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Roasted Garlic Spinach Alfredo Lasagna | Make Ahead Mondays

March 11, 2013 by 16 Comments

Roasted Garlic Spinach Alfredo Lasagna by Foodie with Family

Remember how I said I was eating more healthy foods here? Well, I am. But I’m also doing things like what’s pictured above, so you should probably ignore any health claims I make.

I’m TRYING to have willpower people, but then I go and do this to myself. Honest-to-Pete, this uses three cups of heavy cream, a whole stick of butter, and about fifty billion pounds of various cheeses. This? Oh this. This is a Roasted Garlic Spinach Alfredo Lasagna. And all God’s people said, “Yum and pass the elastic waist pants.” Good golly.

When I made this, the kids weren’t all nutso about the idea because I only have two children who like Alfredo sauce and they’re also card-carrying members of the no-visible-veg club. Besides,  a.) it’ didn’t have a meat sauce, b.) it has visible green vegetables, and c.) where’s the meat? My husband and I, on the other hand, were just too happy to have two pans of this to ourselves. In fact, we were frightened by how happy we were to have this to ourselves. The Evil Genius exclaimed, “This is great! You need to make MORE food the kids don’t like!”

I’ve been mama to these honyaks their entire lives, so that this didn’t fly over well with them was not surprising to me. Not only did I see it coming, but I planned for the eventuality in dividing the lasagna between two pans rather than cooking it in one large one.

Roasted Garlic Spinach Alfredo Lasagna from Foodie with Family

The idea was to freeze one pan of the lasagna to eat at a later date or give to a friend who was in need of a meal while eating the other one. And since my husband and I ARE both trying to eat right (*$&#&@$*!@^#^), we each had one piece and I wrapped the chilled leftovers in individual servings for the freezer.

Roasted Garlic Spinach Alfredo Lasagna cut into servings to be frozen from Foodie with Family

Roasted Garlic Spinach Alfredo Lasagna in individual portions for the freezer from Foodie with Family

When one of us is on a business trip, the other can heat up a single serving of the good stuff for ourselves.

Roasted Garlic Spinach Alfredo Lasagna by Foodie with Family

Before I share the recipe, I have to give you a couple of pictures from the “Keeping it real” file. I almost always photograph food on my porch because the light is free and easy out there. Have a good look at the dark area at the left edge of this picture. What do you think that is?

Roasted Garlic Spinach Alfredo Lasagna with a scandalous chicken in the background from Foodie with Family

Have you guessed yet?

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… … … … …

Scandalous chicken who wants Roasted Garlic Spinach Alfredo Lasagna from Foodie with Family

It’s the chicken lasagna mafia. This hen was menacing my piece of heaven. She hopped up on the table and tried to peck it just as I whisked it away behind my back. Who knew chickens like lasagna? Little beast.

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Roased Garlic Spinach Alfredo Lasagna | Make Ahead Mondays

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Yield: 2 (8-inch by 8-inch) lasagnas or 18 pieces

Serving Size: 1 piece

Roased Garlic Spinach Alfredo Lasagna | Make Ahead Mondays

Tender lasagna noodles are layered with creamy, rich Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce, ricotta cheese, spinach and mozzarella in this indulgent and memorable lasagna that comes together in minutes courtesy of no-boil lasagna noodles.

Ingredients

    For the Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce:
  • 8-12 cloves of roasted garlic, depending on how strong you'd like the roasted garlic flavour to be (*See Notes)
  • 1 stick (8 tablespoons or 1/4 of a pound) unsalted butter
  • 3 cups heavy cream
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
    • For the Lasagna:
  • 2 boxes (9 ounces each) no-cook lasagna noodles. This recipe was prepared using Barilla brand noodles.
  • 1 batch Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce
  • 1 bag of frozen cut leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove excess liquid
  • 1 (32 ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese
  • 8 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1 1/2 cups milk, divided
  • non-stick cooking spray

Instructions

To Make the Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce:

Add the butter and roasted garlic cloves to a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. As the butter melts and the garlic cloves warm, smash them using a fork or a potato masher to break it up. Pour the heavy cream in and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil and allow it to boil gently for 3 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Turn off the heat.

Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk it until it is even in colour. While whisking the eggs, slowly drizzle in two ladles full of the hot garlic cream mixture, then whisk it back into the remaining hot garlic cream mixture. When it is evenly combined, whisk in the grated cheese and set aside.

To Assemble the Lasagna:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Spray 2 8-inch by 8-inch pans that are at least 2-inches deep with non-stick cooking spray. Lay three lasagna noodles -slightly overlapping them- to cover the bottom of each pan. Spread about 2/3 of a cup of ricotta cheese in each pan over the noodles. You don't have to be perfect, you just want to try to distribute it relatively evenly. Scatter about 1/6th of the spinach over the ricotta in each pan. Drizzle a ladle full of Roasted Garlic Alfredo over each pan, then toss about 1 cup of shredded mozzarella over each pan. Repeat these layers two more times.

Finally, finish the lasagna by adding one more layer of the noodles and splitting the remaining Alfredo Sauce between the two pans. Pour about 3/4 of a cup of milk slowly over each of the pans of lasagna, taking your time so it doesn't leak over the sides. Cover the pans tightly with foil and place on a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, covered, or until the noodles are tender and the filling is bubbly. Uncover the pans, divide the remaining mozzarella between the two pans and bake, uncovered, until the cheese is melted and the edges appear browned.

