Pasta and Seafood and Wine. Oh. My.

NOTE: My camera is being pissy, so there are no pics for this post. But PLEASE believe me: any pics I took would not do it Justice, because: It. Is. Awesome.

I’ve been working hard on a mushroom recipe that’s giving me absolute fits, and sometime around a month ago I decided that it was going to be the next recipe I posted.

And then it started giving me even more fits, and being the stubborn person I am, I posted nothing.

So, no mushrooms today, because I finally said “forget the ‘shrooms” when a pile of shrimp and mussels crossed my path singing a song of “Eat me NOW”.

Isn’t that how everyone gets their seafood?

This dinner was AMAZING. The Professor wants to eat it every day for the next month, but perhaps the best description of just how good it was is this: I took MULTIPLE bites of food between sips of wine. And to get that kind of attention from me, you pretty much have to be George Clooney.

A big hunk of a crusty bread is an absolute must to catch all the garlicy-lemony-additcive-y juices. And best of all, it’s really fast – it almost came together in the time it took my angel hair to cook. And...did I mention there’s wine?

[insert picture of linguini with a steaming pile of shrimp & mussels covered in an incredibly fragrant tomato sauce. Thank you.]

• ~ 6 ½ ounces of whole wheat linguini
  
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  
• ½ large yellow onion, diced
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 15 oz can diced tomatoes
  
• 1 tsp dried thyme
  
• 1 tsp dried oregano
  
• ¼-ish cup red wine
  
• 1 lb mussels
  
• 1 lb uncooked shrimp, peeled (I used 31-35, which is somewhere between medium and large)
  
• Juice of half a lemon
  
• Salt and pepper to taste

Start the pasta cooking in lightly salted water.

Heat olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook until it’s softened. Add the garlic and cook until the smell of onions and garlic makes you want to weep with happiness (a couple of minutes).

Add the can of tomatoes, thyme, oregano, a dash or so of salt & a few twists of fresh cracked black pepper to the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add mussels , shrimp and lemon juice; stir, cover and cook on medium high until the shrimp are pink and the mussels have opened (do NOT eat the mussels that remain closed).

Serve over drained pasta, with a hunk of bread.

Note: I completely forgot that I had saffron in my spice cabinet, but a pinch of that would make an amazing addition.

Shrimp in Tomato Basil Cream Sauce

Most of the time when I start making a dish like this, I think "Oh, I'll cook some pasta, and the sauce can cook that fast...dinner will be done in 15 minutes!" So I tell The Professor to go ahead and open up a bottle of wine, food will be here in a jiffy.

HAHAHAHAHA! I am incapable of cooking anything more complicated than a grilled cheese sandwich in less than 37 minutes.

Tonight, the sauce took a lot longer to reduce than I expected. So while I actually planned for the whole thing to take 30-40 minutes, it ended up being close to a bottle of wine an hour before dinner was ready.

This week Presto Pasta Nights is at The Sweet Kitchen!

Shrimp in Tomato Basil Cream Sauce

• Approximately 6.625 ounces of whole wheat fuseli, cooked (the cork screws)*
  
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 8 oz can of tomato sauce
• 1½ cups vegetable broth (I'd reduce this to 1 cup next time)
  
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ cup grated Asiago cheese
• ½ tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 cup half & half
• 1/2 pound baby shrimp
• 5-6 basil leaves, roughly chopped

The box of pasta is 13.25 ounces, and I used half the box, hence the funky measurement.

Sauté onion & garlic in olive oil until onion is transparent, about 5 minutes.

Add tomato sauce, vegetable broth, bay leaf, and red peper flakes. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until reduced by half. Remove the bay leaf.

Whisk in the cream and grated cheese and return to a slow simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the shrimp and basil, and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the shrimp are done.

Toss the pasta with the sauce and serve with some bread to soak up the sauce.

Sesame Noodle Salad

The Professor has another Department Event tomorrow night. BBQ from a local place is being provided, but we're all bringing side dishes or desserts to add to the Festive Atmosphere - that will likely be rained upon as we sit in a public park. All I can say is, thank god this has been an unusually cool August.

I've seen plenty of Chinese Noodle recipes that call for peanut butter, but the thought of mixing sacred carbs with that substance makes my stomach revolt. But tahini is almost the same thing - made of sesame seeds instead of peanuts - and I will actually eat that stuff. Which is good, because if NO ONE ate my dish, I'd be mightily upset.

I didn't so much "measure" anything because I basically "flung them with wild abandon". So the dressing ingredients can easily be adjusted for your taste. (See the notes at the bottom for more info).

Sesame Noodle Salad

8 oz spaghetti noodles
1 yellow bell pepper, finely diced
bunch green onions, chopped (mine was 5.5 ounces, and I chopped almost half the way up the stalks)
1 cup Shredded Carrots, chopped a little
1/2 cup tahini
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp honey
1//2 - 1 tsp red dried red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic granules
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp sesame seeds
Terriyaki sauce (optional)

Cook spaghetti noodles as directed on package.

