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Archive for the ‘Everyday Food’ Category

Shells with Ricotta Cauliflower, Chickpeas,+Ricotta-The Macaroni Marathon

Posted in Everyday Food, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , on February 25, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Shells with Roasted cauliflower, chickpeas, ricotta

Shells with Roasted cauliflower, chickpeas, ricotta

This vegetarian pasta dish has the added nutritional value of chickpeas, giving a protein punch to the meal.  Just simple ingredients which nestle nicely into a small curvaceous pasta shape.  In just under an hour, you can prepare the heart-warming and heart-healthy pasta.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup EV olive oil plus more for serving

1 head of cauliflower (about 2#) cut into florets

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

coarse salt and ground pepper

5 ounces crusty bread, cut into 1/2″ pieces (2 cups)

1 lb medium shells or campanelle

3 TBS chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup fresh ricotta Preheat oven to 425º, with racks in upper and lower thirds.  On a rimmed baking sheet, toss together, 2 TBS oil, cauliflower, and chickpeas; season with salt and pepper.  Arrange cauliflower, and chickpeas in a single layer and roast until cauliflower is tender and chickpeas are crunchy, 25 minutes.  On another rimmed baking sheet, arrange bread in a single layer and toast until golden and crisp. 10 minutes.

Meanwhile,in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente.  Drain pasta and return to pot.  Add cauliflower mixture, 2 TBS oil, and parsley.  Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine.  To serve, top with croutons and ricotta, then drizzle with oil.

Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food

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Pasta alla Genovese – The Macaroni Marathon

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Pasta alla Genovese

Pasta alla Genovese

The temperature at 8:00 am this morning was 8 degrees in Manhattan and baby that’s cold outside when you’re walking to work!  I’ve been posting a lot of vegetarian pasta recipes lately but today calls for a heartier dish.  It would make a delicious  meal this evening BUT only if you’re home from work early or are lucky enough to be home all day.  If that’s the case, this is more of weekend dish because of the amount of time required.  This recipe is decidedly different from some other versions I’ve come across.  Perhaps I’ll post another incarnation tomorrow.

INGREDIENTS:

4 1/4 lb. red onions

1/3 cup EV olive oil

2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

1 celery rib, trimmed and roughly chopped

1/4 lb bacon or pancetta

2 1/4 lb beef chuck, cut into 2 inch cubes

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup dry white wine, plus more if desired

1 lb pasta like ziti, rigatoni or tortiglioni

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Bring large pot of water to a boil.  Place the onions in the boiling water, and cook, covered, 15 minutes.  Drain the onions, and let cool a bit, then slice very thinly.

Heat half the oil in a large heavy pot (braising pan) over medium heat; stir in the carrots, celery and bacon, and cook 4 minutes.  Add the beef, then cover with the onions.  Pour the remaining oil over the onions, then sprinkle with 1 1/2 tsp salt and 3/4 tsp pepper.  cover, bring to a simmer and cook gently until the beef is tender, about 2 hours;  the onions will release a good deal of liquid.

Uncover the pot and bring to a boil.  Cook, stirring more frequently as the liquid reduces and lowering the heat as necessary to prevent scorching, until the meat has fallen apart and the sauce is creamy, about 45 minutes.  Stir in the white wine and taste, adding more wine if desired.  Reduce the heat to low, and continue to cook stirring frequently, until the sauce is glossy and quite thick, about 15 minutes more.

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, then drain and toss with the sauce.  Stir in Parmesan to taste, then serve.

Recipe by Mark Bittman NY Times

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Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and Arugula-THE MACARONI MARATHON

Posted in Everyday Food, Marthaspeak, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and Arugula

Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and Arugula

What could be more appropriate for this season than a pasta dish that uses ingredients that are fresh and readily available?  This is another quick dish to serve on a busy weekday evening.  And the ingredients are simple enough to find, I might even send the hubby to the store while I’m at work today and whip this up later!

