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Posts Tagged ‘Barilla’

Super Sunday Supper – Straight From The Pasta Maker

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

For the past several days, I’ve been planning on making the Spring Pasta recipe I posted earlier this week.  However every evening one thing or another prevented me from making it.  And before you read any further, I still haven’t made it!  BUT I did make another pasta dish utilizing seasonal vegetables.  

I gave my husband a choice between a wok stir-fry of chicken and vegetables or pasta.  He picked pasta probably thinking he might get an Arrabiata sauce and meatballs, NOT!  I sent him to Fairway to buy some ingredients but being the non-cooking man/husband that he is, he didn’t put it together that what he bought would be what he ate.

This recipe comes directly from Barilla’s web site and after reading through it I knew it would be easy to make and hopefully tasty  too.  I’m telling you all this because I altered the recipe slightly and will explain along the way.

Rotini with Braised Fennel, Carrots & Scallions

Rotini with Braised Fennel, Carrots & Scallions

Barilla’s Whole Grain Rotini with Braised Fennel, Carrots & Spring Onions

Ingredients

1 box Barilla Whole Grain Rotini (he forgot and bought regular)

4 TBS extra virgin olive oil

1 Clove garlic (I used 2 and could have used at least one more)

2 Fennel bulbs

1 Medium Carrot (he brought home a bag of small carrots) (I used several >1 medium carrot)

1 bunch of Scallions

1/2 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese (I used all I had in the house but was somewhat short)

1 TBS Fennel fronds chopped (I used a lot of the fronds)

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil

Sauté minced garlic in oil in a large skillet, until garlic turns slightly yellow, about 3 minutes ( I used a large braising pan)

Cut the fennel bulbs in half, then in thin slices – I cut the cores out first

Add to skillet, along with the carrot cut into roundels (rounds) about 1/8″ thick.

Braise for about 10 minutes, covered, over medium high.

Season with salt and black pepper; keep covered and cook through, stirring occasionally. I cooked longer judging when fennel was cooked and slightly softened.  At this point I thought there would not be enough sauce so I added chicken broth or to keep it vegetarian, use vegetable broth.  

Cook the pasta according to box directions

Stir the scallions cut on a bias 1/2″ long, cook an additional 3 minutes. I also added a shake or two of red pepper.

Once the pasta is done (I put aside a cup of the water) and drained, add it to the vegetables and toss to coat.

Stir in the grated cheese and the fronds.

We both thought the dish was tasty but it could have been more so!  It needed the full amount of cheese and possibly more offered on the table. The red pepper gave it some zest and I think it would have been very bland and dry without the chicken broth.  By the second helping we both said how delicious it was.

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Wednesday Is Prince Spaghetti Day!

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Wednesday Is Prince Sphaghetti Day

Wednesday Is Prince Sphaghetti Day

I probably should have saved this for ThrowBack Thursday, I mean who remembers Prince spaghetti?  Growing up in an Italian family, I certainly do remember the macaroni products we had in our home.  My father did buy Prince spaghetti, however I clearly remember the LaRosa brand boxes of shells and I think the family favorite was Ronzoni.   When I was a young married, I always stuck with Ronzoni and because I saw my parents pour the pasta out of the pot and into a colander and then rinse it, I did the same!  I can’t remember now when I learned that was definitely NOT the thing to do!  Rinsing the pasta removes some of its flavorful starch that was released during the cooking process.  Not only do I NOT rinse my pasta, I often save a cup of the water to add to my sauces.  Specifically the pasta water is used in many of my vegetarian pasta dishes to make a thin sauce that may also have some broth, butter or oil.

Look For The Red Rose

Look For The Red Rose

What do I buy now?  I love the taste of Barilla macaroni products although so many of my Italian friends swear by De Cecco.  So recently, I purchased some De Cecco linguine and I swear it didn’t have the same flavor.  De Cecco is made in Italy so I’ll give it a few more tries and see if I like the results.

This Wednesday, even though it is STILL raw and cold outside, not to mention raining,  I thought I would try welcoming Spring into the apartment with a truly Spring-like pasta dish.  To quote Pure Wow , the site where I found this recipe by Erin McDowell; “We had a good run, soups and stews.  But as temperatures rise and flowers bloom, we’re ready to swap rich and hearty for light and fresh”.

