I talk about food, you read it.
Pasta
15 minute Dinner – Easy Peanuty Pasta
0J and I went over to Mayne Island for New Years, a tradition that seems to be going since we’ve first met and I’d love to continue. We love to go over and get away from the sparkly parties that never really live up to the hype. Champagne and glitter is never a good combination and can leave you with quite the hangover. Instead we pretend we’re retired.
We take lots of walks , battle between the entire 4 channels that the TV sometimes gets before retreating to the zillions of DVD’s, eat lots of snacks and drink copious amounts of wine.
Now that we’re back to the real world of traffic jams, alarm clocks and day jobs it’s been hard to get back into the swing of things. Even though I love food dearly and cooking is something that I really enjoy, there are times when I wish I had a magic want to put an amazing meal on the table and also do all the clean up. Since I don’t, I turn to ridiculously easy recipes that will satisfy your dinner dilemma and your tummy.
This particular recipe isn’t anything new and you can probably find a million variations online or in cookbooks but I definitely recommend this for people who love peanut flavoured, Asian inspired meals.
Ingredients
- Spaghetti, enough to feed 4 (or 2 if you’re us)
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1-2 tsp sriracha, or more ( you might want to leave our the spicy if you have kids)
Add all ingredients together and set aside. Cook pasta as per package directions. Drain, Pour sauce over pasta along with vegetables of your choice.
I added bean sprouts, grated carrots and chopped green onions. I sprinkled sesame seeds on mine as well for a garnish.
If you’re a peanut butter lover like I am it will also be a new dish to adore! This is tangy, savoury, sweet and slightly spicy which are all of my favourite things. I wouldn’t focus too much on the ingredients or measurements make it to your liking. If you have leftover chicken, shred it and toss it in. Anything goes with simples meals.
Baked Mac and Cheese
0Is it just me or did it get really cold really fast? We literally went from 20 to 2 degrees in the span of 3 weeks. That means my BBQ is officially wrapped up for the winter. I know some people still bbq in the snow but I prefer to lean towards comfort foods or foods that are in season. One of the top rated comfort foods of all time has to be Mac and cheese.
I didn’t really know how to make my own cheese sauce until this past Thanks Giving when I made my cheesy veggie casserole and I needed to try it again, just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. Turns out, it’s actually really easy!
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk or half and half ( or a mix, as long as its 2 cups)
- 3 cups grated cheese (of your choice, I used cheddar, feta, and baldersons aged white cheddar)
- 2-3 dashes of hot sauce
- 1-2 tsp Dijon mustard
- Pepper to taste
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- ¼ bread crumbs
- 1 pound elbow macaroni ( I used penne since it was in the pantry)
Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add salt to taste and, while stirring, add the macaroni. Return to a boil, reduce the heat to a low boil and cook for about 5 minutes, or until macaroni is very al dente (slightly undercooked).
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
While you’re waiting for macaroni heat a heavy, medium saucepan melt 4 tablespoons of the butter over low heat. Add the flour and stir to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Increase the heat to medium and whisk in the half and half little by little. Cook until thickened, about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat, season with pepper, hot sauce, mustard and 1/4 cup ounces of the grated parmesan. Add remaining cheese of your choice stir until cheese is melted and sauce is smooth. Cover and set aside.
Drain macaroni and pour in a large oven proof dish. Pour cheese mixture over macaroni and stir to combine. Sprinkle the top with remaining parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake in the oven for about 40 min, until bubbly and hot and the top is golden brown. Allow to sit for 6 min before serving.
The combination of the cheese I used made a creamy, sharp tasting max and cheese. J and I devoured this dish and I can’t wait to try different cheese combo. The best part is it tastes even better for lunch the next day!
Mediterranean Pasta
0Some days I just don’t feel like making a meal plan. I don’t want to take the time to come up with something new or go to the grocery store for the latest and greatest. I just want to eat a simple dinner that doesn’t incolve too much thinking. This is when I turn to pasta and rummage through the fridge to see what I can throw on top of the pasta.
