cheesy tomato penne bake

This was a combination of a few recipes from my new The Complete Vegetarian cookbook I found for half off at B&N yesterday. It has TONS of great sauce recipes, pasta recipes, appetizer, stuffed vegetable recipes and a billion different ways of incorporating nuts and beans into recipes. Not that I'm a vegetarian per say, but I like eating nuts, vegetables and beans more than meat, typically, and the typical meat portions are hard to cook for just the two of us.

Anyway, I added ground turkey I had frozen from another dish to this recipe, used a tomato sauce recipe from the book and made a really easy cheese sauce to hold it all together. The cookbook's author, Rose Elliot, used the cheese sauce in a couple of her lasagna dishes, but called for egg to hold her penne bake together. (However, I buy good, expensive eggs to eat for breakfast and quite honestly didn't want to use up my good eggs on a baked pasta dish) I had tons of cheddar cheese I was ready to use up and had been wanting to make my own tomato sauce for a while. Also, as I think about moving, I get frustrated with the crazy assortment of pastas I have stuffed in the back of the pantry. Two separate bags of, half used orzo, two versions of penne and enough spaghetti to feed a village. So this allowed me to get rid of the remainders of a penne bag as well!

cheesy penne pasta bake

{ingredients}

1 cup penne pasta, cooked according to package directions

1/2 c. reserved pasta water

1/4 to 1/2 lb ground turkey, cooked and finely crumbled

tomato sauce:

1 14oz can crushed tomatoes

2 T. olive oil

2 bay leaves

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

cheese sauce:

1 T. butter

1 T. flour

5 - 6 oz milk

1/4 t. cayenne pepper

1/2 t. pepper

3/4 c. cheddar cheese or other sharp cheese

1/4 c. bread crumbs

{directions}

Heat olive oil in large skillet or saucepan with lid. Cook onions covered with one bay leaf, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and stir briefly. Add tomatoes, seasonings and reserved pasta water. Allow to simmer about 25 minutes until visibly reduced. Add salt, pepper and italian seasonings to taste. Remove bay leaf.

Make the cheese sauce. I found a rubber whisk worked better than a metal one had. In pot that you made the pasta in, melt butter on medium heat with second bay leaf until bubbly. Add flour and whisk until smooth and slightly darkened in color. Remove bay leaf. Add about 1/3 of the milk and whisk until smooth. Slowly add the rest of the milk and whisk. Whisk until thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in all but 1/4 cup of the cheese, allowing each addition to melt. Add spices.

In a small baking dish (I used what I think was about a 9 X 5 pyrex) combine pasta, ground turkey, half of the bread crumbs, and all but about a 1/4 of the cheese sauce. Spread the rest of the cheese sauce on top, sprinkle with remaining cheese, remaining bread crumbs and some cracked black pepper. Bake on 350 for about 25 minutes.

{photo belongs to kraft as i'm too lazy to upload mine!}

orzo pasta with chicken, peppers and arugula

I'd never had, much less made anything with orzo pasta. I really liked it, and a little bit goes a long way. One serving size is 1/2 of a cup dry and I found that, once cooked very satisfying. I also liked that I could buy exactly the amount I wanted in HEB's bulk section and only pay a dollar and some change. That section is great when I need a little special ingredient but don't want to buy a large portion of it; or if I want to try something new --like orzo!
This is a great base for any veggies you have sitting around. I've been into arugula and have been finding tons of places in which to throw it. Definitely toast the pine nuts.

orzo pasta with chicken and arugula
{serves 4}
INGREDIENTS
2 T. olive oil
1 small shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 of a red bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
2 cups arugula
1 1/2 cups orzo pasta
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted*
1/8 to 1/4 cup lemon vinaigrette dressing**
DIRECTIONS
*{toasting pine nuts: add to dry pot on medium heat, stirring occasionally until slightly browned and fragrant}

Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add orzo pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain. Add to large bowl with toasted pine nuts and set aside. I toasted the nuts in the same pot, once the pasta was finished.

