I talk about food, you read it.
Pasta
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!!
Seafood Linguini
1WOW, two posts in a row!
I had a strange and overpowering craving for seafood today. It literally was all I could think about all afternoon. I decided that I was going to make linguini in a homemade tomato sauce with muscles, scallops and prawns. Seemed easy enough and surprising it was!
The Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 can of whole roma tomatoes
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 3 bay leafs
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp basil
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- Salt and pepper
Heat a skillet or pot with olive oil and add onion on med high and sauté for 3-5 min (until translucent) add garlic and sauté for another minute or so until fragrant. Add can of tomatoes and crush either with your hands as your adding or a mash potato masher. Once it’s a consistency you like then add bay leaf, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Let it simmer for at least 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.
The seafood doesn’t long at all to cook so I boiled my salted water and started to cook the pasta before cooking the seafood.
I heated a pan with butter and white wine on med high. I didn’t have very much white wine left so I added some chicken stock for more liquid but it’s not necessary. Put Prawns and mussels in the liquid and cover for 1 min, open and turn the prawns and cover again for another 2 min or so. You will know when it’s done when the prawns are pink on all sides and mussels have opened. Pour everything into a bowl and add some more butter to pan. Add scallops and sear on each side for about a minute to 2 minutes per side. They’re done when they don’t look translucent anymore. Make sure they’re still a little squishy and not firm or you’ve over cooked them. Put them in the same bowl with the prawns and mussels.
Once the by the time I was done cooking all the seafood the pasta was done. I drained my linguini and added sauce right over the pasta. I added the seafood to the pasta when I plated it. To my own dish I chopped up some marinated kalamata olives but J hates olives so he omitted that step. We grated some fresh parm on top and OH MY YUM! Was this ever good.
Goat Cheese Gnocchi with Red Pepper Puree
1I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted. I have been busy and honestly a little lazy. I did however make something I have never made before and I definitely needed to post.
I saw Anna Olsen make Goat Cheese Gnocchi with Pepper Coulis while watching the food network over a week ago and I couldn’t wait any longer to make it. It was way easier than I thought it would be and I really enjoyed it.
Ingredients
Pepper Coulis
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion
- 2 1/2 cups diced red bell pepper
- 3/4 cup dry white wine
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 sprigs fresh oregano
Goat Cheese Gnocchi
- 4 ounces fresh goat cheese, at room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
- 2 eggs, separated
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
Pepper Coulis
- For pepper coulis, heat a saucepot over medium heat and add oil.
- Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes, until translucent. Add peppers and sauté 3 minutes more.
- Add wine, thyme and oregano and simmer, covered, until peppers are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and puree until smooth. Strain, season and set aside.
** I didn’t strain my sauce so technically I renamed it Red Pepper Puree.
Goat Cheese Gnocchi
- For gnocchi, beat goat cheese and cream cheese until smooth. Stir in green onion, parsley, lemon zest and egg yolks until smooth. Fold in flour.
- Whip whites with salt to soft peaks and fold into goat cheese mixture in 2 additions.
- Bring 4 L water to a boil and salt generously.
- Cut dough into 2 pieces.
- Roll out first piece into a log shape about ¾- inch in diameter and cut into ½ inch pieces.
- Place on a floured tray and repeat with the second piece of dough. Drop gnocchi into water and simmer until they float, about 3 minutes.
- Gently remove with a slotted spoon and set on a plate.
- To serve, heat pepper coulis and spoon into a flat-bottomed bowl. Gently place warm gnocchi on top and serve.
Maybe it’s because red peppers aren’t in season but I ended up having to add sugar to my sauce because it wasn’t sweet at all. Perhaps if they’re roasted slightly first it would make a different.
When making my gnocchi I was a little worried that it was a little on the soft side but they cooked perfectly and I would definitely make this again.
Lasagna Soup
4J has been in the freezing cold town of St.Pauls, Minnesota and I haven’t really cooked anything since he left. I saw my parents for dinner and my friends but haven’t made myself a thing other then lunch for work and to be honest I don’t really feel like cooking a big meal. I did however have to fill my belly with something tonight because I have the daunting task of unpacking more of our boxes.
I found a recipe for Lasagna soup and fell in love! I love lasagne and making this soup is super easy and I can easily cut the recipe down since it’s just me.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrots, peeled and grated
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 cups chicken stock **UPDATE, add more stock as this seems to turn out more like pasta then soup
- 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes (I used fire roasted)
- 1/2 box lasagna noodle, broken
- 2 tbsp dried basil
- 2 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 cup mozza cheese
- parmesan cheese (optional)
Directions
In a soup pot, heat oil over med high heat. Add the beef, season with salt and pepper and cook until browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the onion, carrots and garlic and cook until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the chicken broth and tomatoes; and dried seasonings. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 15 minutes.
Top with mozza and parmesan and serve.
I ended up adding a bit more chicken broth because my soup was reducing a lot and there was hardly broth left. You could also add water but you might want to adjust the seasoning if you do. I really enjoyed this soup and will probably make it again for sure as it was super easy!
** Update-you will want to add more broth because it does end up more like lasagne then soup but either way its still super yummy!
Chicken Parmesan
0I was at a little bit of a loss yesterday trying to decide what to make for dinner. Since I have Monday’s off I sometimes think that I should make something extra extraordinary since I have all the extra time, but I just wasn’t feeling like going all out yesterday. I wanted something along the lines of comfort food, but still fairly easy. I also had the urge to recreate the prize winning meal from the Disney movie Ratatouille, but since J doesn’t like eggplant or zucchini I didn’t think that would go over well. I will have to make that meal for someone else.
