Five Ingredient Pasta Toss

Five Ingredient Pasta Toss

 

At the end of a very busy weekend, I decided to throw this dish together so we could all watch a family movie together.  So easy, and great with a side vegetable, or by itself as we chose to eat it tonight!

 

I cooked bowtie pasta al dente.  While it was cooking I added olive oil and crushed garlic to my serving bowl.

 

Then I tossed in rinsed & drained pinto beans, and chopped fresh basil.

The original recipe calls for white beans, but I chose pinto and they worked well.

 

I drained the pasta and tossed it together right away with the remaining ingredients, and served.

 

The original recipe also calls for a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes, with the juice.

Because my kids don't like tomatoes, I skipped this ingredient.

 

David recommends doubling up on the beans.

I am reminding myself to season the pasta water because the pasta needed a little extra salt.

The boys think there was too much garlic, so I cut it back to 2 cloves in the recipe below.

 

Perfect accompaniment to Elf tonight!

 

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Buon Appetito!

Linguine with Tuscan Kale

Linguine with Tuscan Kale

 

A few days ago I shared a recipe from Chef Gregory, and this is another one of his.

While we love pasta in our house, I had no idea how this recipe would go over.

That's a lot of kale and a lot of onion. 

I just wasn't sure.

 

But, it was a hit! 

We had some leftovers, but not much.  I'll certainly make this dish again someday.

 

 

You start by cooking chopped onion and garlic in olive oil until transparent. 



 

Then you add in the thinly sliced kale and let it wilt with the onions and garlic for 5 minutes.

 

I was lucky that Mary and Mike had just given us some beautiful greens from their organic garden.  This kale was delicious!!

 



 

 

Then you add in vegetable stock and cook for 20 minutes, letting the stock reduce.

 

Season with salt and pepper, then toss with hot linguine and Parmesan cheese.

 Deliziosa!

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Buon Appetito!

 

 

Tuscan White Bean Soup

Tuscan White Bean Soup

I saw this recipe for Ribollita, or Tuscan White Bean Soup, in several places.
I combined them all together and made my own.

I took this soup to a brunch last week and it was a big hit.
I served it with warm bread.

I sauteed celery, onion, and carrots in olive oil until they were tender, about 5 minutes.  Then I added in crushed garlic and let it cook for another minute.

I then added in tomato paste, vegetable broth, crushed tomatoes and seasonings and brought the soup to a boil.  I added in rinsed, drained beans and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

I stirred in fresh basil right before serving.

All of the recipes I had were fairly similar. 

Other additions to this soup could be cooked elbow pasta, finely chopped leafy greens like spinach or kale,  and homemade croutons to top.

I just served it with extra red pepper flakes and warm, crusty Artisan bread.

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Buon Appetito!

Ziti with Fresh Tomatoes and Olives

Ziti with Fresh Tomatoes and Olives

Last night the evening Book Club that I am in, the Litwits, did something completely different.

Our July hosts, Sam and Alexa, are caterers and chefs.  They suggested we all make a dish from a favorite cookbook, bring copies of the recipe, and we could have a meal together and discuss.

I was introduced to a number of yummy cookbooks last night.

And the food was incredible!

We had a great time sharing our dishes, our cookbooks, and catching up on a beautiful summer evening.

I had planned to take a crawfish etouffe last night, but this week is pretty crazy with contractors in and out of the house, lots of activities and appointments with the boys, and trying to get the house in good shape for our visitors arriving tomorrow!

So, I went with something much quicker - and a dish I thought sounded great for summer.

I must say - I fully intended to use ziti, but couldn't find it anywhere!  Who knew?  Trips to two great grocery stores in town and no ziti at all - so we used penne.  Turns out - our chef friends also use penne when ziti isn't available.  What's up with no ziti in town??

This is a very simple dish, and I loved it.  I will be modifying it slightly from the original recipe in one of my favorite go-to cookbooks

I like this dish because it can be served warm or cold.

I started by combining chopped fresh tomatoes, oil-cured black olives sliced in half, olive oil, lots of fresh basil and parsley, minced garlic, Kosher salt, and hot red pepper flakes. 

I mixed it up and let it sit together for half an hour or so while I cooked the pasta.

