Foodie Friday: Pasta ala Todd

Good Morning!

It has a very long time since I posted anything. I don’t know if I’ll become a regular blogger again, but if I have something new to say, I’ll post.

Here is a new Foodie Friday recipe we just enjoyed two nights ago.

There are two restaurants in Tulsa where my hubby enjoys a spicy pasta dish. One place calls it Pasta Yaya, and the other place calls it Pasta Taylaird (with Cajun seasoning). We took a basic vodka sauce recipe and upped the spices, the heat, and added tons of goodies. It’s a thick and hearty meal that’s perfect for those cold nights. We enjoyed the meal with bought Italian bread (I was busy running errands and didn’t plan enough time to make fresh bread).

Don't forget to scroll through Tips and Tricks!

So here is Todd’s version:

 

Pasta ala Todd

AKA Hearty Rigatoni with Vodka-Tomato Sauce

 

2 T olive oil

1 C. finely chopped onions

1 8 oz. pkg mushrooms, sliced

½ t. dried crushed red pepper flakes

½ C. Vodka

1 C. whipping cream

1 C. tomato sauce

1 T. basil

1 T. parsley

½ t. black pepper

Salt to taste

 

½ C. grated Parmesan cheese

 

1 lb. rigatoni pasta

 

1lb. Hot Italian sausage, cooked, drained and crumbled

1 C. pepperoni

1 C. diced cooked chicken

 

 

Turn salted water for pasta on high. While it’s heating up, work on the next few steps.

Heat oil in heavy wok over medium high heat. Add onions, crushed red pepper and mushrooms. Sauté until onions are translucent and water from mushrooms is cooked down, about 5 minutes. Add basil, parsley, and black pepper (I added a touch of salt, but be careful, you don’t want to make it too salty after you add everything else). Stir to incorporate.

Add vodka and ignite. Simmer until flames subside, shaking pan occasionally, about 2 minutes.

Add cream and boil until mixture thickens, about 3 minutes.

Add tomato sauce, boil until mixture thickens, about 2 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. Add Sausage, chicken, pepperoni, and Parmesan cheese. Stir to combine.

Turn heat to low while cooking pasta.

Meanwhile, cook rigatoni in salted water until firm to bite (a minute or two below the lower time on package).

Drain pasta. Reserve about ½ cup of pasta water in case you need to thin the sauce. Add rigatoni to sauce mixture.

It will be thick and hearty. If it is too thick add some pasta water.

Sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese and a touch of parsley for color.

Enjoy!

 

 Tips and Tricks:

 

·         We were shooting for SPICY. If you do not like SPICY then use mild Italian sausage, and skip or reduce the red pepper flakes.

·         I had bought a rotisserie chicken from Sam’s Club (I prefer them to Costco and Target) and had broken it down. Two pounds were vacuum sealed and frozen. And I cubed one cup for this recipe.

·         I purchase my Italian sausage from a local sausage maker (Seigi’s). Package contains 4 6-7-inch links. I remove the casing and cooked the links. When they are half cooked, I used my tongs to break off small chunks from the links.

·         Vodka flames…AGAIN Vodka FLAMES. When you light it to cook off the alcohol it will flame 1-2 feet. We took care not to light anything on fire. Be sure to keep a lid to your pan nearby to smother the flames if they freak you out.

·         Since this recipe has tons of extra goodies, I had increased the cream and tomato sauce. If it is too thick, then add pasta water to thin it.

·         Have everything ready to go. This recipe cooks and comes together quickly.

·         Turn on your salted water when you start cooking.

·         This recipe makes 6-8 hearty servings.

Chicken with Creamy Parmesan Sauce

What does one do if you have chicken tenders, spinach, mushrooms and a lot of rice?
You improvise!
From start to finish, including the rice cooker rice time, it took about an hour. A large part of that time was the prep work, especially cleaning the chicken yuckies.
As always, prep everything ahead of time. If you don't care about the tendon running down the chicken tender, then you saved time. You can also save time by buying pre-sliced mushrooms, a little jar of minced garlic, and grated Parmesan cheese.
The only reason I made rice, it because I have a lot of rice, and the only pasta I had was lasagna noodles, though this would be nummy on fettucine!
Enjoy!

Chicken in Creamy Parmesan Sauce

 

1.5 lb. chicken tenderloins

2 Tbls. olive oil

10 oz. mushrooms, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 Tbls. butter

1 Tbls. flour

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup cream

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2-3 cups baby spinach, rough chop

2-3 Tbls. sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, julienne cut

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder, optional

Heat oil in large skillet or wok over high heat. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. Add chicken to hot oil. Cook until brown and turn, about 3-4 minutes. Cook another 4 minutes and remove from pan. Add mushrooms to pan and cook until liquid evaporates and edges are caramelized, about 3-4 minutes. Remove mushrooms from pan.