While pasta is cooking, pour 2 tablespoons olive oil into non-stick or cast iron skillet. Stir in onion, peppers and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and translucent, add garlic and cook 2 more minutes, stirring often. Increase heat to medium high, pour in white wine; cook about 3 minutes. Liquid should simmer and reduce significantly.
Reduce heat to low, stir in chicken and arugula. Cover, and cook to warm through, about 3 minutes. Uncover and stir until arugula is wilted. Add mixture to orzo and pine nuts and toss with dressing.

You may need a little less pasta than that and perhaps a bit more dressing. I plated ours and added the chicken, pepper, arugula mixture and dressing separately to each plate to be sure the proportions were right. Then tossed.

**{if you don't want to make my lemon vinaigrette, you can also toss this with about 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil and a squirt of dijon mustard, or go a different route and do balsamic vinaigrette}

parsley pesto

I've been making a few recipes recently that call for parsley. Please tell me I'm not the only one to have noticed this issue. A recipe calls for, oh maybe a couple tablespoons chopped parsley so I head to the store (NOT out my backdoor....which is another lamentation all together) and buy a formidable BUSHEL of parsley. Granted, it's like 65 cents. But still. I mean, if I put three tablespoons of parsley in three meals a day for a week, I still wouldn't use it all. Good thing it's biodegradable because surely 1 in 3 households across the nation are chunkin' out loads of parsley like it's going out of style.

Then to add insult to injury. I went to the store and utterly forgot that I already had a bale of perfectly good parsley pining away its fate in my vegetable drawer. Oh boy.

So I get home and begin to struggle with two issues: 1. I have parsley coming out my ears. 2. I have tortellini (good and SO easy, by the way) that lacks a sauce. Now granted, tortellini is sometimes eaten without a sauce, or just with an olive oil drizzlish thing, but I thought my skeptic of a husband would be more inclined to try a new pasta if it wasn't just sitting there staring him in the face without some savory looking sauce.

Enter parsley pesto. Taylor likes basil pesto (though he doesn't know it's made with basil) and it's good on everything from sandwiches to pizza to obviously pasta. I thought, well, if there's a pesto looking substance on there, he will probably eat it. AND parsley is an herb so surely I can make pesto out of it. Really, more people should do this because, golly, parsley at your local grocery is very cheap and very .....ominous in quantity.

parsley pesto
{special equippment alert: food processor needed}
INGREDIENTS
5 cups parsley leaves
1 cup to 1 and 1/4 cup finely grated parmesean cheese
1/3 cup pine nuts {see note}
1 garlic clove {see note}
2 T. cracked pepper
1 T. salt
2/3 to 3/4 cup olive oil
DIRECTlONS
Mix it all up in your food processor. Add more olive oil if needed. Will yield about one and fourth cup pesto. I have a small food processor and just added everything incrementally, pulsing in between addtions.

{note}
I do not care for the taste of raw garlic. Also pine nuts are MUCH better toasted. If you want to invest a little extra time, I think this will be worth your while. Mince the garlic. Heat skillet on medium heat and add the pine nuts. Cover if your skillet has a lid. Stir every two or three minutes until toasted and delicious smelling. Remove nuts, though I don't think it matters if they stay, and add 1 -2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the garlic and stir often until slighly changed in color and fragrant, about 4 minutes. ...And then start pesto instuctions. If you cook the garlic first, I bet it would be good with two or even three cloves. Raw, I'd say one, or even a dash of garlic powder instead.

So ingenious. Put it on this pizza or make this penne pasta or even this stuffed chicken or cook it on this salmon!

{image belongs to sweetfineday}

fettuccine with light white sauce

This could be called fettuccine alfredo. Except that a real alfredo sauce, I think, based upon minimal online research, is made mostly with cream and much more Parmesan. I made a sauce base, similar to my Mac & Cheese and my
Pot Pie, used 2 % milk then added some cheese and a little bit of lemon. It was a bit lighter than alfredo sauce.