INGREDIENTS:

2 pints grape tomatoes

4 garlic cloves, unpeeled

3 shallots, cut into eighths

2 TBS fresh thyme leaves

2 TBS EV olive oil

coarse salt and ground pepper

8 oz rigatoni pasta

1/3 cup pitted olives such as Niçoise, coarsely chopped

3 cups baby arugula or spinach

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 450º.  Place tomatoes, garlic, shallots and thyme on rimmed baking sheet.  Toss with oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast until tomatoes burst, shallots are browned and garlic is soft, 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile cook pasta in boiling salted water till al dente.  Reserve 1/4-1/2 cup pasta water.  Drain pasta and return to pot.

Peel roasted garlic and mash flat with knife.  Add to pasta pot along with vegetables, olives and pasta water.  Cook over medium-high until sauce thickens, about 3 minutes.  Let cool slightly, then toss in arugula

Recipe from Martha Stewart EveryDay Food

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SUNDAY SAUCE – THE MACARONI MARATHON

Posted in FAMILY & FRIENDS, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Sunday sauce

Sunday sauce (Photo credit: letouj)

This past weekend, I decided to make Sunday Sauce.  It is so tasty, so delicious and even though it takes a long time to cook down, it is well worth it.  Pick an afternoon you’ll be home and soon your home will be filled with the aroma of simmering tomato sauce.  I thought I could make it in my crock pot BUT my crock pot was not big enough.  Using a crock pot would make the whole process easier since you could just let it simmer away for hours.

I started with a large stockpot but then thought, “Oh why not use the crock pot?”   I filled the crock pot and still had a lot of sauce in the braising pan so now I had to make a decision;  I took half of the meat out of the crock pot and put it in the braising pan and cooked the sauce in both.  I tell you all this so you won’t make the same mistakes I made which made a fairly simple recipe into a complicated process.  Mangia!

SUNDAY SAUCE

(but you can call it Gravy!)

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1.5 lb of boneless country spare ribs ( I used bone-in)

6 links of Hot Italian Pork Sausage (I used Hot Poultry Sausage)

2 cups (16 oz) chopped onions

8 TBSP of minced garlic (from jar) OR 20 cloves minced

2 cans of tomato paste

4 cups of water

6 cans of coarsely ground Italian tomatoes

4 TBSP dried basil (I used 2 TBS and basil from my yard)

16 meatballs (cooked)

Salt and Pepper to taste

You’ll need a large braising pan and a 16 Qt stockpot

Heat olive oil in large braising pan on MEDIUM HIGH; add ribs and sausage.  Cook, turning 2-5 min, until meats are browned on all sides.  Transfer meats to stockpot.

Reduce heat to LOW.  Add onions and garlic to braising pan; cook, stirring, 10 minutes, until veggies are translucent.

Raise heat to MEDIUM; add tomato paste.  Cook, stirring, 3-4 minutes, until paste just begins to brown.  Add water, stirring to loosen browned bits on bottom of pan.  Bring to simmer.

Transfer tomato paste/water mixture to stockpot. Stir in canned tomatoes and basil.  Bring to simmer on MEDIUM.  Reduce heat to LOW.  Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 hours.  Add cooked meatballs.  Cook, stirring occasionally, 1 hour.

Carefully transfer meats to serving platter; cut meats into manageable pieces. Transfer sauce to serving bowl.

** Cutting the ingredients in half would make this sauce much more manageable to prepare.

Recipe from Wegman’s MENU magazine

I originally posted this blog in November 2013 but am giving it an encore performance because it is truly a STAR recipe and deserves the spotlight it was given back in the good old days when Sunday dinner was a heart-warming affair often at Nonni’s!!  Tradition!!!!

