Tag Archives: pasta

Sesame Noodles for Chinese New Year

Posted on by Run DMT
22

PhotobucketGung Hay Fat Choy!

It’s Chinese New Year!  The year of the Dragon!

We started our Chinese New Year festivities with a potluck play date at the park with our friends.  Everyone brought a Chinese entrée to share and everything so delicious.  We had dumplings, doughnuts, a variety of noodles, fried rice, orange chicken and of course fortune cookies.

Emmalynn insisted on wearing her Mulan costume for the occasion.

The kids decorated dragon masks and made lanterns, which Allana loved almost as much as the dumplings.

For the potluck portion of the program, I brought Sesame Noodles to share.  This dish is so simple and tasty served either warm or cold as a side dish or a main entrée.

The Rachel Ray recipe I use calls for angel hair pasta but I prefer spaghetti for this dish, so I sent hubby to the store to buy the ingredients for me.  He returned with spaghetti rigata.  Um…ok! At least it wasn’t linguini!  Actually, hubby’s mistake worked perfectly because spaghetti rigata noodles are square and resemble lo mein noodles.  (This is where Iron Chef Allan would chime in to tell me that was his intention all along.)

 

Sesame Noodles

(Adapted from Classic Rachel Ray 30-Minute Meals)

Ingredients

1 pound capellini (angle hair) or spaghetti rigatta

¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce

2 Tbsp tahini

2 Tbsp toasted sesame seed oil

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch gingerroot, peeled and grated or ½ tsp ground ginger

3 scallions, chopped

1 large carrot, grated

Toasted sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Crushed red pepper flakes for garnish (optional)

Directions

Bring a large stock pot of salted water to a rolling boil and then add pasta.  Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine soy sauce, tahini, sesame oil, cayenne, garlic and ginger.  Whisk until smooth.

Drain pasta and immediately chill in a large bowl of ice water to blanch pasta and prevent further cooking.

Drain and dump chilled pasta into bowl with sauce and combine until noodles are evenly coated.  Add veggies and toss to combine.

Serve in soup bowls garnished with some extra sliced greens of scallions, sesame seeds and a little crushed red pepper.

Thanks for joining our weekly Friday Food Fight.  Link up and see what everyone else is flinging this week.  



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Baked Penne with Chicken Sausage and Broiled Eggplant

Posted on by Run DMT
9

PhotobucketI judge my life by ways of moan and groans from my children.  If I prepare a dinner that produces very little complaining, then it’s a winner and one to add to the menu rotation.  When I serve Baked Penne with Chicken Sausage and Broiled Eggplant, there is very little belly aching from my children and that makes for a pleasant dinner in more ways than one.

Since this pasta casserole is large enough to feed an army, it feeds my family for days.  I actually freeze small portions of it to have for lunch or dinner in a pinch.  Frozen leftovers reheat beautifully and taste just as good the second (or third) time around.

I stumbled upon this recipe in a William-Sonoma cookbook, Classic Pasta at Home, however, I’ve modified and…eh hem…perfected the recipe to our liking.   For example, I added my own tomato sauce recipe, but with dried oregano, doubled the amount and left some sauce to the side because my family likes extra sauce served on top.

I omitted the step to salt the eggplant, because when using a fresh eggplant, there’s no need to salt it to pull out the moisture.  (When selecting an eggplant, choose one that is dark purple and heavy.  It should feel slightly firm and with a soft, spongy give and should spring back when pressed. Too spongy means the eggplant is old.)  Plus, I baked the eggplant for 10 minutes on each side and then finished the eggplant off by broiling the slices for about 5 minutes for a beautiful golden brown color.

I also added part-skim ricotta and added part-skim mozzarella to the ingredients.

Like, I said, pasta perfection.
 
Baked Penne with Chicken Sausage and Broiled Eggplant

Ingredients

1 eggplant, sliced into ½ inch round slices

1 ½ tsp salt

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 chopped yellow onion

8 cloves minced garlic

2 cartons of Pomi chopped tomatoes

4 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp crushed red pepper

½ tsp ground black pepper

1 lb mild Italian chicken sausage, casings removed and broken into crumbles

1 lb. dried penne

8 oz of part-skim ricotta cheese

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
 
Directions

Preheat oven to 400˚.

Arrange eggplant slices on an oiled cookie sheet.  Brush each side with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Bake in oven for 10 minutes on each side to soften the eggplant.  Then, broil the eggplant for 5 minutes to produce a golden brown color.  Remove eggplant from cookie sheet and lay each slice on a dish covered with paper towel to cool and drain excess olive oil.

