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Posts Tagged ‘Spaghetti’

Spaghetti Carbonara – Old World Cooking-The Macaroni Marathon

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , on March 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Photo from eatwell101

Photo from eatwell101

It seems like all of the recipes coming from Ada Boni’s The Talisman Italian Cookbook either use spaghetti or rigatoni.  Personally as a kid growing up, my favorite was shells because I could scoop up sauce inside each one.  This dish was/is a standard in most Italian restaurants in America.  There are slight variations to this classic and I wonder how today’s great chefs like Batali and Colicchio make their Carbonara dishes.  This one is very simple as are most recipes in this cookbook.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb spaghetti (#8)

1/4 b lean bacon diced

3/4 cup Romano or Parmesan cheese

3 eggs lightly beaten

1/4 cup white wine

1 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Cook spaghetti in rapidly boiling salted water until tender.  While spaghetti is cooking, fry bacon over low flame until bacon is crisp.  Add cheese (and wine) to beaten eggs.  Drain spaghetti and return to the pot.  Pour egg mixture over the hot spaghetti;  add pepper and two TBS of very hot bacon fat.  Stir.  The heat of the spaghetti should cook the egg mixture.  Transfer to hot platter; garnish with bacon.  Serve.

Call the cardiologist!

Recipe from The Talisman Italian Cook Book

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Spaghetti with Chicken Livers – Six Ingredient Pasta-The Macaroni Marathon

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , on March 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

So I’m still perusing The Talisman Italian Cookbook by Ada Boni and searching for pasta dishes I feel I can post.  These dishes have definite roots in Southern Italy and Sicily, the emphasis is on very few ingredients that are readily available and relatively inexpensive.  Many of these meals are what I would call peasant food. This is not a derogatory term by any means because so many of the meals we ate in my home were of this ilk. If I weren’t in the throes of my Macaroni Marathon, I could tell you about Giambotta which is supposed to Vegetable Stew but in my house was a combination of peppers, eggs and onions, maybe some tomatoes – NOT my favorite! Or a lunch of chicken hearts, liver and kidneys – You see, the meals followed the rule of Waste Not-Want Not! 

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb spaghetti

1 lb chicken livers

2 TBS olive oil

1 onion, chopped fine

2 cups tomato paste

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 lb mushrooms, trimmed

1/2 lb butter

DIRECTIONS:

Cook spaghetti in rapidly boiling salted water until tender and drain.

Meanwhile heat olive oil in large frying pan, add onion and brown until golden in color.  Add tomato purée, salt and pepper. Add spaghetti and keep over low flame, stirring constantly until thoroughly heated.  Sauté mushrooms and chicken livers in butter.  Place spaghetti mixture on serving dish, pour over it the mushroom and chicken livers and serve with sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Recipe from The Talisman Italian Cook Book

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Spaghetti Syracuse Style-The Macaroni Marathon Goes Back to the “Old Country”

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Peggy Lampan

Photo by Peggy Lampan

I’ve been posting pretty much what I would call modern pasta recipes – not necessarily Italian.  Of course I’ve thrown in the classics like a Sunday Sauce or a Marzano tomato sauce but I haven’t put much up in the way of what I call old country recipes.  These recipes are simple family fare, not restaurant cooking, and a lot of fresh ingredients.  Often the ingredients themselves need prepping so I’m pretty sure the woman preparing them did not have a job outside the home.  I have a few cookbooks that celebrate the foods of the ordinary folk of another era.  And when I read some of these recipes I am always reminded of my Grandfather Louie who told me how poor they were in Italy and how you were lucky if there was meat in the macaroni gravy on Sunday. This recipe is in the Syracuse style – I don’t know if it’s from the island of Syracuse or if it is a Sicilian recipe born in Syracusa. It is, however, definitely similar to a Puttanesca Sauce. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb spaghetti

1/2 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced

6 large ripe fresh tomatoes cut into pieces ( I think you could use canned plum tomatoes)

1 small eggplant diced

2 roasted green peppers sliced * (perhaps you could use bought roasted red)

10 Sicilian olives, pitted (these are large bright green olives)

1 TBS capers

1 TBS minced fresh basil

3 anchovy filets cut into small pieces

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

4 qts boiling water

3 tsp salt

* Roast bell pepper on rack of a gas burner over moderately high heat, turning with tongs, until skin is blackened, about 5 minutes. (Or broil pepper on a broiler pan about 5 inches from heat, turning occasionally, about 15 minutes.) 