Turn down heat to medium. Melt butter in pan. Add garlic, and sauté for a few minutes until light brown. Stir in flour, and cook for about a minute. Add chicken broth, cream and Parmesan cheese. Stir to blend for 3-4 minutes. Taste seasonings. Adjust with salt, pepper, or garlic powder, if needed.

Add spinach to sauce, allow to wilt. Add chicken, mushrooms, and sun-dried tomatoes. Stir to blend. Heat for a few minutes to bring the chicken and mushrooms up to temperature. Serve immediately.

Serve over rice or pasta, or if you want to be healthier…a bed of spinach. Yes, more spinach.

Tips & Tricks:

·         My family is particular about their chicken. I tend to clean it up by removing excess membrane and the tendon running down the center of the tenderloins.

·         Chicken broth—I used 1 cup of water and @ 2 tsp. of Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base.

·         I like the baby portobello mushrooms because they are meatier, but use white button mushrooms if you like.

·         “Rough chop” is exactly what it says. Grab a handful or two of spinach, chop it a few times one direction, then again, the other way. Makes it less stringy.

Foodie Friday -- Beef Stroganoff

I had every intention of trying a Martha Stewart beef stroganoff recipe, but a few things stood in my way. One it was a crockpot meal, which would have forced me to chop onions, mushrooms and meat at 5:30 in the morning prior to work.

Yuck. No thank you. Coffee and I have a special bonding moment at 5:30 in the morning. I'd hate to disrupt that particular ritual.

And two, it had Dijon mustard in it, which my family dislikes. I did think of sneaking it in this recipe, but forgot. Oops.

A few days earlier, I had purchased a 5-lb chuck roast from Costco, which I cut up into both cubes and strips while defatting it. I ended up with about 2-lbs of strips and 2-lbs of 3-inch strips (about 1/4-inch thick and 3/4-inch wide), which I tossed in the freezer. I'll use the cubed meat for chili or some sort of stew next week.

It's 4 PM and time to start cooking dinner...Improvise time!

Beef Stroganoff

 

2 lbs beef, sliced into strips (roughly 3-in long x 1/2-in wide x 1/4-in deep)

2 small onions, or one large onion, diced (or sliced, if you prefer. I think I will slice it next time)

1-lb mushrooms, cubed (sliced, if you prefer)

2 cups beef broth*

oil

salt

pepper

garlic powder

flour

8 oz. lite sour cream

 

1-lb egg noodles

 

1) Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in large Dutch oven pan on medium-high. Add onion and mushrooms, cook until tender about 6-8 minutes. Season lightly with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Remove from pan, leaving juices, and add meat. Brown meat, about 4-5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a couple Tablespoons of flour. Stir until flour is cooked, about 1 minute.

 

2) Return onions and mushrooms to pan. Add beef broth. Stir.

 

3) Lightly cover (angle lid instead of placing it tightly on), and turn heat down to keep beef at a strong simmer. Cook for 1-2 hours or until broth thickens to a gravy. ** Adjust seasoning at this time, but you probably won't need to add anything. Just saying.

 

4) Cook pasta according to directions. Drain.

 

5) Stir sour cream into beef mixture.

 

6) Place noodles on plate and spoon beef stroganoff over noodles.

 

Enjoy!

 

Tips and Tricks

• * I never have beef broth, or chicken broth for that matter, in the house . . . ever. But what I always have is Better Than Bouillon, chicken and beef. For this recipe, I used about 1 Tablespoon of beef Better than Bouillon, along with 2 cups of water.  
• ** I cooked my stroganoff about 1 1/2 hours. It just worked out that way. If you use a more marbled cut of beef, it will become less tough the longer it is braised as the fat will break down. My inspiration for this recipe was guided by Paula Deen who cooks her meal for only 45 minutes. Slower = more tender.  
• If you want to cook the beef first, then the onions and mushrooms. Go for it! It doesn't really matter. 



Foodie Friday--Pesto Bechamel Pasta

When the weather starts cooling down, I tend to cook more in the kitchen. And most of the items I cook could be termed 'comfort food', which usually translates into creamy, carb-loaded concoctions.
The other day, I looked in the fridge and saw store-bought pesto and some leftover chicken (seasoned with fajita seasoning and grilled few days ago).

Now, pesto can be an overpowering thing since basil is the number one ingredient, along with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and some brands add parmesan cheese and/or pine nuts or almonds. The brand I picked up this time was in the refrigerated section and was far less garlic-y than the brand in the hard goods aisle. I personally don't like the pesto that's this strong, so I will find ways to dilute the intensity.