This particular day I was lucky since I had diced tomatoes, tomato pasts (thawed thinking it was pizza sauce), feta, olives, and basil which immediately made me take a trip to the Mediterranean.
I didn’t use a recipe and I also wasn’t really keeping track of what I was doing but this is what I remember
Ingredients
- Onion diced
- Garlic cloves
- Diced tomatoes
- Tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1 tablespoon basil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Dried chilli flakes
I quite often use my emersion blender to smooth out my pasta sauces, but this time I held back since I wanted to have a thinner sauce with chunks of tomatoes. This would be my absolute basic pasta sauce so feel free to add what you like.
Once pasta was cooked, I tossed in the sauce. Once platted I topped it with feta, olives and fresh basil. It was amazing and amazingly simple. I love how sometimes throwing together the simplest of ingredients produce the ultimate dishes.
Fennel Tomato & Sardine Linguine
0To sardine or not to sardine, that was the question.
I found this recipe online and from the photo it looked scrumptious. A nice green garnish, some lemon scented breadcrumbs over a lovely bed of pasta. The reviews were marvellous and some who disliked sardines even commended on such a delicious recipe. Before making this I don’t think I have eaten sardines but I like seafood, in fact I LOVE pickled herring, anchovies in Caesar salad, fish sauce in Vietnamese so I assumed that this would be just as good.
Word to the wise, if you don’t like sardines you won’t like this.
Ingredients
- 1 tin sardines packed in olive oil (about 4 ¼ oz.)
- extra virgin olive oil
- 2-3 fat cloves of garlic, peeled, smashed, and roughly chopped
- 1 small or ½ large bulb fennel, fronds reserved
- 1/4 teaspoon
- 1 cup canned peeled tomatoes with their juice, gently crushed
- 2 ounces white (dry) vermouth
- 1 medium lemon, juice and zest
- 1/3 cup toasted bread crumbs
- 3/4 pounds dry linguine
Bring a very large pot of heavily salted water to a boil.
Open the sardine tin and drain a tablespoon or so of the oil into a wide skillet (the amount of oil in the tin will vary by brand, so add additional extra virgin olive oil if necessary to make up a tablespoon). Warm the oil over medium-low heat and add the garlic, cooking until fragrant.
Trim the fennel and slice the bulb very thinly (a mandoline works great here). Add to the skillet with a sprinkle of salt, raise the heat to medium, and cook until the fennel is soft and beginning to caramelize. Add the chile flakes and let them sizzle for a minute, just until fragrant, then add the tomatoes with their juice. Cook until the liquid is reduced, then add the vermouth and let that reduce slightly.
Add the sardines to the skillet with the tomato and fennel mixture, breaking up slightly but leaving some chunks. Zest the lemon and combine a tablespoon or so of zest with the toasted breadcrumbs, then set aside. Juice the lemon and add the juice to the pan. Taste and adjust salt if necessary.
Add the linguine to the boiling salted water, cooking it until it is just short of al dente. Using tongs, transfer the linguine to the sauce to finish cooking, adding a little bit of the starchy pasta water and tossing gently to combine. (You’ll want to leave this a little wet, as the breadcrumbs will soak up the sauce and dry the pasta out a bit once you’ve added them.)
Transfer the pasta and sauce to a large warmed serving bowl (or individual pasta bowls), add a drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle on the toasted breadcrumb-lemon zest mixture, and garnish with picked small fennel fronds and the remaining lemon zest
I don’t want to completely disregard this pasta because I think all the elements are there for a wonderful meal but I just do not like sardines and eating this confirmed it. If you like them then I think you would LOVE this dish. The tomato and fennel sauce was delicious pre-sardine and that just added a salty, fishy element to the dish that was just a bit more then I could handle. The lemon scented breadcrumbs gave a nice texture and aroma to the dish as well. So for all you sardine lovers, try this!
