Presto Pasta - Vietnamese Pork and Noodles

You guys. Oh, you guys. I had a big intro to this post planned, talking about the differences (for me) between big city and smaller city living. What I miss about Calgary, including certain restaurants and cuisines. About how I have gone from eating Vietnamese food once or more a week to having it only once (ONCE!) in the past year and a half. sob. How I haven't wanted to try making Vietnamese food at home cause I've been afraid of messing it up, but that I found a recipe I'd saved in my del.icio.us that sounded so good and easy I had to try it.

I was going to write all about that stuff, but then I had the first bite of my dinner and damn, my brain is fried mush with the deliciousness of it all.

Here's what I did to make a (in my opinion, and Scott's opinion too) mind blowing - yummy - pretty close to our favorite restaurant dish - Vietnamese Pork and Noodles.

First prepare your pork. The pork recipe comes from Waterlily at Group Recipes. I made a couple of small changes.

1 tablespoon molasses
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 shallot, finely chopped (substitute 1/2 small mild onion, if necessary)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 pound boneless pork loin, chopped fine (I pulsed mine in the food processor)

Whisk together the molasses, soy sauce, garlic, shallots and sugar. Mix into the pork and mix well. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours, or overnight.

You'll also need -

rice noodles
lettuce
green onions
bean sprouts
spring roll sauce
hoisin sauce

When you're ready to cook, start by preparing your rice noodles according to the package directions. What I did for mine was to bring a pot of water to the boil, then add the noodles and cook and stir for 2 minutes. Then I removed them from the heat, covered, and let them sit until I was ready to plate.

When your noodles are sitting, form your pork mixture into small patties. Heat a large pan over medium heat with a bit of vegetable oil. Cook the patties, turning once or twice, until brown and cooked through.

While the patties are cooking, finely chop your green onions and shred your lettuce into long thing strands. When the patties are done, drain your noodles.

To plate, start by placing a handful or so of shredded lettuce in the bottom of each bowl. Then top with some noodles.

Place your pork patty on top, then scatter your chopped green onions and your bean sprouts. I took the final photo at this stage, because what I do next to my own dish isn't pretty.

The dish that is like this that I order in restaurants comes with sliced spring rolls on top and a side of dipping sauce. What I like to do is eat the spring rolls first, then pour the rest of the dipping sauce over the bowl and mix it all up. What I did here was to use my fork to chop the pork patty into pieces, then drizzle the dish with spring roll sauce and hoisin sauce, and mix it all together. Looks horrible, tastes divine. I had planned to make my own sauce, like this one, but we were late to start dinner so I used a bottled spring roll sauce instead.

This was GOOD. The pork makes enough to feed at least 4 people, and I just winged it on amounts for the rest of the ingredients. We were both surprised at how great this was and were a little piggy about how much we ate. But I'm sure the lettuce, onions and bean sprouts make up for that, right?

Since this dish is fully of noodle-y goodness, I'm sending it to Ruth for her Presto Pasta Nights. Ruth is hosting this week, so make sure you get your pasta posts to her by Friday.

(Original pork recipe here)

Presto Pasta - Peas and Ham Pasta

Peas are one of my favorite vegetables. Although you can't beat them fresh in the summer, we've found an organic frozen product that is pretty darned good. I have long been a fan of pasta and peas together, along with combos such as the one below, and my spinach fettucini with peas and proscuitto, one of my favorites was at Chianti's Restaurant in Calgary; we'd go for their Monday night cheap pasta special and I'd always get the pasta with chicken and peas in tomato sauce. So good.

The recipe is originally from Nigella Lawson and I have long had this on my list to try but never had a craving for pasta at the same time I had some ham on hand. But after Easter there is always some leftover ham in our fridge, so all I needed to do was pick up some cream to be ready to go.

This pasta is ridiculously fast to make - put the pasta on to cook, and in the 10-ish minutes it takes to cook, chop your ham, get out your peas and cheese, measure out your cream. Once the noodles are ready, you'll be eating in a flash. I have altered her recipe slightly, most noticeably by using light cream in place of heavy. If you are not worried about fat, go full cream if you like.


Peas and Ham Pasta

200 g short pasta (I love fusilli)
200 g frozen peas
100 g diced ham
1/2 cup light cream
3 or 4 TB grated parmesan cheese
pepper

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water. When the pasta is 1 or 2 minutes away from being done, add the peas into the pot. Drain and set aside. Place the empty pot back on the stove and add the ham, cream and cheese. Season with pepper and stir until warm, this should only take a minute. Add the pasta and peas in and stir well. Add more cheese if desired, and serve.