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Pasta with Vodka Sauce & Chicken-The Macaroni Marathon Marches On

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , on February 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Pasta with Vodka Sauce & Chicken

Pasta with Vodka Sauce & Chicken

Not every meal can be made with fresh ingredients, although probably our European counterparts might argue otherwise, especially the French.  But then again, this from a country where even ordinary people have 4 weeks vacation and probably don’t work till 6 or 7:00pm every night.  So since we Americans like to work so much, we have to compensate by making up the time somewhere else, like preparing the evening meal.  Of course here in NYC where people routinely work late, they just don’t bother to cook;  You can hardly find a kitchen in The City that doesn’t have a drawer, box or folder full of take-out menus!  Anyway, this recipe is for those times when getting dinner on the table quickly is a necessity.   Paired with some pan-steamed broccoli, this makes a lovely weeknight meal.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb penne rigate (or any lined pasta) cooked per pkg directions

1 24 oz jar of Vodka Sauce

1 TBS olive oil

1 pkg (2 breasts) of garlic marinated chicken breasts**

1 TBS basting oil*

1 TBS butter

4 tsp shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

* Basting oil (Wegman’s) can be made by adding garlic powder, thyme and parsley to canola oil

** Wegman’s sells the chicken breasts already marinated, you can do so the night before in some  olive oil, garlic, lemon juice.  Forget the fennel unless you have some.

DIRECTIONS:

Simmer sauce on low in small saucepan.

Heat olive oil in large pan on MEDIUM-HIGH, until oil fairly smokes;  add chicken. Turn over when chicken changes color one-quarter of way up and seared side has turned paper-bag brown, 3-4 minutes.  Reduce heat to MEDIUM; cook chicken 10-12 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 165°.

Add basting oil and butter to pan; swirl.  Baste chicken with spoon, 1-3 minutes. Transfer to clean platter. 

Toss pasta with warm sauce. Divide evenly on 6 plates, top with sliced chicken. Sprinkle with cheese before serving.  I used a platter (family style).

Recipe from Wegman’s Menu magazine

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Whole Wheat Pasta with Vegetables and Lemon The Macaroni Marathon Continues

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Martha Stewart Living 2005

Martha Stewart Living 2005

This is a versatile dish that is seasonless;  It is as good cold as a pasta salad as it is warm for a weeknight supper.  This is a great vegetarian pasta with some added health benefit from the whole wheat pasta.  I have to admit, I just can’t rave about whole wheat pasta, I don’t like it.  Maybe I have to force myself to eat it consistently and perhaps then I will appreciate its flavor.  Flavor? Hah, I don’t think it has much but then again I am a big fan of Barilla pasta.  So either follow the recipe to the letter or do I as often do, which is mix the whole wheat shells with regular shells – hey it only makes the dish more interesting!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup frozen shelled edamame

10 oz asparagus trimmed and cut into 2 1/2″ pieces

1 lb. whole wheat shell-shaped pasta

2 TBS plus 2 tsp of extra virgin olive oil

1 shallot finely chopped

1/3 cup white wine

Finely grated  zest of 1 lemon, plus 3TBS fresh lemon juice (1 lemon total)

2 1/2 tsp coarse salt

2 cups baby arugula (about 1 oz)

2 oz yellow grape tomatoes or other cherry-type tomatoes, halved (1 cup)

2 TBS freshly grated ricotta salata

2 TBS chopped fresh chives

Freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Cook edamame and asparagus in boiling water until just tender, 3-4 minutes. Drain, and set aside.

Bring large pot of water to boil, add pasta, cook until al dente.  Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta water.

Heat 2 tsp oil in large skillet or braising pan over med heat.  Add shallots, cook stirring occasionally until translucent, about 4 minutes..  Add wine, bring mixture to a boil.  Cook until liquid is reduced by half.  Add lemon juice, edamame, asparagus, pasta and 1 cup reserved liquid.  Sprinkle with 1 tsp salt.  Toss well.  Add arugula and tomatoes, toss.  Top with ricotta salata and chives.  Drizzle with remaining 2 TBS olive oil, sprinkle with lemon zest and 1 1/2 tsp salt.  Season with pepper.