Remove from the oven and let rest for at least 15 minutes before cutting into 9 equal pieces and serving.

To Freeze and Reheat Leftover Lasagna:

Method A: Chill the lasagna in the pan in the refrigerator overnight. Cover the pan tightly with foil then wrap with plastic wrap. Freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat the lasagna, remove the plastic wrap but leave the foil wrap intact, set on a rimmed baking sheet in a cold oven, and turn the heat to 350°. Once the oven reaches full temperature, begin timing for 30 minutes. The lasagna should be hot all the way through after 30 minutes. You can test this with an instant read thermometer or by inserting a butterknife into the center of the lasagna and carefully touching the knife to see whether it feels hot.

Method B: Chill the lasagna in the pan in the refrigerator overnight. Cut the lasagna into 9 equal pieces. Use a spatula to carefully remove and transfer each piece of lasagna to a platter or plate. Wrap each piece tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. Unwrap a lasagna piece, put on a microwave safe plate and drape the plastic wrap over the top. Microwave on high for 3 minutes, or until hot all the way through. Alternatively, you can place the piece in a small, oven-safe dish and warm in a 350°F oven for 20 or so minutes or until hot through.

Notes

You can use purchased or homemade roasted garlic in this recipe. If you'd like to make your own roasted garlic, preheat the oven to 300°F. Use a high-sided pan that is just slightly larger around than the number of heads of garlic you wish to use. I always roast at least 4 heads of garlic, because I use roasted garlic in quite a few dishes. Cut at least 1/2-inch from the tops of the heads of garlic to expose the cloves. If the heads are quite large, you may need to take off up to an inch to do this. Lay them cut side down in your pan and pour in enough olive oil to come halfway up the sides of the heads of garlic. This is why you're using a smaller pan! Cover the pan with foil and bake for about an hour, or until the heads of garlic give a little when squeezed gently with tongs. Transfer the roasted garlic to a paper towel to drain a little bit. Pour the oil through cheesecloth or a fine mesh sieve and save for other recipes. When the heads of garlic are cool enough to handle, turn them cut side down over a bowl and squeeze to remove the cloves. Store this in a canning jar with a tight fitting lid in the refrigerator for up to a month!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2013/03/11/roasted-garlic-spinach-alfredo-lasagna-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Make Ahead Mondays, Pasta, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , ,

One-Pot Creamy Shells and Cheese | Bonus 2-Ingredient Taco Mac Hack

November 2, 2012 by 20 Comments

Friends: I’m participating in the 30 Days of Gratitude on the Foodie With Family facebook page. Won’t you join me when you can and share a little or a big something you’re grateful for every day? And if every day is too much in your life right now, how about just whenever you can? Click here to be part of a thankfulness movement!

 

I’m going to start this post with a confession and spend the rest of it haranguing you into making this my way. Sounds fun, right? Let’s get started.

My confession: I don’t like baked macaroni and cheese. Right now there are two groups of people reading this. Group A is gasping and fanning themselves and ready to storm me and revoke my foodie card. Group B is saying, “Big whoop.” It’s okay. I understand. I often feel like I SHOULD like it since it’s a little of a lot of things I love in one package. I just don’t. It’s a texture thing.

I DO, however, ADORE creamy mac and cheese and I’m OVER-THE-MOON in love with shells and cheese. There’s just something so awfully cute about shells and I love the way they trap all the good saucy stuff. What I didn’t love about that, though, was how ever-loving messy the process was with the bechamel in one pan and the noodles in another and the blah blah blah. Then a few years ago, I read my beloved White on Rice couple’s creamy stove top mac and cheese recipe and the clouds- they parted. They cooked the pasta IN the milk. Well, duh. Why didn’t anyone ever think of that before?

Over the past couple of years, I’ve tinkered with the recipe to reflect my family’s preferences. While there are many versions of stove-top creamy mac and cheese out there, this one is our favourite (and if you pile my Taco Mac Hack on top, it’s garner-cheers-at-the-table good.)

I’ve made countless versions of this one-pot mac. I know what DOES work and what DOESN’T. I am giving you my version today: the one that never fails us. But here’s where the haranguing comes into play. This recipe is easy IF YOU DO IT EXACTLY AS I SAY. If you’ve been around here for long, you know I don’t say that often. When I say it, I mean it. Of course, there are still a couple of items up for negotiation (like what milk you use and whether you pursue the taco mac angle or go au naturel. The noodles not the nudie, if you follow my meaning…)

Here are the rules:

