Linguine with Lemon-Cream Sauce – Pasta recipe

LEMONS-It Must Be Spring

We mostly called it macaroni, sometimes shells and sometimes spaghetti – today it seems it’s just pasta.  But whatever you call it, this dish is a delightfully different main or side dish for this season.

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1 lb linguine

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

2 shallots minced

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp grated lemon zest, plus 2 TBS lemon juice (from 1 lemon)

In a large pot of boiling water, cook pasta according to package instructions.  Reserve 1 cup of pasta water; drain pasta and return to pot.  Meanwhile, in a small pot, heat oil over medium  Add shallots, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until tender, 4 minutes.  Add cream and lemon zest.  Bring to boil and cook until slightly thickened, 8 minutes.  Add lemon juice and season to taste with salt and paper. Pour cream sauce over pasta and toss, adding enough pasta water to create a thin sauce that coats pasta.

Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Every Day Food

Read Full Post »

Orechiette with Brocoli Rabe, Oregano and Lemon Zest

Tasty Tidbits Tuesday has been missing in action more often than I would like to admit.  I made the pasta dish I featured a week or so ago – the Penne with Cauliflower and Swiss Chard.  OMG, I have to tell you it was sooooooo delicious.  It had a delightfully light flavoring yet strong enough that you could savor every bite.  I admit I couldn’t taste the  Swiss Chard but since it added a different texture and the goodness of a dark leafy green vegetable, I was happy it was in it.

Actually it wasn’t the ingredients as much as it was the cooking technique that brought such flavor into every mouthful.  If you recall, the cauliflower was blanched for 3 minutes in the pot of boiling water that would also be used to cook the pasta.  So when the pasta was cooking in the water that the cauliflower had been in, it absorbed a light flavor that was as I said, delicious!  

Well my passion for pasta got me thinking about how many of my Tuesday recipes were pasta dishes and so I’ve decided to make a new category on the blog; We Called It Macaroni.  And I’m going to be publishing a LOT of pasta recipes! I’m no Lydia however, I’m taking on the job of educating my readers to the joys of Italian cooking, particularly PASTA, and taking them beyond red sauce and meatballs!  You can now search the blog category We Called It Macaroni for any of the pasta recipes published previously.  ”Mangia”

Lovely light and flavorful pasta dish.

Orchiette with Brocolie Rabe, Oregano and Lemon

Coarse salt and ground pepper

3/4 orchiette or other small pasta shape

1 bunch broccoli rabe (1 lb) – trimmed, cut into 1 1/2 ” pieces

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 TBS fresh oregano leaves, for serving

2-3 TBS fresh lemon juice , for serving

In  a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to directions, adding broccoli rate 4 minutes before the end of cooking.  Meanwhile, in a small saucepan heat oil, garlic and red pepper flakes over medium heat until garlic begins to sizzle, 2 minutes.  

Drain pasta and broccoli rabe and return to pot.  Add oil mixture and toss to coat;  season to taste with salt and pepper.  * I always sprinkle a little Peccorino-Romano or other Italian grating cheese on top of my pasta dishes

To  serve, sprinkle oregano over pasta and drizzle with lemon juice.

** As you can see, this recipe uses only olive oil as the sauce for the pasta dish;  Therefore you should definitely use the small pasta shapes such as orchiette and secondly when I see a recipe calling for so little sauce I often save a cupful of the pasta water to add to the sauce. Also I would use as many garlic cloves as I wished and just shake the red pepper flakes in and not measure.

***  You can also add cherry tomatoes with the garlic and cook them till they burst, add yet another dimension of flavor and texture to your dish.

Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Every Day Food

Read Full Post »

Braised Chicken with Butternut Squash and Cranberries

Tasty Tidbits Tuesday

Ocean Spray brand dried cranberries

This is a great dish on its own and could also be served over couscous

1 large butternut squash-peeled and cubed

2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil

4 chicken leg quarters

coarse salt and ground pepper

1 red onion, cut into 1/2″ wedges

2 TBS chopped fresh sage

4 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground nutmeg

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup dried cranberries

In large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat 1 TBS oil over medium-high.  Season chicken with salt and pepper and in two batches, cook skin side down until skin is golden and crisp, about 5 minutes per batch.  Transfer chicken to plate; pour off fat from pot.

Add 1 TBS oil, squash and onion to pot and cook until vegetables are beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.  Add sage, flour, coriander and nutmeg and cook, stirring until fragrant, about 2 minutes.  Add broth and cook, stirring and scraping any browned bits with a wooden spoon, 1 minute.  Nestle chicken, skin side up in squash mixture, add cranberries, and bring to boil.  Reduce heat, partially cover, and simmer till chicken is cooked through and squash is tender, 20-25 minutes.