This will serve 2-4 people, depending how large or small your servings are. This is good the next day, you may want to add a little splash of cream.

A lovely dish for Presto Pasta Nights, this week hosted by Hillary at Chew On That!

Presto Pasta Night - Breaded Ravioli

I had breaded and fried ravioli once, years ago, as an appetizer at the Olive Garden. We enjoyed it, but I never really thought it was something you would make at home. Then a year ago Jenny posted a recipe for Giada DeLaurentiis' fried ravioli. They looked so good and I saved her post.

A while later we were at the Italian deli downtown and they had some gorgeous fresh raviolis in the display case. The fillings sounded so good, and they were so cute that I had to buy some. Scott asked if they were for dinner. Yes, I said, but not boiled. We are going to bread them like they do at the Olive Garden!


I'd long forgotten the ingredients called for in Giada's recipe so I didn't have buttermilk on hand and I wasn't in the mood to deep fry. So instead we dipped them in beaten egg and dredged them in bread crumbs mixed with a little cheese and some salt and pepper. Then we pan fried them.


I really enjoyed these. We warmed up some marinara sauce for dipping and it of course went very well with the crispy pasta. My favorite was the butternut squash ravioli, so creamy and soft in the middle with a crisp crust.


I'm sending this easy and delicious dish off to Ruth for her weekly Presto Pasta Nights roundup. Who knows what noodle-y deliciousness will be sent to her this week!

Preso Pasta's 100!

Everyone should head over to Once Upon a Feast (after finishing this post of course) and wish Ruth a very very happy 100th Presto Pasta Nights! I thought for this very special occasion I'd share my current favorite pasta dish - Linguine with Lemon, Feta, and Basil.

My Mom found this recipe, which comes from Gordon Ramsay's latest book Cooking for Friends, in a food section of a newspaper in the Fall. She made it for us using fresh pasta she'd bought from an Italian deli on the north shore, and after one bite, we decided to add it to our menu for our Italian themed Christmas dinner. Unfortunately we had too much food planned and scrapped the pasta at the last minute. I knew this was the dish to make to celebrate Ruth and PPNs big milestone.

This dish is extremely quick and easy to make. The sauce takes only minutes to prepare; all your waiting time is in cooking your pasta. I've had this with both fresh and dried pasta, and while fresh is always tastier, dried is almost as good. The recipe calls for pine nuts, which I don't really care for. I omitted them in this version.


Linguine with Lemon, Feta and Basil
Gordon Ramsay

500g fresh (or 300g dried) linguine
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
Juice and zest of 1 lemon (I only use the juice)
5 tbsp freshly grated parmesan
Leaves from a handful of basil
200g feta cheese, crumbled (I use a soft feta)
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts (I omit)

Cook the fresh pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water for 2 minutes; if using dried pasta, cook according to pack instructions until al dente.

Tip the pasta into a colander and drain off most of the water, leaving about 2 tablespoons in the pan. Return the pasta to the pan and add the olive oil, lemon juice and zest, parmesan, basil and three-quarters of the crumbled feta. Toss well and check the seasoning. Divide among warmed plates and scatter over the remaining feta and pine nuts. Serve at once.

Cheers to Ruth, and congrats on 100 editions of Presto Pasta Nights! Here's to many more.

presto pasta night - mac & cheese with tomato and chorizo

When I say Macaroni and Cheese, what do you think of?

Do you think of ooey, gooey 4 cheese macaroni and cheese that your Mom or Grandmother used to make, oozing all over your plate? Do you think of little squares of firm mac that stay together until you cut into it with the edge of your fork? Does your favorite macaroni and cheese have buttered breadcrumbs scattered on the top before baking? Do you add exotic ingredients like onions and wine, and fancy cheese? Or are you loyal to Cheddar only?

Or, are you like me, and when you think mac n cheese do you think of this?

Yeah, you're like me aren't you.

Good old Kraft Dinner. KD. Splat, as we called it in high school, after hearing the, well, splat sound it made when a scoop of it hit the wall during a fight between my friend and her younger sister one night.

For most of my life Splat was the only macaroni and cheese I knew. It's cheap. It's easy. It's fast. And while no other mac could ever replace it in my life and bottom pantry shelf, I have discovered an interesting, tasty, more decadent recipe that I plan on making from time to time. Spicy Macaroni and Cheese with Chorizo Sausage from the show A Neely Family Holiday that the food channel aired here before Christmas. We don't get the Neely's show here (although I have seen a commercial that their new travel food show will be coming soon) so I was really interested to see it. Pretty much while they were still doing their intro with the dishes they'd be making, I was on the American food channel website looking for this recipe. People, this is darn good.

