Orecchiette with broccoli rabe

Martha Stewart has about a million recipes for pasta with broccoli rabe.  Well, maybe not a million, but an awful lot.  Here's one we really liked; even though it doesn't have the usual sausage in it, it's still got a real umami kick thanks to a couple of anchovy fillets.  Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Tomatoes

My major change was to use dried orecchiette.  I don't really know what universe Martha lives in, but in my universe, I'm lucky to find orecchiette in any form, forget fresh.  I boiled the pasta and added the broccoli rabe for the last 3 minutes.

Pasta alla Norcina

Can you ever have too many wonderful pasta recipes?  Doubtful!  Recently, I made Pasta alla Norcina for just my sweetie and me, which means that I cut the recipe I was following in half.  It turned out to be amazing, and so I really want to share it with you.  Of course, as usual, Cook's Illustrated will not let you see the recipe on their site.  However, I found someone else who has posted it, so now I can just send you there instead!

This fabulous recipe includes "making" your own pork sausage.  More like "assembling" it, to be honest, but that's just fine with me, because that means we can have this even on a weeknight!

Pasta puttanesca

Was it really first made by Neapolitan prostitutes who needed a quick dinner?  Who knows.  Who cares.  It's delicious!


Pasta Puttanesca

1 1/2 - 2 lbs grape tomatoes

1 lb rotini, fusilli, or orecchiette pasta
Salted water

3 T olive oil
3 - 4 cloves of garlic
1 T anchovy paste
1/2 t red pepper flakes
2 t fresh oregano or 1/2 t dried

1/2 c pitted kalamata olives, chopped
3 T capers, chopped
1/2 c flat leaf parsley, chopped

Process the tomatoes until chopped but not pureed.  Scrape out into a mesh strainer over a bowl and let drain, pressing down solids as needed.

Start the water for the pasta and begin cooking when it boils.

Mix oil through oregano a small bowl.  In a large skillet, cook the garlic mixture over medium heat, stirring for 2 minutes.  Add tomato liquid a simmer for 2 more minutes.  Add chopped tomatoes, olives and capers and cook for 2 more minutes.  Stir in the parsley and keep the sauce warm.

Drain the pasta, reserving 1 c of the liquid.  Return the pasta to the pot and top with the tomato sauce.  Add as much liquid as needed and reheat gently if needed.  Serve immediately.

Lobster Mac and Cheese

With lots of black pepper...just the way I like it!

If there's anything better than ooey gooey macaroni and cheese, it's mac and cheese with lobster meat!  I found this lovely recipe in the Hannaford Fresh magazine this summer, and we've had it twice.  I made two changes.  First, I couldn't find a brick of provolone cheese, so I used an Italian cheese mixture that was mostly mozzarella.  And second, we like a crusty top, so I stuck it under the broiler for a few minutes before removing from the oven.

I just checked the website and noticed that half of the recipe directions are missing, so here is my slightly rewritten version for you:

Lobster Mac and Cheese

1 lb. penne

Salt

1 c dry white wine, such as chardonnay

2 medium shallots, diced

1 1/2 T flour

1 pint cream

6 oz. smoked gouda, shredded

6 oz. aged provolone or mozzarella, shredded

4 oz. Asiago cheese, shredded

4 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1 lb. cooked lobster meat, chopped (from about 4 lbs. of lobsters)

The recipe can easily be halved . Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Sprinkle with a rounded tablespoonful of salt and add pasta. Cook until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes, drain, and set aside to cool in the colander.

While waiting for water to boil, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-by-13-inch pan with vegetable cooking spray. In a large saucepan, bring wine to a simmer, then add shallots. Simmer over medium-low heat until shallots are tender and wine has reduced by two-thirds, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle flour over shallots and cook, stirring, until liquid is absorbed and flour just begins to color, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add cream and heat over low heat until hot to the touch, stirring frequently to avoid scorching; be very careful not to let it boil, as the mixture may then separate.

Gradually stir cheeses into hot cream in four or five additions, stirring constantly with a slotted spoon and allowing each addition to melt before adding the next. Continue until all the cheese has been incorporated and the mixture forms a smooth, thick sauce.

Place the pasta in the prepared baking dish. Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and stir well. Stir in the lobster meat, and spread it out, making sure the lobster is covered by sauce and pasta. Cover with foil and bake about 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes. Broil to crisp the top if desired. Set aside to firm up for 5 minutes before serving.

 

Sesame linguine with chicken

There are many variations you can make on this dish, once you've mixed up the perfect sesame sauce.  We like it with chunks of chicken breast and rainbow chard, but asparagus is great too!

Sesame Linguine with Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped

Vegetable oil

1 lb linguine

Large bunch of rainbow chard or other greens, chopped

1/2 c peanut butter

5 T rice vinegar

2 T fish sauce

1 T chili-garlic sauce

2 t grated fresh ginger

2 T toasted sesame oil

Start the pasta water in a large pot.