DIRECTIONS:

Place oil in large frying pan, add garlic and brown  Remove garlic from oil.  Add tomatoes and eggplant to oil and cook 30 minutes or until eggplant is done.  Add peppers, olives, capers, basil anchovies, salt and pepper.  Cover pan and cook 10 minutes longer, add a little water if needed.

In large pot of boiling water, add 3 tsp salt and spaghetti and cook per package directions.  Drain pasta, put on large platter and ladle sauce over it.

Recipe from The Talisman Italian Cook Book by Ada Boni*

* The cookbook was sponsored by the Ronzoni Macaroni Company – Remember their slogan, “Ronzoni sono buoni”

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Do You Know The Expression ” A MONTH OF SUNDAYS”?

Posted in We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 15, 2015| 4 Comments »

When I was growing up my mother would often use this expression;  Like “You haven’t cleaned your room in a month of Sundays” or “It seems like a month of Sundays since you called” – the latter said to me as an adult no longer living at home, obviously meant to be a minor guilt trip.  Just think how long a real month of Sundays is!

Anyway, I feel like I’ve been gone a month of Sundays when in fact it’s been just over a month.  I don’t know why I went on hiatus from my blog – I just did.  I had some distractions – work being a major obligation of late; then I got hooked on watching Orange Is The New Black and every night and free minute I had I would escape to Netflix and indulge myself with back to back episodes and no commercials.  And then, OMG my neighbor gave us the complete set of Breaking Bad which we watched every night into the wee hours of the next morning.  Not excuses, just reasons.

I’ve decided to devote a week or two (or three?) of blogs to my second favorite food – PASTA!  Well actually we called it macaroni.  I think this obsession/passion for pasta is the direct result of dieting.  After all, when you are abstaining or at least eating a lot less of some favorite food of yours, don’t you find yourself hungering for it (pun intended)?  I just love cooking and eating pasta and although I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, these recipes are just not your mother’s macaroni.  In my house we had two kinds of macaroni meals;  Shells, Ziti or Rigatoni with gravy (red sauce) and meatballs or Linguine with olive oil, garlic and parsley.

Today being Sunday, I’m starting my macaroni marathon with the meal I made tonight.  The butter coaxes the sweetness from the cabbage.

Spaghetti with Savoy Cabbage and Breadcrumbs

Spaghetti with Savoy Cabbage and Breadcrumbs

SPAGHETTI WITH SAVOY CABBAGE AND BREADCRUMBS

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz of spaghetti, linguine or angel hair pasta

5 TBS unsalted butter

1-2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced or minced

1/2 cup fresh  (not dried) breadcrumbs (from a rustic loaf)

9 cups of thinly sliced Savoy cabbage (1 medium head)

1/2 cup water

3 TBS heavy cream

1/4 cup grated  Parmesan cheese plus more for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Bring pot of salted water to boil.  Cook pasta until al dente according package directions.  Reserve 1/2 – 3/4 cup pasta water.

Meanwhile, melt 2 TBS butter in medium skillet over medium heat.  Cook garlic till fragrant, about 1 minute.  Stir in breadcrumbs.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook stirring until breadcrumbs are golden brown, 4-5 minutes.

