I've been making pasta like this for about as long as I can remember, so I never thought of it being something I could translate into a recipe. As we were inhaling it the other day though I thought to myself, why not? It probably seems insanely easy to me because I've made it over 100 times (probably just really easy for some), but maybe others will take it as something slightly different from their go-to weeknight meals.
So, here it is, in all its simplistic and kinda cheating glory. My daughter has always loved this dish, and I usually make it right before the weekend hits so that she and my husband will have something more nutritious to eat while I'm at work besides blueberry scones from our local coffee place. It keeps really well in the fridge for up to 4 days, or you can definitely freeze it up to 2 months. Toss it into some airtight containers and into the freezer, and you have some homemade frozen dinners!
INGREDIENTS
1 lb Trader Joe's high fiber penne (or your favorite tubular pasta)
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce plus 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes w/ no salt added OR
1/2 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce plus 1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes w/ no salt OR
1 28 ounce + 1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes... no salt added
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled
12 - 16 ounces button or cremini mushrooms, quartered or thickly sliced, your preference
2 small zucchini peeled (optional) and sliced into half moons
1/2 medium or 1 small onion, finely chopped
1 lb sun dried tomato and basil chicken sausage OR your favorite chicken sausage OR
leave it out
1/2 cup reserved pasta water
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
Parmesan cheese
Place a large pot of water on the stove and crank the heat to get it boiling. Place your largest (I use a 16" round and 2.5" deep saute pan) pan over medium heat and get your olive oil in. Add the onion with a pinch of kosher or sea salt and stir occasionally for about 5 minutes.
While your onion is softening up, toss your garlic into a food processor and pulse till well chopped. Add the canned diced tomatoes and process till relatively smooth. If you don't have a food processor, a blender or immersion blender would work too, just don't let it go for too long. Let the tomato/garlic puree hang out while you prepare the rest of the sauce.
Add the mushrooms to the somewhat softened onion with a pinch of salt and saute till they release most of their moisture. Add the zucchini and cook for about 4 minutes. It'll look about like this:
Remove the sausage from its casing and break it into pieces as you add it to the pan. Cook for about 6 minutes, mashing the sausage with the back of a wooden spoon to break it up a bit. If you like your sauce extra chunky, leave it be.
Add the tomato/garlic puree to the veg and sausage. Let it cook for a few minutes before adding the spaghetti sauce (if using). Reduce heat to low and stir occasionally while you get the pasta going.
By now your water should be at a ripping boil. Add about 1 Tbsp of kosher salt and drop in your pasta. Cook for half of the manufacturers recommended cooking time. Reserve at least 1/2 cup of the pasta water before you drain the par cooked pasta.
Dump the pasta into the sauce (or, if you don't have a pan large enough to accommodate the sauce and pasta, carefully pour the sauce into the pot the pasta cooked in, followed by the drained noodles) and stir pretty much continuously for the remainder of the manufacturer's cooking time. At first it will look like this,
but as it cooks some of the sauce will absorb into the pasta, making it extra tasty, and it will look more like this:
Deeper in color, and much more flavorful than pasta cooked till al dente, then added to the sauce. I read an article by Christopher Kimball of Cook's Illustrated that featured this technique, and it really does works every time. Half the cooking time of whatever pasta you're using, cook it the remaining time in a lovely sauce. Many people say they love pasta even more on the second day... well, that's because it has absorbed a lot of the sauce. You get this result the first time with this dish, which I love.
Turn off the heat and add the butter, stirring well till it is completely melted and combined. You may think to yourself, 'butter in tomato sauce? I'm just going to skip it.' Just try it. It's not life altering, but it makes the dish memorably good, instead of just okay.
Serve with lots of grated Parmesan and share it with people you love. Or even just like a little, since you didn't really break a sweat making this dish.
I've always loved fried rice, but never made it at home. We used to get Chinese take out frequently enough that I never had the desire or need to make it at home. Since we've cut down on eating out, I've been craving it something awful. I figured, how hard can it actually be to make? Not very! I know the instructions seem way too long for this to be an easy meal, but it's only very descriptive since the length of cooking time varies for the veg, and to keep it simple a little order is needed.
