 30 minutes or so, and then taking it off to brown the top.

how good does this look?

fyi, i timed the process so i could let you know how long it took in total – just over one hour from start to tummy. i did lose a little time, though – trying to limit my dirty dishes, after cooking the mushrooms and kale, i washed the pot and boiled my pasta water in it. if i had done the pasta at the same time as the veggies in two pots, it would have saved me about 20 minutes.

best roasted potatoes

this is a twist on several classics that i picked up over at tasty kitchen. and i mean, who doesn’t love roasted potatoes, roasted garlic and white wine, right? seems like a no brainer.

start by cutting potatoes into bite sizes. ree used new potatoes, but i used good old baking potatoes. i’m sure yukon golds would rock, too, but we use what we have around, right? also slice the tops off several heads (HEADS. not cloves!) of garlic and i added a few shallots as well.

sprinkle with salt, pepper and (my addition) dried rosemary and drizzle with olive oil. make sure you get oil all down in the garlic.

then – and this is the brilliant part – add about a 1/3 of a cup of… white wine!

cover your pan tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.

then take off the foil and bake another 15-20 minutes at 450 degrees to brown everything.

brilliant, right? wine-steamed and roasted potatoes and garlic. this should be its own food group.

we garnished with chopped parsley and some grated parm since there was some lying around. i also ate mine on a bed of lettuce. not being irish, i had to ease the guilt of having JUST POTATOES for dinner somehow…

carrot pasta

and yes, i do mean “carrot pasta,” and not “pasta with carrot sauce.”

the other night i was craving pasta for dinner, probably because i had just enough leftover tomato-vodka sauce… (seriously, i could eat that stuff on a shingle) but i had eaten like crap all day (don’t judge) so a big bowl of pasta – although appetizing – wasn’t feeling like the right decision.

rummaging around the fridge, i remembered i had a bag of tri-colored baby organic carrots (from the box) that i hadn’t figured out what to do with yet, either.

so i started peeling them…

and kept peeling them…

pretty, no? (unfortunately, like many pretty and unusual-colored veggies, red carrots are only red skin-deep.) and rather pasta-looking…

into a sauce pan they went with a little bit of olive oil and a little bit (i mean like maybe a tablespoon) of water. i wasn’t sure if i wanted oil or water, so i went with both! probably didn’t need the oil…

i cooked them until they were al dente – NOT soft and squishy. ick – and poured over that vodka sauce.

you see what i mean? carrot pasta!

okay, so not exactly the same thing as a real bowl of pasta, but i found it highly satisfying, especially because it felt so healthy. you can even twirl it around your fork! and no side salad needed.

tuna casserole pasta

reading icf, you might think i’m in love with broccoli. i’m not. i’m just drowning in it.

since i’m never making cream of broccoli soup again, tonight we’re trying a different route: tuna casserole pasta. my mom never actually made this classic potluck dish, but if yours did, i’m sorry if this desecrates the memory. i leave off the potato chip crust. so sue me.

i cut my broccoli into small pieces and started water boiling. (i was making two servings because i wanted leftovers for lunch. two servings worked well with the ratio of one can of tuna. i started with probably a cup and a half of broccoli florets.)

the pasta i had on hand was whole wheat elbow macaroni (about a cup?), which takes 7 minutes to cook al dente.

once it had been in for about 6 minutes i added the broccoli and blanched it while the pasta finished.

drain broccoli together but save some pasta water – about half a cup is plenty. pasta water is my secret weapon for thickening pasta sauce. works every time.

in a serving bowl, i added 1/3 cup grated ramano and parmesan mix to the broccoli/pasta and a can of tuna (drained, but not bone dry. also a note on tuna, i like the kind packed in oil, but that’s just me).

the point here is for the wetish ingredients to make a “sauce” with the grated cheese. it takes more cheese than just your average sprinkle on top, and if you need more liquid, add some of the pasta water.

SUPER fast. healthy. delish. retro. and not soup…!

cream of ice box calzones

boy was i in bad spot the other night. i was in charge of dinner for both of us (read: no cold cereal), but i was literally out of everything. except a 99-cent trader joe’s pizza crust! and some leftover ground turkey! hooray! pizza is easy and healthy (-ish. when i make it.)

unless you don’t have sauce. or enough cheese. oops.

literally, i had less than a cup of marinera sauce, and about as much cheese. (so little, this bottle actually looks empty…)

rummaging, i found the end of a jar (about a quarter cup) of trader joe’s roasted red pepper and artichoke tapenade. (this is pantry staple for me. dip it, spread it, top pasta with it, eat it with a spoon…)

all into a bowl together… uh oh. still not enough to even cover the pizza.

at this point, i had a hungry man breathing down my neck, so i had to think fast.

mini calzones?! (i had seen giada do something like this, although granted, hers were a little more sophisticated and premeditated.)

i separated the little cheese i had between the four, pinched the edges together, and brushed the tops with olive oil and a little grated parm. (i should say “grated parm rind” because it was really the end of the block.)

bake like a pizza – at 450 degrees for about 13 minutes or until the outside browns. (since the turkey was precooked, i just had to get it hot and the cheese melty.)

i honestly didn’t know what to expect, but…

now tell me – what’s wrong with that dinner?! (and after he had two, i still had one leftover for lunch! always the sign of a successful meal at my house.)

turkey and mushroom cream sauce

start by wiping your mushrooms with a damp paper towel. (never, ever wash mushrooms. they will just soak up the water and that ruins them!)