  1. Choose your milk: You can absolutely choose to use skim, one-percent, two-percent or whole milk here. That is not going to effect the end texture as much as how decadent the final product is. That’s a choice.
  2. Use small shells: not medium shells, not elbow macaroni, not ditalini, not spaghetti, not linguine… You get the picture. This recipe was refined using small shells. And yes, it really DOES make a difference here. I tried doing this using equal weights of other types of pasta. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. It worked EVERY time with the shells.
  3. Use half Monterey Jack cheese and half extra sharp Cheddar. The reasons are multiple. Monterey Jack is a smoother melting cheese than Cheddar and it’s milder. Combining the two in equal parts gives you the tang of Cheddar and the smooth gooey loveliness of Monterey Jack. Win/win… And while we’re on the subject of cheese.
  4. Grate your own cheese. No, I know. The bags of pre-grated stuff are super convenient. I use them from time to time, too. The thing is, the little shreds of cheese in those bags are coated with powder that keeps them from sticking together. Handy for pre-grated cheese, but not so wonderful when you’re melting it and WANT it to come together. Just hike those socks up and grate the cheese. It’s a one-pot meal, you’re still a head of the game even after you mess up the cheese grater. And speaking of cheese, make sure you have it grated before you start cooking. Why? Because you…
  5. DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM THE POT. Heck, you probably shouldn’t even stop stirring. You’re using the starch coating the pasta as  thickening power in the sauce. As the pasta cooks, that starch goes into the milk (as the milk is being absorbed by the pasta) to make it thick and creamy. Thick and creamy likes to stick to pans. Things that like to stick to pans like to scorch. Scorched creamy shells and cheese is a sad, sad thing. Just keep stirring. It’s a small price to pay for fabulous creamy mac made in just one pot. You’ll be so glad you did.

Alright, that’s it for my brow-beating. Is anyone still with me? If so, let me tell you about my Taco Mac Hack. It’s so simple it hardly counts as a recipe, so it’s a freebie here. Top your One-Pot Creamy Shells and Cheese with leftover taco meat or browned Mexican-style chorizo and a couple candied jalapeños on top. Ta da! You’ve hacked your mac into Taco Mac. If you’re the ketchup on your mac and cheese type, add a dollop of salsa!

 

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One-Pot Creamy Shells and Cheese | Bonus 2-Ingredient Taco Mac Hack

One-Pot Creamy Shells and Cheese | Bonus 2-Ingredient Taco Mac Hack

One-Pot Creamy Shells and Cheese takes creamy mac and cheese to new heights of decadence and ease while only dirtying one pan. For creamy mac lovers and last minute mac and cheese cravings.

Bonus: 2-Ingredient Taco Mac Hack included in the recipe!

Ingredients

  • 1 pound small shells pasta (Do NOT use medium shells.)
  • 4 cups milk (plus extra, in case!)
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard powder
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
  • 1 cup grated extra sharp Cheddar cheese
  • freshly ground pepper to taste
  • Optional for Taco Mac:
  • Fully cooked taco meat or browned chorizo
  • Candied Jalapenos

Instructions

Add the small shells, milk, butter, mustard, salt, garlic and onion powder to a large saucepan over medium heat. Stirring nearly constantly and taking care to scrape the spoon across the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking and scorching, slowly bring the mixture to a simmer then drop the heat to LOW. Don't forget this or you'll be sorry!

Continue stirring and simmering the pasta for about 15 minutes, or until the milk is almost completely absorbed. Test a piece of pasta (carefully, though, because this stuff is MOLTEN at this point.) If the pasta isn't fully cooked and the milk is almost gone, add more milk in -1/4 cup at a time- until the pasta is fully cooked. This will add a small amount of cooking time (3-5 minutes) to the overall cooking time.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the grated cheese.

Put a lid on the pan and let it rest, undisturbed for 3-5 minutes. Give it one more stir and taste. Add the black pepper to taste and serve hot.

Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator in a tightly lidded container and heated up with a splash of milk in the microwave or in a saucepan.

To Make Taco Mac:

Sprinkle re-heated taco meat or crispy brown chorizo over bowls of hot Creamy Shells and Cheese and top with candied jalapenos if desired.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/11/02/one-pot-creamy-shells-and-cheese-bonus-2-ingredient-taco-mac-hack/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Main Dish, Pasta, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

One-Pot Bacon Pizza Pasta

June 28, 2012 by 7 Comments

The other night, a few of my teenager’s buddies came for a Minecraft party/eating festival. What that means, for those of you who aren’t don’t have teenagers or a gamer in the house, is that there were a fistful of teenage boys with laptops at my dining room table doing something on their computers that looked a whole lot like building Lego worlds full of zombies and pigs on their laptops.

The catch is that I didn’t know whether the plans were going to work until about a half an hour before they were set to arrive: right at dinner time. If that doesn’t strike fear deep into your heart, maybe this will; it was nearly 100°F out and these teenage boys that were arriving were coming straight from fencing lessons.

Let that sink in a bit.

A handful of hungry teenage boys straight from intense physical activity at my table.

The only possible answer was pasta and lots of it. Quickly.

I revamped my Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta for lack of hamburger and turned it into Bacon Pizza Pasta.  I was just stirring the last handful of cheese, pepperoni and crispy bacon into the pot when the doors opened and a bunch of young men with computers loped through. * We had a massive stockpot full of pasta that tasted for all the world like a pepperoni and bacon pizza had fallen into it; tender pasta in herby tomato sauce full of melted mozzarella cheese, pepperoni and crispy bacon.

*Can we just talk about this for a minute? First of all, I don’t even feel like an adult yet, let alone one with a teenager and CERTAINLY NOT one whose teenager and all of his friends are taller than her. I might need someone to hold my hand for a minute.