The only 'trick' involved in making this dish is using 'day old' rice, which really means cold rice. You can definitely make the rice the day you want to prepare fried rice, you just have to ensure the rice is completely cold before doing so. Being an infamously impatient person when it comes to food, I surprisingly find it easier to make the rice the night before, and let it cool enough to put it in the fridge. Then I can make it whenever I want over the next few days - no pressure.
This dish comes together in a snap, and we've started referring to it as 'garbage rice', much in the same vain as garbage eggs. You can throw whatever is in your fridge that looks good in here. I'm only including in the recipe what I used for the batch pictured, but you can really get creative here. Or not. That's the beauty of fried rice. Add some protein and make it a complete meal, or keep it very simple for a side.
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice, or your favorite
rice
2 3/4 - 3 cups water (if using brown rice, use all 3)
2 Tbsp canola or neutral oil
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 lb button mushrooms (or any other favorite),
thickly sliced
7 - 10 radishes, halved then cut into sixths
1 cup frozen peas (I prefer petit pois)
1/4 purple cabbage (or your fave variety), thinly
sliced
1 bunch (usually 6 - 10) scallions, sliced thinly on
the bias, with a bit set to the side for garnish
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
~4 Tbsp post poaching liquid, Bragg's Amino Acids or fave soy sauce
for the chicken (optional)
2/3 cup Bragg's Amino Acids or low sodium soy
sauce
1/2 cup low sodium chicken stock
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 inch knob of peeled ginger, smashed
1 Tbsp mirin
1 Tbsp sake (optional)
1 - 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
other ingredients you may have on hand or want to try...
bamboo shoots, baby corn, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, eggplant, zucchini, tofu, pork or beef, edamame, sliced turnip, sweet potato, snow peas, kale or any other green, quinoa in place of rice... go crazy.
If using brown rice, bring 3 cups of water to boil in a medium sauce pan. Add the rice and bring back to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 40 minutes, then remove from heat and let sit covered (don't peek, no matter how much you're tempted) for 15 more minutes. Remove lid and fluff with a fork. To cool down fast, spread rice out on a cookie sheet till room temp, then place it in the fridge to get cold. If using rice on a later date, you can still use the same method, just pack it up in an air tight container and toss in the fridge.
*If using a white rice, add a bit of oil to you pan and saute the rice till it becomes more opaque, then add the water. Bring to a boil and cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. The remaining preparation is the same as with brown rice.
I like to make the chicken first, so it can cool while I prepare the fried rice. Combine the Bragg's or soy, garlic, ginger, mirin and sake in a small pot. Cut the breast(s) into 2 equal pieces. Place into the poaching liquid and turn heat on to low and cover. Keep an eye on this, as you don't want it to do anything more than a gentle simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, then remove the chicken and set aside. Crank the heat up to medium high for 5 minutes to reduce the poaching liquid a bit. Set aside till cool enough to touch, then shred with your fingers into bite size pieces.
In a very large pan, add the canola oil and dial heat up to medium high. Add the mushrooms and cook till they've released all their liquid, about 4 minutes. Add the cabbage and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the radishes and cook for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook till it becomes fragrant, about 1 minute. Don't forget to stir occasionally between the additions.
Dump in all your cold rice at once and stir very well. Add the frozen peas and shredded chicken and stir well. Push the rice up to the sides of the pan to make a little 'well' in the middle of the pan. Add the 1 Tbsp of sesame oil and the beaten eggs. Scramble your eggs, leaving big curds if that's what you prefer, or stir constantly to get a smaller curd. Stir the rice into the eggs, then add the scallions. Add ~4 Tbsp of the poaching liquid (more or less, depending on your tastes. Start with a little - you can always add more) and stir well. Taste for seasoning and serve with a sprinkle of sliced scallion and extra soy sauce or poaching liquid. Any extra poaching liquid can be stored in a squeeze bottle or airtight container and kept in the fridge for up to 1 week.
