Black Bean Macaroni

Dec 1st 2010

Having grown up for the first 20 odd years of my life with little or no cheese at all, it is surprising how much I care for it now. I love cheese and I love the Pioneer woman because she does use a lot of it! However she does use a lot of meat and others that I leave out or substitute with some vegetarian ingredients. (Please read PS right now) Or like in this recipe, throw in something totally unexpected.

This is a great make ahead dish, that you take to parties, also for large groups at home, or when you are home for the holidays. It is simple but oh so divine. If you leave the Black Bean burgers out of it, it becomes your plain jane macaroni. Add them in and you will not be disappointed, I assure you.

Difficulty level : Easy 

Time:  30-40 min

Ingredients

• 4 cups Macaroni or any other pasta ( I have used Penne here)
• 8 Tablespoons Butter (Salted Butter)
• 2 whole Medium Onions, Cut In Half And Sliced Thin
• 2 morningstar black bean burgers (Thawed and cooked in the oven per instructions)
• ¼ cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 cups Whole Or 2% Milk
• ½ cups Half-and-half
• 2 whole Egg Yolks, Beaten
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• ½ cups Grated Gruyere Cheese
• ½ cups Grated Fontina Cheese
• ½ cups Grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese
• 4 ounces, weight Chevre (soft Goat Cheese)

Method de Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook pasta for half the time of the package instructions or slightly more. Drain and set aside.
3. Thaw and cook black bean burgers per instructions in the oven, keep aside.
4. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a skillet and then saute onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown and soft. Set aside.
5. In a pot, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Sprinkle in flour and whisk to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat for 1 minute. Pour in milk and half & half, then cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until thick. Reduce heat to low. Add salt & pepper to taste. 
6. Beat egg yolks and drizzle 1/4 cup hot mixture into the yolks, stirring constantly. Stir to combine. Pour egg mixture into sauce and cook for another minute.
7. Add cheeses and stir until melted. Add onions and burgers cut into small pieces and stir. Taste for seasonings and add more salt if needed. Add cooked pasta and stir to coat.
8. Reserve and sprinkle some onions on the top, before you put it in the oven to bake.
9. Pour into a baking dish and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until sizzling and hot. Serve as is or with any salad on the side.

PS:  I have recently learnt that a lot of cheeses contain animal enzymes which makes them non-vegetarian. I have also found that many brands make cheese without them, eg. Tillamook. So please read the label before you buy your cheese.

Confessions: I was super excited to try this recipe and when I eventually did, I went overboard and used 7 not 4 (yes, you read it right the first time!) cups of pasta.  It was a mistake, not intentional. Sheesh, you guys started judging me, I know. Hence the sauce looks lesser than in Ree's pictures. But I have to say one could get away with 5 cups easily and still have a pretty creamy macaroni.

Source : Fancy Macaroni

Creamy Tomato Basil Marinara

April 21st 2010

If you have not heard enough about our love for cheese, then here is another cuisine that only reinforces why. What is not to like in Pizzas and Pastas and their relatives. What is not to like is the fact that I have not been to Italy and not even married to an Italian and that sucks. All in good time I suppose.

People who primarily like spicy food sometimes cannot appreciate Italian food. They easily dismiss it as bland. But there is so much more to food than just hot spices like the flavors you get from the Italian seasonings and the richness of cheese itself for instance. I am not a big fan of just plain marinara but I like this version and Prego's creamy sauces that you can use off the shelf.

I had leftovers of mushrooms and olives and I have used them in this recipe, but you can make the sauce plain without those and use them with any pasta you like. Additionally I skipped garlic yesterday because I did not want too many flavors as I was going to use this with the spinach-cheese ravioli from Costco.

This is quick and easy and will want you coming back for more and more.  Enough said!

Difficulty level : Easy

Time: 5 min (prep time), 10 min (making time)

Ingredients

• 1/2 large onion chopped finely
• 1 1/2 cup tomato puree
• 1/2 cup chopped black olives
• 3/4 cup chopped mushrooms
• 7-8 basil leaves chopped finely
• 2 ounces butter
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 3-4 tbsps half and half or whipping cream
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
• a pinch of salt (to taste)
• Italian Spices ( Oregano/Thyme/Tarragon)-optional

 Method de Preparation

1. On medium high heat, melt butter. 
2. Once it is done, add the onions, sauté for a few min. Add the olives and the mushrooms and sauté some more till cooked well.
3. Add the tomato puree and allow the raw smell to go away and cook some more.
4. Add the milk and half and half. The quantity of this can be varied depending on how thick you want your sauce to be.
5. Add chopped basil, allow everything to come together. Savor the flavor and think of Don Corleone from Godfather. 
6. Add the salt and cheese and turn off gas. Serve over pasta or ravioli as your please. 
7. Sprinkle some Italian seasoning and Parmesan right before you dig in like the servers do in Italian restaurants wearing the whitest of aprons. 