Cook the chicken in oil in a large skillet and set aside. Mix the peanut butter through the sesame oil in a small bowl. Add up to 1/3 c of the pasta water later if needed to make it smooth enough.

When the linguine is almost done, about 8 minutes, add the chopped greens to the pot for the last few minutes. Drain well, reserving some of the pasta water if needed for the sauce. Mix the linguine, chicken, greens, and peanut butter mixture together in a pot and serve.  

Carbonara with ham and peas

Pasta Carbonara can be simple or complex, but we just prefer it totally overloaded with good stuff.  I recently made it with left over ham, but left over chicken would be good too.

Pasta Carbonara

1 lb spaghetti
Salted water

3 cloves of garlic
Bacon grease or oil
1/2 c white wine
1 lb of diced pre-cooked ham or chicken
3 eggs
1 1/2 to 2 c grated Parmesan cheese


Start the water for the pasta.  In a small skillet, saute the garlic until light gold and then add the wine.  Simmer for a few minutes until slightly reduced.  Add the meat and heat through.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and cheese together.  Add the hot ingredients from the skillet and stir together.  Cover with plastic and microwave on medium for a few minutes, stirring, until the eggs have set. [Note: it is not traditional to do this, but I cannot eat eggs that are undercooked without a trip to the emergency room]

Drain the pasta, reserving some of the pasta water.  Return the pasta to the pot, stir in the cheese and meat mixture over very low heat, and add a bit of pasta water to make a moist sauce.

Tuscan garlic chicken pasta

I found this recipe in an issue of Cook's Country, and chased it down online here at Food.com.  I made a few modifications, adding the lemon juice and the pasta water to the skillet in order to reclaim all the browned bits from the chicken.  Other than that, I followed it exactly!

The best quick Italian meat sauce

Seems almost like sacrilege, doesn't it?  How can Italian meat sauce (or gravy, if you prefer) be quick?  Well, the folks at Cook's Illustrated have figured it out.  Use only the highest quality canned tomatoes to make this, and don't use anything but 85% lean ground beef. 

You know that you can't see their recipes online without an online subscription, but if you google Simple Italian-Style Meat Sauce, you'll find a few folks who don't mind ignoring their copyright. 

Lemon-kale pesto on pasta with...fish of some sort!

The recipe that I found for this delicious Lemon-Kale Pesto dinner used linguine and scallops.  I used penne and salmon.  But all the rest was the same...more or less!  It was really good.  Don't let the poisonous green color fool you.  I used baby kale instead of adult that needed de-stemming, and I think that upped the color-quotient!

Spaghetti with onions and yogurt...I'll pass, thanks!

We had a pasta dinner which featured a different topping from our usual Spaghetti Sauce (or gravy, if you prefer!).  We are not strangers to trying pasta with a twist, like our Pasta with Lentils and Walnuts.  But this time, the experiment just didn't pan out.

I made Spaghetti with Caramelized Onions and Yogurt, and while it was ok, it just wasn't exciting enough to go into our permanent file.  You may very well feel differently! 

Pasta with bacon, onions, and mushrooms

 

Oh, how delicious!  I can imagine this dish with prosciutto instead of bacon too.  I found the recipe in Martha Stewart Living magazine, back in April...but for some reason it took me awhile to get around to trying it.  I'm glad I finally did.  Some of her pasta recipes leave me cold, but this one is a keeper for us.  An unexpected (to me, at least) twist has you adding mint leaves.  Do!  Don't substitute parsley unless you really hate mint.  The flavor is more subtle than you'd think.  The only change I made was to sub rotini for fusilli.  

Kale and sunflower seed pesto

I told you a few weeks ago that we had been experimenting with various pesto recipes that are alternatives to basil.  Not that we don't also LOVE basil.  I found this Kale and Sunflower Seed Pesto mixture at Cook's Illustrated along with some of the others that we tried.  I passed it by at first because I thought it looked kind of weird.  I should someday learn not to eat quite so much with my eyes!  It was delicious.



Image: Stock.echng, J Wilsher

Lasagna

How many different ways are there to make lasagna?  I totally love The New Lasagna Cookbook by Maria Bruscino Sanchez, but after cooking up several of her inventive variations, I'm always longing to revisit my old favorite.  And here it is!

Lasagna

1 lb lasagna noodles (oven ready)
2 lbs ground meat (l lb beef, 1 lb sausage)
1 onion, chopped
30 oz spaghetti sauce

1/2 c water
30 oz ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 lb shredded mozzarella cheese
10 oz shredded asiago cheese
Nutmeg, salt and pepper

Place the noodles in a sink of hot water to soak.

Preheat the oven to 375.  Spray oil your lasagna pan.