To make the dressing: Mix the tahini up in the container - since it's most probably separated. Add 1/2 cup to a food chopper (or do to a bowl, and do the rest by hand). Add sesame oil, soy sauce, honey, pepper flakes, garlic, & ginger. Thoroughly combine.


I put the white parts of the green onion into the strainer that I used to strain my pasta - that way, they get just the tiniest bit cooked when you pour the hot pasta & water over them.



After you drain the pasta, toss it (and the onion parts) with a tablespoon or two of terriyaki sauce. I did this because I wasn't ready to combine everything and I didn't want the noodles to lump together.

Toast the sesame seeds in a skillet over low heat for 2-3 minutes.

Put the chopped bell pepper, carrots and green parts of the green onions in a large bowl.



Add the drained noodles.


Pour the dressing over, and toss (tongs are great here) to thoroughly combine.

Add the sesame seeds and toss a few more times.



Refrigerate and serve cold.



Notes:
The onion taste was too strong for me. The Professor didn't seem to notice; I'm just not a fan of raw onion.

I couldn't taste the red pepper at ALL. I would at least double this - and probably more - next time.

The dressing - after I got past the onions - was VERY YUMMY. I tasted it before I tossed the pasta/veggies with it, and loved the taste, so I think we can assume that I will be trying something like this again.

Chicken Pasta Salad

The whole thing started with a rotisserie chicken that I picked up today. I had simply planned on eating it over the next couple of days, but sometime between picking it up and getting it home, my brain started whispering "Pasta Salad...Pasta Salad". As I was putting my groceries away, I noticed the things languishing in the veggie drawer that really, really needed some attention. A half a bell pepper here, a few lonely stalks of asparagus there. It was enough to make a vegetarian cry at the neglect taking place in my fridge.

No vegetarians here, though, so I went on about my day. Talking to my sister later, I mentioned that I was thinking of making a chicken pasta salad later. And then she asked for pics and a recipe and I knew I was committed.

And also - hey! I can do Presto Pasta for the first time in ages (It's at What's Cooking this week)!

Chicken Pasta Salad

• 2 cups? chopped chicken
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1/2 orange bell pepper
• 3 stalks celery
• 2 (small) carrots
• 1 cup+ shredded mozzarella cheese
• 12-ish stalks of asparagus
  

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup salad dressing (I used Parmesan Romano, which is no longer to be found in stores)
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic ( the dry kind, not the wet kind. You know, from the spice aisle, not the produce section)
• 1/2 tsp celery salt
• a bunch of fresh ground pepper
  

• 8 oz uncooked pasta (I had Wacky Mac to use up)

First up: The asparagus needs to be roasted a little, because I'm not big on raw asparagus. If you are, you can skip this part and just chop it up with the other veggies. I tossed it with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, some freshly ground pepper and a little kosher salt. I know, that's not the most original way to roast asparagus - but you know why everyone cooks it like that? Because it's damn good.


Yes, my loaf pan is safe to cook in. It's just well-used.

Stick that in a 400F oven for about 4 minutes - not enough to really cook it, because I still wanted some crunch. Just enough to talk it down from the ledge. Even asparaguses (Aspargi?) need love.

While that's going on, mix the sour cream, salad dressing, celery salt, minced garlic and some fresh ground pepper together. Taste and adjust if you want more salt or pepper, then set aside.



A note about the salad dressing: I hate 99.999% of the ones out there. Ranch makes me gag. Bleu cheese is just gross. But I think that - if you're into that kind of thing - either of these would make good substitutes.

Cook your pasta, and drain.

Sidenote about Wacky Mac: There's actual vegetables in there. You knew that? Then you should have told me NOT to say out loud "Hey! There's beet powder in this!" Because then your beet-averse husband will not touch your food - or you, after you've eaten it.

While your pasta's cooking, chop up your chicken, bell peppers, celery, carrots and asparagus into small pieces. I got all fancy-pants and used my peeler to shave the carrots, but I only have that kind of energy once in a lifetime. Also, has anyone else noticed that organic carrots are much smaller than the doped-up ones? Makes me wonder what kind of carrot-growth-hormone I've been eating.


All those colors make me very happy.

Once everything's chopped up, you're home free.



Put the pasta in a big bowl - seriously, big is important here - and dump in the dressing, reserving about a 1/4 cup. The Pasta is gonna soak up dressing like a sponge over the next couple of days, so I keep some in reserve to mix with it each morning while I'm putting my lunch together. Mix it until the pasta's coated.



Now, this is the true test: Have you chosen a big enough bowl? Do you even OWN a big enough bowl? Because you need to not only get the chicken and veggies in with the pasta, but you have to have room to mix it around a lot. You don't want some piece of celery feeling left out because it didn't get it's share of the dressing-love. Half the time, I have to dirty a 2nd bowl because I've guessed wrong again. And that doesn't help my case with The Professor, because he thinks I dirty bowls just for the fun of it.



