Pasta Tonight!

Well, this week begins a new adventure - big city, new job. A little apprehensive as one might imagine, it takes a little time to get used to a new rountine. Normally, I would be savoring my lunchtimes, but for starters there is a lot to get used to. For obvious reasons, I do try to minimize the length of the work day. I have two eager people waiting for me at the end of the day.

The transition has been difficult for them, so like all good mothers I am trying to bribe my way out of it. They get to pick a treat, every weekend and this week on Friday it is going to be silly bandz.

Last evening I made a quick and easy pasta, baked and nice and comforting. While it might seem that baking is a bit of an odd thing to do when I am complaining about the heat, the other side of the game however is to get something done nice and quick.

Seasonal Pasta with 2 cheeses

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients

1/2 package medium shells
3/4 cup skim ricotta cheese
1.5 cups of chopped greens (I used fresh beet greens)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tomato diced
1/2 grated fontina cheese

Method of Preparation

1. Cook the shell according to the directions on the package.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
3. Place the ricotta cheese and the green in a food processor and process until smooth.
4. Mix in the salt, nutmeg, black pepper and tomatoes with the shells and place in a greased baking dish.
5. Mix in half the fontina cheese.
6. Top with the remaining fontina cheese and place in the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes.
7. Serve hot.

Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

A good sauce takes time to makes, not necessary a lot of effort but a lot of time. Sometimes the interesting element is that like a good broth a good sauce can be really versatile. This one initially seemed fussy as I started it - with red peppers and tomatoes, all picked up from our local markets. Initially roasting the peppers seemed like a good idea, especially since I was letting them do their thing, watching the black creep up and envelope the vivid red as I sat and chatted with my sister-in-law. Well, then I cut up the tomatoes, at again all of this seemed easy enough. As the sauce cooked for some reason it seemed like it was going nowhere, it look bright but rather insipid. But this ended up being - "mommy can I get this for lunch worthy!" with pasta. The key to justifying such an effort really make a large batch.

By the way on a totally different note, if like me you want a little lovely pick me up, try reading this piece. Totally touching and beautiful!

Anyhow as the sauce simmered, I could not help thinking we are living in bizzare times in terms of gubenatorial escapes, from the MIA man taking off to meet his lady love, to Ms. Fiesty non-conformist, who thinks it is cool to up and leave for greener pastures.

Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Makes 5 cups of finished sauce

Ingredients

3 red bell peppers

10 large ripe tomatoes (I used 4 lbs, vine ripened tomatoes)

1/3 cup fruity extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons grated garlic

5 shallots, cut into a dice

15 basil leaves

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon red chili pepper

2 cups white wine (I used a chardonay)

1 tablespoon sugar

Method of Preparation

1. Roast the red peppers on an open flame until the skin is blackened evenly, remove from the flame and place on ice cubes to rub and remove the burnt skin.

2. Coarsely chop and set aside.

3. Coarsely chop the tomatoes and set aside.

4. Heat the oil and butter add the garlic and the shallots. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently until they are transluscent and begining to turn golden at the edges.

5. Add in the peppers and tomatoes and stir well. Cook on medium heat for 45 minutes. By now you should have a pot of bubbling red liquid and chunky by fair well cooked tomatoes.

6. Add in the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat on low and simmer for another 2 hours, Stirring occasionally.

7. Cool the sauce and blend into a smooth puree. This yields a very flavorful sauce that can be used over pasta or actually as a base for anything that you can think off.

Not my mother's mac and cheese

Mac and cheese is a staple in the house. The little ones love it, I usually tend to make different variations of this dish, but from the scratch. No, I do not have a favorite that my mother used to make since my mother really did not make mac and cheese.

This Friday at lunch with a couple of colleagues, someone mentioned to me about how their mother used cottage cheese for Mac and Cheese. Now, what a novel idea, cottage cheese is low in fact and can actually contribute to a nice smooth texture.

So this is what I did,

Mac and Cheese with Shallots, Ham and Asparagus

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 cups cooked elbows
2 tbsp olive oil
3-4 shallots thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic grated
2 tbsp flour
1 quart half and half
1 cup coarsely cubed ham
1/2 cup finely chopped asparagus
2 tbsp chopped chives
1.5 cups cottage cheese with pineapple
3 tbsp butter
salt to taste
1/2 cup grated swiss cheese

Method of Preparation

Heat the oil and brown the shallots and garlic.
Add in the flour and mix into the oil.
Add in the half and half and simmer till thickened.
Add in the ham, asparagus and chives and cottage cheese.
Remove from heat.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a casserole and add in the elbows and butter and salt.
Pour the cheese mixture and bake for 25 minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in the swiss cheese and serve warm.