The pasta was as big a hit as I hoped it would be. The boys ate a lot. There were happy faces. And I only had one pot to clean even after feeding eight people for dinner. I washed my one pot, the boys brought their dishes for the dishwasher and I got to put my feet up. I’d call that an all around win, wouldn’t you?

The recipe as printed below yields a large pot of pasta. Not large enough to feed the crew I fed, but large nonetheless. It scales up beautifully -I made a triple batch for the wild men over here- and leftovers, should you have them, store and reheat nicely for up to four days.

 

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Bacon Pizza Pasta

Bacon Pizza Pasta

This one pot wonder dinner is a crowd pleaser with tender pasta covered in a pizza flavoured, herb-laden tomato sauce full of melted mozzarella cheese, crispy bacon, and pepperoni slices.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound sliced bacon
  • 1 onion, peeled and very finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled and pressed or finely minced
  • 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
  • 1 cup pizza sauce
  • 4 cups beef broth
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 teaspoons Italian seasonings
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder (preferably granulated onion)
  • 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder (preferably granulated garlic)
  • 1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more, to taste depending on heat tolerance and preference.)
  • 1 pound dry small shell, rotini, or elbow pasta
  • 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
  • 15 slices of pepperoni, cut into quarters

Instructions

Stack the bacon strips and cut down through the stack at 1/4-inch intervals. When done, you should have a pile of thin bacon strips. Put these into a large stockpot over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Add the onion and minced or pressed garlic when the bacon is about halfway cooked. Continue frying the bacon, onions and garlic until the bacon is crispy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the crispy bacon with the onions and garlic to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Pour the remaining bacon grease out of the pan (and hopefully into a jar to use in tasty things later.)

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the garlic, tomato paste, pizza sauce, beef broth, water, Italian seasonings, oregano, salt, and onion and garlic powders. Pour this into the pan from which you drained the bacon grease. Stir well, raise the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil. When it is boiling, gently stir in the dry pasta, add a lid to the pan and drop the heat to low. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes to prevent the pasta from sticking. When the pasta is tender, turn off the heat, add all of the grated cheese, the crispy bacon, and the chopped pepperoni and stir gently until the cheese is melted in completely and everything is evenly distributed. Serve hot with additional grated cheese if desired.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/06/28/one-pot-bacon-pizza-pasta/

 

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Party Food, Pasta, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , ,

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

May 23, 2012 by 10 Comments

In a world full of uncertainty, there are a few things you can count on beyond death and taxes.

  • Every time we think our schedule is now clear, it will fill up. Overnight.
  • Johnny Depp may be weird, but he’s easy on the eyes.
  • Shortly after you take delivery of seventeen chicks and five ducklings and get them situated in your dining room, your husband will be called out of town for a week-long business trip.
  • When your child enters a room -dripping wet- from a room where there is no faucet but there are seventeen chicks and five ducklings, you will want towels. And probably bleach.
  • And ibuprofen.
  • And a Johnny Depp movie.
  • If you serve cheeseburgers to your five sons for dinner, you automatically win.
  • If you serve bacon for dinner, you automatically win.
  • If you serve pasta for dinner -unless it is a frou-frou concoction with artichoke hearts, brined olives and slices of garlic*- you automatically win.
  • If you find a way to combine cheeseburgers, bacon and pasta, you not only automatically win, but you are the Queen of the World, the Best Mom Ever In the History of the World, and the Prettiest Mom Who Smells Like Bacon and will be told so in no uncertain terms.
  • It’s nice to be The Prettiest Mom Who Smells Like Bacon. I can live with that title.

*Don’t get me wrong. I would like that. In fact, I’d eat the heck out of that. I’d probably even hide the last little bit in an ugly bowl in the back corner of the refrigerator so no one else would get it, but it would not be a universally pleasing dish. That’s all I’m saying.

We are talking about comfort food writ large as a one-pot wonder. Yes. Let’s take a deep breath together and think about that beautiful thought for just a moment. It only dirties one pot.

Does anyone else get weepy when they only have one pan to wash after dinner? Anyone? Please?

This pasta, though… It is all that is good about cheeseburgers, bacon, pasta and comfort food all rolled into one. The crispy bacon and browned ground beef filled cheesy tomato sauce seeps into the spaces of whichever pasta you choose, so I recommend one that can hold a little bit of everything; we prefer to use small shells for maximum sauce hold-age. Elbow noodles will do just dandy, but the shells are like little tiny pasta cups full of goodness. (I will not be winning a James Beard food writing award for the preceding sentence, but it’s been a busy week. Where’s Johnny Depp? I’m fairly certain he’s in the South of France and he’s probably not mopping up duck poo. Oh dear. I’d best stop whilst I’m ahead. At least I hope I’m still ahead.)

Even if your menu is planned for a month solid, I encourage you all to lay the ingredients for this dish in your pantry as insurance against traveling spouses, busy weeks, standardized testing (yes, we’re doing THAT this week, too), field trips, and juvenile poultry. I guarantee that one of these nights you’re going to be so glad you have it available. And when you do make it, it’s going to knock everyone’s socks off. Who loves you? I do!

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Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

This pure, unadulterated comfort food is pasta simmered in a bacon and burger filled cheesy tomato sauce. It doesn't get better (or easier) than this!