There's a recipe in progress somewhere in this post, right?

Time to mix in the cheese. I usually cut a chunk up into little pieces, but the shredded mozzarella in my fridge has been open for a week. I have no idea how much cheese was left, but I'm guessing between 1 1/2 and 2 cups. Give it another stir.



Now, this is a LOT of pasta salad! But I can go crazy on this stuff. It usually shakes down like this: I'll dump some in a bowl for a snack. And then get a refill. And then 2 more. And then I realize that "snack" just metamorphosed into dinner, and I haven't fed The Professor yet.

I just realized that I had planned on using some artichoke hearts as well, and completely forgot. I'm too lazy to go add them now, though.

Roasted Squash Fettucini

Pasta dishes are so easy that most of the time I don't even post them anymore. How many different ways can I say "Saute veggies, toss with pasta and cheese" and have you believe that it really doesn't taste exactly the same every time? Can I get away with it one more time? Pretty please?

Last night, the trick was in the herbs. The fresh basil and oregano, to be exact. Sometimes, I think I need to get basil-scented air filters for my house, because I just LOVE the way it smells. After I pick some leaves, I smell my hands the whole way to the house. The oregano smells awesome too, but there's just something about fresh basil that makes my heart go pitter-patter.

The veggies were good - basically, a mish-mosh of things I had leftover in my fridge and a couple of things I pulled out of the garden.
But the basil...the basil has my heart.

Roasted Squash Fetucini

1/2 eggplant, cut in 1" cubes
2 large zucchini, cut in 1" cubes
1 small yellow squash, cut in 1" cubes
4 roma tomatoes, halved
1/2 of a large yellow onion, cut in fairly large pieces
1 small red bell pepper, cut in fairly large pieces
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves minced garlic
sprinkling of kosher salt
a few turns of freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chiffonade if you feel fancy, just chop them up if you don't
3?? Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
Fettucini
2 Tbsp butter or margerine*
1/4 cup half and half
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350F.
Toss the vegetables with the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Spread out on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes, turning veggies once halfway through.

Cook your fettucini. Drain and return to the pan. While the pasta is still hot - add the butter, half and half, and cheese. Stir (I tossed everything around with a pair of tongs) until butter is melted. Add the veggies, toss around til it's all mixed up and serve - sprinkled with more cheese if you're half the cheese-fiend that I am.

Notes:
I haven't been grocery shopping since the family left last Sunday, so I was just using up lots of leftover stuff. As a result...
* I didn't have any butter or margerine left -but I did have a tub of country crock, so that's what I used. It tasted just fine...but doesn't cheese cover all ills?

Bowtie Pasta with Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes

I could have come up with a longer title for this, but it would have taken the time that I have allocated to telling you how much I love and adore this:


This is my favorite seasoning blend. It will go with anything. It may even be tasty enough to eat all by itself on a spoon, but I’m not admitting to anything. A few years ago, I bought about 5 different McCormick’s blends, used them up – and then discovered they had disappeared from the grocery store when I went to buy more. I wanted to stage a Spice Aisle Sit-In, but I had finals that week. Walmart should be grateful that I went to grad school.

Last year, my life found new meaning when I rediscovered the Roasted Garlic and Bell Pepper blend at the store. I may or may not have cried, but there were no witnesses, so we’ll just call that an unsubstantiated rumor.

And Holy Roasted Peppers, there’s a recipe on their product page that I’m going to have to make.

Note to McCormicks: feel free to thank my free advertising with some free seasoning blends. I promise to love them, too.

This is my entry for the week for Presto Pasta Nights.

Bowtie Pasta with Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes

8 oz bow-tie pasta
½ lb asparagus, cut into 2” pieces
1 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half
½ yellow onion, chopped
3 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp kosher salt
Lots and lots of the Roasted Garlic and Bell Pepper goodness
1 cup grated Parmesan or Asiago or Romano – or if you’re really lucky, a combination
¼ cup fake butter – or the real thing, if you have it

Cut up your vegetables and put them in a bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil and toss to coat. Pour them out on a baking sheet and sprinkle the salt and seasoning blend over them. I’m not going to lie, I go a little crazy with the seasoning. I don’t measure, I just pour a mound in my hand and sprinkle it around. Then I repeat.

Cook in a 350F oven for about 30-40 minutes, until the vegetables are shriveling a little and you can’t stand not to eat them any more.

Cook your pasta and drain. Toss the pasta, butter, vegetables and half of the cheese together until the butter is melted; sprinkle with remaining cheese and serve.

Notes: I am overflowing with fake butter spreads, so I used Smart Balance.
I love cheese.