Basil and tomatoes - Fare thee well - Summer 07

There is a distinct nip in the air, heralding the arrival of fall, this weekend we have had crisp, cool sunny weather. Going to the store however I found these really beautiful baby roma tomatoes. I was thrilled to see them! Of course, nothing better to pair them with other than basil. Made a simple pasta, that was something that the kids loved and made everyone else happy. So here we are,

Farfalle with green peppers and roma tomatoes.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 cup dried farfalle
3 tbsp extra virgin olive
1 green bell pepper thinly sliced
1/2 cup homemade or prepared pasta sauce
1.5 lbs baby roma tomatoes, halved
1/3 coarsely torn basil leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Cook the farfalle according to the directions on the package and drain.
2. Heat the oil and add the pepper and saute for 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the pasta sauce and the tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add the pasta and basil and toss.
5. Mix in the basil leaves and the salt and pepper and serve hot.

This week's WHB is being hosted by Katerina at "Daily Unadventures in Cooking!". Her blog features wonderful, practical everyday food and is hardly "unadventureous". This post is for her.

Weekend Musings - Quick tossed Pasta

Last night we went out to catch up with some friends over dinner. The food was just so ooo good. There was this really wonderful papri chat that my friends mother had made from the scratch, was so good. I was drinking the red wine a fruity California Merlot, I don't know what caused it but boy! did I wake up with an horrid headache this morning. It just refused to go away. I took at least 3-4 tynenols, ironically enough last night we were dicussing about the pros and cons of pain killers last night. Well, then I completed the usual chores for the weekend and managed to get some sleep this afternoon, now, how rare is that.

Later, this evening, I fussed around the house. It is mind-boggling just how much junk these kids accumulate. Aug-Oct is birthday season in my kids daycare, this practically takes over our social calendar, and then I am left with all the junk from the goody bags. Well, I filled at least 2 garbage bags of junk and dropped this off in the dumpster on my way for my regular walk.

At night, I decided to put scrounge through my fridge to put together a pasta with whatever I had available. I have to confess I was pleasantly suprised with the results. The combination of ingredients laced with some green chilly and cilantro resulted in a well-balanced dish with just a hint of spice. I would recommend this with a good glass of wine, I have sworn off alcohol for the rest of the weekend after last night.

Red and Green Spicy Pasta

Serves 4

Ingredients

9 oz angel hair pasta
Water and salt for boiling
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 green chilly minced
1 red pepper cut finely
1/2 cup finely chopped prociutto
1 cup grape tomatoes halved
1/2 cup prepared marinanara sauce
Salt if needed
1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds
3 tbsp shaved aged parmasan
2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Cook the pasta till just done (should be very al dente), drain and set aside.
2. Heat the oil and butter and add the garlic, followed a few minutes later with the chilly and red pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the prociutto and grape tomatoes, and, the tomato sauce, with salt if using. Let this cook for a few minutes.
4. Add in the pasta and mix well for 3-4 minutes.
5. Stir in the remaining ingredients and mix well to let the flavors mix.

Enjoy!

The cilantro in this recipe makes for an interesting fusion of flavors. This goes to Zorra at Tomate, who is hosting this weeks WHB.

Carrot and Carrot Greens

Have been so busy lately. Will be having a party for the kids, that can be quite a chore. The invites, getting gifts for the other kids, of course the food etc. That and switching jobs can keep a girl more than gainfully occupied.

Anyhow, I got this bunch of carrots with these beautiful greens. I have used beet greens before but never actually tried carrot greens, so I gave it a shot. Threw it together with some whole wheat spagetti, sun-dried tomatoes in oils, edamame bean, corn and grated carrots.

Essentially, I heated a 1 tbsp olive oil, sizzled some garlic and cumin seeds and then cooked the vegetables for about 10 minutes on low with a cover and then added the pasta, sun-dried tomatoes and a little salt and pepper. Added the chopped greens right at the end, the result was a pretty quick and tasty weeknight supper, fairly healthy too for that matter.

I spent a little time looking up carrot greens and realized that it is no novelty to be eating these greens anyhow I was glad that I had discovered a use for these wonderful leaves and I think they will feature anytime I get them in our regular cooking. Will sent this off to Sher at What did you eat? who is hosting WHB.