Their recipe makes 6 to 8 servings, so I made a half batch, with some changes.

Fancy Splat with Tomato and Chorizo
(Or Macaroni and Cheese with Tomato and Chorizo)

1/2 pound penne pasta
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 chorizo sausage, casing removed and finely chopped
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups skim milk, warm
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 cup shredded monterey pepper jack
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 of a can of fried onions

Preheat oven to 350'.

Cook the pasta in salted, boiling salted water until al dente. Drain in a colander and pour into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.


While the pasta is cooking, place the cherry tomatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes, until plump and softened.


Heat a large pan over medium heat. Saute the chorizo in a saute pan until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towel.


Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a pot over medium heat. Add flour, stirring for 1 minute. Whisk in the warmed milk and bring to a boil. Continue to whisk constantly. Stir while adding the mustard, hot sauce and Worcestershire. Mix both kinds of cheese together in a small bowl. Set aside 1/2 cup of the mixed cheese for the top of the dish. Stir the 1 cup of cheese into the sauce. Cook and stir until the sauce is thick.


Mix together the pasta, cheese sauce, chorizo and tomatoes.


Pour into a baking dish.


Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and the fried onions.


Bake for 35 minutes.

And then inhale it.


Since this has noodles in it, and since it's been a long time since I've joined in Presto Pasta Nights, I'm sending this to Ruth to share. It will knock your socks off with its cheesy, tomatoey, just a little bit spicy goodness.

Cheers!

Presto Pasta - Chicken Tetrazzini

I can't believe it's been a couple of months since I last took part in Ruth's Presto Pasta Nights! And speaking of time flying, summer is over! And how the hell is it October??? The time, it really do fly.

Anyhoo, this week I am sharing a dish I learned how to make when I was just a young lass. I don't know where my Mom got the recipe from, but it has always been a favorite of mine. Chicken Tetrazzini. I love this, especially in the fall and winter. It's hearty, warming, tasty and easy. And you can have it on the table in around an hour.

I've made a few changes since I first copied down this recipe in my Sara's Cookbook #1 all those many years ago. My tetrazzini, let me show you it.

Ok, heat 1 tb of oil in a medium or large pan over medium high heat. Chop up a small onion and 2 or 3 garlic cloves. When your pan is hot, add the onion and cook, stirring, until starting to soften. Add the garlic and cook a couple more minutes. Then add some skinless chicken - this dish is going to make 4 servings, so I usually use 2 breasts or 4 drumsticks - and brown the chicken on all sides.


Then add a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, 3/4 of the soup can of milk, and a can of mushroom pieces (drained). Whisk until smooth. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, turning chicken pieces once or twice.


While the chicken and sauce are simmering, cook yourself up some pasta, enough for 4 people (maybe 1/2 lb? I never measure). Stir the pasta into the sauce. Pour the pasta into your baking dish and top with the chicken.


Top with grated parmesan cheese.


Bake at 400' for 20 minutes.


Slice up the chicken breasts, plate up and enjoy!



Check back with Ruth next Friday for the weekly Presto Pasta Roundup!

Presto Pasta - Thai-ish Beef and Broccoli Noodles

I've really been craving Asian food lately - rice, noodles. I found a recipe to try the other night, but much like my last pasta dish for Ruth's Presto Pasta Night I struck out when I went to the grocery store for ingredients. I couldn't find the right noodles, the right sauce ingredients. By the time I was done, what I ended up with had little in common with the recipe I started out with. It's still a work in progress, but I'm pretty happy with what I've got so far.

Thai-ish Beef and Broccoli Noodles

serves 4

200g lean beef, cut into thin strips
2 tb oil
1/4 lb wun tun noodles (or noodles of your choice)
400 g broccoli, chopped into smallish bite sized pieces
1 tb (or to taste) black bean garlic sauce
1 tb oyster sauce
1 tsp cornstarch
1 cup water

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the beef, and cook until the meat is about half cooked. Add the broccoli, black bean sauce, and oyster sauce. Stir the cornstarch into the water. Add to the pan, and cook until the sauce is thickened, and the broccoli is tender crisp. While the beef is cooking, cook the noodles, drain, and place on your serving dish. When the broccoli is ready, pour the beef and broccoli mixture over the noodles. Serve straight away.