Macaroni Salad

Last week, we had a party at work. I won't go into the geeky, librarian-ish, too-much-information details about librarians throw parties. Suffice to say we had a Very Good Reason.

So one of the bosses sprung for 9 slabs of ribs. Before he turned away to allow me to make politely silent gagging noises at the thought of our entire ROOM smelling like bbq for hours (I hate barbeque), he told me that there would be ribs sans-sauce in case anyone would prefer that. I knew from the tone that I'd get a couple of cracks about the idea of someone eating ribs without sauce, but I didn't care. I love ribs.

However, I knew what the pot-luck part of our lunch would feature. Standard bbq fare - cole slaw, potato salad, greens, beans, cornbread. Here we go again with my crazy food preferences, but yuck, yuck yuck yuck.

So I made a macaroni salad that I would like. And I hoped that if I didn't tell anyone that there wasn't a lick of mayo in it, no one would ask.

They didn't.

Macaroni Salad Without A Lick of Mayonaisse.

1 lb elbow macaroni, uncooked
3/4 cup low-fat three-cheese ranch salad dressing, divided
3/4 cup fat-free sour cream
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped bell pepper

Cook pasta, drain and cool.

Whisk together 1/2 cup of the sald dressing and 1/2 cup of the sour cream.

Mix pasta, dressing and vegetables together until everything is well coated.

Refrigerate overnight, or until just before serving. Whisk remaining salad dressing and sour cream together; stir into pasta.

Notes:
There's an endless variety of vegetables that would go in this. I went with the green stuff I had in my fridge, but be creative!

I HATE HATE HATE ranch dressing, ranch flavored chips, and the very idea of a "ranch" flavor in general. This dressing tastes NOTHING like ranch - I think they just put that on the label to make it more marketable. And so this has taken the place of my beloved Parmesan-Romano salad dressing which is no longer to be found.

At the time, I really wished I had put some boiled egg in here, but I had three separate people tell me they were glad they finally had some macaroni salad without eggs. I guess everyone's crazy in their own little way, huh?

Angel Hair Pasta with Spinach

The Professor and I both had "engagements" at work today that I needed to make a dish for. Recipes for Macaroni Salad and Asian Slaw will be forthcoming. But I also had to feed us, since I was out of refrigerated Tupperware containers full of tasty morsels to tide over our stomachs. I had some spinach and shredded cheese mix (a blend of Parmesan, Romana and Asiago) that needed to be used, and a half a box of angel hair pasta.

Waiting for two pounds of macaroni to boil never tasted so good.

Pasta? Did someone say pasta?

This is for Presto Pasta Nights - again, a last minute thing. And if you've never clicked through my little linky love to check these recipes out (sis, I'm talking to you), man are you missing out. But that's ok. I'm not missing out on anything.




Angel Hair Pasta

• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, large dice
• 1/2 green bell peper, large dice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, Romano and Asiago cheeses (or any combination thereof)
• 2 tsp dried basil

Cook pasta.

While pasta is cooking, sautee onion and bell pepper in olive oil for about 5 minutes, or until it's done the way you like it. Reduce heat to low and add garlic. Cook for another 3 or 4 minutes, remove from heat.


When pasta is done, drain and return to pot. Add onions and bell pepper, butter and spinach. Put the pot back on the stove with it turned off - I have an electric oven, so it stays warm for a little while. Toss the pasta until the butter is melted and the spinach is wilted. Add the basil and most of the cheese, and toss to combine. Serve with a little cheese sprinkled on top.

Yes, I DID say canned salmon

I've been poking around the back corners of my pantry lately, trying to use up the stuff that I've stockpiled. If there's anything my family is good at, it's packing every square inch of storage space in a house full of just about anything you can imagine. With me, the one place where I excel at maximum-clutter-per-inch is my pantry.

And today, as I was collecting bits and pieces from around the kitchen and putting them in the pile of what was going to be dinner at some future moment, I found a can of salmon.

The only thing I have ever used canned salmon for is salmon patties. In fact, I kind of had it stuck in my head that that's the only GOOD use for them. So I set out to prove myself wrong.

After we ate, I realized I had basically made tuna casserole in a skillet. But it had the three basic food groups: dairy, cheese and butter.



Salmon and Penne Skillet

8 oz cooked penne pasta, drained
1 tbsp butter
1 small yellow onion, cut in half and sliced
1 green bell pepper, cut in strips
1 can of salmon, drained with juice reserved
about 1/2 cup of milk
about 3 tbsp Parmesan Romano salad dressing (See notes for some substitutions)
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
3 oz frozen spinach
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
pepper, to taste

Saute onions and bell peppers in olive oil until the onions are transluscent. Whisk together the salmon juice, milk, Parmesan-Romano dressing, mustard and tarragon. Add to skillet and cook until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Add pasta, spinach, about 1/2 cup of cheese and pepper to taste. Stir until cheese is melted and then add the salmon. Cook until heated through and top with the remaining cheese.

