Archive for the ‘Pasta’ Category

Potatoes and pasta soup

Saturday, April 5th, 2008

1/2 lb. macaroni, preferably med.
sized and mixed, ex. med. shells, elbows,
spaghetti, broken into 3 parts
1 lg. onion
1 (16 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1 lg. potato, cubed
Salt and pepper
Small amount of olive oil
Grating cheese, Parmesan or any of
your choice, Italian only

Brown your onion slightly in olive oil. Add can of tomatoes and salt and pepper. Simmer for about 1 hour. Cook macaroni and potato together in large pot. Drain some water, but leave enough so that pasta is covered. Add tomatoes and onions to pasta and potatoes. Add grated cheese into the pot of soup and serve.

Ziti with Fresh Tomato-Olive Sauce

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

8 oz Ziti or mostaccioli pasta

2 tb Olive oil

2 tb Balsamic vinegar

4 Cloves garlic, minced

1/3 c Thinly sliced fresh basil

1/2 c Pitted kalamata olives -OR-

4 oz Cn sliced & pitted black

-Olives, drained 1 ts Drained capers, optional

1/2 ts Crushed red pepper flakes

4 lg Tomatoes, halved crosswise

4 oz Goat cheese crumbled or

1/4 c Parmesan cheese

Salt & pepper to taste Cook pasta according to package
directions.
Meanwhile in a large serving bowl, combine the oil,
vinegar, garlic, basil, olives, capers and red pepper flakes.
Place
a strainer over the serving bowl; squeeze the juice from the tomato
halves into strainer.
(Push on seeds with back of a wooden spoon to
extract tomato liquid.) Discard the seeds.
Coarsely chop tomatoes
and add to olive mixture; toss well.
Drain pasta and add to the
bowl; toss well.
Sprinkle with cheese if desired.
Season with salt
and pepper to taste.
—–

Ziti with Ratatouille Sauce

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

1 tablespoon vegetable juice

2 small Japanese eggplants — cut crosswise into 1

1 large red bell pepper — cut into 4 or 5 larg

1 large green bell pepper — diced

2 medium zucchini — cut into 1/2-inch ch

1 small sweet potato — peeled and diced

1 large onion — coarsely chopped

5 garlic cloves — minced

1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves — chopped

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves — chopped

28 ounces canned tomatoes

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

12 ounces ziti — or other tube-shaped

1.
In a large nonstick skillet, warm the oil over medium-high
heat until hot but not smoking.
Stir in the eggplant, bell peppers,
zucchini, sweet potato, onion and garlic.
Stir-fry until the
vegetables begin to soften, about 10 minutes.
Stir in 2 tablespoons
each of the basil and mint.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover,
and cook until the vegetables are very tender, about 10 minutes.
2.
Remove the large pieces of red bell pepper from the skillet and
place

them in a food processor.
Add the 3/4 cup tomato juice and 3 of
the canned tomatoes to the processor and process to pur 3.
Return
the pur

tomatoes, the vinegar, black pepper, sugar, and red pepper
flakes, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, breaking up the
tomatoes with a spoon.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer while you
cook the pasta.
4.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Add the
ziti and cook until al

dente, 10 to 12 minutes, or according to package directions.
5.
Drain the pasta in a colander and transfer to individual dinner

plates.
Spoon the ratatouille sauce over the ziti.
Sprinkle the
remaining basil and mint on top and serve.

Wild Mushrom and Pasta Souffle

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

2 c 1% low-fat milk

1/4 c all-purpose flour

1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms — crumbled

5 tbsps grated fresh Parmesan cheese

3 tbsps salt

9 ozs egg noodles — fine

2 tsps olive oil

1 lb wild mushrooms — sliced

cooking spray 4 lg egg whites

In a saucepan whisk milk in a stream into flour until smooth.
Add dried porcin i and bring sauce to a boil over moderate heat,
stirring and scraping up any fl our clinging to bottom of pan.
Add
salt to taste and cook over moderately low heat, stirring, about 5
minutes.

Pour sauce through a sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on
mushrooms, and transfe r cooked mushrooms to a cutting board.
Mince
cooked mushrooms fine and return to sauce.
Transfer 1/4 c sauce to
a small saucepan and reserve.
Into remainin g sauce whisk 3 tbsp
Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste and reserve.

In large kettle bring 4 qts water and salt to boil for noodles.
Add noodles an d boil 40 seconds.
Drain noodles in colander and
transfer immediately to bowl of cold water.
Drain noodles
immediately and transfer to a bowl.

In non-stick skillet heat oil over moderately high heat unti hot
but not smokin g and stir in fresh mushrooms.
Saute mushrooms,
stirring, 1 minute and cook co vered, over moderately low heat 3
minutes or until wilted and tender.
Increase heat to moderately
high and saute mushrooms, uncovered, stirring until all of liquid
mushrooms give off is evaporated.
Stir mushrooms into noodles.

Preheat oven to 375 and spray a 9″ round baking dish or gratin
dish with cookin g spray.

In a large bowl with an electic mixer beat egg whites with a
pinch salt until t hey just hold stiff peaks.
Partially fold whites
into sauce in bowl and fold n oodle mixture in gently.
Transfer
mixture to baking dish and sprinkle with rem aining 2 tbsp of
Parmesan cheese.
Bake in middle of oven 25 minutes or until j ust
set in center and slightly puffed.

Preheat boiler.
Add just enough water to reserved sauce in pan
to reach consis tency of heavy cream and heat until just heated
through.
Broil souffle about 4 ” from heat until crisp and golden,
about 30 seconds.

Serve souffle with a small amount of sauce spooned around each
serving.

Wild Mushroom Lasagna

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

4 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic — minced

2 medium onion — thinly sliced

1 pound mushroom — wild

1/4 cup Italian parsley — chopped

1 tablespoon thyme — chopped

1/4 cup Marsala wine

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup milk

2 cups fontina cheese

12 lasagna noodles

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1 cup parmesan cheese

salt and pepper 1 cup beef broth

Preheat oven to 375F

In a large skillet, heat olive oil, on med.
high heat.
Add
garlic and onions and saute 6 to 7 minutes.
Add mushrooms, parsley
and thyme, saute 5 minutes.
Stir in wine.
Simmer for 5 minutes and
set aside.

In saucepan, make a roux with butter, flour and nutmet.
Stir in
broth and milk.
Collk til sauce thickens.
Stir in Fontina
Cheese.

In bottom of 12″ x 8″ baking dish arrange 1/3 noodles.
Spread
with 1/4 mushroom mixture and 1/4 of the sauce.
Repeat, finishing
with sauce.
Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan.
Cover with foil
and bake 30 minutes.
Remove foil, bake 10 more minutes.

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