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Posts Tagged ‘vegetarian meal’

Pappardelle with Carmelized Onions

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 14, 2015| 1 Comment »

Pappardelle with Caramelized Onions

Pappardelle with Caramelized Onions

 This was supposed to be yesterday’s Friday meatless pasta but yesterday was spent cleaning the house and prepping for a small dinner party.  Just in case you were wondering  what I served and I hope you are, I made Chicken with Lemon and Olives and Rigatoni with Roasted Vegetables and Arugula.  I will post the chicken dish sometime soon. 

Back to today’s pasta – This dish is not a quick weeknight meal BUT certainly if you have about an hour and half  you will be rewarded with one delicious pasta dish.  We have to caramelize the onions first, so let’s start there with the Caramelized Onions.

INGREDIENTS:

6 TBS unsalted butter

15 medium yellow onions (about 6 lb), halved lengthwise and sliced 1/4 inch thick

2 tsp coarse salt or 1 tsp table salt

1 TBS sugar

DIRECTIONS:

In a 8 quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, melt butter over medium-high.  Add onions and salt.  Cook, stirring often, until softened and just beginning to brown, 35 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium.  Add sugar and cook, stirring often to scrape up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of pot, 35 -40 minutes (lower heat if bottom of pot begins to scorch).

When done, onions should be deep golden brown and have a jam-like consistency.  Remove from heat; season with salt.  Let cool completely.  (To store, refrigerate in an airtight container, up to 2 weeks)

INGREDIENTS:

Coarse salt and ground pepper

9 oz pappardelle or wide egg noodles

2 TBS EV olive oil

1 cup Caramelized Onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)

1/2 cup fresh parsley, coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONS:

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente.  While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet (braising pan) over medium-high.  Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is fragrant, 1 minute.

Remove 1 1/2 cups pasta water from pot and to skillet.  Drain pasta and add to skillet.  Cook, tossing occasionally, until liquid reduces to create a sauce that coats pasta, 3 minutes.  Add lemon juice and toss.  Serve pasta topped with parsley.

Recipe from Martha Stewart EveryDay Food

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Rigatoni with Broccoli, Beans & Basil-Back To The Future

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , on March 10, 2015| Leave a Comment »

The Macaroni Marathon has left old world Italian cooking (just for a while) and moved forward with yet another contemporary version of vegetarian pasta with beans for protein.  I’m telling you the combinations are seemingly endless!

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz rigatoni

2 cups broccoli florets

1 19 oz cannellini beans, rinsed, drained

2 tsp minced garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup snipped basil leaves

2 slices of bread cut into small cubes

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Snipped basil for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

In Dutch oven cook pasta, adding broccoli during last 5 minutes of cooking.  Reserve 3/4 – 1 cup pasta water.  Drain pasta and broccoli and return to pot.

In large bowl combine beans, garlic and 3TBS oil.  Mash about 1/2 cup of the bean mixture.  Stir in basil, pasta water and 1/2 tsp salt.  Stir into the pasta and broccoli – Cover and keep warm.

Heat remaining oil over medium heat in frying pan.  Add bread cubes and red pepper.  Cook, stir 1-2 minutes until crisp.  Top pasta with croutons and basil.

Recipe from Better Homes & Garden

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Rigatoni with Chunky Vegetable Sauce – The Macaroni Marathon

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Every day that I post another pasta recipe especially one that isn’t one with gravy, the traditional tomato sauce served with meatballs and/or sausage, I marvel at the seemingly endless ways there are to  incorporate two great food groups;  Pasta, that filling carbohydrate, whose very lack of flavor (except for Barilla), lends itself as a base canvas upon which we can create delicious vegetable dishes from nature’s own colorful palette.  And to think, growing up in my Italian household, I never had any pasta that didn’t have tomato sauce on it except for Friday’s Aglio e Olio, a recipe that I must post – maybe next Friday.

INGREDIENTS:

2 TBS EV Olive oil

1 medium yellow onion diced medium

2 medium zucchini, diced medium

1/2 lb cemini or button mushrooms, trimmed and quartered

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 can (28 oz) tomato purée

coarse salt and ground pepper

2 TBS fresh oregano leaves, coarsely chopped

1 lb rigatoni**

DIRECTIONS:

In medium pot or braising pan, heat oil over medium-high.  Add onion and cook till translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add zucchini and mushrooms and cook until vegetables soften slightly, about 4 minutes.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds.  Add tomato purée, season with salt and pepper, and bring mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat to a rapid simmer and cook until zucchini is crisp-tender, about 8 mintues.  Stir in oregano.

Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook pasta until al dente.  Reserve 1 cup cooking liquid; drain pasta and add to sauce, tossing to combine and adding enough pasta water to create a sauce that coats pasta.  Serve immediately.

** You can substitute ziti or penne rigate for the rigatoni. Also dicing the vegetables rather small allows them to tuck into the tube pasta.

Recipe from Martha Stewart EveryDay Food

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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 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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