Notes:
I would have used half and half, but I only had skim milk. So I added the salad dressing to thicken it up a bit, and figured the extra flavor wouldn't hurt. But since I think I'm one of about five people in the country with this particular flavor of salad dressing, feel free to use cream or 1/2 and 1/2 in place of the milk and dressing.

I would definately recommend cranking up the amount of mustard and tarragon - probably doubling it. I wanted it to have that slight mustard bite and it didn't - although if you use cream instead of the salad dressing, the mustard and tarragon flavors might come through a little better.

I need an herb garden!

After I typed this up and hit "publish" I realized this is perfect for Presto Pasta Nights! So that's where it's heading off to.

Roasted Acorn Squash Pasta

I learned something last night: Peeling raw acorn squash is not a job that I EVER want to do again. At the moment, I'm willing to accept that I did something wrong. I don't admit this often, so enjoy it while you can.

I cut the squash in half, scooped out the insides, and then sliced it along it's dips (as opposed to its ridges). The problem with acorn squash is that while it is quite possibly one of the cutest and most adorable looking of the squashes, it's a royal pain in the backside to get the peel off of the good stuff when it's not cooked. As I was almost finished getting the blasted peel off of the blasted squash, I realized my melon baller would probably have handled it a lot more gracefully than me and my knife.

Why do my moments of genius always come 10 minutes too late?



Roasted Acorn Squash Pasta

• 1 small acorn squash, peel removed (in whatever manner you prefer) and cut into 1 inch pieces


• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced


• 1 yellow bell pepper, sliced


• 2 small green bell peppers (or 1 large), sliced


• 1 Tbsp olive oil


• Salt and pepper to taste


• 2 tsp dried rubbed sage


• 6 oz pasta (penne, bow tie, etc)


• 1 can diced tomatoes


• ½ cup shredded smoked Gouda


• ¼ cup shredded Parmesan

Preheat oven to 450F.

Toss squash, onion and bell peppers in olive oil, sage, salt and pepper. Put on a cookie sheet and bake until everything is getting a beautiful deep golden color, about 20 minutes, stirring half way through.

While the veggies are roasting, cook your pasta to what ever degree of al-dente-ness you prefer.

Toss the veggies, pasta, tomatoes and Gouda together (making sure to leave the most carmelized pieces of onion sticking to the pan, so that when you serve yourself, you can be sure to add them to your bowl. Hey! Cooks get certain privelages).

Serve with Parmesan sprinkled on top.

Notes: It's Presto Pasta Night again! I am loving this excuse to cook pasta once a week!

Oh my oh my oh my did I love the taste of the acorn squash. I usually either cook it with brown sugar to bring out the sweetness or make a "stuffed" squash. But roasting it made it buttery and good. I could have eaten the squash all by itself. It would make a great side dish. Or a main course ALL for me.

I also cooked up about a pound and a half of chicken breasts, cubed them and threw them in to satisfy the The Professor's carnivorous habbits.

I had originally planned to bake this after I mxed everything together, but the veggies and the pasta were hot enough to warm the tomatoes and melt the cheese. And I was starving.

Gnocchi, Vodka Sauce and Flour All OVER My Kitchen

Ever since I fried up the last of my in-laws gnocchi a few weeks ago, I’ve been wanting to make it on my own. I knew this was dangerous territory, because The Professor worships at the shrine of his parents’ gnocchi. But my father-in-law had written down the very simple recipe for me (only 3 ingredients!) and given me a step-by-step tutorial. So I figured I could probably follow it.

And in The Professor’s World (which sounds like a really bad name for a XXX rated spin-off to Gilligan’s Island), gnocchi MUST be served with vodka sauce. Which I had not gotten the sacrosanct recipe for. Dammit! I needed someone that I knew would love my attempt, even though it might not taste exactly the same as every other time she’s ever eaten it before in her life. Change is HEALTHY, Professor!
Ahem.
As this was obviously a job for The Bestest Friend EVER, I told her that her presence was requested for dinner. Even if the sauce tastes just a wee bit different, she loves whatever I put in her mouth. Which makes her sound like she’d have a recurring role on The Professor’s World and that’s just disturbing, so we’re going to move on to discussing the recipes, mmmkay?

Gnocchi Dough:

• 16 oz ricotta
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all purpose flour

Vodka Sauce:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano ½ cup vodka
• 1 ½ cups half and half
• ½ cup grated parmesan

OK, first up: The Gnocchi. If you like to keep your kitchen pristine, you do not ever want to see me make this.

Mix all three ingredients together in a mixer until it forms a dough.
Form the dough into medium size balls and sprinkle with flour.
Sprinkle your work surface – in my case, the kitchen counter – with more flour.
Sprinkle your hands with yet more flour.