In a large sauté pan on a medium to low setting, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil.   Add onions and sauté’ until translucent.  Add garlic and sauté for a few minutes to soften the garlic.  Add tomatoes, oregano, 1 tsp salt, red pepper flakes and black pepper.  Bring to a simmer, about 5 minutes.  Taste and adjust accordingly.  Then, remove half the sauce from the pan and set to the side to be served with casserole.

Add sausage to remaining sauce.  Stir the sausage crumbles into sauce while breaking the crumbles into smaller pieces.  Simmer and occasionally stir for another 10 minutes or until sauce thickens.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil on a high heat.  Add penne, stir well and cook for 6 minutes.  Drain and return to pot.  Add sauce with sausage and ricotta and toss.

In a 9×11 oven-safe baking dish, make a layer of pasta using half the pasta.  Top with eggplant.  Add another layer of pasta and another layer of eggplant.  Sprinkle with mozzarella and parmesan.

Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is slightly golden brown.  Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes.

Slice and serve each piece with tomato sauce drizzled over top.

 

 

Now link up and see what If I Could Escape and Gone Bananas are serving for this week’s Friday Food Fight.



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A Beautiful Thing

Posted on by Run DMT
17

PhotobucketI’ve expressed my love for all things Italian on this blog many times before so it should come as no surprise that hubby took me for an Italian meal for my birthday.

At Bella’s Italian Café, we enjoyed a delicious three course meal starting with Bella’s Famous Chopped Salad, a finely chopped chicken breast, crumbled bacon, diced tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, red cabbage, gorgonzola, ditalini pasta and romaine all tossed in a dijon vinaigrette.

Although we should have split our entree, we each ordered the Salciccia Al Forno , Italian sausage tossed with penne pasta, mushrooms and ricotta in a creamy tomato sauce, then topped with mozzarella and baked.

 

Of course, we made sure to leave room for dessert and selected Tiramisu (a classic Italian dessert with layers of lady fingers, zabaglione – Marsala flavored custard, espresso whipped cream and mascarpone topped with whipped cream and warmed chocolate sauce) to top it off.  Much like restaurant’s name, our meal was simply beautiful.

 

Whereas others would be tired of eating Italian food, this past week we’ve been piling on the cheesy pasta dishes.  Per my request, Iron Chef Allan concocted a baked penne casserole and it was better than I hoped for!  This stringy cheesy layered mess really satisfied my craving.

Iron Chef Allan’s Baked Penne

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 cartons of Pomi chopped tomatoes

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 cup fresh basil , finely chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

Kosher salt

Ground black pepper

1 lb pasta

1 lb shredded part skim mozzarella

3 cups whole milk ricotta

1/4 cup grated parmesean

1 egg

Directions

Prepare penne according to al dente directions on box.

In a saucepan, soften onions in olive oil for about 10 minutes.  Add garlic to onions and cook for about 1 minute.  Add tomatoes, 1 Tbsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, red pepper flakes, basil and oregano.  Simmer for about ten minutes or until warmed through.

In a large bowl, mix ricotta, mozzarella, egg, parmesean, 1/2 tsp salt and black pepper with half the tomato sauce.  Pour mixture into a 9 x 11 baking pan.  Top with remaining sauce, mozzerella and parmesean cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown at 350 degrees.

 

Now link up and see what If I Could Escape and Gone Bananas are serving for this week’s Friday Food Fight.


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Another Simple Pasta Sauce

Posted on by Run DMT
19

PhotobucketHonestly, I didn’t know what to share for this week’s Friday Food Fight not because I didn’t eat anything interesting.   No, I ate way too well this week.

There were so many foodie photos to fling, because this week was a tasty buffet of bad-for-me foods.  It was cholesterol overkill with a big breakfast for Father’s Day, $5 burgers and fries at Prime Bar and Applegate hot dogs another night.  Did I mention that I have my cholesterol testing this morning and I completely forget?  Great.  So, I spent the latter half of the week trying to cleanse my cholesterol levels with lots of oats, almonds and other heart-friendly foods.

In a last ditch attempt to cleanse my system, I decided to whip up a simple pasta sauce last night for dinner.  This sauce is so simple and delicious.  You’ll impress your family for sure.  I know I wowed Kirsten and her hubby, Erich, with my mad culinary skills when they sampled this sauce.

Of course, I washed down my penne and sauce with a huge glass of red wine.  Now hopefully my heart will thank me with low LDL numbers to at the doctor’s office today.