I love savory pancakes, and these are no exception. There are only 3 things you absolutely have to follow to give these little corn cakes the best flavor. A well seasoned cast iron skillet, lots of bacon and corn flour. Oh, and corn of course. I used fresh corn here since its so plentiful right now, but frozen corn that has been thawed out should work great too.
Even though this is a savory pancake, I adore them with lots of good maple syrup. They're good enough to eat plain, yet the syrup paired with the smoky bacon is a winning combo. With some perfectly ripe tomatoes, this is pretty much a quintessential summer meal that is great for any time of day.
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup corn flour
1/2 cup AP flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs, whisked till very frothy
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 medium ears of corn with the corn cut off and the
ears scraped of all the 'milk', or 1 1/2 cups frozen
thawed corn
6 strips good quality bacon, bacon fat reserved for
frying the cakes
Set an 8 - 12" well seasoned cast iron skillet over medium heat and add the bacon. Cook till very crisp. Once the rendered fat left in the pan has cooled some, pour it into a glass bowl and set aside.
Sift dry ingredients into a medium glass bowl. Add the milk, melted butter and oil to the beaten eggs. Cut the corn kernels from the cob right in the bowl of milk and eggs, taking care to scrape the cobs well with the back of your knife to get all the sweet corn 'milk' from the cob. Add the sifted dry ingredients and crumble the cooked bacon into the wet ingredients. Whisk together till just combined - be careful not to over mix.
Reheat your cast iron skillet over medium low heat. Add a scant Tbsp of reserved bacon fat. Place just under 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake into the skillet, and cook till there are quite a few air bubbles on top of your pancakes and the edges start to turn golden brown. Flip and cook a minute or 2 more. Set the pancakes aside. Add some bacon fat into the skillet before each batch of pancakes, and fry them up till all the batter is used.
Serve the pancakes straight out of the skillet as they're ready, or keep warm in a 200* oven. Top with lots of butter and warm maple syrup.
We're wild about chicken tikka masala in our house, and this recipe uses a very similar preparation with the chicken. I thought about using it in another dish, and what could be more perfect than fajitas? Paired with a refreshing and creamy raita, they couldn't have turned out better.
This recipe comes together fast, and my 2 year old loved it. Its a lovely little twist on a classic favorite, and fun enough to make for company. It can easily be made vegetarian by subbing some extra firm tofu for the chicken thighs.
INGREDIENTS
3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs or
1 lb firm or extra firm tofu
16 oz plain whole milk yogurt
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander
pinch cayenne pepper
5 cloves garlic, finely minced or grated
1 - 2 red peppers thinly sliced, or any
combination you prefer
1 medium - small red onion, thinly sliced
milk mayonnaise made with 1/2 cup fresh
cilantro (optional)
1 Tbsp canola oil
6 spinach or plain flour tortillas
for the raita:
1 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 English cucumber, seeded and finely
chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
Combine the plain yogurt with the next 9 ingredients in a medium glass bowl and stir well to combine. Add the chicken thighs one at a time, thoroughly dredging each one in the yogurt marinade before adding the next. Cover with plastic wrap or a tight fitting lid and let marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or up to 4.
Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the raita in a medium glass bowl and stir well. Season to taste. Cover tightly with plastic and place in fridge for at least 1 hour for the flavors to marry.
When ready to cook the fajitas, line a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil and set in a large cooling rack, like this one. Spray well with canola oil. Turn your oven's broiler on to high (you can also grill this if you like). Pull the chicken out of the dish on piece at a time, running hand along chicken to remove most of the yogurt. Lay atop the rack in a single row.
Place under the broiler and cook for 12 minutes a side, flipping the chicken after the first side has received a nice char. Remove the chicken and set aside to let cool, then slice into thin strips.
While the chicken is broiling, set a large non-stick pan over medium high heat and add the canola oil. Add the onion and saute for 4 minutes, or till they begin to soften. Add the peppers and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring often. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Warm the tortillas in a dry skillet or nuke them for several seconds in the microwave to soften them. Add an equal amount of chicken to peppers and onions. Drizzle with cilantro milk mayo and serve raita on the side or in the fajita. Serve immediately.