Gay from A Scientist in the Kitchen is hosting Presto Pasta this week. Check with her for the round up on Friday!

Presto Pasta Nights - Yummy pasta in less than 30 minutes

For Presto Pasta Night this week apparently I am delusional. I have made a fast no cook pasta sauce perfect for those hot summer days when you just can't stand to be in the kitchen. Except. Except it's chilly....maybe even cold here right now. Who took the warm weather away? To have to wear socks and shoes and jeans and sweaters in June is just so wrong.

Last week I got my weekly email from Vegetarian Times with a link to some no cook, 30 minutes or less pasta sauces. Two caught my eye, and the other night I went shopping to pick up the ingredients for the first one - Strozzapreti with Cheese and Green Peppercorns. But I couldn't fine strozzapreti pasta, romano cheese or brined peppercorns. So I made some changes, came up with the delicious dish below and am so glad I made it anyway, instead of passing it by because of a couple of hard-to-find-here-ingredients.

Pasta with Zucchini Mint and Capers.

2 servings

1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 TB chopped fresh mint leaves
1 TB olive oil
1 tsp capers, drained
1 cup grated zucchini
1 garlic clove
5 oz dry pasta, i used penne


Place the cheese through garlic in a blender or mini chopper. Grind until everything is chopped up. Place in a bowl and mix with the zucchini. Season with salt and pepper.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook the pasta. When the pasta is done, drain and toss with the zucchini-cheese mixture. Serve.

Presto Pasta - 3, 3, 3 posts in one!

Geeze! I seem to be in a bit of a blogging rut...in the blog doldrums....in the dumps, in a funk, in a slump. I've been neglecting my blog and all of yours too lately. I haven't taken part in many food events, and it has been ages and ages since I send a post to Ruth for her very popular Presto Pasta Nights.

I have tried to take part. In January I made this Beef Stroganoff


But I took too long in posting about it, and didn't write down the recipe. It's gone forever from my head now. Which is really too bad, it was very nice.

Then last month I worked on a post about portion sizes

But it just stalled out in my head and I couldn't get 'er done.

Last week I had dinner downtown at Peter's Pasta. It's a small place run by Peter and his family. They make their own pasta and sauces, and it's all very very good. One of my dining companions had the half order of Spaghetti with Mushroom Sauce. It was so good I'd wished I had ordered a full order of it for myself.

The next night I was checking out the contents of the fridge for dinner and came across some mushrooms. So we made our own Mushroom Pasta!

Mushroom Pasta

We cleaned and thinly sliced the mushrooms - I'm guessing we had 10 to 12 ounces. We fried them up in a touch of olive oil and seasoned them with salt and pepper. Set them aside.


I decided to use the cream sauce from January's Creamed Spinach as the base for our mushroom pasta sauce. Because Scott likes to eat and wanted leftovers, I tripled the amount of sauce. So I used:
3 tb butter
2 tb cornstarch
3 tsp vegetable bouillon
2 1/4 cup non fat milk

Melt the butter in a large pan. Whisk in the cornstarch and vegetable bouillon and cook for one minute. Add the milk and whisk to blend all the ingredients. Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat for 2-3 minutes until thick and bubbly.

Then toss in the mushrooms and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese has melted and the mushrooms are hot. Stir in some chopped parsley and pepper. Taste it before you add salt - the mushrooms have been salted and Parmesan is salty too.


We cooked up some pasta we'd bought from the Italian deli downtown - Fratelli Deli. The package is all in Italian, but I think the pasta is called Gramigna Emiliana. It's like slightly longer thinner macaroni. I tossed together just enough pasta and sauce for two servings, and the rest went in the fridge.


I am so pleased at how this came out. Creamy, cheesy, mushroomy. Exactly what I was looking for!

Happy Saturday!

Presto Pasta Night - Fusilli Caprese

It may be chilly here, and yes, there is snow, but I'm blocking all of that out. In my heart, the weather is still warm. The sun shines strong and hot all day. I can wear sandals. No chilled fingers or slipping on ice. No shoveling the driveway! Hey, it's my fantasy. Leave me alone.

Also in my delusional state, tomatos are still as wonderful now as they are in the summer. I know that is not true, but my love of tomatos knows no bounds. Some may turn up their noses at inferior winter tomatos. I can't. It's an addiction.

Here's my latest pasta dish for Ruth and Presto Past Night. I figure if you buy the best tomatos December can provide, and mix them with lots of garlic and fresh basil, how can you go wrong???