Melt remaining 3 TBS butter in large high-sided skillet or braising pan over medium high heat.  Add cabbage, season with salt and pepper.  Toss to coat, cook until slightly wilted 3-4 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup water.  Cook, covered until tender about 4 minutes.  Uncover, and let any water evaporate.  Stir in cream.  Cook until sauce is reduced and thick enough to coat cabbage, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper.

Add pasta and reserved liquid to cabbage.  Cook for 1 minute.  Stir in cheese.  Transfer to platter.  Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over top, and garnish with more cheese.

OPTIONAL: Serve topped with fried or poached eggs or crumbled bacon to add some protein.

Recipe from Martha Stewart Living

You can find all of my pasta recipes in the categories: We Called It Macaroni and Tasty Tidbits Tuesday and Everyday Food

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Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day!

Posted in We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

This Isn't Your Nonna's Macaroni

This Is Not Your Nonna’s Macaroni

PASTA WITH FRIED LEMONS AND CHILE FLAKES

Well not exactly because in this cook’s kitchen, Barilla pasta reigns supreme.  I love the flavor of their macaroni products.  I worked late tonight and I still have to pack for my long-awaited trip to Florida to see my daughter and my grandchildren.  I knew I wanted to make a simple pasta dish so tonight I made yet another version of a vegetarian pasta dish.  And referring to it as vegetarian is a bit of a stretch.

INGREDIENTS:

4 lemons

1 lb. linguine or spaghetti

4 TBS EV olive oil, more for drizzling

1 tsp kosher salt, more as needed

Pinch of sugar

3 TBS unsalted butter

3/4 tsp. chile flakes (could not find so I used crushed red pepper)

2/3 cup Parmiagiano-Reggiano cheese, more to taste

Black pepper as needed

1/2 cup celery leaves, coarsely chopped (optional)

1/3 cup parsley, coarsely chopped (optional)

Flaky sea salt, for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Finely zest 2 of the lemons and set aside.  Trim the tops and bottoms from the other 2 lemons and cut lengthwise into quarters;  remove seeds.  Thinly slice the quarters into triangles.  Blanch the lemon pieces in the boiling water for 2 minutes, then transfer with a slotted spoon to a dish towel.  Blot dry.

In the boiling water, add pasta and cook until just barely al dente.  Drain, reserving 1/2-1 cup of pasta water.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet ( I used my braising pan), heat 1 TBS olive oil over high heat.  Add the dried lemons pieces and season with a pinch each of salt and sugar.  Cook until the lemons are caramelized and browned at the edges, 3-5 minutes.  Transfer to a plate.

Melt the butter with the remaining oil in the pan over medium heat.  Add the chile flakes and zest of both lemons;  cook until fragrant.  Whisk in the reserved pasta water.

Toss in pasta, juice of 1 lemon, cheese, black pepper and the remaining salt.  Cook until pasta is well coated with sauce.  Toss in the caramelized lemons and the celery leaves and parsley if using.  Taste and add lemon juice if needed.  Serve, topped with a drizzle of oil, more cheese if you like, and a sprinkle of sea salt.

Recipe by Melissa Clark, New York Times

This was an amazingly different, delightful and very delicious dish.   My husband was astounded, he had wondered just how these pieces of lemon were going to taste in his favorite pasta, linguine!  He was so surprised;  about every 5 minutes he said, how tasty the pasta was and how delicious the lemon pieces were.  Quite frankly, although I pride myself as someone who can discern a good recipe just by reading it – well even I was pleasantly surprised at the flavors melding in my mouth.

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Roasted Tomatoes and Fennel Sauce

Posted in Everyday Food, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , on September 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

This was a very good Tasty Tidbits Tuesday – we just finished dinner and it was delicious and as my husband put it “very interesting, very unusual and it tastes delicious too and I’ve never tasted anything like it”.