If you’re not a sardine lover, then omit them. I will definately try this again without.
Creamy Spinach Pasta
0Since getting our puppy I have realized how hard it is being a mom. I compare having a puppy to a two year old that isn’t potty trained, doesn’t wear a diaper, and runs around like a maniac and chews furniture. I personally don’t know of a two year old who chews furniture but I could imagine.
I need to expand my repertoire of fast easy recipes now that I need to be cooking and running around at the same time. This is something I adapted from Jamie Oliver’s site and it is really tasty, fast and for mothers who’s kids aren’t covered in fur, the spinach in this recipe is definitely kid friendly.
Ingredients
- Enough penne or any pasta of your choice to feed 4 people
- Olive oil
- 2 tsp butter
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- ½ tsp nutmeg (I didn’t have any)
- 14 oz of fresh spinach, washed toughly (I used a bag of baby spinach)
- Salt and pepper
- ½ cup cream (I used J’s half and half)
- 5 oz of mascarpone
- 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
- 2 handfuls of fresh grated parmesan cheese (must be fresh)
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the pasta, and cook according to the packet instructions. Meanwhile get a frying pan or wok warm, add a drizzle of olive oil, the butter, garlic and nutmeg. When the butter melts, add the spinach. After 5 minutes it will have wilted down and will be nice and dark. A lot of the liquid will have cooked away and you’ll have wonderful intensely flavoured spinach. At this point season with salt and pepper, then add the cream, mascarpone and a little ladle of cooking water from the pasta. Let this come to a simmer and then taste, season again.
Drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking water, and then stir it into the spinach sauce. Add the Parmesan and toss everything together. It should a nice consistency; if too thick add some of the reserved cooking water. Check once more for seasoning and serve right away.
I thought this was amazing. It was creamy, garlicky and had a very subtle spice from the chilli flakes. The spinach was in disguise which for kids is great, but I wouldn’t have minded a bit more spinach. Just call me Popeye. I will leave that part up to you and your family but don’t take it out completely, its subtle and healthy!
Lasagna
0Is it weird that I feel guilty when I am not able to make J a good home cooked meal? He raves about the fact that I cook for him so much that it’s put me into this place where I feel the urge to make everything from scratch. I love to cook, and I love the fact that I get the chance to experiment in my beautiful kitchen. I love that J eats everything with a smile and cleans up my mess. I get to pretend to be a chef and J benefits from the outcome with a full stomach full of home cooked food. He never complains about ordering food or cheating with store bought items but I know deep down he would prefer my food.
This past week has been a bit of a whirlwind of Canucks Games, stagette shenanigans, and being sick so there has been a lot of eating food not made by yours truly. Due to eating a lot of junk I felt that I had to make J a delicious meal from scratch. We also have a roommate as well who eats like a teenager so I decided to make something that can be filling, and also be used for multiple meals. Lasagna was the first thing that came to mind, and we haven’t had it in a while.
Lasagna is one of those meals that I don’t need a recipe for and always turns out to be amazing! It’s easy, can be frozen if you have lots of leftovers, and tastes even better when you eat it for lunch the next day. My only cheat is the noodles I buy. I don’t make noodles, I don’t buy fresh noodles, or noodles you have to soak before using. I use easy oven ready noodles as this saves a lot of time and taste great. If you hate the noodles process, then buy these, you will thank me!
The sauce that I make is super easy and doesn’t have a lot of complicated ingredients. If you want to add chopped up vegetables or grated carrots or whatever else your heart desires, go for it. Sometimes I add a bunch of mushrooms or I go nuts with chunky onions, and peppers. This time was simplicity.
Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 Yellow Onion, Diced
- 2-3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- ½ tomato paste (optional) I didn’t use, because I didn’t have any
- 2-3 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp dried basil
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- ½ tsp fennel seeds (optional)
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1-2 bay leaves
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ pound Italian sausage
- Salt and Pepper
Heat large pot (big enough to hold everything) with a swig of olive oil on med high heat. Add garlic and Onion, stir until soft, about 10 min. Add in ground beef and sausage, and cook until no longer pink. Drain off grease. Add cans of tomato sauce, diced tomato, and tomato paste. Add oregano, basil, sugar, fennel, pepper flakes, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Simmer for at least 30 min. The longer the better. Taste and adjust seasoning. At this point if the sauce looks thick then add 1/3 cup of water and continue to simmer. The sauce should be on the runnier side since the noodles will have to suck up a lot of the sauce. Now, go ahead and pre-heat your oven to 350.
Once your sauce is made the rest is easy peasy. Now, I don’t know how a lot of you feel about ricotta cheese, but I am hit or miss on it. I substitute my ricotta with cottage cheese and find that it produces a great flavour. Ricotta is more traditional and heartier so go ahead with that; I am a cottage cheese girl myself. This time I tried something different and blended my spinach with my cottage cheese. Normally I just pile it all but since I had the food processor out I gave it a whirl, literally. I then used my food processor to grate all my mozzarella to make an easy assembly line.
You’ll have to grease your pan first; I just spread around some olive oil. I have seen parchment used too. DO whatever is best for you.
Then you’ll have to pour in a good amount of sauce in the bottom of your pan. This will make sure the first layer of your noodles get cooked evenly. Like I said, these noodles will suck up the sauce so we don’t want to be skimpy.
Then you put your noodles down and start the laying process!
Cover with tinfoil and cook for 45-50 min. I like to leave my lasagne covered for only half the cooking time because I like my cheese to brown slightly on the top. It holds everything together and looks very appetizing.
When the lasagne is done, let it sit for at least 10 min. The noodles will continue to soak up sauce and it won’t be as scolding to eat but still very warm. While you’re waiting make a salad or garlic bread!
This was a success and I can’t imagine ever really screwing this up. It can be altered as well in so many ways that lasagne nights will always give you something great!
Trader Joe’s Organic Vodka Sauce
010 months ago
Don’t you just love it when you get home from work and all you have to do is put your slippers on because dinner is ready? This doesn’t happen very often so when it does I can’t take it for granted. Last night J made dinner but it was probably because his friend B was over and they had to eat before hockey. Regardless, it was still great and the best part was the sauce J heated up, Trader Joes Vodka Sauce. I was very excited to give this a try. Usually I just throw together a quick homemade tomato sauce since it’s so super easy but it’s always nice to have a backup for occasions like this and there aren’t very many canned or jarred sauces out there that I enjoy.
I should have taken the photo when the sauce was still in the jar, or when it was actually on the pasta, but I forgot. The ingredients are all organic and unlike Canadian organic foods it’s inexpensive. It could be considered a creamy tomato sauce since there is cream and cheese in it but I didn’t feel like it tasted heavy or thick. It was actually on the sweet side which I wasn’t expecting. I couldn’t detect the vodka per say but I am sure it added some tang to the sauce. I added fresh ground pepper, but it definitely doesn’t need any salt. It’s not overly salty but the seasoning is pretty well balanced. We had it served over whole wheat spaghetti but I heard it’s amazing over gnocchi as well. I probably would buy this again for those nights when laziness or time crunches kick in. I think it would also be great kicked up with some peppers!
Proper Blokes’ Sausage Fusilli
1To be honest, I wasn’t going to blog about this recipe. I wasn’t actually going to even make it because to me it sounded a little boring but I happened to have fusilli in the cupboard so why not? Since I am not a bloke I should probably re-name it but I won’t because it is the perfect man pasta! Its super easy, great for Monday night dinners and tastes amazing. So good, that halfway through eating I decided that I would actually blog about it after all. I then had to re-fill J’s bowl so I could take a photo!