Adapted, with thanks, from Melissa who adapted it from [Ezra Pound Cake . Thank you ladies!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound sliced bacon
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1 onion, peeled and very finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled and pressed or finely minced
  • 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 4 cups beef broth
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder (preferably granulated onion)
  • 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder (preferably granulated garlic)
  • 1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more, to taste depending on heat tolerance and preference.)
  • 1 pound dry small shell or elbow pasta
  • 2 cups Cheddar cheese, grated
  • Optional, but tasty:
  • thinly sliced green onions for garnish

Instructions

Stack the bacon strips and cut down through the stack at 1/4-inch intervals. When done, you should have a pile of thin bacon strips. Put these into a large stockpot over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until the bacon is crispy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the crispy bacon to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Pour the remaining bacon grease out of the pan (and hopefully into a jar to use in tasty things later.)

Return the pan to the heat, break up the ground beef over the bottom of the pan and add the onions to the pot. Use a sturdy wooden spoon to continually break up the beef and work the onions into the meat until the meat is no longer pink but brown. If there is a great deal of fat in the pan, carefully pour most of it off. If there's just a small amount of fat in the bottom of the pan, keep it. It's full of flavour! Return the pan to the heat again.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the garlic, tomato paste, ketchup, beef broth, water, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and onion and garlic powders. Pour this over the browned beef. Stir well, raise the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil. When it is boiling, gently stir in the dry pasta, add a lid to the pan and drop the heat to low. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes to prevent the pasta from sticking. When the pasta is tender, turn off the heat, add all of the grated cheese and the the crispy bacon and stir gently until the cheese is melted in completely and the bacon is evenly distributed.

Serve hot or very warm.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/23/bacon-cheeseburger-hamburger-pasta/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Main Dish, Meat, Pasta, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Japanese Salmon over Linguine

May 2, 2012 by 17 Comments

There are some dishes that come to define special occasions. We have a few of them…

The boys’ birthdays almost inevitably have Sticky Chicky Bones and Pig Tails. Thanksgiving means Cranberry Upside Down Cake and Baked Chocolate Custards. Christmas Eve is our potsticker extravaganza. Easter always brings Bunny Bread. Just as much as we can count on these dishes making an appearance to help mark the passage of the year, I can count on my husband’s response to me asking him what he’d like for his birthday dinner.

“I’d love Japanese Salmon over Linguine, please!”

His answer comes as surely as rain in the spring. Since seeing this dish made on an episode of “Calling All Cooks” over ten years ago, it has become a staple festive dish for us. Almost always served on my husband’s birthday and every so often on Father’s Day, it is also a dish we trot out when we want to serve the best we have to dinner guests.

To be sure, the appearance isn’t as refined as some party foods, but it is lovely in its simple, unfussy appearance. The ease of preparation is a bonus. There isn’t a lick of engineering that goes into the dish, it is as simple to prepare as anything can be. As with many Asian foods, the bulk of the work comes before you turn on the heat under a pan.

When my two eldest boys did the 30 Hour Famine last week, they deliberately ate lightly at the breaking-of-the-fast-feast because they knew that dinner that evening was going to be Japanese Salmon over Linguine. The announcement of it for dinner always elicits happy moans. Even the anti-green-stuff contingent bends their rules and happily shovels green onion flecked salmon to their lips.

That salmon. Boy. It is exceptionally exquisite. Moist, gingery, and garlicky, it cooks gently in a sauce made of its own juices, sake, soy sauce and green onions. The salmon is flaked over cooked linguine piled in a deep bowl and then the glorious pan juices are poured over the whole thing. Then there is silence because silence is the only option available to worshipfully eat a plate full of Japanese Salmon over Linguine.

And if, per chance, you have managed somehow to make enough of the dish to have leftovers, be aware that you will have to fight for them. The chilled, non-reheated leftovers of this dish command bidding wars of the ultimate urgency. People offer to do chores for each other, hand over the remote control for a week, and/or go to bed early on purpose so Mommy can have free time just for the chance to have the last serving. It is really that good.

Cooking Notes:

You want the ginger ground or grated to a paste for the best results in this dish. I find it is easiest to accomplish this by wrapping a piece of fresh ginger root in plastic wrap and freezing overnight before approaching the grater with it. As long as it is reasonably young ginger (one which you could scrape clean of its peel by using the side of a spoon) you don’t even have to bother peeling it before grating it.When it is frozen solid, grate it on the finest section of a box grater or a microplane grater.

The garlic -much like the ginger- should be mashed, grated on a microplane or the finest setting of a box grater, or obliterated in a garlic press. The goal is to have a paste made of the ginger and garlic that you can smear over the fish.

 

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Japanese Salmon over Linguine

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Japanese Salmon over Linguine

This moist, gingery, and garlicky salmon cooks gently in a sauce made of its own juices, sake, soy sauce and green onions. The salmon is flaked over cooked linguine piled in a deep bowl and then the glorious pan juices are poured over the whole thing. This is a true family favourite.

Adapted from The Food Network

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup olive oil (preferably plain olive oil, not extra virgin)
  • 4 skin-on salmon fillets (about 1 1/2 pounds)
  • 3 cloves of garlic, grated, mashed to a paste or pushed through a press
  • 2-inch piece of ginger, frozen and then grated
  • 1 bunch green onions (scallions)
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup sake
  • 1 pound linguine, cooked according to package instructions and drained

Instructions

In a 2 or 4-cup measuring cup, combine the soy sauce and sake. Set aside. Trim the hairy ends from the green onions and slice the green onions quite thinly on an angle. Add the green onions to the soy sauce and sake and use a spoon to toss them, making sure all of the onions are evenly wet.