Last night Angela and Seth joined us for some wine and apps on the porch.  It was a warm evening and since it’s getting dark so early these days, we scattered candles all around giving the porch a soft and inviting atmosphere.  We sat and talked for quite some time drinking most of the bottle of Malbec they brought.  Angela brought us a bag of Heirloom cherry tomatoes that one of her customers from the bakery brought her!  It was an Ocean Grove food chain lol.  Turns out Angela is not really fond of tomatoes, there’s something about the consistency that she doesn’t like – all the better for me who LOVES tomatoes, JERSEY TOMATOES and even better FREE JERSEY HEIRLOOM TOMATOES.

I popped a few in my mouth, God they were like candy and there were a lot.  I started to think about what I could make with them.  This morning I saw just how many tomatoes there were and decided to leave some on Michael’ s porch (hope he found them when he got home tonight) and left some watermelon on Angela’s porch – the food chain continues….

Tonight I made Roasted Tomatoes and Fennel Sauce with linguine, well actually half linguine and half whole grain spaghetti.  It was so good, I plan to make it again soon.

Fennel

Fennel

1 Fennel bulb cut up

2 pints grape or cherry tomatoes, half of them halved ( I gave away too many, so I chopped up half of medium tomato)

1/4 cup white wine

3 TBS olive oil

5 sprigs of Thyme (I didn’t have any, so I used dried thyme leaves )

pinch of sugar* (I didn’t use any, the tomatoes were sweet enough)

Coarse salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

In a 9″ x 13″ baking dish, toss together the fennel, tomatoes, wine, oil and thyme.  Add a pinch of sugar and season with salt and pepper.

Bake, stirring occasionally until fennel softens and pan juices thicken, 35-40 minutes, maybe less.

I reserved a full cup of the pasta water and used it to create the sauce.  I didn’t have a lot of pan juices and some of it burned along the edges of the pan.

Toss pasta with sauce and sprinkle with grated Parmesan

Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Every Day Food – November 2009

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There’s A Whole Lot Of Cooking Going On…

Posted in Everyday Food, Ha-P 2 B in OG, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »

gorgonzola

Gorgonzola (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Back at the shore where I have a decent-sized kitchen albeit a minute stove (20″) and able to shop at my favorite grocery store, Wegman’s, I’ve been cooking up a storm these past couple of days. By the way did you hear on the news that Consumer Reports rated Wegman’s the best supermarket chain in the US AGAIN this year!  I couldn’t be happier because as my readers know, I LOVE Wegman’s.

Last night I made a dish that had my husband doubtful when he heard what it was…Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Gorgonzola Cheese.  His first reaction, “Cheese! You’re making a pasta sauce with cheese?” I assured him he wouldn’t die from it and I silently thanked him for not mentioning that the fact that the spaghetti was whole wheat (his concession to me).  Actually I’m not even sure he heard me when I said whole wheat because he was in shock over the Gorgonzola cheese – this from a man who slathers Blue Cheese dressing on his salads and sour cream on his baked potaoes.  Uh huh, you know the type!

Needless to say it was amazingly good and I hope to serve it sometime for guests because it was delicious.

Ingredients

8oz whole wheat spaghetti ( I used about 12 oz)

3 TBS butter ( I used 5 in the end)

1 medium onion thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic minced

2 small or 1 large head of escarole chopped crosswise ( I used a cello bag of chopped escarole)

4 oz crumbled Gorgonzola cheese.

The directions that follow are for 8 oz of spaghetti and since I had increased that amount I increased the butter and escarole.

Heat 2 TBS butter in braising pan.  Add onions and garlic and cook till soft and lightly brown.  Season with salt and pepper.  Meantime cook pasta.  

Once onions are soft and pasta is almost done, add escarole and cook it till it wilts.  Add 1 TBS butter to pan. 

Drain spaghetti (reserve a cup of water) and add to braising pan with escarole mixture.  Mix well and then top with sprinkled Gorgonzola cheese.  I was afraid my sauce might be too dry so I added some of the pasta water to  keep the dish moist.

All I can say is that there were NO LEFTOVERS!

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