PASTA WITH PEAS, ARTICHOKES, LEMON AND MINT

Serves 4-6  Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 lb bucatini, spaghetti or other long pasta

1 1/2 cups fresh peas

12 marinated artichoke heart quarters, drained

3 TBS unsalted butter

1/2 cup grated Pecorino cheese

2 TBS lemon juice

Salt

2 TBS freshly chopped mint for garnish

Lemon zest for garnish

Directions

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water, cook till pasta is al dente, 6-8 minutes (or according to package instructions). One minute before pasta is done, add the peas to the pot.  Before draining, ladle out and reserve 1 cup pasta water. 

Drain pasta and peas in colander and immediately add artichoke hearts.  Toss to combine.  

Return pasta and vegetables to the pot, then add the butter and Pecorino cheese, and toss to coat.  Add 1/2 cup of reserved pasta water to and the lemon juice, and continue tossing until the mixture forms a creamy coating.  Add additional water if needed.  Season with salt to taste.

To serve, transfer pasta to plates, and top with mint, lemon zest and black pepper.

Pasta Peas & Artichokes

Pasta Peas & Artichokes

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A Good Cook Knows When to Improvise!

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Short Pasta

The Many Moods of Macaroni

I consider myself a good cook, however, tonight I proved that corollary wrong!  I improvised a recipe and even as I was doing it, I knew it wasn’t going to be good.  And it was a classic case of being penny wise and pound foolish.  I had it in mind to make a pasta dish tonight that I had seen in Martha Stewart‘s everyday Food.  

The dish is Orrechiette with broccoli rabe, oregano and lemon.  It’s simple, easy and quick to make and I thought it was the perfect dish to make tonight as I was out all day and didn’t want to prepare something that needed a lot of prep or ingredients.

Here’s the recipe:

3/4 # of orrechiette

1 bunch of broccoli rabe (about 1#) trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves thinly sliced

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 TBS fresh oregano leaves for serving

2-3 TBS fresh lemon juice for serving

Cook pasta according to directions , adding broccoli rabe 4 minutes before pasta is done.

Meanwhile in a small saucepan, heat oil, garlic and red pepper flakes over medium heat till garlic begins to sizzle.

Drain pasta and broccoli rabe and return to pot.  Add oil mixture and toss to coat; season with coarse salt and pepper.  To serve, sprinkle oregano over pasta and drizzle with lemon juice.

It was really tasty and certainly easy to prepare.  Here’s where I made my mistake and I did know better;  When a recipe calls for a certain type and shape of macaroni (pasta to you all), there’s a reason.  This is a weekly debate in our house as my husband (who is not Italian) only likes linguine.  Seriously he likes linguine with any and all kinds of sauces.  Different shapes have different densities and are able to hold the sauce better than others.  Some penne have lines like penne rigate as opposed to ziti and the sauce will cling to one and not the other.

This recipe called for orrechiette (little ears) and they are small, slightly dense and concave.  I love Wegman’s Food store, you all know that already, but lately I have a gripe with them;  Over that last six months, Wegman’s has been eliminating the shelf space allotted to Barilla (my absolute favorite)  and DeCecco brand of pasta and filling the shelves with their own brand.  So when I looked for Barilla’s orrechiette there wasn’t any.  In fact, even in the Wegman’s pasta, super pasta and whole wheat pasta sections, there weren’t any orrechiette.  BUT, in their Wegman’s Classic Italian line which comes in all kinds of exotic shapes and is packaged in a clear cellophane bag, they did have orrechiette BUT that pasta line is priced in the $3.00+ category and I just couldn’t justify spending that much on the pasta itself.  MISTAKE! Well not really, I should have gone elsewhere.  Instead, I cruised the aisle back and forth and back and forth trying to discern what other shape might be substitutable for the little ears.  There really wasn’t anything and I settled on some very small penne regate that Barilla calls Piccolini Penne and it cooks in 7 minutes.  The end result was that the penne cooked very quickly and even though I tried to cook it according to the package directions (something I NEVER do) and add the rabe at the right moment, the penne were a little soft.  We like our pasta al dente, the orrechiette would have been perfect.  So I saved some money and made a dish that was tasty but could have been fantastic. 

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