So my idea was to make a chicken, pesto, pasta thing. And then I remembered my Chicken Lasagna recipe. I had to make a few changes, because the sauce was just a hair too thin for the pound of noodles that I cooked--I added about three large spoonfuls of grated parmesan cheese, which was about 3/4 cup.

Here's the recipe:

Pesto Béchamel Pasta

4 Tbls. butter
1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup basil pesto
leftover chicken--sliced
salt
pepper

Place pot of water with salt for the pasta on stove, on high, as you begin to make the béchamel sauce. Cook pasta al dente according to pasta directions.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour and stir, cooking for about 2 minutes. Slowly add milk, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Simmer about 2-4 minutes. Add pesto, salt and pepper. Adjust seasoning. Add chicken.

If the sauce is finished before pasta, place a lid on it to keep warm.

Drain pasta. Add to sauce mixture. Fold pasta into mixture. If sauce is too thin, add grated parmesan cheese until desired thickness.

Serve with side of green salad.

Tips & Tricks:

• taste your pesto before you add it. Some brands are loaded with garlic or salt, and you don't want to over season your meal
• the roux will seem chunky after the flour is added, just keep stirring so it doesn't burn. Turn down heat just a little to help keep it from burning
• I use skim milk, but if you want a richer sauce use whole milk. If you don't have whole milk (I don't), add a little cream in place of some of the milk. Instead of 3 cups of milk, use 2 cups of skim milk and one cup of cream
• season intelligently. If you don't like nutmeg, don't add nutmeg. If your pesto is salty, then don't add salt until after you mix in the pesto to see if you need to add any salt.  
• I use a whisk instead of a spoon to stir, since whisks break up lumps.
• I didn't have fettuccine noodles, so I used some trumpets. The shapes are fun, but they took a little longer to cook than thinner noodles.
• The sauce was too thin for these noodles, so I added a couple large spoonfuls of grated parmesan cheese to help thicken it slightly.

And this is another recipe that my family demolished in less than 24 hours.

Enjoy!

Foodie Friday -- Creamy Pesto Lasagna

I found this recipe in Food TV magazine. It looked good so I decided to try this recipe. It’s a winner! The family polished off the leftovers in two days, so it’s a keeper.

This makes 12 servings. 

Creamy Pesto Lasagna

Béchamel sauce:

4 Tbls. Butter

¼ cup flour

3 cups whole milk

¼ tsp. nutmeg

½ cup purchased basil pesto

Salt and Black pepper to taste

Lasagna:

1 15-ounce package ricotta cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan

½ purchased basil pesto

12 dry, flat, no-boil lasagna noodles

3 cups diced rotisserie chicken

4 cups shredded, part-skim mozzarella

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the béchamel, melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in milk and nutmeg, bring to a simmer, and cook 2 minutes more. Remove from heat, stir in ½ cup pesto; season with salt and pepper.

For the ricotta mixture, stir together ricotta, Parmesan, and ½ cup pesto; season with salt and pepper.

Assembling the lasagna:

Spread 2/3 cup béchamel in bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Lay 3 lasagna sheets side-by-side. Top with ½ cup ricotta mixture, ¾ cup chicken, 2/3 cup béchamel, and ¾ cup mozzarella. Repeat layering three more times, topping the final layer with 1 ½ cups mozzarella. Cover lasagna with foil.

Bake lasagna until bubbly, about 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake lasagna 15 minutes more, then broil on high until golden, 2-3 minutes. Let lasagna rest 15 minutes before serving.

Tips & Tricks:

·         I didn't have whole milk, so I used skim milk along with a little bit of heavy cream to make up the 3 cups.

·         The recipe called for refrigerated basil pesto, but I couldn't find it, so I found jarred basil pesto in the pasta aisle. I bought two 8.1 ounce jars because I couldn’t remember how much was needed. I did need the second jar when I actually measured it out.

·         I didn’t use rotisserie chicken, though it would have made this recipe really easy. Instead I grilled two very large chicken breasts that I seasoned with Cavender’s Greek seasoning.

·         Yeah, I don’t follow the “4 cups of Mozzarella cheese” number. I bought an 8 cup package and almost used the entire package.

·         The béchamel sauce is pretty easy to make, so freak out about it. Be sure to taste the sauce AFTER you add the pesto but BEFORE you salt it. The pesto I bought was pretty salty, so I didn’t really have to salt the sauce.

·         Depending on the store bought pesto, it might be very, very garlicy. . . the brand I bought was (Classico), but the family didn’t care.

·         Have everything prepared to make quick work of layering the lasagna

Enjoy!

