post-Christmas pesto pasta

I threw this recipe together for lunch while JT was shoveling our White Christmas out of our driveway. He asked for a warm meal and I couldn't think of anything to put together since Christmas cooking has preoccupied me and all of our leftovers were at my parents' house. Luckily, I had leftover pasta from a soup I'd made (check out that AWESOME Cavatappi -- corkscrew-shaped macaroni), and some homemade pesto, which was a little harsh and garlicky by itself, but calmed down considerably with some creamy Laughing Cow cheese wedges.

Ingredients:


Pasta
Pesto sauce (practice with ingredients and portions YOU like!)
--> Your favorite greens and herbs (about a cup to a cup and a half)
--> 1-2 garlic cloves
--> eyeball about 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
--> the juice of half a lemon
--> drizzle in EVOO while blending/food processing until it forms a sauce
2-3 Laughing Cow cheese wedges, depending on how much pesto you have, how strong it is, and how creamy you want your pasta to be.

Directions:


Cook pasta according to package directions. In the meantime, prepare your pesto sauce and dice Laughing Cow cheese wedges. Drain pasta and return to pan, removing from the heat. Add pesto and diced cheese while the pasta is still hot, stirring consistently until the noodles are coated and the cheese is completely melted and incorporated into the pasta.

If I'd had parmesan pita chips, I'd have served with that for some crunch, and JT recommended some diced, cooked chicken for protein.

Mushroom Ragout

JT says this is one of his favorite dishes I've ever made! I'm pretty sure it was inspired by the classic Italian sauce starter (onion, garlic, tomatoes), but I absolutely love mushrooms. Even though it has heavy Italian influences, I call it a Mushroom Ragout because French names sound fancy. It's vegetarian, takes less than 20 minutes but JT says serving it with grilled tilapia or chicken would taste delicious, too!

Ingredients

Pasta (I used orecchiette, but penne or linguine would work great, too!)
EVOO, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound mushrooms
1 can diced tomatoes
1-2 cups spinach leaves
Parmesan cheese
white wine (optional)

Directions

Bring a pot of cold water to a boil, add salt to the boiling water, and cook pasta according to package directions.

In the meantime, drizzle EVOO on the bottom of your saute pan, and once heated at medium high heat, add onions and stir frequently until almost transparent. When the onions are pretty much cooked, add garlic and stir. Once the garlic is fragrant, anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes later, add the mushrooms, plus a little salt and pepper, and stir until they darken and release their natural juices.

Add spinach leaves (about three handfuls or more: they will wilt down severely) and pour tomatoes over it with about half of their juices. I've added about 1/2 cup white wine at this time before for flavor, but it tasted much better this time without it, we thought. Maybe it's because I was using dry wine, and I am not a huge fan of that flavor. If you choose to add white wine, don't add any of the tomato juices. You may wish to salt and pepper again, or add red pepper flakes for a little kick. With red pepper flakes, it's best to start very small and add to taste, depending on how spicy you like your cuisine.

Stir until spinach has wilted and pan liquids are simmering (and hopefully reducing). Dial heat down to medium or medium low and add parmesan cheese about 1/4th cup at a time until your ragout has thickened. If it becomes too thick and difficult to stir, simply add a little pasta water.

Drain pasta and toss with sauce, but make sure your ragout is proportionate to your noodles. JT likes to have 1.5:1 ratio of noodles to sauce, but I like mine to be about 1:2 with more ragout than noodles.

Enjoy!

Giada's Butternut Squash Tortellini with Brown Butter Sauce

This is possibly the most difficult recipe I've made to date. You can find Giada's recipe and list of ingredients here, but the cook time is certainly not ten minutes. I did the prep work and stuffing the night before and boiled the pasta and made the sauce the next day. I did a step-by-step blog for this one at my main blog, so here it is!

Peel the butternut squash for the filling and chop it into cubes. It was pretty hard to slice and I had no idea it had seeds! The recipe had me roast the cubed squash with some oil and spices and I threw some seeds in the pan to roast. YUM!

Next, I threw the squash, some garlic, more spices, and a secret ingredient. It called for amaretti cookies, small Italian almond cookies, but I couldn't find them at four stores, so I subbed animal crackers!

Third, I placed wonton squares on some wax paper, making sure the surface was always dry. I found these in the produce aisle.

I put a tablespoon of the mixture in the center of the square (this, a v. liberal tablespoon!) and wet the edges with some water using a basting brush. (You can use any brush as long as you can control the amount of water, pretty much!)