Roll a ball of dough in your hands between your palms so that it begins to lengthen into a log.
When the log is longer than your hands, lay it on the floured surface and continue rolling, moving your hands from the center to the edges of the roll. Keep rolling until the dough-log-thing is about an inch thick.
Cut the log into one-inch long pieces with a sharp knife.

Ok, here’s the tricky part. You can buy special little boards to help you form ridges; my in-laws have perfected a dimple-roll method that they can perform at lightening speeds. Whatever method you use, you’re basically making a way for the gnocchi to hold more sauce. So if you want, just poke the tip of your finger into the middle of each one.

Move the gnocchi onto a cookie sheet and put in the freezer for about 30 minutes, so that when you put them in the boiling water, they don’t coalesce into one big gnocchi ball that would defeat the purpose of all the rolling and dimpling you just did.

Continue with the rest of the dough until it’s all done.
While the gnocchi is freezing, start your sauce.

Heat olive oil in large skillet.
Add onions, and sauté until translucent.
Add garlic, stir and cook for 1 minute.
Add can of diced tomatoes and vegetable stock.
Simmer for 15 minutes.

Heat water for gnocchi in pot (add 2 tbsp oil, if you want)
Whenever the water starts boiling, add frozen gnocchi.

Add basil and oregano to sauce; simmer for 10 minutes.
Pulse sauce in food processor.
Put back in skillet, add vodka and simmer some more.
Stir in parmesan and half and half. Simmer simmer simmer.
Continue cooking and stirring occasionally for 5-10 minutes.



Gnocchi should be boiling and floating; scoop them out of the water with a spider or slotted spoon.

Serve sauce over gnocchi, sprinkle with a little grated Parmesan and devour.

Chicken Pasta with Creamy Brie Sauce

I've been drooling over Presto Pasta Nights for so long now. Every week I get my fix, and this week I dare to join in...

I tried something new for dinner last night. I love creamy cheesy pasta sauces (I also love herby-tomatoey sauces, and simple olive oil, and rivers of vodka sauce…but we’ll focus on one addiction at a time). And last night, I wanted something other than parmesan or romano melted into my clog-your-arteries butter and cream creation. If I’m going to kill myself with fat content, I might as well do it with varying tastes of high fat content. Right?

Chicken Pasta with Brie Cream Sauce

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 oz pasta (I used penne)
2 Tbsp butter
1 green bell pepper, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp Red pepper flakes
2 tsp Thyme
2 tsp Oregano
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup half and half
4 oz brie, rind cut off, cut as small as possible and divided
1 cup Italian bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cook pasta, drain and move to a large bowl.

Cook chicken completely and cut into cubes.

Add bell pepper strips and garlic to butter in the skillet and sauté for 5 minutes so they are crisp-tender. Stir in the red pepper, thyme and oregano and cook for another minute. Add it and the cubed chicken to pasta, making to sure to scrape the pan.

Add 2 Tbsp butter and chicken stock to skillet and melt; add cream and stir constantly until it starts to thicken. Add half of the brie and continue stirring. When the brie is melted and the sauce starts to thicken, turn off the heat and stir for another minute.


Pour sauce over the vegetables and pasta, and toss until everything is…well tossed.

Pour in a 2 quart casserole and top with bread crumbs and then the remaining brie. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the top starts making your mouth drool with it’s golden goodness.

Notes:
Next time, all of the brie is going in the sauce. It didn't melt very well on top.I used the same skillet for everything , and I didn't wipe it out between any of the steps, so that I could be sure and get all of the stuff that stuck to the pan when it was time to make the sauce.

The Professor claimed that this was too spicy, but as we all know by now, he's kind of a pansy when it comes to spicy foods (I love you honey!). It does have a little heat, so if you don't like that kind of thing, cut the red pepper flakes in half.

Be smarter than I was: remember to cut the rind off the brie before you start cutting it into itty bitty pieces.

I’m wondering how this would taste with smoked Gouda…???

Pan Fried Gnocchi = True Love

Warning: there are a lot of superlatives in this post. And I never use one more than needed.

About once a year, my in-laws come to visit for a few days. One of the benefits is that they are really good cooks. The first time they visited, my father-in-law started to make gnocchi, which I learned is a family necessity. When he got into my kitchen and saw my spice cabinet and the stand mixer, he made a list of things to make. Huge meatballs, an incredible vodka sauce, pepper biscuits, meaty tomato sauce, biscotti...I felt like I was in a restaurant. Except I had to wash the dishes.

When they make gnocchi, they make a ton. And I mean a TON. I didn't realize where they had all gone, until I looked in my freezer after they left. There was a huge bag of them, ready for us to gorge ourselves on whenever we felt the urge. Which, to be frank, was very soon.

These are not made of potato; it's pretty much flour, ricotta and egg. Simplicity that shines.

So, I have a few left in my freezer. Just enough for The Professor and I for dinner. I've seen a few recipes around for pan fried gnocchi. I have some butter and a hunk of Parmesan that needs to be used.