Recipe from Martha Stewart Every Day Food

Related articles

• Roasted Butternut Squash and Fennel Soup (lifeasgood.com)
• Sage Butternut Squash Tortilla Pizza (inthelivingwell.com)

Read Full Post »

Sweet Potatoes with Honey & Lime-Thanksgiving 7 Days and Counting!

Sweet potatoes Ελληνικά: Γλυκοπατάτες (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well it’s a week away and I still don’t know what I’m bringing as an hors d’ouevres since that is my assignment for Thanksgiving dinner.  This year we will be sharing the annual feast  with my daughter’s in-laws and other relatives of her husband.  It’s seems like there will be  a lot of famiglia!

But I digress, this post is about delicious and not quite ordinary side dishes.  I really wish I was supposed to bring one of them instead because most appetizers don’t travel well and it’s a 2 1/2 hour trip!

Since oven space is always at a premium Thanksgiving Day, you can make this dish ahead of time and reheat covered in microwave at dinner time.  

SWEET POTATOES with HONEY and LIME

Preheat oven 450 degrees

1 TBS plus 1 tsp coarse salt

6 sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered lengthwise

6 TBS honey

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1 small fresh red chile pepper, thinly sliced

2 TBS unsalted butter, melted

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

2 TBS fresh cilantro leaves

Bring a large sauce-pot of water to a boil, add 1 TBS salt.  Add sweet potatoes and boil 4 minutes.  Drain and set aside.  

In a bowl combien honey, lime juice, chile, butter and remaining teaspoon of salt and the pepper.  Add the sweet potatoes and coat with the marinade.  Put potatoes and any excess marinade in a 17″x12″ roasting pan.  Roast in oven 20-30 minutes, turning occasionally, till tender and caramelized.  Garnish with cilantro. 

Serves: 6-8  - Recipe from Martha Stewart Living

Related articles

• {THANKSgiving} Delicious (mostly) vegan and gluten-free dishes (nourishandpreserve.wordpress.com)
• roasted sweet potatoes & fresh figs (cooking-spree.com)
• Sweet Potatoes with Caramelized Apple Topping (hiphostessblog.com)
• Orange Scented Sweet Potatoes (missalaneyus.com)

 

Read Full Post »

The BEST Thanksgiving Side Dishes! A Recipe A Day Till Thanksgiving!

Gone are the days of the green bean and Campbell’s soup casserole, known in my house as White Trash Green Beans.  SOOoooo politically incorrect – my kids named it, not me. 

I grew up with the usual suspects on the Thanksgiving table.  It was Mashed Potatoes, Mashed Turnips, Candied Sweet Potatoes, Stuffing, Green Bean French Onion casserole,  Creamed White Onions,canned jelled Cranberry Sauce.  Not too exciting, but oh so familiar 

I said good-bye, farewell to those dishes years ago!!  And I love side dishes so over the years I have collected a lot of recipes.  If you are making the BIG meal at home, you might find one or two to try out and if you’ve been invited to a feast, why not bring a really special dish?

Old habits die hard so here is a modernized version of the traditional Green Bean Casserole.  It is Green Beans with Carmelized Onions and Tarragon. 

1 TBS plus 1 Tsp extra virgin olive oil

2 large sweet onions such as Vidalia, thinly sliced

coarse salt and ground pepper

2 lbs green beans trimmed

4 tsp chopped fresh tarragon leaves

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 TBS oil over medium-high.  Add onions and season with salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring often, until softened and just beginning to brown, 10 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium; cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are deep golden brown and very soft, 30 minutes.  (Refrigerate in an air-tight container, up to 1 day.  Bring to room temperature before using).

Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook green beans until crisp-tender and bright green, about 6 minutes.  Drain and toss with tarragon and 1 tsp oil; season with salt and pepper.  Transfer beans to a platter and top with onions.

Recipe from Martha Stewart‘s Every Day Food

The OLD Green Bean Casserole with French Onions (Photo credit: Moomettes)

The NEW Green Bean Casserole – Martha Stewart Every Day Food

Related articles

• Recipe: Green Bean Casserole with Mushroom Béchamel & Crispy Onions – Recipes from The Kitchn (thekitchn.com)
• Barely-Cooked Green Beans with Tahini-Lemon Sauce (plus 10 More Green Beans Recipes for Thanksgiving) (kalynskitchen.com)

Read Full Post »

A Good Cook Knows When to Improvise!