Pour the olive oil into a 12-inch high-sided skillet with a tight fitting lid. Blot the salmon fillets with a paper towel and then lay the fillets skin side up in the olive oil. Flip the fillets skin side down divide the garlic and ginger evenly among the fillets and rub them gently. Spoon about half of the soy sauce/sake/onion mixture over the fillets, place the lid on the pan and turn the heat on to medium under the pan. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the fillets are cooked most of the way up the sides. Gently flip them, add the remaining soy sauce/sake/onion mixture, replace the lid and continue to cook for another couple of minutes: just until the salmon is opaque all the way through.

Remove the pan from the heat and pull the skin off of the fillets. It should come away quite easily. Discard the skin. Break the salmon up into large pieces and arrange them over the cooked linguine in a serving bowl. Pour the pan juices over the top of the salmon. Serve hot, warm, room temperature or cold.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/02/japanese-salmon-over-linguine/

 

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Comfort Food, Fish, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Main Dish, Party Food, Pasta, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , ,

Creamy Bacon Gorgonzola Gnocchi

March 30, 2012 by 15 Comments

My kids friends are good sports. They follow my weirdo rules (no Minecraft or Wii before three p.m. unless there are extenuating circumstances like broken bones or cruddy life events, no drinks in the den, don’t chase the dog, and -most importantly- love is the final rule.) Yeah. Like I said, they’re good sports.

They are my taste-test posse. With very few exceptions, these awesome kids are willing to try anything I put in front of them. (In fact, some of these kids signed up for my ‘Gross Foods’ class locally. On purpose. Willingly!) Most of them don’t ask what it is until they’ve taken their first bites. God love ‘em.

I broke out a new recipe on a group of them just last week. After seeing Maria and Josh’s crispy gnocchi, I was on a gnocchi bender. I figured making lunch for a grand total of ten people was an opportunity that couldn’t be missed. I put on a massive pot of water, grabbed a few boxes of my favourite gnocchi* and assessed the pantry.

*I love hand made gnocchi. I do. I love it when its made by someone else. I know! I’m the Kitchen DIY queen, but gnocchi and I have this issue. Namely, the issue is that I mess them up dreadfully every time I make them from scratch and Delallo? Well, their boxed stuff is pretty darned good. For now, they win. I’ll be back, though! *shakes fist at sky*.

I grabbed Gorgonzola and Romano cheeses, bacon grease (you DO have some in the fridge, right?), and some salt and pepper. I melted said bacon grease in a heavy skillet, thoroughly drained the boiled gnocchi and tossed it into the hot grease. I crisped the gnocchi up around the edges, grated cheese over the top, salted and peppered to taste, tossed in a nub or two of gorgonzola cheese and a splash of the water I’d used to boil the gnocchi. This brings me to a very important point.

Are you aware of how valuable pasta water is? No really! A splash or two and a fistful of cheese and Vi-O-La! you have sauce. Good sauce. You can use it in place of tap water when you bake bread for improved texture. Pour cooled pasta water into your plants to water them. I’m not kidding. Don’t send it down the drain. Pasta Water for President!

To say the gnocchi was finished off is to euphemize (new word. I just coined it. At least that red squiggly tells me so…) the events at the table. If I were to play word association and throw out some words that came to mind watching the kids eat I might say: Hoover, locusts, disapparate, and black holes. I might even toss in a Doctor Who reference for good measure and say, “Crack in the universe into which matter disappears.” But I’d only say that if you’re wearing a bow-tie, fez or Stetson. Because those are clearly cool.

I shall digress.

This was a hit. And it was an even bigger hit when I made it two days later with actual bits of bacon in it and dusted it with fresh parsley. (I told you I was on a gnocchi bender.)

I just have to leave you with one thought before I share the recipe. My angelic blonde-haired, blue-eyed, ten-year-old approached me this morning and said, “Mom. Can we have gnocchi for lunch? Or as I like to call it, guh-naw-chee? Get it? ‘Cause I gnaw on it? Guh-naw?”  Sigh. Phonics jokes are a family trait. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go make my boy some guh-naw-chee.

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Creamy Bacon Gorgonzola Gnocchi

Rating: 51

Creamy Bacon Gorgonzola Gnocchi

Pillowy gnocchi lightly fried in bacon fat, then tossed into a simple pan sauce of bacon, three cheeses, parsley and green onion.

Ingredients

  • 2 (1 lb) boxes gnocchi
  • 1/2-3/4 of a pound of sliced bacon, cut cross-wise into 1/2-inch strips
  • 1-4 tablespoons crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, to taste (If you are averse to bleu cheeses, you can substitute an equal amount of mozzarella or fontina here.)
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 1/4 cup grated Romano cheese, plus extra for serving
  • 2 thinly sliced green onions (green part only)
  • 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

In a large, heavy skillet over medium high heat, cook the bacon until it is browned and crisp-chewy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings.

Cook the gnocchi according to the package directions in the pot of boiling water. Use a sieve or slotted spoon to transfer the cooked gnocchi from the boiling water to a colander.