Instead of making the classic colourful dish Ratatouille, I decided to make Chicken Parmesan instead. It’s easy, yummy, and I could make it even better by making my own homemade marinara sauce. I didn’t make the chicken parmesan the traditional way, and baked the chicken instead which makes it slightly more healthy.
Ingredients
- 4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 11/2 pounds)
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 cup dried bread crumbs
- ½ cup fresh mozzarella
- Freshly grated Parmesan
- 1 pound spaghetti pasta, cooked al dente
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Get the ingredients together for the chicken so you have a little assembly line. Put the chicken breasts side by side on a cutting board and lay a piece of plastic wrap over them. Pound the chicken breasts with a flat meat mallet, until they are about 1/2-inch thick. Put the flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. In a wide bowl, combine the eggs and water, beat until frothy. Put the bread crumbs on a plate, season with salt and pepper. Lightly dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, and then dip them in the egg wash to coat completely, letting the excess drip off, then dredge in the bread crumbs. Bake in the oven for about 10-15 min until done. Remove from Oven. Turn on Oven Broiler.
Ladle the tomato sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with mozzarella, Parmesan, and basil or parsley. Bake the Chicken Parmesan until the cheese is bubbly. Serve hot with spaghetti.
I used panko bread crumbs for my recipe but you really could use any kind of bread crumb of your liking. I also tossed the spaghetti with marinara sauce before placing the chicken on top. You don’t have to do this but spaghetti without sauce is weird to me. I also used whole wheat spaghetti as well. If you don’t have spaghetti use any pasta of your choice.
Baked Tortellini
0Okay, so my photos haven’t been great the last couple of days because I left my camera at a friend’s house and J’s camera died. So I apologise for that, and promise that it won’t last long!
It was J’s birthday on Monday so I asked him what he wanted for dinner. I said I would make him anything his little heard desires or we could go out for dinner. He chose the easiest meal on the planet which made me pretty happy, Baked Tortellini with lots of cheese! You don’t even really need a recipe for this unless you’re making your own sauce. I used some left over sauce that I froze from when I made cannelloni last week and combined it with a quick Alfred sauce for a creamy tomato sauce. I pre-cooked the tortellini, drained, added sauce and stirred, topped with cheese and baked at 450 for 10 min, then put the oven on broil to brown the cheese. DONE! I am pretty sure he loved his bday meal since he shoved it back without talking!
Spinach and Cheese Cannelloni with Roasted Tomato Sauce
1Tonight I made my poor guy starve to death while I made a fairly time consuming meal. I decided to try my crack at Spinach and Cheese Cannelloni with Roasted Tomato Sauce. The meal was only time consuming because it involved making a pasta sauce from scratch with roasted vegetables. The recipe was actually really easy.
Ingredients
Sauce
- 2 pounds (908g) small vine-ripened tomatoes
- 1 small fennel bulb, coarsely chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, halved
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 can crushed tomatoes (19oz/540 ml)
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
- 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 8 whole basil leaves (medium sized), chopped
Filling
- 2 cups part-skim (5%) ricotta cheese
- 1 cup 2% cottage cheese (mash with fork)
- 1/2 cup packed freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 package frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry and finely chopped
- 1 egg
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- pinch nutmeg
- 5 sheets fresh whole-grain lasagna noodles (see tip below)
- 1/2 cup packed freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
Sauce
- To make sauce, halve or quarter the tomatoes, depending on their size. Place tomatoes, fennel, onions, red pepper, and garlic on a large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then sprinkle with some salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix well using your hands. Roast vegetables at 450 degrees F for 45 minutes on middle oven rack. Remove vegetables from oven and let cool slightly. At this time, you can remove and discard any loose tomato skins.
- Transfer vegetables to a large pot. Add crushed tomatoes, vegetable broth, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper flakes. Simmer sauce over low heat, covered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Purée sauce using immersion blender (or carefully transfer to a food processor or regular blender to purée). Stir in basil leaves. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.
Filling
- While vegetables for the sauce are roasting, prepare filling. Combine all filling ingredients in a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Reduce oven heat to 375 degrees F. Spray a large baking pan (at least 9 x 13-inch) with cooking spray. Coat bottom of baking pan with sauce (about 1 cup should do it). Cut uncooked lasagna noodles in half cross-wise. Working one at a time, place about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup filling in the centre of noodle. Roll up tightly to enclose filling. Place seam-side down in pan. Repeat with remaining noodles and filling. Cover cannelloni with sauce (you will not use all of the sauce; freeze the leftover sauce to use for a busy weeknight pasta dish!). Sprinkle with Parmesan. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 5 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving (they’re hot!).
- Tip: Packages of fresh, whole wheat or whole grain lasagna sheets can be found near the deli in most grocery stores, where you would buy ravioli or tortellini.
** I forgot to buy(and by forgot I mean I was being tired, lazy and cheap) a can of crushed tomatoes and ricotta cheese and it was still amazing. I just added less broth to the sauce. I also didn’t bother with the fennal buld, I used dried fennal seeds instead.
If you don’t have an immersion blender you will have to wait for the vegetables to cool off and then use either a blender or food processor.
I am pretty impressed on how easy this recipe is, my only suggestion would be to start early so you’re not eating so late.