Chef's Tip: Don't let sauce sit for too long, it will thicken. Try to cook pasta and start on sauce once you have dropped the pasta in the water for cooking. The timing will be about right. Go for the garlic if you are using just pasta and not ravioli.

Pasta Casserole

March 10th 2010

This is extremely quick to make and great for finishing off leftovers both in the fridge and in the pantry. As long as you have some cheese and pasta sauce at home you are good :) Or  of course, you could make your own sauce too.

Difficulty level : Easy

Time: 10 min ( Prep Time), 15-20 min ( Bake Time)

Ingredients

• Pasta (pre- prepared/ leftovers) or Cooked pasta ( cook as per instructions on the packet). Better to use small pasta ( rotini, penne, farfalle, elbow etc. ) instead of the string kinds.
• Pasta sauce (only if using cooked pasta) -options include marinara, pesto, even Alfredo if you can take all that cheese and creaminess :)
• Any vegetables ( optional)- only if using cooked pasta
• Cheese ( Parmesan, Mozzarella - shredded)
• Any spices you might have ( basil, thyme, oregano) a pinch of each
• olive oil ( to grease)

Method de Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 or 375 F.
2. Take a baking pan based on the amount of pasta you have, either a 9 x 13 or smaller.
3. Grease with a little olive oil.
4.  Can saute lightly whatever vegetables you like ( onion, garlic, bell pepper, black olives, mushrooms etc) in olive oil and add to the sauce if you are using cooked pasta. Stuff that you need to clear from the refrigerator also works! [optional]
5. Layer with pasta, sauce, cheese and repeat. If you are using leftover pasta then skip the sauce and just layer with pasta and cheese.
6. Sprinkle the spices in between layers or add to the vegetables while sauteing.
7. Cover with an aluminum foil  and bake for about 15-20 min. Take off the aluminum foil and bake at 425 F for the last 10 min so the top takes on a a crusty and browned appearance.
8. Oven temperature and times can be varied to suit taste.

Chef's Tip:  You could cook a few different kinds of pasta and bake it all together (if you want to finish them off) as long as they are in the general same family and size. Just don't cook spaghetti and penne and expect them to meld, won't happen!

 

 

Grilled Eggplant Panini

Feb 17th 2010

I have already mentioned that the Mr has a love affair with this vegetable, so this was something I made for his surprise birthday bash, right after the guests came, 'cos it was just that easy :) This is a super easy dish to make on the spot if you do the prep work earlier. Having a good panini maker is the key! 

You could alternatively toast this on the pan but would be more work and not the same taste.

Difficulty level : Easy

Time: 35 min (prep time), 2 mins (per panini)

Ingredients

• Mayonnaise
• Olive oil
• Eggplant  (big fat purple one)
• Basil (chopped)
• Roasted red pepper (in a jar)
• Bread (Oat N Nut or the like)
• Mozzarella Cheese Slices
• Onion sliced
• Salt

Method de Preparation

1. Cut the eggplant in thin slices and just brush with oil on both sides and sprinkle just a little bit of salt. Set the oven to either broil or at 475 F and then grill on both sides.  If you use the broil setting make sure you check constantly so that the veggie does not burn (~ 6 min). Slicing the eggplant thin ensures that it is cooked well.
2. In a small bowl, mix the mayonnaise and the chopped basil and keep aside.
3. To assemble the sandwiches, slightly brush with olive oil on both sides of the bread, spread the mayo mix on one side, place eggplant and the sliced onions and a couple of roasted pepper slices on top. Add the mozzarella slice and place the other slice of bread (oiled on both sides too).
4. Grill in the panini maker till desired.
5. And voila, slice and serve.

Source: I found the recipe here but have modified it some to suit my convenience. http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/eggplant_panini.html

Tip: At times you could do a simple panini without the eggplant and with a panini maker, it would taste good too. Everything else can be kept the same. Cut in smaller triangles, they make great appetizers too.