Next, I folded the square, pressed the edges, and patted it to remove air bubbles. I wet the two corners of the longest edge and pressed those together and repeated the above process.

After making 36 tortellinis, I called it a night. The next day, I made the sauce with some butter, cranberries, and toasted almonds. Keep in mind that I toasted the almonds in my oven to bring out the flavor!

As my sauce cooked, my tortellini boiled until floating.

This is a random image of my sage. I bought it at the grocery store, but absolutely love that it was still attached to the soil! Maybe that's why I am so excited about starting my garden.

I used a slotted spoon to serve my pasta and topped it with the sauce. We loved it! It's very heavy with delicious fall flavors like cranberry, butternut squash, and toasted almonds.

Voila!

If you're asking yourself how I can call myself undomestic, you share the feelings of my best friend forever. My overflowing laundry basket, the pile of dishes in the sink, and my crumb-littered floors say otherwise. Cooking is outside of the domestic jurisdiction, though a very helpful asset in homemaking.

I maintain that I cook like a chemist.

Carbonara

Ingredients:

• pasta - I use spaghetti or linguine
• bacon or pancetta - about 4 strips, chopped
• ham, Canadian bacon, or prosciutto
• 3-4 eggs, whisked
  
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• chopped basil
  

Bring a pot of water up to a boil, salt water, and cook pasta according to package directions.

In a separate skillet, cook bacon to desired crispness. If you want to make this dish more calorie-friendly, use ham instead of bacon or cook bacon in a separate pan to avoid the excess fat.

Add hot pasta to the skillet and stir in cheese until melted and pasta becomes creamy. Quickly add the whisked eggs and stir vigorously for about 4-5 minutes until the pasta is creamy and glossy. This "gentle cooking" is an art form because you don't want to scramble the eggs with the heat of the pasta, but you want to make sure the eggs are cooked and edible, so use discretion. In order to avoid scrambling, I added a spoonful of the hot pasta water to the eggs beforehand to warm them up a little.

Top with basil and cheese and serve warm.

Refrigerator Pasta

I call this Refrigerator Pasta because it's a great way to revitalize leftovers and veggies that will otherwise go bad. The combinations are pretty much endless!

• Pasta - leftover, uncooked or cooked
  
• Diced Mushrooms (leftover cooked meat would also work well)
  
• Sprinkle of sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 finely chopped shallot or a bit of leftover onion
  
• Dry white wine or chicken stock
• Leftover salad greens (I used the spinach and arugula I didn't use in last night's salad)
  
• Pecorino or parmesan cheese
  

If pasta is uncooked, bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt once the water reaches a boil and cook according to package directions. When finished, drain and return to pot.

In a separate skillet, heat some oil and cook the shallots until fragrant and transparent. Add the mushrooms, season with a bit of salt and pepper, and cook until they release their juices. If your salad greens are undressed and raw, add them at this time. (I used arugula and spinach.) Remember that greens will wilt when cooked, so be very liberal with them!

Pour about 1/2 cup of white wine or chicken stock evenly over the mixture and stir until visibly reduced. Sprinkle sun-dried tomatoes and stir until heated through.

Combine mixture with pasta and stir. I served this with pecorino cheese because it complements the peppery flavor of arugula. JT added red pepper flakes to give his a little spice.

Neapolitan Calamari and Shrimp Salad

Ingredients

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 pound orzo pasta (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 pound calamari, whole bodies and tentacles (I used scallops)
  
• 1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined (buy pre-cooked)
  
• 2 zucchini, sliced lengthwise, about 1-inch wide
• 1 Japanese eggplant, sliced lengthwise, about 1-inch wide
• 2 Roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 ounces arugula (about 3 cups) (I used spinach, too)
  
• 3/4 cups chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a large pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta and place in a large bowl.

Meanwhile, place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill.

Drizzle the fish, zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the calamari and shrimp, just until cooked through, about 1 to 2 minutes a side. Grill the zucchini and eggplant until tender, about 4 minutes a side. Grill the tomatoes just until grill marks appear, about 2 minutes.

Add the orzo, cannellini beans, arugula, basil, and parsley to the bowl. Cut the calamari bodies into 1-inch rings. Cut the zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes into roughly about 1-inch cubes. Add the vegetables and calamari to the bowl with the lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Finally, add the shrimp on top of the salad. Gently spoon the salad into a serving bowl and serve.