i used 2 portobello caps, but any kind will do. about a cup/cup and a half, sliced.

brown your mushies in a large skillet with a tablespoon each of butter and olive oil, salt and pepper. remove.

then brown half an onion, chopped, and two cloves of garlic, minced, in olive oil in the same skillet.

add ground turkey, season and cook until almost done.

drain the fat and return to skillet to brown.

deglaze your pan with a splash or two of red wine. (the wine unsticks the yummy browned bits that stick to the pan.)

remove the turkey and start your pasta water. when it’s boiling, add salt and pasta. i used pappardelle.

make a roux of three tablespoons of milk and flour in the same skillet, now with the heat turned to low. once you have cooked away the flour flavor (5ish mins), add a little more milk and a scoop of starchy pasta water. this is a trick that will help your sauce stick to the pasta.

now add your seasonings – i used dried thyme, a hint of nutmeg and salt and pepper – and your meat and mushrooms back to the skillet. drain the pasta and add to the skillet. mix well.

toss to coat well and serve with shaved parm.

this light and creamy sauce can be recreated with infinite variations when you get the basic idea.

i served it with a pear salad also with parmesan shavings (use a veggie pealer) and a balsamic drizzle.

drunken raisin and oatmeal pancakes

when i’m home alone, i usually treat myself to my favorite thing – breakfast for dinner. sometimes that means a bowl of cereal, but this particular night i was feeling rather lush (it was a thursday, bien sur!), so breakfast for dinner meant drunken raisin and oatmeal pancakes.

start by getting your raisins drunk. put them in a bowl and cover them with grand marnier or similar. let them plump while you make the rest of the batter – or as long as you can. (you are also welcome to get drunk along with them. wouldn’t want them to feel lonely. or like alcoholics, drinking alone.)

[a note about golden raisins: if you don’t like regular raisins, give golden raisins a try before you write off raisins all together. they are more tender, less chewy and have a sweeter, more delicate flavor.]

for another recipe, i had bought a box of bisquick, so i quartered the pancake recipe to make just four pancakes. (yes, this meant splitting an egg. difficult, but doable. crack egg into bowl and beat very well, then spoon it into two more bowls, alternating, so you get roughly half an egg in both. this is not fail-safe, but generally works well enough for these purposes.)

next i added the raisins (and their grand marnier) to the batter, along with a cup of oatmeal. (doesn’t the oatmeal dry out the batter, you ask? indeed. hence the half-cup of booze.)

cooked ’em up in my cast iron pan

and enjoyed with a little maple syrup. NEVER serve maple syrup cold from the fridge. it’s the little things, right?

who says dinner alone has to be boring?

dairy-free corn chowder

when i first saw this recipe (in a better homes and gardens no less…! i have adapted it a bit here) it sounded right up my alley, but when i read it through, i have to say i was skeptical.

start with four ears of corn, 32 oz of chicken broth and 2 lbs of chicken. i used the thin-cut breasts. then here comes the weird part:

put WHOLE corn, WHOLE chicken breasts and broth (plus some shakes of worchestershire and a bay leaf) in a pot and cook it all together. bring to a boil for about 8 minutes, or until your chicken is cooked.

then they want you to take the corn and chicken OUT. whoa!

it does sound odd, but cooking the chicken and the corn in the broth demonstrably makes them moist (in the case of the chicken) and flavorful.

next, cut the corn off the cob

and shred the chicken.

add both back to the broth (not whole anymore!) with half a small chopped green pepper

plus 1 and 1/4 cups instant mashed potatoes (sorry, mom!) and 1 cup water.

reheat, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve!

with sweet corn and crunchy, slightly bitter green pepper, over all, this is an easy, filling and flavorful soup that came together in less than 30 minutes (rachael would be so proud!).

and it’s creamy, too, from the potato flakes, but healthy since there is no milk, cream, butter or flour. also great for your lactose intolerant friends who may miss being able to eat chowder!

bruschetta

last time i was home visiting my mom, we decided to make bruschetta for dinner. she has the most lovely garden (in fact, it was a city garden contest winner in 2007!) and there’s nothing better on a summer evening than a light dinner and wine out there.

although people generally think of bruschetta as tomato-topped-toasted-bread, technically, bruschetta means “grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. variations may include toppings of spicy red pepper, tomato, vegetables, beans, cured meat, and/or cheese.” (there i go quoting wikipedia again…)

so, using this definition, bruschetta has got to be one of the easiest things to throw together for dinner or to feed guests. be creative!

as you see, we decided to make both a tomato version (arugula on the bottom, chopped yellow and red tomatoes and shaved parm on top) and a more unique anchovy-caper one – not for the feint of heart…!

start by toasting good (although day-old is certainly ok) italian bread. (who am i kidding?! i make bruschetta with any old white-ish bread i have lying around. honestly. enough garlic and you won’t know the difference!) then use the toast like a grater, rubbing a fresh clove of garlic all over it. drizzle with olive oil and top.

for our anchovy-caper topping, i started with anchovies, capers, a couple garlic cloves, a few pieces of fresh rosemary and cracked black pepper. (no salt, obviously, because of the saltiness of my other ingredients!)

and i used a big knife to chop it into a rough paste.

this makes for a very strong-flavored topping. i don’t think i could have eaten a whole dinner of it, but it paired very well with the sweet tomato bruschetta. and, of course, some white wine.