Jamie Oliver originally came up with this recipe and I don’t k now why I even doubted him. It doesn’t have a typical sauce and comes out a little liquidy but the fusilli soaks it up and traps the flavour in its spirals. Jamie suggests to buy the best sausage you can find but I used just your typical Johnsonville mild ground Italian sausage from the grocery store and it was great.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 2 dried red chillies crumbled (I used dried chilli flakes, about a tsp)
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- Olive oil
- Half a pound of ground Italian sausage
- A glass of white wine
- Zest and juice of one lemon
- Fusili or penne
- Salt and pepper
- Couple knobs of butter (don’t you love how he talks)
- Handful of freshly grated parmesan
- A small bunch of flat lead parsley, chopped
Bash up the fennel seeds and chilies in a pestle and mortar set aside (I don’t have one so I chopped it up on my cutting board). Heat a splash of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan. Squeeze the meat out of the sausage skins and put into the pan, really breaking it up using the back of a spoon. Fry for a few minutes until the meat starts to color and the fat has rendered slightly, and then crush it once more so it resembles coarse mince. Add the bashed-up fennel seeds and chilies and cook on a medium heat for around 10 minutes until the meat becomes crisp, golden brown and slightly caramelized. ( I am sure I didn’t cook it that long, just eye ball it)
Stir in your oregano, then pour in the white wine and allow it to reduce by half. Add the lemon zest and juice. Turn the heat down to low while you cook your pasta in a large pan of salted boiling water according to the packet instructions. When the pasta has cooked al dente, drain it in a colander, reserving some of the cooking water, and toss it in the pan with your sausage meat. Coat the pasta in all the lovely flavours then add the butter, Parmesan, chopped parsley and a few spoonfuls of the reserved cooking water. This will give you a lovely loose, shiny sauce. Taste and check for seasoning, then serve immediately with a little extra grated Parmesan sprinkled over the top.
I tasted the meat sauce throughout cooking and it tasted good but the entire time I was worried about there being too much fennel, then too much wine, then too much lemon but the end result was great. It was light, flavourful, rich but without a heavy feeling. I am definitely going to make this one again!
Basil Pesto Avacado Pasta
0I came across this recipe on www.yumsugar.com and at the time I thought to myself that it sounded delicious. I also had my reservations because it originally came from a site the promoted good health and excersise. Now I do every now and then try healthier recipes but we all know that the worst food always taste the best!
I love avacado and since I’ve been sick all week I wanted to make something really easy and fast for dinner. It kept its promise and was super fast, super easy, and tasted amazing! I totally meant to add some diced tomatoes at the end but forgot.
Ingredients
- 1 medium sized ripe Avocado, pitted
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1-2 garlic cloves, to taste
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
- 1/4 cup Fresh Basil
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 servings/6 oz of your choice of pasta
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Bring several cups of water to a boil in a medium sized pot. Add in your pasta, reduce heat to medium, and cook until Al Dente, about 8-10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make the sauce by placing the garlic cloves, lemon juice, and olive oil into a food processor. Now add in the pitted avocado, basil, and salt. Process until smooth and creamy.
3. When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse in a strainer and place pasta into a large bowl. Pour on sauce and toss until fully combined. Garnish with lemon zest and black pepper. Serve immediately. Makes 2 servings.
**This dish does not reheat well due to the avocado in the sauce. Please serve immediately.
Baked Tortallini
0This past Monday was National Fettuccini Alfredo day. Alfredo sauce just happens to be one of J’s favorite pasta sauces. I swear he could eat it every single day and be fat and happy! Instead of making fettuccini I made tortellini instead and baked it in the oven with a blend of mozza, cheddar and parmesan cheese.
His sister gave me a ceramic dish the last time they were visiting. Its super versatile, oven friendly and kind of retro looking! It reminded me of a giant french onion soup bowl and I was dying to give it test run and this was the perfect easy recipe to do that. I pre cooked the pasta, poured on the sauce, dumped it into the new dish and baked it with cheese until it was all bubbly and melted.
Thanks for the new dish Jenny, it was super easy to use and I love it!!