Fusilli Caprese

3/4 lb fusilli pasta

1 1/4 lb tomatos, seeded and diced (I used a combo of hothouse and cherry)
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
4 green onions, finely chopped
3 tb finely minced fresh basil
100 grams boccocini, chopped
salt and pepper

Mix together the tomatos, garlic, green onions, basil, cheese and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Let sit on the counter for one or two hours.

When you're ready to eat, cook your fusilli and drain. Pour into your serving dish, then add the sauce and all the juices. Toss well and serve.

Serves 4-6.

Presto Pasta - Curry Rice Noodle Soup

Ruth from Once Upon A Feast is celebrating a big milestone today - the 40th edition of her Presto Pasta Nights!

I've taken part in 20 PPN's. I'm surprised, I thought it had been more.

I've had my eye on a rice noodle dish from one of my favorite books (don't I say that about all of them??)Rebar Modern Food Cookbook. This dish has everything - rice noodles (one of my faves), coconut milk, tofu, and curry. All the good stuff, in my opinion. I ended up mutiliating the recipe - Scott's got the stomach flu, so he certainly can't eat curry - and I was getting tired and started mis-reading the recipe. Fortunately it turned out fantastic. Next time I make this I will stick to the original recipe to check it out, but this version is pretty great.

Happy 40th Presto Pasta Ruth! Here's to many many more.




Curry Rice Noodle Soup

4 cups vegetable broth
2 lemongrass stalks, roughly chopped
2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp red curry paste
2-3 Tb sugar (to taste)
3 Tb soy sauce
1 cup coconut milk
2 tb lemon juice
100 g rice noodles, broken into smallish pieces
5 green onions, chopped
1 big handful cherry tomatos, halved (or 1 or 2 chopped tomatos)
2 tb minced cilantro
bean sprouts

Place the broth, lemongrass, ginger and garlic into a pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Strain out the solids and return to a simmer. Whisk in the curry paste, sugar and soy sauce. Simmer 5 minutes. Add the coconut milk and lemon juice. Stir, then add the rice noodles to the simmering soup. When the noodles are almost cooked through (5 minutes or so) add the green onions, tomatos and cilantro. Cook until the noodles are done. Ladle into bowls and top with bean sprouts.

Serves 2 to 4.

Presto Pasta - Penne a la Vodka

Oh man! I'll tell you, NaBloPoMo is tough, especially if, like me, you are not a very interesting person. But still I persist! Which is hard after today. (I am really writing this on Tuesday night and am going to use the majic of blogger to post this tonight for tomorrow before I fall asleep.) There is much FRIEND DRAMA in Calgary tonight, involving multiple emailing to multiple people, and we are all - "Well she told me" and "When I talked to him he didn't say anything" and "I thought it was strange that she didn't email me back". O, the drama, people.

And today was a tough and busy day at my new job. So here I am, a girl in her jammies. Full of Tylenol and one (or two) drinks flopped in her chair with a heating pad. P-A-R-T-Y.

Now that I have whined and you have been sympathetic let me tell you about the latest pasta dish I made for Ruth's weekly Presto Pasta Nights!

I mentioned in this post that we'd invited my parents over for dinner last weekend. For our main course that night I made a dish that I've wanted to make forever, Penne a la Vodka. Much like the schnitzel I always thought Penne a la Vodka was a difficult dish. But it's not. It's no more time consuming or difficult than a basic pasta sauce, other than you need cream and vodka. And those are readily available ingredients, I have learned.

OK, this post is rapidly going downhill. Let's get to the recipe!

You can't really see the cute pasta bowl the pasta is in, but the pasta is in a cute pasta bowl which is part of a cute pasta bowl set. I'll post pictures of said set at a later date.

Penne a la Vodka

1/2 onion
4 garlic cloves
3 tb olive oil
796 ml can diced tomatos
1 lb penne
100 ml vodka
2 tb butter
4 tb cream
salt and pepper
Parmesan

Finely chop, by hand or in a food processor, the onion and garlic. Heat the oil over medium heat and cook the onion and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add the tomatos, season with salt and pepper, and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Cook the penne in boiling water until done to your liking. Drain and pour the pasta into your warmed serving bowl. Add the butter to the tomato sauce and stir until incorporated. Add the cream and vodka and stir again. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the pasta and toss together. Serve with the cheese on the side.

Presto Pasta Nights - Baked Pasta

This weeks pasta dish for Presto Pasta Nights is the last pasta dish I made before we left Calgary. It was totally excellent, because I used up a ton of stuff from the pantry that I didn't have to throw away, give away or pack!

