Tag: pasta

Stove Top Lasagna and Bruschetta

Date Night, Girls' Night Out/In, One pot meal, Pasta, Pizzas, Flatbreads, Toasts

Last weekend, I was watching The Kitchen, a show that comes on the Food Network. It is kinda like The Chew, but only comes on Saturdays. Sunny Anderson is one of the TV chef personalities, and she was making this stove top lasagna. It looked so easy and delicious, I thought I would make it the next time lasagna was on the menu. I made this kind of from what I remember, so it is not exactly the same as hers. Here is the link to her original recipe. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/sunnys-pan-sagna-one-pan-plan-lasagna.html
Here is how I made it…

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 chopped onion
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning and fresh herbs- next time I will add more
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pound ground beef
One 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
1 container of mushrooms
1 to 2 cups beef stock
8 par-cooked lasagna sheets, broken into shards- I also added the end of a box of penne.
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions
You need a large pan with a lid that is also oven safe. I used a circular dutch oven. Add the olive oil on medium-high heat. When the oil begins to swirl around in the pan a bit, add onions, mushrooms, Italian seasoning, a little salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cook until the vegetables are tender and the onions become translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste and garlic. Stir for a couple of minutes.

Add the beef to the pan. Cook while breaking up with a wooden spoon until cooked through and browned, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stir. Add the stock to cover the contents by almost an inch. Bring the pan to a boil then add the broken lasagna sheets. Make sure you cover the pasta with the liquid. Cover the pot, lower the heat to a simmer and cook until the lasagna noodles are al dente, about 8-10 minutes. I uncovered it and stirred it around every few minutes to prevent it from sticking to the bottom.
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Once it is done, stir in the Parmesan cheese. The spread the mozzarella all over the top. Turn the oven on low broil. Put the pot in the oven and keep the door a jar a bit. Keep an eye on it and take it out when the cheese is melty and brown. YUM!

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Of course I didn’t forget about the Bruchetta! Make this before you put your lasagna in the oven for a nice appetizer to munch on while you sip some wine and wait for dinner to be ready. Lots of different ways to make this- what kind of bread are you going to use; are you going to toast it first or toast the ingredients on it; what kind of toppings are you going to add etc.

I made mine pretty in a pretty basic way- Cut open some bread, minced some garlic and put it on the bread first, then add slices of a tomato, mozzarella, and top with some thinly sliced basil leaves. Put in the oven on low broil until cheese is melted. Perfect with a glass of Malbec!010

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Italian Sausage Baked Ziti

Pasta

Oh my. Really, just no words. How many different ways can I say YUM! I started making this Sat. night when I made my marinara.015

Homemade Marinara 10/12/13

Last night, I browned up some sweet Italian sausage and cooked up my penne. I added them in a pan with my sauce. Of course, you can’t forget to add shredded mozzarella!

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I placed this covered in the fridge until tonight. My husband put in a 350 oven for an hour. When I came home from work, it was almost done! Uncover the last 10-15 minutes or so to get your cheese extra gooey. 012

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Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta

Chicken, Leftovers/ Freezer Meals, Pasta

Wednesday night is a late dinner night for us. R has gymnastics until 6:30, so dinner is usually close to 7. I stay home with the other 2 girls, and hubby takes R to class. I cook dinner and we eat when they get home around 6:45-7. Usually, I cook dinner and sometimes we have a clean out the fridge night or we get Chinese or something. Last night, my neighbors brought over about 8 tomatoes. They were just sitting on the counter begging to be used.

Hmmm. What to do… I cut them up and threw them in a pan with a few tablespoons of olive oil, 5 heads of crushed garlic, 1 finely diced onion, a bunch of dried and fresh herbs (oregano, rosemary, sage). Add one can of tomato sauce. I also added 2 tablespoons of sugar (cuts the acidity and metal taste of the can sauce) and a few squirts (tablespoons) of tomato paste (adds richness). I put a lid on it and cooked it for an hour. I strained it halfway and at the end. That gets rid of seeds, tomato skins, leftover garlic, and whole herbs. Take off the heat and add a tablespoon of butter. Then add your heavy cream; about 1/3 of a cup. Not a lot. I just want to add a touch of velvety creaminess to this sauce without taking away from the tomato flavor. Thinking this might make a great thick soup…

I had my 2 chicken leg/thigh quarters, so I browned them on both sides in a cast iron skillet them placed both in a 350 oven for 30 minutes. I took them out and cooled them to touch and hand shredded. Add to sauce.

Cook pasta to al dente. Mix with chicken and sauce. 10 thumbs up! Plus, more for leftovers!
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Panzanella and Pasta Ricotta

Leftovers/ Freezer Meals, Pasta, Salads

Summer tomatoes are amazing, but if you have some in a garden, you may need a few ideas on how to tame your over populated supply. How about Panzanella? Using some leftover bread, I combined some chopped fresh tomato with mozzarella and fresh garden basil. First, toast your bread.
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Then, add the rest of the ingredients.
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My husband had 2 helpings. It is basically the salad form of bruschetta.

Ricotta; a house divided…My husband HATES ricotta. I LOVE IT. Love always beats out hate in the kitchen. I made Ricotta pasta. He ate some leftover lasagna I had in the freezer.

Ricotta pasta is just Rigatoni with ricotta and my leftover meaty marinara sauce from the other night. You could totally make this into a baked ziti. You could add shredded mozzarella to the top and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the cheese gets all melty. 008012

 

Leftovers: Pizza Pasta

Leftovers/ Freezer Meals, One pot meal, Pasta

Leftovers…this can be a dreaded word in many houses. No one likes to keep eating the same thing 2 days in a row, but no one wants to waste food, which is just throwing money away. In our house, we try to have at least one night where we have “whatever you want night.” This is when we try to eat up any leftovers in the fridge before they go bad. Since we are kind of on a weird eating schedule with E still in the hospital, this has been harder to do. I am here with the other 2 girls most nights, so I try to make just enough for the 3 of us, meals that I can transform in to more than 1 meal, or make meals I know will freeze well for later.

Last night I made linguine and meatballs, and I froze some sauce, but I still had a bit of pasta over for us to have one more meal. Then, today, I was watching David Rocco’s Dolce Vida on Cooking Channel. He was making a “pizza pasta.” He took leftover pasta and added some eggs, parmesan cheese, and fried it in oil. So I decided to try it.

The ingredients all depends on how many leftovers you have, but I used 3 eggs, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, whipped it together with the pasta, then added to a pan of oil which covers the bottom of your pan.
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Then after 2 minutes or so, put a plate upside down on the top of the pasta. Turn the pan and plate over and then slide the pasta pie mixture back in the pan for another 2 minutes on the other side. Tricky, but doable. Who cares if it doesn’t come out perfect? Once done, I added more parmesan on top.
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Then I sliced with a pizza cutter. It was sitting out for a bit, so I popped a piece in the toaster oven to crisp it on top a bit. Perfection! The girls gobbled it up as well!
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Any new ways you like to makeover leftover pasta?