Recipe from Martha Stewart Living 2005

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Mushroom Pasta with Ricotta – THE MACARONI MARATHON

Posted in Everyday Food, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Mushrooms seem to be, well just mushrooms…no brilliant color like a red pepper, no deep green like a bunch of kale or broccoli rabe, no heartiness of a baked potato, nor the crunch of a carrot.  Is the best you can say about a mushroom is that it has virtually no calories?  Of course not!  Porcini mushrooms are particularly noted for their strong nutty and slightly meaty flavor and as they’re cooking, the aroma is delicious.  There’s also portabello mushrooms which will lend substance and hardiness to any dish.  And those are just the more common ones we find in grocery stores as well as Shitake, Oyster and Chanterelles.  Imagine cooking with Hen-of-the-Woods, Black Trumpets, Morels, Hedgehogs and Trumpet Royale!  Well now if you’re wondering why I led you down this path of edible funghi, I’m not surprise AND I’m not even sure why I did, except to add a bit of interest and knowledge to the recipe of the day.

Mushroom Pasta with Ricotta

Mushroom Pasta with Ricotta

INGREDIENTS:

Coarse salt and ground pepper

12 oz. rigatoni or other short pasta

2 TBS butter ( I always use unsalted)

1/2 small onion finely chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine

3/4 lb white button or cremini mushrooms, trimmed and sliced

1 cup ricotta

4 tsp fresh lemon juice

shaved Parmesan, for serving

DIRECTIONS:

In large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente.  Reserve 3/4 cup pasta water; drain pasta and return to pot.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 1 TBS butter over medium.  Add onion and cook until softened , about 4 minutes.  Add wine and cook until almost evaporated, 4-6 minutes.  Add mushrooms; season with salt and pepper and cook until browned, about 8 minutes.  Remove skillet from heat and stir in 1 TBS butter.

Add mushroom mixture, ricotta, and lemon juice to pasta; stir to combine, adding enough pasta water to create a thin sauce.  Serve topped with Parmesan.

Recipe from Martha Stewart EVERYDAY FOOD October 2009

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Pappardelle with Butternut Squash & Blue Cheese-The Macaroni Marathon

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 18, 2015| 2 Comments »

You know it’s winter in our home when the chief cook (me) turns to all forms of comfort food. We have hearty soups and stews and when we have pasta it’s often with vegetables that are plentiful in the grocery store.  I’m talking root vegetables, onions, carrots, pumpkin and beans.  And usually these vegetables leave a smaller carbon footprint!

Nigella Lawson's Pappardelle with Butternut Squash and Blue Cheese

Nigella Lawson’s Pappardelle with Butternut Squash and Blue Cheese

INGREDIENTS:

1 large butternut squash (2 3/4lb – 3 1/4lb or 1 3/4 lb of ready-cubed  (6 cups)

1 large onion finely chopped

2 TBS olive oil

3/4 tsp. smoked paprika

1 TBS unsalted butter

3 TBS Marsala

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup pine nuts

1 lb of pappardelle or rigatoni

6 fresh sage leaves

5 oz of soft blue cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Cut the butternut squash into 1″ cubes.  Cook onion in olive oil in a large, heavy saucepan that can accomodate the pasta later – I would use my braising pan.  When the onion turns golden, add the paprika.

Stir butter and squash into the onion mixture.  Add Marsala and water.  Bring to a simmer, then cover and reduce heat.  Simmer about 10 minutes or until the squash is tender but holds its shape.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boiling, add a hefty pinch of salt.  Cook according to package directions.  Toast the pine nuts in a hot dry frying pan on the stove top until dark gold.  Pour them into a bowl or onto a plate to cool. 

Lightly season season squash mixture to taste with salt ( the blue cheese will add additonal saltiness).  Remove from heat.

Finely chop the sage; Sprinkle over the squash, reserving some for serving.