I cooked up all my little amounts of pasta - a bit of fusilli, some macaroni noodles, a teeny handful of linguine - none of them enough for one meal, but together - well, there was lots.


I layered the noodles with bottled spaghetti sauce, frozen chopped spinach that I thawed and squeezed the moisture out of, and cottage cheese. Then I topped it with the last of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and baked it.


Isn't she a beauty!


It was a delicious pseudo lasagna, perfect for a somewhat chilly day. As much as I dislike winter, I do like the comfort food that the cooler weather brings.

Presto Pasta Nights - Mushroom Parmesan, sorta.

I have to start this off by apologizing for pictures that are worse than usual. Our camera seems to be dying a slow and painful death and is making every picture either blurry or yellow. Sorry for the ugly.

Last week I saw this great recipe for mushroom Parmesan over at Mixed Salad Annie. It had been a while since we'd made baked portobello mushrooms - I'd totally forgotten how super wonderful they are. I've been in the mood for pasta lately, so I combined baked mushrooms and pasta into a faux Mushroom Parm. Why faux? Well, I forgot to use Parmesan cheese. But I'm keeping the name because Mushroom Parmesan sounds better than Baked Mushrooms and pasta. To me. Right now.

I used a package of 6 medium sized portobello mushrooms, 1/2 an onion, 3 cloves garlic, some oil, mozzarella cheese, 1 jar pasta sauce, and spaghetti noodles.

I cleaned my mushrooms - I wiped them with a damp paper towel, then removed the stems and the black gills. When they were ready I diced my onions and garlic, then heated some oil in a pan. I added the onion, garlic and 3 mushrooms and cooked the mushrooms on both sides until they were softening. I set aside the mushrooms and the onion and garlic and cooked the other three portobellos. I divided the jar of pasta sauce into thirds. One third was spread over the bottom of a 9X13 baking dish. I added the mushrooms, stem side up, and topped them with the cooked onion and garlic. One third of the sauce was spooned over top of the mushrooms, then the mushrooms were topped with grated mozzarella cheese. I baked the dish at 425 until the mushrooms were tender and the cheese lightly browned, 20 minutes or so.


Just before the mushrooms were done I cooked the pasta noodles and warmed up the final third of the sauce. Toss the spaghetti and sauce together. Place some spaghetti on each plate and top with one (or more) mushrooms.


This is a perfect dish for portobellos, they go so well with tomatos and pasta. Mmmm! I wish there had been leftovers, I could go for some right now. And did you know that mushrooms are a good source of potassium and riboflavin? They are also low in carbs, calories and fat. Well, at least until you fry them in oil and cover them in cheese...

Check out the weekly round up of Presto Pasta Nights on Friday at Once Upon a Feast.

Presto Pasta Nights - Rapini and Pasta

Kamloops has a great Farmers Market and we've gone every Saturday since we got here, and one Wednesday market too. I bought my very first bunch of Rapini a couple of Saturdays ago for $1.00. The lady next to me was buying 6 bunches and she told me to chop up the rapini and saute in with garlic in some olive oil. That sounded good, and easy, but I've always wanted to try the rapini with pasta.

Here's my bunch of rapini. I trimmed the ends and got rid of a couple of stalks that were yellowing. Then I chopped it up.


I sauteed the rapini with 3 cloves of minced garlic and 1 finely chopped hot pepper in some olive oil, then added 1 cup of chicken stock and simmered everything until the sauce was reduced and the rapini was tender.


I added 125 grams of crumbled feta cheese and cooked (obviously) whole wheat rotini. Toss, season with salt and pepper, and serve.



Pretty easy, pretty fast, and pretty good for you. I'm sending this to Ruth for Presto Pasta Nights. Check with her on Friday for the weekly round-up.

Presto Pasta Nights - Rachel Ray vs Sandra Lee

I thought I'd do something a little different for Presto Pasta Night this week. I've picked two pasta recipes by two Food Network cooks and have pitted them against each other!

First up we have Rachel Ray. I am not really a "Rachel" person, but have no strong feelings one way or another about her. I prefer to not watch her on TV, but Scott has occasionally bought me her magazines and I've found a few mighty tasty recipes in them. Last year I received a Rachel Ray cookbook for my birthday. We've had a couple of not so great dishes from the book, but some nice ones too.