Return the pan with bacon grease to medium high heat. Add the drained gnocchi and toss to coat. Cook the gnocchi, stirring frequently, until golden brown on most surfaces. Lower the heat to medium, add all of the cheeses and a deep spoonful of the water in which the gnocchi was cooked. Stir gently, adding more pasta water -if necessary- to help the cheese melt and form a sauce. Stir in the bacon, sliced green onions and parsley and serve hot with extra Romano cheese if desired.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/03/30/creamy-bacon-bleu-cheese-gnocchi/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Main Dish, Meat, Pasta, Rebecca, Recipes

One Pot Tex Mex Pasta Toss

November 22, 2011 by 2 Comments

Yesterday, I banged the drum for playing with your food and above is my proof of why that is a virtuous kitchen activity. You are looking at a creamy tomato pasta with chorizo, black olives, cilantro, sour cream and candied jalapenos. …And scene.

No. It doesn’t really end there, although since we are two days away from Thanksgiving, I will keep this short and sweet.

If no one ever played with their food there would be no such things as Buffalo wings, nachos, baked potatoes, lentil soup, pickles, jam or olives (among other things.) Seriously. Have you ever tasted an unbrined olive? Big, fat, alum-laden ew. The point is, someone did it.

Someone has to do it.

You don’t have to go whole hog and start developing recipes from the ground up. Just tinker. Substitute one herb for another, try shallots instead of onions or vice versa, use Greek yogurt in place of sour cream… Look at what’s similar. What makes it similar? Is it texture, flavour, smell? Think of cooking as a puzzle where you’re fitting different things together in the best possible way. But here’s where it’s better than a puzzle. A puzzle can only be put together in one way. Foods have a nearly limitless number of combinations. Isn’t that a great thought? There is a perfect dish out there for everyone. It’s just up to us to find it!

This dish was borne of playing with the dish I posted yesterday. If you make them both you’ll see that while they are two dishes that use the same method and have textural similarities, that they are two completely different meals!

… Now before I share this with you and scoot off to make pies and whatnot I want to lay a little homegrown truth on you. I appreciate each and every one of you who visits here on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis. Your presence and feedback makes Foodie With Family such a rewarding project for me that I can’t imagine what I’d do without you all. For each of you, I am grateful. Thank you for making this so fun for me. May your Thanksgiving Day be as wonderful as you hope!

With love,

Rebecca

 

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One Pot Tex Mex Pasta Toss

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Mexican style chorizo
  • 1 onion, peeled and diced
  • 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and diced or pressed
  • 1 dried arbol chili pepper, whole
  • 1 can (14-ish ounces) tomatoes (You can use diced, crushed or puree.) ~or~ 1 1/2 cups chopped, diced or crushed tomatoes
  • 1 cilantro stem, whole
  • 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 5 cups chicken stock
  • 1 pound uncooked dry shaped pasta (I used Campanelle. Other good choices would be small shells, cellentani, fiori and rotini, or any other pasta with hollows to hold sauce and meat.)
  • 1/4 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
  • 4 ounces (half of an 8 ounce brick) cream cheese or neufchatel cheese, cut into squares
    • Optional for garnish:
  • Minced fresh cilantro
  • halved or chopped black olives
  • chopped sweet onions
  • sour cream
  • candied jalapenos

Instructions

Break up the chorizo into a stockpot over medium heat, stirring and breaking up further with a sturdy spoon. Cook until chorizo is cooked through (browning is not necessary... just cook it through!), then use a slotted spoon to move the chorizo to a plate. If you are using a homemade, lean chorizo, you will need a little additional fat for the next step. If you are using a fattier chorizo, you can use the drippings in the next step.

Drain all but about 1 tablespoon of the drippings from the pan (if using lean chorizo, add 1 tablespoon of peanut oil or canola oil) and return the pan to the heat, dropping the temperature to low. Add the onion and garlic and whole arbol chili and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent and soft.

Pour in the chicken stock and tomatoes then raise heat to medium high, bringing the mixture to a boil. When it is fully boiling, stir well, then add in the noodles and half of the reserved chorizo and the cilantro stem, oregano and cumin, using tongs to toss it until the noodles soften enough to be submerged. Add the lid, drop the heat to low again, cover tightly, and simmer for about 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the noodles are al dente (cooked mostly through with just some resistance in the center when bit.) Remove the pan from the heat.

Stir in the grated cheese and the cubed cream or neufchatel cheese, cover again and let stand for 5 minutes. When the 5 minutes are up, toss the noodles in the sauce until the cream cheese is melted and the sauce is thickened.

Serve the noodles garnished with the remaining chorizo, and chopped fresh cilantro, black olives, sweet onions, sour cream and candied jalapenos, if desired.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/11/22/one-pot-tex-mex-pasta-toss/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Comfort Food, kid food, Main Dish, Meat, Pasta, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , ,

Creamy Tomato and Bacon Linguine

November 21, 2011 by 12 Comments

Oh, I know. Thursday is Thanksgiving, but we DO have to eat between now and then, and I’m thinking we all need something simple and satisfying that does, most emphatically, not involve turkey. Add to that the fact that it’s seriously cold (at least where I am) and we need something comforting, too. Simple, satisfying, comforting. Is that a tall order for a weeknight meal?