In a large saucepan or dutch oven, brown the meat, draining off the excess fat.  Add the onion just before the meat is finished and cook until softened.  Stir in most of the sauce, and the water, and bring all to a boil.  Reserve about 3/4 c of sauce.  Remove mixture from the heat.

In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, eggs, mozzarella, and about a 1/2 c of asiago cheese.  Add a sprinkle of nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

Layer as follows: 
Reserved sauce
Lasagna noodles
1/3 cheese mixture
Sprinkle with asiago

1/3 sauce mixture
Lasagna noodles
1/3 cheese mixture
Sprinkle with asiago

1/3 sauce mixture
Lasagna noodles
1/3 cheese mixture
1/3 sauce mixture
Top with asiago

Bake at 375, covered with foil, for 1 hour.  Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes.  Let stand before serving to firm up. 

Pasta with leeks and sugar snap peas

Fresh sugar snap peas are at their best in the spring and early summer.  Combining them with leeks, lemon zest, and some tasty cheeses was inspired.  Thanks to Martha Stewart for this delicious pasta recipe.  My major change was to use orecchiette pasta instead of the pappardelle noodles she suggests.

Pesto doesn't have to be basil

Red Pepper Pesto

Basil pesto is amazing, and I love it to death.  But sometimes you just want a change, so when an issue of Cook's Illustrated shared some ideas for super-tasty pestos that used different ingredients, I was on board.  So far we've tried two of them, and they are both keepers: Roasted Red Pepper and Pistachio Pesto and Green Olive, Almond, and Orange Pesto.  There is also a recipe for Sage, Walnut, and Browned Butter Pesto that we haven't tried yet.

Green Olive Pesto

Here are the other pesto recipes that I love from my own blog:

Basic Basil Pesto
Citrus Pesto
Artichoke Pesto
Sun-dried Tomato Pesto

Kale and white bean lasagna

It was good, just not quite good enough to add to our permanent file!  You may feel differently however.  I loved the mix of greens, tomatoes, Parmesan, and mushrooms with the pasta.  It was just the white beans that were a little off-putting to me.  Not majorly, just not quite there.  Lasagna

Spaghetti al Vino Bianco

Oh my gosh.  This stuff is absolutely delicious.  I know it looks like normal old pasta without very many interesting things even added to it, but trust me...it's not!  This is Spaghetti al Vino Bianco, where the pasta is actually cooked in the white wine.  It doesn't turn out that disgusting purple color that you get when you cook it in red wine.  It is just amazing. 

Mussels

It's always great to have mussels in the spring, and even though they are perfectly fine simply steamed open and served with butter, lemon, or some sort of seafood sauce, with just a bit extra effort they can end up being the centerpiece of an absolutely magnificent meal.  And they don't even take very long!

Beverly Dowdy won a prize from Hannaford markets for her recipe for Marvelous Mussels.

Broccoli rabe and sausage pasta

There are lots of different versions of this easy (and relatively fast) dish, and they are all delicious.  My own preference is a combination of several recipes that I've played with, but my introduction to it sits squarely at the feet of a friend's mother.  Mama V is a wicked good cook, and definitely knows how to feed an army.  I had to cut back on the quantities for us, but I sure wouldn't mind going to her house and eating from the huge communal bowl!

Broccoli Rabe and Sausage Pasta

1 lb pasta (penne, orechette, or fusilli)
Salt
1 lb broccoli rabe, chopped
8 oz Italian sausage, hot and sweet (or sweet plus red pepper flakes to taste)
Onion, chopped

6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 t anchovy paste, or mashed fillets
Olive oil
1 T lemon juice
1/2 c chicken broth
2 T butter
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Boil a large pot of salted water for the pasta, and cook al dente.  In the meantime, prepare the broccoli rabe and sausage.

In a large Dutch oven, steam the broccoli rabe until just tender.  Drain and set aside.

Remove the sausage from their casings and brown them in the Dutch oven.  Add the onion towards the end and cook till tender.  Remove sausage to a plate, retaining most of the rendered oil in the pot. 

Add the garlic, anchovy paste, a bit of olive oil if needed, and the lemon juice to the Dutch oven and stir together.  Add the steamed broccoli rabe and saute lightly.  Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer.  Add the butter.  Stir in the sausage mixture and heat through.  Add the drained pasta and heat through.  Serve with cheese.

Pasta with walnuts, ricotta, and lemon

I went looking for campanelle pasta recently, because I wanted to try a new Martha recipe, but I drew a blank at my local market.  Instead of subbing in another twisty pasta shape, I decided to go with orechette, one of my new favorites...you'll be seeing more of it here!  Here's the original recipe for Campanelle with Walnuts, Ricotta, and Lemon.  I made a half-recipe, and it was more than enough for two of us.