Her competitor today is Sandra Lee. I had never heard of Sandra Lee before last year when I read various negative comments about her on some blogs. (Her shows are not shown on the Food Network here in Canada.) Earlier this year Anthony Bourdain bashed her and other Food Network cooks quite harshly. I used to love him, but lately it doesn't seem like he does anything but be a snarky jerk. I have enough snarky jerks in my life, thanks. Anyway, when we were in Maui earlier this year I saw two episodes of her show. It wasn't fantastic, but I don't remember it as being God-awful either.

And then I came across one of Sandra Lee's books at the library. Smackdown time!



Let's start with Rachel Ray. From 30 Minute Get Real Meals we prepared Cauliflower-Pumpkin Pasta.

I was hesitant to make this pasta because I don't like pumpkin. But Scott does, so we went with it. This took longer than 30 minutes (I forgot to set my timer), but was very nice. Who knew pasta and pumpkin were such a good match? This was quite rich for me. If I made this again I would do smaller portions along a big green salad.


From Sandra Lee Semi Homemade Cooking 2 we chose Angel Hair with Roasted Red Peppers, Feta and Herb Dressing.

This was A-MAZ-ING. Faster than fast; the dressing is made and the other ingredients are de-canned or prepped while the pasta is cooking. It was easy, light tasting and delicious. This would be good in the summer when you don't want to be at the stove for too long, or any day that you just need a quick meal.



And the winner was..........Sandra Lee. While both pastas were tasty, Sandra pulled ahead with the faster cooking time and lighter tasting dish.



Angel Hair with Roasted Red Peppers, Feta and Herb Dressing
adapted from Sandra Lee Semi Homemade Cooking 2

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh basil
2 tb lemon juice
2 tb water
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
16 oz angel hair pasta
12 oz jar roasted red peppers
1/2 of a red onion, thinly sliced and soaked in cold water
6 oz crumbled feta cheese
2 1/2 oz can sliced black olives

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until tender.
Place the oil, herbs, lemon juice, water, salt and pepper in a jar. Shake until blended. Set aside.
Drain the red peppers and roughly chop. Drain the olives and set aside.
When the pasta is done, drain and place in a large bowl. Add the peppers, drained onion, feta and olives. Toss well. Pour over the dressing and toss again.


Cauliflower-Pumpkin Pasta
adapted from 30 Minute Get Real Meals

1 tb olive oil
4 garlic cloves
1 medium head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 lb linguine or fettuccine
1 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling - that has spices and sugar in it)
1/4 cup non fat or 1% milk
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
nutmeg
salt and pepper

Saute the garlic in the oil for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Add the cauliflower and broth. Cover and simmer until the cauliflower is very tender.
Cook the pasta in salted water until done. Drain and reserve.
When the cauliflower is tender, turn up the heat and add the pumpkin puree and milk. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper, then add the drained pasta. Toss to coat, and serve.

Presto Pasta Nights - Myzithra and Pasta

I've written about this dish before but it certainly deserves to be mentioned more than once.

As Scott and I are getting ready to move out of Calgary we've spent some time talking about the people, places and things that we'll miss. And of course restaurants. Since our budget will not allow us to visit all the places we'd like to before we move that leaves us with reminiscing or recreating at home.

I had Myzithra Cheese and Pasta for the first time at The Old Spaghetti Factory on a work lunch. It is such a simple dish to make at home; all you need is pasta, butter and some finely grated aged Myzithra - a hard salty cheese.


Cook the pasta and drain it well. Pour the noodles into a bowl and toss with melted butter. You want just enough butter to coat and flavor the pasta, but not so much that the pasta is swimming in butter. Toss with finely shredded Myzithra cheese, scoop onto plates and sprinkle with a bit more cheese. Grind some black pepper or Grains of Paradise on top and serve straight away.

As well as making this dish for Ruth and her Presto Pasta Nights this also got rid of a few more ingredients in the cupboard. Whatever we eat we don't have to pack!

Presto Pasta Nights - Pineapple Basil Noodles

I've been doing lots of sorting and organizing lately, and the other night I spent some time going through some of my cooking notebooks. I started Sara's Cookbook #1 when I was 18 years old. I copied recipes from my Mom, my friends Moms, even my boyfriends Mom who was a bad cook. I pasted in recipes from Gourmet, Bon Appetit and Vegetarian Times. And then I started to add my own creations and ideas. I'm having so much fun looking through the early books. I can see the beginnings of my vegetarian time; when my roommate and I went through our bread making phase; which cookbooks and authors I was obsessed with at the time. And then when I had regular access to the internet? Holy Cow. I would spend entire evenings searching for recipes on the internet, and then copy them into my books. I am such a party animal!