Pasta Sauce

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

Pomi chopped tomatoes (26 oz)

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

¼ fresh basil chopped

Directions

On a low heat, slowly sauté onions in olive oil until soft and translucent.  Add garlic and cook for a couple minutes, but avoid burning garlic.  Stir in chopped tomatoes.  Then, add red pepper, salt and pepper.  Add basil and warm through sauce.  Remove from heat and serve immediately over your favorite pasta.

Now link up and see what If I Could Escape and Gone Bananas are serving for this week’s Friday Food Fight.



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Lentils and Pasta = Perfect Running Fuel

Posted on by Run DMT
12

PhotobucketMany runners love to carb load before a big race and pasta is typically the food of choice to carry runners through the big miles.  One of my favorite dishes for fuel before a big race is Lentils and Pasta, because it offers protein and carbohydrates which are essential running food.

With only a few ingredients, this dish is simple and yet so tasty.  The key to creating a hearty meal is allowing the lentils to cook for a few hours.  When I first found this recipe on online, it stated to boil the lentils for about 20 minutes, but the lentils were far too chewy and tasted undercooked.

So per Iron Chef Allan’s suggestion, I simmered the lentils on a very low heat for about 4 hours.  By doing so, this allowed the lentils to breakdown a bit and offered a more meaty texture to the stoup (a Rachael Ray term that cleverly combines the words soup and stew).

The added bonus to this tasty dish is it feeds a crowd, so give it a go at your next big pre-race party.

 

Lentils and Pasta

Ingredients

6 cups water

3/4 cup lentils

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

½  tsp salt

¼ tsp ground black pepper

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 carton Pomi chopped tomatoes

2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 pound Ditalini pasta

 

Directions

In a large stock pot, bring water to a rolling boil, add the lentils, and cook, covered over a medium high heat, until nearly but not entirely tender, about 20 minutes.  Then, lower the heat to a very low simmer and let lentils simmer for 2 hours.

Add the garlic, olive oil, tomatoes, bay leaf, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.  Cover and continue to for about another 20 minutes while you prepare the pasta.

In another stock pot, prepare Ditalini pasta according to directions on the box.  Remember to salt the water.  Once pasta is nearly al dente, drain the pasta, add it to the lentils to tomatoes and simmer to finish cooking the pasta for a minute more.

When serving, garnish with fresh grated parmesan cheese or try serving it my favorite way with a drizzle olive oil on top with a dash of red pepper flakes sprinkled on top.

 

Now link up and see what If I Could Escape and Gone Bananas are serving for this week’s Friday Food Fight.


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Slinging My Pasta Sauce

Posted on by Run DMT
23

PhotobucketI make a mean sauce, but then being half Italian, it’s in my blood.  If I didn’t make a decent sauce, I would be shunned by my family.  Disowned, I tell ya!

 

Now you might think a good sauce should cook all day.  But when you’re craving pasta for dinner, you don’t have all day to wait to eat it, especially when you’re a mom (or dad) on the run like me.  You may also think, “I’ll just pour out some Prego on my pasta and call it a day”.  *shudder*  Well, my friend, I would call that a very bad day.  Friends don’t let friends use Prego or any other pasta sauce in a jar, not when you can make my easy, tasty seven ingredient sauce.

 

 

 

Run DMT’s Seven Ingredient Sauce

Ingredients

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves of garlic minced

½ cup white wine

1 carton (26 oz) Pomi chopped tomatoes

¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

 

Directions
In a large saucepan, warm olive oil on a medium heat.  Add garlic and reduce heat to a very low setting.  Slowly cook the garlic until it becomes a golden brown color.  Do not burn!  When garlic is golden brown, add the white wine and gently raise the heat.  Cook wine for about 2-3 minutes or until wine evaporates.  Lower heat again and add tomatoes, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.  Stir often until sauce becomes light and slightly thickened.  Then remove from heat to avoid the tomatoes from breaking down and becoming too acidic.

 

Serve over the pasta of your choice.

 

For variations, add chopped fresh basil or oregano and stir into sauce a minute before you remove it from the heat.

 

On a side note, I started using the mini bottles of wine for my pasta sauce to avoid wasting a larger bottle of wine.  The mini bottles in a 4-pack are just the right size for any recipe and I can enjoy a small glass while I cook.  But if you use a full-size bottle of wine and find yourself with a lot of leftover white wine after making this recipe, Alex of Ma, What’s for Dinner recommends making ice cubes with leftover wine.   This prevents you from wasting a whole bottle or adding a whole bottle to your waist!

 

Now link up and see what If I Could Escape and Gone Bananas are slinging for this week’s Friday Food Fight.

 



 

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