The Many Moods of Macaroni

I consider myself a good cook, however, tonight I proved that corollary wrong!  I improvised a recipe and even as I was doing it, I knew it wasn’t going to be good.  And it was a classic case of being penny wise and pound foolish.  I had it in mind to make a pasta dish tonight that I had seen in Martha Stewart‘s everyday Food.  

The dish is Orrechiette with broccoli rabe, oregano and lemon.  It’s simple, easy and quick to make and I thought it was the perfect dish to make tonight as I was out all day and didn’t want to prepare something that needed a lot of prep or ingredients.

Here’s the recipe:

3/4 # of orrechiette

1 bunch of broccoli rabe (about 1#) trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves thinly sliced

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 TBS fresh oregano leaves for serving

2-3 TBS fresh lemon juice for serving

Cook pasta according to directions , adding broccoli rabe 4 minutes before pasta is done.

Meanwhile in a small saucepan, heat oil, garlic and red pepper flakes over medium heat till garlic begins to sizzle.

Drain pasta and broccoli rabe and return to pot.  Add oil mixture and toss to coat; season with coarse salt and pepper.  To serve, sprinkle oregano over pasta and drizzle with lemon juice.

It was really tasty and certainly easy to prepare.  Here’s where I made my mistake and I did know better;  When a recipe calls for a certain type and shape of macaroni (pasta to you all), there’s a reason.  This is a weekly debate in our house as my husband (who is not Italian) only likes linguine.  Seriously he likes linguine with any and all kinds of sauces.  Different shapes have different densities and are able to hold the sauce better than others.  Some penne have lines like penne rigate as opposed to ziti and the sauce will cling to one and not the other.

This recipe called for orrechiette (little ears) and they are small, slightly dense and concave.  I love Wegman’s Food store, you all know that already, but lately I have a gripe with them;  Over that last six months, Wegman’s has been eliminating the shelf space allotted to Barilla (my absolute favorite)  and DeCecco brand of pasta and filling the shelves with their own brand.  So when I looked for Barilla’s orrechiette there wasn’t any.  In fact, even in the Wegman’s pasta, super pasta and whole wheat pasta sections, there weren’t any orrechiette.  BUT, in their Wegman’s Classic Italian line which comes in all kinds of exotic shapes and is packaged in a clear cellophane bag, they did have orrechiette BUT that pasta line is priced in the $3.00+ category and I just couldn’t justify spending that much on the pasta itself.  MISTAKE! Well not really, I should have gone elsewhere.  Instead, I cruised the aisle back and forth and back and forth trying to discern what other shape might be substitutable for the little ears.  There really wasn’t anything and I settled on some very small penne regate that Barilla calls Piccolini Penne and it cooks in 7 minutes.  The end result was that the penne cooked very quickly and even though I tried to cook it according to the package directions (something I NEVER do) and add the rabe at the right moment, the penne were a little soft.  We like our pasta al dente, the orrechiette would have been perfect.  So I saved some money and made a dish that was tasty but could have been fantastic. 

Related articles

• Pan-Steamed Cauliflower with Barilotti (pbenjay.wordpress.com)
• Pasta with Broccoli Rabe, Olives & Sausage (thetreadmilldiaries.com)

Read Full Post »

Cucumber Coolers – Delightful and Refreshing

I guarantee you will be delighted with this crisp and thirst-quenching non-alcoholic drink.  I served it with dinner the other night, however my intention had been to serve it in the afternoon with some light refreshments or with lunch.  And when you are hot in the afternoon the way I was when we came home from the beach, this drink really hit the spot.  The prep work is a little bit of work but the end result is terrific.

Cool and Refreshing Cucumber Cooler

3 cucumbers – peeled, seeded, coarsely chopped

1/4 -1/2 cup water

1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves

1 lime thinly sliced

1 bottle of club soda

2 TBS agave nectar or honey

Puree the cucumbers and water in a blender.  Pour through a fine sieve, pressing on the solids – you should have about 2 cups of cucumber juice (it will be slightly thick)  Refrigerate overnight if desired or for at least a couple of hours.  

When you are ready to serve, place the mint leaves in the pitcher and bruise lightly.  Add the cucumber juice and the lime slices.  The recipe called for 24 ounces of club soda, I used a whole bottle of seltzer instead.  Add the agave nectar and stir to combine.

To serve: Pour over ice-filled glasses and enjoy!

recipe from Martha Stewart Every Day Food

Footnote: I prepared my batch in a covered pitcher (although not airtight) and even the next day there was enough fizz in the mixture to make it delicious and refreshing.