I say no.

These are the moments where having a couple fast, inexpensive and light-on-labour meals in your repertoire makes life significantly easier.  A couple weeks ago, I hosted a Pampered Chef party. It was a fun hen party, all the gals were there and there were kitchen gadgets abounding. The representative passed out a recipe for a pasta dish involving bacon, tomatoes and linguine. After preparing and enjoying their version, I streamlined it and adapted it to turn it into a bonafide one-pot dish (my favourite weeknight go-to) and liked it even better.

…And then I had an idea. The method was handy -everything cooked in one dish- and the ingredients were almost always on hand. What if I could change it up just a bit, a little substitution here and there, and make something completely new?

This is when having a great working knowledge of how tastes go together and a willingness to play with your food comes into play. When you have a base method that works great (cooking the meat, saving fat, cooking onions and garlic in it, adding broth/vegetable, dry pasta and cooking, then thickening the sauce) and know what things go well together (Italian: tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, onion, hard cheese. Mexican: tomatoes, cilantro, chili peppers, melting cheese, cumin, lime. Asian: cilantro, lime, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, green onion, sesame oil.) you can start looking for similarities and experiment.

I tried it the following night swapping out bacon and adding in chorizo, out with the parsley and in with cilantro, out with the Italian style tomatoes and in with tomato puree, cumin, Mexican oregano, and a dried chili pepper, out with the Asiago and in with the Monterey Jack. Top the lot with more cilantro, candied jalapenos, sour cream and black olives and I had a Tex Mex Pasta Toss that used an identical method but created a completely different meal.

The results? As my sons say, “Happy Day!”

My kids and husband were in seventh heaven having pasta two nights in a row. Everyone loved the taste of both dishes.  I loved both the fact that it only took one pan to make the whole thing and that I had a framework for a customizable meal that could be based on what ingredients I had on hand and what part of the globe I wanted to visit that particular night.

Dinner doesn’t get much faster or more satisfying than this Creamy Tomato and Bacon Linguine. Full of great Italian flavours like garlic, tomato, crushed red pepper and herbs, this is done in well under an hour and easily customized to please even your pickiest eaters. If you, like I, have kids or eaters with texture issues simply finely grate your onions and garlic on a box grater and zap your tomatoes in the blender to yield a perfectly smooth, creamy sauce.

Add a loaf of crusty bread and a salad and you have a meal that is sure to make it into your regular rotation.

… Or will the Tex Mex version be your darling?

Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Seriously friends, the goal of this post and tomorrow’s is to share the joy of playing with your food. When you have a recipe that seems no fail, it probably is! Mess around with it. Just substitute one ingredient at a time if it makes you nervous, but do try. A recipe is a guideline, not a law. Spend a little time thinking about the foods you like best and what you like best about them. Try tweaking other recipes so that they taste exactly the way you want them to taste. The kitchen is your canvas. Feed your passion!

 

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Creamy Tomato and Bacon Linguine

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Creamy Tomato and Bacon Linguine

Dinner doesn't get much faster or more satisfying than this Creamy Tomato and Bacon Linguine. Full of great Italian flavours like garlic, tomato, crushed red pepper and herbs, this is done in well under an hour and easily customized to please even your pickiest eaters. Add a loaf of crusty bread and a salad and you have a meal that is sure to make it into your regular rotation.

Inspired by The Pampered Chef

Ingredients

  • 1 pound bacon
  • 1 onion, peeled and diced
  • 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and diced or pressed
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
  • 1 can (14-ish ounces) Italian style tomatoes (You can use diced, crushed or puree.) ~or~ 1 1/2 cups chopped, diced or crushed tomatoes with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasonings, and 1/2 teaspoon of granulated garlic,
  • 5 cups chicken stock
  • 1 pound uncooked dry linguine
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, Romano or Asiago cheese
  • 4 ounces (half of an 8 ounce brick) cream cheese or neufchatel cheese, cut into squares
    • Optional for garnish:
  • Minced fresh parsley
  • finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes

Instructions

Cut the pound of bacon into 1/4-inch strips and scrape into a stockpot over medium heat, stirring to separate bacon strips. Cook until bacon is crisp, then use a slotted spoon to move the bacon to a paper towel lined plate.

Drain all but about 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings from the pan and return the pan to the heat, dropping the temperature to low. Add the onion and garlic (and crushed red pepper flakes, if using!) and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent and soft.

Pour in the chicken stock and tomatoes and half of the reserved bacon, then raise heat to medium high, bringing the mixture to a boil. When it is fully boiling, stir well, then add in the linguine noodles, using tongs to toss it until the noodles soften enough to be submerged. Add the lid, drop the heat to low again, cover tightly, and simmer for about 10-12 minutes, stirring frequently, or until the noodles are al dente (cooked mostly through with just some resistance in the center when bit.) Remove the pan from the heat.

Stir in the grated cheese and the cubed cream or neufchatel cheese, cover again and let stand for 5 minutes. When the 5 minutes are up, toss the noodles in the sauce until the cream cheese is melted and the sauce is thickened.

Serve the noodles garnished with the remaining bacon and the parsley and sun-dried tomatoes.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/11/21/creamy-tomato-and-bacon-linguine/

 

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Pasta, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , ,
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