Dishing the Divine » pasta

roasted butternut squash and bacon pasta

Paula — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 16:22:04 +0000

By writing this post, I am perfecting my procrastination skills. I am supposed to be cleaning house for our family Easter gathering tonight, but instead I’ve decided to finally share this recipe with you. In the grand scheme of things, what is more important: vacuumed floors or bacon? Right. Bacon.

This dish was a big winner in our house! Brant and I are both terrified of squash, but I thought that the pine nuts, crispy bacon and fried sage might be enough to win us over. I was right! This pasta dish is packed with flavor and we even liked the squash in it, which is a miracle.

Okay, I seriously need to go clean house now. In the mean time, thaw some bacon and peel some squash. You’ll want to eat this for dinner soon

Continue reading: roasted butternut squash and bacon pasta

pasta with salami, mushroom, & cheese sauce

Paula — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:05:24 +0000

When your mother-in-law gives you a 4 pound hunk of salami for Christmas, you’ve gotta start getting creative about how to use it before it starts to go bad. Fortunately, my hubby and I found this recipe buried in a truly old-school Southern Living pasta book. It takes less than 10 minutes to make and it’s quite delicious. And at 4 ounces of salami per serving, that means we could make this sauce sixteen times before we finish off this block of salami. Gosh. That seems like a lot of pasta. Good thing we love carbs!

pasta with salami, mushroom, & cheese sauce

3 tbsp butter
4 oz salami, cut into 1/4″ cubes
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
3 green onions, optional (if you have ‘em, great… if not, don’t fret!)
1 cup half-and-half cream
2 oz grated Parmesan cheese

Cut the salami into 1/4″ cubes and slice the mushrooms thinly.

Melt the butter over medium high heat in a large saucepan. Add the salami, mushrooms, and green onions and cook, stirring often, until juices evaporate.

Reduce heat to low and add cream. Heat until cream just starts to bubble along sides of pan.

Turn off the heat and add the cheese, stirring until melted. Serve over hot pasta. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

shirley’s favorite spaghetti sauce

Paula — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:01:01 +0000

If you don’t know who Shirley is, she’s my mom. And she’s a very cool mom, mostly because she taught me my love for good food. My mom got this recipe from a Sunset cookbook a looooong time ago, and it’s just as good now as it was then.

This sauce holds a special place in my heart at this time of year because some years ago, around Christmas time, my mom sat me down and told me The Facts Of Life:

Santa does not exist, she explained. It was just her and dad wrapping all those fun presents for me. I was CRUSHED. I will not tell you how old I was, but let’s just say that I had resisted knowing the truth about this for a long time. I cried alligator tears and looked at her with hope in my eyes and sobbed, “Well, at least there’s an Easter Bunny!”

Needless to say, my world was shattered. So was, by the way, the plate of homemade noodles and this yummy sauce that my mom had just handed to me. In my surprise and sadness, I dropped it right on the floor. Looking back, I realize how dramatic I was throughout all this, but my biggest regret was that wasted plate of spaghetti. How often do you get homemade noodles and a rich, chunky sauce on top?

If you are someone who grew up with meat in your pasta, resist the temptation to add ground beef to this. The recipe is great as is, but if you need meat, try meatballs. My hubby and I found some Chicken & Parmesan meatballs at Costco and those are amazing with this sauce. I still just love it without meat, though!

shirley’s favorite spaghetti sauce

3 tbs olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (12-oz) can tomato paste
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp salt
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup red wine, optional
Parmesan cheese for passing

Cut up your veggies!

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook garlic, onion, and green pepper until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and their liquid and the remaining ingredients.

Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook 20 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Serve over pasta and pass Parmesan cheese at the table.

pasta with fresh tomato sauce

Paula — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:30:12 +0000

Sometimes simplicity is what’s for dinner. And with this sauce, simplicity shines.

It’s not often that you can whip up dinner with only 5 minutes of prep time and have it taste as good as this. The secret is great tomatoes and lots of fresh basil! Oh, and lots of garlic. And Parmesan cheese. Okay, so there are lots of secrets to this dish.

My husband and roomie magically appeared the minute the pasta was fully cooked. It’s funny how these things happen… do they have a “dinner is done” radar? Oohs and ahhhs issued immediately. I guess they’ll keep me around as the house chef for a little while longer!