Read Full Post »

Strawberry Shortcake with Basil

Luscious Red Strawberries

May and June and early July are the best months to get local strawberries! Sweet, luscious, juicy red strawberries and what better time than the upcoming holiday weekend to have real strawberry shortcake?  There’s a twist or two in this old standby dessert  and I think it will make a world of difference and bring a level of sophistication and delight to the dish.

Depending on when you plan to serve, read the recipe carefully because the cream is prepared at least 5 hours prior to serving.  Good to do first thing in the morning for an afternoon or evening picnic or barbeque.

2  1/4 cups cold heavy cream, plus 2 TBS for brushing

20 large basil leaves plus 1/2 cup small or torn basil leaves

1/4 cup sugar

4  1/2 cups strawberries (1 lb 4 oz) sliced

3 TBS  confectioner’s sugar

Bring 1  1/2 cups of cream to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Bruise the large basil leaves by hitting repeatedly with the dull side of a knife and stir into the cream.  Remove from heat, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let steep for 25 minutes.  Strain through a fine sieve, pressing solids to extract liquid.  Refrigerate till very cold at least 5 hours.

Macerate strawberries with 1/4 cup sugar, plus more if needed, depending on sweetness of berries. Stir occasionally, for at least an hour.  Toss the berries with small basil leaves.

Whisk basil cream with confectioner’s sugar in the chilled bowl of a mixer on high speed until soft peaks form.

Mound basil cream on shortcake.  Spoon berries with juice on top

Recipe from Martha Stewar

I never thought of putting the whipped cream on the shortcake before the berries!  Which just goes to show you that you are never too old to learn a new trick.  This recipe is from Martha Stewart and I purposefully omitted her recipe for shortcake because I figure at least 75% of the people will buy those ready-made sponge cakes and maybe 10% will make their own short bread and I and the other 15% will make shortcakes from Bisquick.  And if you do use Bisquick, their recipe suggests you split the shortcake, fill with berries and top off with cream.  I’m going to sort of lightly break my shortcakes apart, then put the cream on and then the berries.  Can’t wait till this weekend.

Read Full Post »

Tasty Tidbits Tuesday- A Day Late BUT then again…

A very dear and old friend of mine poked me and cheered me on and up about my blog.  So this one’s for her, Susan Celtic Lady!

This side dish is perfect for  a quick meal.  Well in NYC, you know it’s pretty easy to order in and also very easy to buy a Roasted Chicken;   Seems like all the grocery markets have them as well as little chicken shops.  I know the phrase little chicken shops sounds funny to anybody outside of the City, but we really do have little storefront shops that cook and serve chicken, mainly grilled or whole roasted AND they deliver.   So a couple of Sunday nights ago, I had the roasted chicken and needed a quick and healthy (always)  side dish to go with it.

Sauteed Spinach and Tomatoes

1/4 cup olive oil

4  small shallots, thinly sliced

1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes

2 bunches (1  1/2 lb)  spinach (trimmed and washed) – I used two bags

coarse salt and ground pepper

grated Pecorino Romano cheese

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high.  Add 4 shallots and cook stirring often until soft and starting to brown, about 4 minutes.

Add  cherry or grape  tomatoes and cook until tomato skins are split and shallots are golden brown, from 2-4 minutes.

Gradually add the spinach, season with coarse salt and ground pepper, and cook until tender, 3 minutes or until all is in skillet and wilted. 

To serve, sprinkle with the grated or shredded cheese.

Recipe from Martha Stewart, Every Day Food

"I eats me spinach"

Read Full Post »

Super Sunday Super Bowl Snack-Super Good Super Light

If there was ever a day to eat junk food and/or fattening, artery-clogging food, THIS WOULD BE THE DAY!

But wait, not necessarily! Here is a quick and simple and heart-healthy quesadilla – perfect for the game tonight.

GOAT CHEESE AND MANGO QUESADILLAS

4 oz goat cheese room temperature

4 6″ whole wheat tortillas

1 ripe mango thinly sliced

1 jalapeno pepper thinly sliced (seeded)

1/2 red onion thinly sliced

fresh cilantro leaves

Spread the goat cheese on the whole tortilla and then layer mango, onion, pepper and cilantro on one half.  Fold over and brown and crisp in a large skillet over med-hi heat.

Quick and delicious!

Recipe from Martha Stewart‘s Everyday Food

Goat Cheese and Mango Quesadilla

 

Read Full Post »