A is for Alfredo, at least in our home :)

Dec 4th 2009

K loves cheese in any which form it will come, so it is no surprise that Italian is very high in his favorite cuisine list. The original recipe for the alfredo sauce is from here: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1855,140166-232207,00.html. It is a great recipe, and extremely easy. However I would definitely recommend using some milk instead of the recommended half and half fully because it made the sauce very heavy and thick.

Modifications I made to the alfredo sauce include sauteing some garlic and then some red onions in the butter. I also added some chopped walnuts before adding the cream cheese. Biting into the walnuts tasted good, yum!

This would taste very good with any thin pasta - spagetti, angel hair, linguine etc. However it would be too boring I thought, just pasta and Alfredo. So I used the butternut squash ravioli from Costco, cooked it per instructions and then poured this sauce over. That provided some extra taste and flavor. A quick meal and very yummy..but not so good for the tummy line :P

Next time, I think I will saute some peppers in with the onions and then use plain old spaghetti, for a change.

Pesto Pesto Pasta

A couple of months ago when Macy's had their semi-annual sale, I bought some stuff that I wrote about in a previous blog. One of the things I bought was this Bella Cucina Rocket Blender. http://www.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=330413&cm_mmc=GoogleShopping-_-6-_-77-_-MP677 , I think I paid only $20 for this. Thanks to the Spicy Tasty bloggers http://www.spicytasty.com/ for bringing this sale to my notice.

I bought it under the premise that I would use it for milk shakes and K could take it to work and V too when he eventually grew and rationed that it was being offered at a really good price. While I like the blender I absolutely love the small recipe book that came with it. Recipes for sauces and smoothies that you can use the blender for.

And most importantly I had to prove to K that this purchase was so worth it :P So I tried the pesto sauce recipe from the book and set about making some Pesto pasta. And we were not disappointed. I think it is a copyright violation to type out the recipe here, so I'll improvise a bit.

Pesto Sauce

Ingredients

1. basil fresh (a handful)

2. extra virgin or plain olive oil (1/3 to 1/4 cup)

3. garlic cloves (a couple)

4. pine nuts ( I slight toast mine) (2 tbsp)

5. parmesan cheese (1/3 cup or lesser)

6. salt (to taste)

7. pepper ( to taste)

Method de preparation

Mix all above in a blender and blend. I eyeball most of these ingredients, so you might want to start with a measurement and changed/add per preference.

Pesto Pasta

Ingredients

1. pasta of preference

2. veggies- chopped finely in thin strips [ I used bell pepper, onions and asparagus], you could add anything else

3. pesto sauce

4. olive oil

Method de preparation

1. Cook pasta per instructions and then drain out. I usually skip the salt when boiling the pasta, you don't really need it.

2. Take oil in a pan, add onion saute saute.

3. When done, add veggies, saute, saute. Use medium-high heat to keep the veggies crisp.

4. Add sauce and pasta and then saute for just a min and you're done.

Enjoy sitting or standing :)

Three times a charm :)

At least for me it was. Here are pictures from my successful attempt at pizza making from scratch. This was a greek pizza and it tasted pretty good. It was not a papa johns but no dominos either. Now my cooking demons will be at peace.

P.S. I will come back later to post the recipe, toppings et al.

Vegetarian Lasagna

Another dish that is easy to make and bake :) Can be stored in the freezer for later use too.

Ingredients

1) lasagna (store bought) -whole wheat tastes good too

2) Prego lasagna sauce - I use the garlic parmesan flavor and have tried the tomato basil too. This can be made at home and have tried it, but the prego sauce is really good

3) vegetables of your choice ( I used green and red bell pepper, garlic, onions and spinach).

4) Olive oil

5) Basil

6) Italian shredded cheese (can either buy pre-shredded or shred at home a combination of mozzarella, parmesan)

7) Ricotta cheese

Method

1) Chop all vegetables finely

2) Thaw spinach

3) Take oil (some olive oil too), then add garlic..saute....add onions, sautee and then add peppers. When all are cooked then add the spinach too. In the end add the ricotta cheese and the sauces and basil and cook for just a few min. stuffing is ready :)

4) cook the pasta as per instructions in boiling water, feel to make sure it is well cooked.

5) Layer in a pan, pasta, vegetable filling and cheese and keep repeating for about 2-3 times, so you have 3 layers of the same. Then cover with aluminum foil.

6) place in a pre-heated oven for 30 min closed and then remove the aluminum foil and keep for 15 more min. Lasagna ready..dig in and enjoy.

Use the temp on the pasta cover; I think it is 375 or 425 F :)