I got this recipe from Christopher Kimball’s The Cook’s Bible. I haven’t used any other recipes from here yet, but I’ll be sure to let you know if I come across more winners like this one!

pasta with fresh tomato sauce

1 1/2 lb fresh tomatoes, diced (use homegrown ones, preferably heirloom!)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, shredded
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh marjoram or 1/4 tsp dried
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp basalmic vinegar
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 lb pasta (I prefer farfalle noodles)

Combine all the ingredients except the pepper, cheese, and pasta and let marinate for at least an hour. Pour over pasta. Top with pepper and Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

Note: I like to prepare this sauce and then let it sit on the pasta for a few hours so that the noodles absorb some of the flavors. This is not necessary, but it’s definitely tasty!

roasted tomato pasta sauce

Paula — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:23:32 +0000

I stumbled upon this recipe last summer when I had pounds and pounds of cherry tomatoes coming out of my garden that I needed to eat NOW. I made it, tasted it, and nearly wept with joy. I love this recipe so much that I planted 5 extra cherry tomato plants this year just so that I could have an excuse to make it.

I leave town tomorrow for 4 days, meaning hubby is going to be living on fast food and leftovers. I wanted to treat him to something special before I left so that he would still want me to come back home. When I told him this was for dinner, his response was more than enthusiastic. Mission possibly accomplished.

By the way, no need to just use cherry tomatoes. I used mostly red slicing tomatoes tonight and it turned out just fine. And if you want to be a little crazy, throw in tomatoes of different colors! I’m tweaking the original recipe a bit, only because I’m a pansy when it comes to spice. You can decide if you want to add more spice after you’ve served it. Like salt, it’s something that you can always add more of but cannot ever remove.

You’ll think this serves lots by the amount of tomatoes that goes into it. It doesn’t. Four people tops, so if you’re looking to serve it to more people, double it. I’d roast the tomatoes in separate pans if you’re going that route so that they have plenty of room.

roasted tomato pasta sauce
www.foodnetwork.com

2.5 pounds tomatoes, cut into large dice (or halved cherry tomatoes)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
1.5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3/4 teaspoon salt
sprinkle of teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
1/4 cup minced fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano leaves
1 pound spaghetti
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425.

Chop your tomatoes into bite-sized chunks. Layer the tomatoes on a sheet pan that has sides. Add olive oil, garlic, and balsamic vinegar. Mix well.

Cook for 25 minutes or until tomatoes are bubbly and browning in spot, stirring once or twice.

While tomatoes are cooking, chop your herbs. No need to have exact amounts. If you want a little more basil or a little less of something else, go for it! I personally love LOTS of basil!

Remove tomatoes from oven and add fresh herbs, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

Serve over pasta and top with Parmesan cheese.

pesto

Paula — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:50:09 +0000

I had a friend visit unexpectedly a couple weeks ago and I had to come up with something fast and easy for dinner. I immediately thought of pesto pasta – most people love it, and Lord knows I have enough basil to make a couple batches. And Jen’s a suburban girl with no real experience gardening, so I was able to give her a taste of what it’s like to harvest your own food for dinner. We picked handfuls of basil and proceeded to cook.

We took our meal outside while some other girlfriends were hanging out inside. By the time I came back inside, I’m pretty sure every one of the girls that were hanging out inside had taken a couple bites of the extra pasta I had made. I got compliments left and right, and one foodie told me that it was the best pesto she had ever had and that I’m welcome to make it for her *any* time. Quite a compliment coming from this woman!

I absolutely love the taste of homemade pesto. This year, I planned accordingly when planting my garden, and I have 10 basil plants that I pick from regularly to make this awesome sauce. At some point, I’ll need to start freezing it so I can have the taste of summer in the dead of winter, but for now, I get it fresh, which is the best way to have it.

This recipe is from Cooks Illustrated with only one minor change (I decreased the olive oil because I figured that my waist wouldn’t miss the extra two tablespoons). If you haven’t figured it out by now, I LOVE Cooks Illustrated recipes. I recommend that at some point you either buy their online membership or get their magazine or both. I think what makes this particular pesto recipe so great is that garlic is neither raw nor cooked – it’s right in the middle, lending the perfect potency to pair with the rest of the sauce.

pesto

2 cups packed basil leaves
1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 cloves garlic, threaded on a skewer
5 tbps olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 pound penne or bow tie pasta (if using)

Start a pot of boiling water for the pasta. You need it to have enough water it in that you can completely submerge the skewered garlic.

Put the basil leaves in a bag and pound them, mush them, bruise them, or crush them. Call it what you want, but you want them to be darker in color and a bit wrinkly looking

Toast the pine nuts in a pan on the stove until golden brown. Watch these carefully – they burn quickly.

Skewer the garlic and place in a pot of boiling water for 45 seconds. Remove skin. If you’re making pasta, start cooking it now.

Add pesto leaves, nuts, garlic, and salt to food processor. Blend until everything is well ground. Add olive oil and blend until well mixed. Remove from food processor and put in another bowl.

Add Parmesan cheese and mix well. Season with salt to taste.

Add to cooked pasta, if using.

Serving suggestion: add some sun-dried tomatoes and cubed chicken to make it an even more filling and tasty treat!