The original recipe for this dish comes out of Cookbook #3 and looks like I cut it out of Gourmet magazine. The magazine version had veggies in it, but I was really just interested in the pineapple and basil. The cooking fairies (??) must have been smiling down on me when I came across this recipe again the other day. There were cellophane noodles in the pantry, a fresh pineapple on the counter, and basil outside in the garden.

I am crazy about this dish. The pineapple and basil are amazing together, and this is the perfect recipe to use up some of the cellophane noodles that seem to multiply in my cupboard.

And luckily for me Ruth considers any sort of noodle fair game for Presto Pasta Nights!

Pineapple Basil Noodles

3 oz cellophane noodles

1 tsp cornstarch
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 cup chopped pineapple
1 tb finely chopped basil

Place the noodles in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit at least 10 minutes, or longer, until the noodles are soft. Drain well and set aside.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Stir the cornstarch into the pineapple juice and pour into the pan. Add the soy sauce and simmer until the sauces start to thicken, just a minute or two. Add the pineapple and cook until the pineapple is hot. Add the noodles and toss to coat. Stir in the basil, and remove from the stove.

Presto Pasta Nights - Food Processor Pasta Sauce

Yesterday I wrote about my Saturday trip to the farmers market and about Operation: Too Many Tomatos. The tomato level is going down slowly. When you have a large box of tomatos taking up counter space in your kitchen, using them one at a time in salads or sandwiches doesn't make much of a dent. So I thought I'd make up a pasta sauce for Presto Pasta Night this week, not a cooked sauce though, a raw one.

If we were still having our hot weather (see, I told you I'd miss it!) this would be a perfect dinner for getting in and out of the kitchen fast. With some fresh pasta that only needs a few minutes to cook you could have this meal done in 10 minutes, I bet.

You could also use this as a topping for brushetta, in a salad, or on a piece of grilled chicken or beef. Heck, you could whiz it a bit longer in the food processor and call it gazpacho!


This was delicious, though a little wet. Next time I find myself with 10,000 pounds of tomatos and making sauce I think I might de-seed some or all of the tomatos. Or just drain off some of the liquid before tossing with the pasta (which is what we actually did).

Food Processor Pasta Sauce

Place the following ingredients in the bowl of your food processor:

1/4 cup basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
10 kalamata olives, pitted
3 garlic cloves
2 tb olive oil
1 tb balsamic vinegar
1 tb orange juice
1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes

and process until finely chopped, but not a paste. Scrape down the sides often.

Add:

2 lb tomatos, washed and quartered

and pulse, again scraping down the sides, until the tomatos are chopped into small pieces. Unless you really do want to make gazpacho, watch carefully.

Pour sauce into a bowl, taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary. Cover and let sit for at least one hour before using.

I cooked up some fusilli noodles, drained some of the liquid from the sauce, and tossed the noodles, sauce and some goat cheese together. Yum!


Have you joined Ruth for Presto Pasta Nights yet? Ruth does the round-up every Friday - email her your post at ruth at 4everykitchen dot com.

Presto Pasta Nights - Pesto and Tomato Salad

This weeks pasta for Ruth's (of Once Upon A Feast) Presto Pasta Night came about from my new favorite past time: avoiding grocery shopping and seeing what I can find in the fridge, freezer and pantry. Just like my Orzo and Ham Pasta Salad and my Soba Noodle Salad for recent PPN's, I turned to our overstocked shelves in the kitchen to see what I could find.

I'm finally making a dent in our pasta "collection". I grabbed the last bag of fusilli and peered around some more in the pantry. Not seeing anything that was grabbing me I checked out the fridge to see what I could find for a sauce. In the door of the fridge was a half full bottle of pesto. As neither Scott or I are fans of traditional pesto - both of us don't like pine nuts - I don't know where this came from. Isn't that odd? I gave it a taste and it was pretty darn good; the pine nuts weren't very prominent in the flavor. IDEA! Cold pasta salad with pesto.


I cooked the noodles, drained and rinsed them in cold water. The pesto got thinned just a tad with some water, then tossed with the pasta. After seasoning it with salt and pepper I gave it a taste. Good, but it needed something. Something like tomatos! I chopped up a couple of tomatos, threw them in and it was perfect. After having a couple more bites I poured it onto a dish to take some pictures, then packed it up in the fridge for later; I figured it could feed both of us for lunch for a couple of days.

And I never saw it again.

Later that day Scott, that wicked, wicked man ATE. IT. ALL. when I wasn't around.

There are no words.