Later, Peeps! 

Foodie Friday -- Lemon Curd Cake--Redo

Today is my hubster's birthday!

EDIT note: I took pictures, but obviously the light wasn't nearly bright enough! Hopefully, I'll get better!
Happy Birthday, Sweetie!! I LOVE you! You are my sooooouuuul-mate. *snork* *inside joke*

In honor of his birthday, he requested Fleming's Chipolte Mac n' Cheese for dinner . . . and nothing else, except Lemon Curd Cake . . . which I am currently making.

So for today's Foodie Friday we are playing REDO Day. Here are those recipe links:

Fleming's Chipolte Mac n' Cheese

Lemon Curd Cake

Enjoy, Peeps!

FOODIE FRIDAY -- Fleming's Macaroni and Cheese

A few weeks ago, the hubster took his “girls” to Flemings Steakhouse for a Valentine’s Day dinner. We had an exceptional meal as always, but I need to remember to order my steak medium and NOT medium-rare. Most places will cook meat on the well done side, EXCEPT high-end steakhouses. As much as I love my steak to moo when I eat it, I do draw the line at the “cool red center”.

Anyhoo, Fleming’s Macaroni and Cheese was a huge hit with the family . . . again. Hubster looked it up online--doncha just love the Internet?!--and found three similar, but different recipes. We went with this one from food.com.

Hubby is the chef on this recipe!

The pasta we used looked like an octopus arm with suction cups. J

If you want more heat with the bread crumbs, add up to 1 more teaspoon of chipotle powder.

And this recipe is E-V-I-L!! Roughly, one cup of this mac and cheese is almost 1,000 calories! You have been warned!

Fleming’s Steakhouse Chipotle Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese

Pasta:

1 lb pasta (cavatappi or curly, or a sturdy large shape.)

2 tsp. salt
1 Tbls. vegetable oil

Sauce:

¾ cup diced onions (green onion, leeks or shallots)

½ cup butter
3 Tbls. flour
2 cups heavy cream
3 cups half-and-half
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground white pepper
¾ lb smoked cheddar cheese; grated (it’s a white cheese) each pkg was 7 oz, so we used all 14 oz.
¼ lb cheddar cheese, grated

Bread Crumbs:

1 Tbls. vegetable oil

1 tsp. dried chipotle powder (gives heat, but not much flavor)
¾ cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In large pot, bring 1 gallon of water to boil. Add 2 teaspoons salt and pasta and cook for 8-9 minutes. Drain pasta and cool under cold running water. Pasta should be slightly firm. Toss drained pasta in oil and reserve.  

Melt butter in large sauce pot over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 4-5 minutes. Add flour and cook 1-2 minutes but do not brown. Add cream, half-and-half, kosher salt and white pepper.

Bring pot to a simmer. Cook until sauce is thick about 5-6 minutes. Blend cheese into sauce (cheese will thicken it even more) and add cooked pasta.

Pour pasta and sauce into 9 x 12 - inch baking dish.

In a sauté pan over medium-high heat, add oil and chipotle chili powder. Heat for 30 seconds, until pan starts to smoke. Remove from stove and stir in bread crumbs.

Sprinkle bread crumbs over the pasta and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Cool slightly before serving.

 Enjoy!!

I simply don’t understand why people buy spaghetti sauce in a jar.  Oh, I know it’s convenient and all that but do you know how simple it is to make your own?  AND you know exactly what you put in it. I will confess that I wing this recipe, which means you add as much or as little of the seasonings as you like. Sometimes I add the thyme, basil, oregano and rosemary, while other times I don’t.

My daughter loves this stuff.  Sometimes she’ll eat the pasta plain and cover her Italian bread with it like bruschetta.

I also use this sauce, with a little tomato paste added to the leftovers, as pizza sauce.

I’m still hunting for a wonderful pizza dough recipe if you have one to share.

Margaret’s Marinara

2 cans 14.5-oz. diced tomatoes (Hunts)

2 cans 15-oz tomato sauce (Hunts)

Dried minced onion

Italian seasoning (McCormick)

Thyme

Basil

Oregano

Rosemary, crushed

Garlic powder, or minced garlic if you have it (mine is usually sprouting leaves so I have a fallback)

Salt

Pepper

Toss everything into a pot, heat over medium until bubbling. Using a hand blender, chop the tomatoes up.  If using nonstick, be careful not to scratch your cooking pot. Angle lid to allow steam to escape and keep napalm tomato blurps contained. Cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When it thickens or starts to stick, turn off heat and remove lid to allow steam to escape.  

Pay your spouse to clean up tomato mess that will inevitably happen to your stove.

Enjoy!