Reserve 1/4 to 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water; drain pasta and add to the squash mixture.  Gently stir to combine.  If sauce is too dry or mixture won’t come together, add some of the reserved pasta water;  the starch encourages the sauce to emulsify and cling to the pasta.  Stir in most of the pine nut and the  blue cheese.  Transfer to a large bowl.  Sprinkle  with the remaining sage, pine nuts and cheese.

Recipe from  Kitchen by Nigella Lawson,  featured Better Homes And Gardens, October 2010

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Linguine with Tapenade, Tomatoes & Arugula – The Macaroni Marathon

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Today’s entry in the Macaroni Marathon is a tasty pasta dish just perfect for the winter.  With fresh local vegetables out of reach and certainly we’re not buying any of those pink tennis balls that are being passed off as tomatoes, right?  Well of course not;  First of all you can make the best tomato sauce from canned tomatoes.  There are lots of sauces that can be made using the seasonal vegetables of winter and we’ll get to them too, but today I’m using those sweet cherry or grape tomatoes – I never eat any other kind in the winter because well really, they’re not really tomatoes.

Sweet Cherry Tomatoes

Sweet Cherry Tomatoes

INGREDIENTS:    

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1 lb linguine

1 TBS olive oil plus more for serving

3/4 lb cherry tomatoes halved                                         

1/4 cup plus 2TBS tapenade

2 cups baby arugula

2 TBS chopped fresh parsley

1 1/2 oz feta cheese, crumbled (1/4 cup)

DIRECTIONS:

Cook linguine according to package instructions.  Drain pasta.  In pot, heat oil over medium.  Add tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes.

Return pasta to pot, stir in tapenade and cook until heated through.  Add arugula and toss to combine.  Season with salt and pepper.

Divide among four bowls, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with parsley and feta.

Serves 4

Martha Stewart's Everyday Food

Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food

Recipe from Everyday Food

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Pasta w/Roasted Cauliflower & Lemon Zest – The Macaroni Marathon

Posted in Everyday Food, Marthaspeak, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Roasted Cauliflower with Pasta and Lemon Zest

Roasted Cauliflower with Pasta and Lemon Zest

Perhaps you didn’t read yesterday’s blog about a Month of Sundays;  Besides the mundane explanation of the expression, I intended another nuance to the meaning as it relates to this blog.  Sundays were often “the” family dinner day and a big bowl of macaroni with Sunday Sauce was the norm.  A true Sunday Sauce contains more than one meat and often three.  Sunday was the day of special treats – the extra meat in the sauce and for me growing up, ice cream for dessert!  So I got it into my head that I would do a  month of  Sundays(not literally) of  pasta recipes, nicknamed The MacaroniMarathon.

If you have never experienced pasta with vegetables, you don’t know what you’re missing!  Not only are the ingredients fresh and healthy, the meal is also economical.  With doctors and nutritionists across the country advocating at least one or two meatless meals a week, a pasta dish with vegetables solves your dilemma as to  what to cook.  Roasting the cauliflower brings out the sweetness and the lemon zest adds just enough zing to counterbalance the saltiness of the capers!

INGREDIENTS:

1 large head cauliflower (about 2 lbs) cut into small florets (about 7 cups)

1 red onion cut into 1/4 ” slices

1/4 cup salt-packed capers, rinsed

1/4 cup virgin olive oil

coarse salt and ground pepper

8 oz orecchiette or small shells

1/2 cup coarsely chopped Italian parsley

2 TBS finely grated lemon zest (2 lemons)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 450°.  Toss together cauliflower onion, capers and 2 TBS olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Spread vegetables in single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.  

Roast, stirring halfway through, until cauliflower is tender and browned, about 40  minutes.

Meanwhile, bring large pot of salted water to boil.  Add pasta, and cook until al dente according to package instructions.  Drain

Toss hot pasta with remaining 2 TBS olive oil, the parsley, and lemon zest.  Add cauliflower mixture and season with salt and pepper. Gently toss to combine.

Recipe from Martha Stewart Living, November 2009

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