It's like fate walked into my kitchen and made dinner for me.
But I still had to do the dishes.

I'm not going to do the step-by-step on the gnocchi process; you'll have to get them on your own.
In fact, I have no clue how much of anything I used. I'm not going to be much help for the recipe. But that's because my brain is still busy thinking of the buttery taste left in my mouth.

Pan Fried Gnocchi

In a skillet, melt about 3 or 4 tablespoons of butter. Take about 40-45 {frozen} gnocchi (these are pretty small) and add them to the skillet, making sure they're as separated as possible. Otherwise as they start to get soft, they'll become more of a gnocchi pancake. Which will still be yummy, but not what I was going for. Tonight, anyway.

Now, the hard part - don't start messing with the pretty little suckers! Let them get all soaked in butter, let them sing to the gods of dairy. You can't see it, but they are busy. Busy getting themselves all crispy and ready. Because they know what's coming.

After about 5 or 6 minutes, their little bottoms are going to be turning a luscious golden brown. Grab a clove or two of garlic, and mince it and sprinkle it all over the pan. Now you can start flipping them over. I ended up just pulling out my tongs, because the spatula gave me fits. After I flipped them, I cut up a couple more tablespoons of butter and dropped it around the pan.




Now, to keep myself from popping a couple of under-fried pieces of yumminess in my mouth, I got busy grating a few tablespoons of Parmesan. By the time I was done, my pieces of goodness were ready. I slid them on my plate, sprinkled the Parmesan. And sat down to one of the best simple dinners I've had in a while.

Venison Lasagna? Is that legal?

A few months ago, a friend of mine gave me a VERY LARGE log of frozen ground venison. He also gave me a 6 pound venison roast. After the roast - finally! - thawed out, it made an incredible meal. But the ground meat has been buried in my freezer ever since. Part of the reason is that he wasn't sure if it was sausage or ground meat. It wasn't marked on the outside, and he couldn't remember what his friend (the hunter) had told him.
Saturday, I thought of a way to use it that would be ok with either option: lasagna.

But I only needed one pan of lasagna, and I had about 3 or 4 pounds of meat. Frozen solid, which meant that it was all or nothing. So I made a bunch of different rice/meat casseroles (details later). And one very yummy looking lasagna.

I can never remember what order things go into a lasagna. A layer of sauce underneath the noodles? How many layers do I really need? The ricotta goes on top of the noodles, but aren't the noodles supposed to have sauce on both sides? Is it ok if I just mix it all up and bake it? Can I go back to experimenting with my new canner now?
In the end, I pour another glass of wine and just start putting things in a pan.

So, every time I make one of these suckers, the layers are probably in different orders. And every time, it tastes fantastic.
I used a 9x9 inch pan, so you have to be creative with the noodles. Being creative in the middle of making something, inevitably calls for another glass of wine. It's a good thing we found a sale this week.


Venison Lasagna

• 1 pound ground venison (or other meat)
• 1 medium onion, chopped in big-ish pieces
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped in big-ish pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pint tomato sauce (I used homemade, which has a ton of herbs in it already)
• 1/2 pound button mushrooms, sliced
• as many lasagna noodles as you need for your pan and your layers (I had 9 I think)
• 1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
• 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375F
Begin cooking lasagna noodles til their as soft or firm as you like - I tend to under-cook them, because this sucker's going to go in the oven.

Cook the venison in a skillet until done; drain in a colander and then transfer to a large bowl. Try to leave some grease in the pan. Sauté the onions, garlic and pepper. Add to the venison.

Sauté the mushrooms, being careful not to over-cook them. Add the mushrooms to the venison. Pour the tomato sauce over the venison mixture and stir until it's all mixed up and you're ready to just grab a spoon instead of going to the trouble of building a lasagna.

If it's too dry for you, you can add some plain canned tomato sauce. I like mine chunky, though, so I rarely have to do that. Taste your mix, and decide if it needs any salt, pepper or whatever seasonings you like to taste. I put in a little more basil, because in my world there is never enough basil.

In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, Parmesan and cottage cheeses with a little fresh ground black pepper to make it look interesting. This stuff is awesome eaten with a spoon. Or on a Triscuit. Or even in lasagna.

OK, now the fun begins. I *think* this is the order I put things together this time.

Get your 9 inch square pan and spray some cooking spray on it.
Put a layer of lasagna noodles. Mine were too long, so I let them curl up the sides of the pan - so it'll hold all the goodies that are about to get added.
Add half of the ricotta mixture in dollops all over the noodles, then spread it evenly around.
Put about 1/3 of your sauce/venison mix even over the top.

Get another layer of noodles. This time, I cut about 1/3 of the length off so that the noodles would fit in the pan.
Dollop the rest of the ricotta mixture on the noodles and spread it evenly.
Put half of the remaining tomato/venison mix evenly across the top.