Once the pasta was cooked and drained I mixed the tomato sauce and pasta together.  I added a little seasoning and covered it to serve later at the Litwits.

I felt the dish was too pasta-heavy going with the original recipe.

So next time I will cut the amount and let the tomatoes be the star.

The modified recipe is below.

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Buon Appetito!



Homemade Marinara

Sandy's Homemade Marinara

Pasta with a delicious sauce is such a great dinner, and requires little prep if I have sauce on hand.

The issue is that the boys (who avoid chunky tomatoes and peppers at all costs), don't really care for most of the jarred sauces out there.

I've strained jarred sauces, and I've blended jarred sauces in order to get rid of the chunkiness (I clearly love my children dearly).  It works OK, but I'd rather have a sauce that we all really like, that isn't full of sugar (which the jarred brands are), and is much more delicious.



This recipe comes from Sandy Thomas, Holistic Health Coach (www.zenchoice.com).   In the final healthy cooking class I took with Sandy last month, we made this sauce and enjoyed it with our lunch that day and it was delicious!  I knew I'd make it often.  Sandy recommends keeping one container of the sauce in the fridge and the rest in the freezer to pull out when needed.  If you are local and want more information about Sandy's services, please give me a call!

 

Brennan prepared this sauce mid-morning, and after errands that afternoon, rushed home to stir and taste test.  We seasoned and finished off the sauce that evening while I was making the pan roasted cherry tomatoes. 

 

My recipe is slightly modified from Sandy's original.  This is an easily customizable recipe to your family's tastes.  And because it cooks in the crock pot - it couldn't be easier!

 

We started by sauteing a diced onion in olive oil until tender and translucent (~5 minutes).  Then we added crushed garlic for another minute.

 

We transferred the sauteed vegetables, the cans of crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, dried Italian seasonings, and fennel seeds to the crock pot.  Stirred, and set it to cook on low for 6 hours.

 

 

That evening we tasted it and Brennan thought it needed sweetness.  Per Sandy's recipe we added a tablespoon of honey.  Then we added about 2 tsp of Kosher salt, some fresh black pepper, and a little bit of garlic powder.  Because the sauce was a little took chunky for my family, Brennan used the "soup puree-er" to smooth it out. (see photo above)

 

 

 

We chopped about 1/4 c of fresh basil, and served the pasta over penne.

 

 

Then I divvied up the remaining sauce into 4 containers for the fridge and freezer.  It's so great to have a delicious sauce on hand!

 

Funny Story - the mason who will be repairing our chimney this summer stopped by mid-day.  He was at the front door and I could tell he was kind of distracted.  Finally he said - what are you cooking?  I told him marinara and offered to put some in a container for him to take home.  He shyly turned me down, but I could tell it was hard to do.  The house smelled wonderful all day!

 

Thank you, Sandy, for another delicious recipe!

 

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Buon Appetito!

Caprese Salad

Caprese Salad

This is my very favorite salad.

It's simple, delicious, and it just might tempt my boys to finally eat a tomato one day.

They're great eaters overall so I let them pick 2 things that I will never "make" them eat.

Tomato is on both of their lists.

But this dish just might be the trick because they seem to want to try it each time I make it.

It's the national salad of Italy - with the colors of the flag.

Whole mozzarella is a must. 

I saw this served one time with deli mozzarella slices.

Please, splurge and get whole mozzarella for this dish.

Slice, layer, and drizzle with good Balsamic vinegar.

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Buon appetito!



Fettuccine with Pea Pesto

SK Fettuccine with Pea Pesto

I saw this delicious-sounding recipe on Smitten Kitchen awhile back and have had it bookmarked to try for months.

Brennan and I made it tonight and it was quite good!

I like the idea of pea pesto instead of the standard basil or spinach for a change.

Using frozen peas works beautifully.

I served it with fish and fruit.

Start by cooking frozen peas for 2 minutes then draining them and pouring them into an ice bath.

Drain the peas and put all but 1/2 c into the food processor.

Add garlic, walnuts or pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese and pulse away.

Drizzle in olive oil as you're pulsing.

Add the reserved peas and you're ready for your pasta.

Cook your pasta and reserve 1/2 c of the liquid.

Combine the pesto, peas, pasta, and water.

Season to taste and top with Parmesan.

Mmmm.

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Buon Appetito!