Do one final layer of noodles. At this point, I only had one whole noodle left and I cut it to fit the pan. Then I used the pieces I had saved to cover the top. I wish I could brag that I had planned it this way from the beginning, but in reality...I started freaking out back at the 2nd layer of noodles that I didn't have enough cooked. Cutting them was my lazy way of getting out of boiling another pot of water. Because, you know, boiling water is so darn hard.

Back to the lasagna...
Put your patchwork noodle pieces on top.
Spread the rest of your tomato/venison goodness on top.
Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese across the top.

The lasagna will probably be bulging out the top of the pan at this point, so put it on a baking sheet (with sides) to catch the juices that are going to bubble over. Loosely tent a piece of foil over the top, and put it in the oven for 35-40 minutes. If you want your cheese to be browned and bubbly on top, take the foil off for the last ten minutes. If it still doesn't get bubbly enough for you, turn the broiler on.

After it cooled, I froze this to feed to my out of town guests in a couple of weeks. I'll be making a vegetarian version next weekend to go with it. I still don't know what'll be in that one.

I've never frozen a baked lasagna before, so this is an experiment. It sure smelled good coming out of the oven, though:

Fettuccine e Verdure

I was so busy thinking about the wonderful grilled chicken that I had planned for dinner tonight, that I forgot to plan what I would serve with it. The Professor likes chicken just as much as the next guy, but if I simply gave him a plate full of meat and went on my way, he would probably take me to a shrink. So I had to come up with something fairly quickly. In my world, that means randomly pulling things out of the refrigerator or pantry and throwing them in one big bowl and giving it a fancy name. Somehow, I have convinced the Professor that this is an actual talent, rather than desperation.

This was the pasta of choice. When he asked, I told him it's called Fettuccine e verdure.

Somehow Fettuccine and vegetables sounds much more like an actual planned dish when you say it in Italian.

The fresh basil and Parmesan cheese were the stars of this dish. Everything else was just there to give them something to cling to. Although a plate of Parmesan cheese and basil sounds pretty good, now that I think about it...


Ingredients:
8 ounces Fettuccine
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, cut in decent size chunks
1 white onion, cut in decent size chunks
1 pound button mushrooms, cut in decent size chunks (our mushrooms were HUGE, so I quartered most of them)
olive oil
one stick of butter, divided
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup half and half
about 6 or 7 fresh basil leaves, chopped

Preparation:
start cooking your pasta.

Slowly heat the olive oil and garlic in a skillet without really sauteing, so the garlic infuses the oil.
Add the onions and peppers and saute them for five minutes. Add the mushrooms and - here's the really yummy part - add several tablespoons of butter. The mushrooms will absorb that like drunks on a 3 day binge.

Drain your pasta and return it to your pan. I added about 3 tablespoons of butter and a half a cup of Parmesan cheese. Then on a whim, I grabbed the half and half out of the fridge and splashed about 1/4 cup in the pasta. Once the butter is melted, add your sauteed vegetables and your chopped basil and stir it all together.


As a side note - some of the onion stuck to the saute pan, and apparently continued to cook while I stirred my pasta-ness together. Those five or six little pieces got brown and crispy, and had such an incredible taste. Maybe next time I'll saute the onions separately so that they can really caramelize.

I Hate Mayo

I have always hated mayo. To be truthful, I'm not big on condiments in general. Ketchup, mustard, mayo, miracle whip, steak sauce, vinegar, salad dressings in general...I hate them all. I eat everything plain and dry.

And then, a few years ago, I found Kraft Parmesan Romano salad dressing. It's part of their Special Collections line. And suddenly, I was accepted as a "real" salad eater, because I would eat lettuce with a wet topping.

About a year ago, I got to thinking. About half of Salad dressings are based on mayonaisse. And that's a main ingredient in pasta salads, tuna salads, chicken salads...you get the idea. I love all the ingredients in these salads except for the mayo. What if I substituted that Parmesan Romano salad dressing for mayo? And a love affair was born.

Sunday nights usually find me cooking up a big pot of something that can be used as leftovers for at least the first half of the week's lunches at work. Tonight, it's a chicken pasta salad, from various things I found around my kitchen and threw into a bowl. This makes a HUGE bowl of pasta salad. And I love it so much that I'll be lucky if there's any left by lunchtime on Tuesday.

Absolutely No Mayo Whatsoever Pasta Salad

16 oz Rigatoni, cooked
2 Chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (they were seasoned with red pepper flakes, garlic powder and a seven pepper blend)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 can black olives, sliced
7 oz (two little bags) baby carrots, chopped
8 oz mozzerella cheese, cubed
Enough Parmesan Romano salad dressing to make it tasty
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 tsp celery salt
a few basil leaves, chopped up

The directions are simple: Cook the pasta and the chicken. Cut the chicken and veggies into pieces you're comfortable with. Mix it all together into a big bowl. Devour.