I think the lemon and fresh parsley really set this sauce apart. I was honestly surprised at how good it was, and I was amazed at how easy the sauce was to whip up with basic kitchen ingredients. It was even be better the second day, after all the flavors became better acquainted. I imagine that baking it is not a necessity but I think it helps the noodles soak up some of the sauce flavor....I'm not sure. Try it both ways!

image belongs to chowdownphoenix

fettuccine with light white sauce
inspired by PioneerWoman
8- 10 oz wheat fettuccine pasta (3-4 cups cooked)
2 cups grilled or roasted chicken, diced

1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
2 cloves garlic, minced
generous dash of nutmeg
2 t. cracked pepper
1 t. salt
3/4 to 1 c. milk (room temperature recommended)
3/4 c. low sodium chicken broth
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese divided
3 t. lemon juice
3 t. chopped, fresh parsley

Heat oven to 375. Cook fettuccine according to package directions, drain and place in oven safe dish. In small pot, warm chicken broth. Melt butter in saucepan on medium heat, add garlic and lemon juice and whisk occasionally until butter is bubbly, about 3 minutes. Add flour slowly with pepper, salt and nutmeg and whisk until combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low and slowly whisk in broth and milk, alternating. Add more milk if it seems too thick. Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup cheese. Pour over noodles. Add chicken. Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.) Top with remaining cheese and parsley. Yield: 4 servings.

Baked Mac & Cheese

Ahhh the gloriousness of macaroni and cheese! The nostalgia, the creaminess, the yummy cheesiness... I'd been aspiring to make homemade mac & cheese for a while and made enough of this for my coworkers to quickly inhale the next day. It was really easy and not even that unhealthy since I dubiously substituted cream and whole milk for whole milk and 2% milk and it turned out great. I also learned that the butter and flour whisked mix before the milk is added is called a roux. Cooking vocab word. You're welcome.

Baked Mac & Cheese with Garlic Breadcrumbs
adapted from Gourmet
INGREDIENTS
For bread crumbs:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs
For macaroni:
1/4 stick unsalted butter
scant 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup 2% milk
8oz elbow macaroni
16 oz sharp cheddar, grated (or your choice of white, yellow, sharp, extra sharp etc.)
DIRECTIONS
Make bread crumbs: Heat butter and oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides, then cook garlic and bread crumbs, stirring, until crumbs are golden. Transfer to paper towels to drain and season with salt.

Cook macaroni according to directions. Drain in a colander and transfer to a 1 1/2 quart shallow casserole. Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt butter in a 3- to 4-quart saucepan over moderate heat, then add flour and cook, whisking, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk* and simmer, whisking occasionally, 3 minutes. I added a few dashes of ground pepper and garlic powder. To macaroni, stir in white sauce, cheese, and salt to taste. Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake in middle of oven 30 minutes, or until bubbly.

*I recommend allowing the milk to reach room temperature before making sauce. I had to stir a lot longer than 3 minutes before it thickened even a little. It should thicken slightly to resemble a sauce.

That's it, my friends, enjoy!

White Lasagna with Chicken and Satueed Mushrooms

I thought this had great flavor and wasn't too rich since I used 2% milk and there's not much cheese. It's a pretty good base for any additional ingredients --like prosciutto, spinach, diced roma tomatoes.... I think it's a good balance between the food I like and the comfort food that Taylor is partial too.

White Lasagna with Chicken and Sauteed Mushrooms
adapted from Gourmet
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup minced shallots (about 6)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
3 3/4 cups whole milk (I used 2%)
1 cup rich chicken stock or reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, divided
12 (7- by 3-inch) no-boil egg lasagna sheets
2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
1 cup sauteed sliced mushrooms
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
Cook shallots in butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 4 minutes. Add flour and cook over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, 3 minutes. Add nutmeg, then slowly whisk in milk and stock. Bring to a boil, whisking, then simmer, stirring occasionally, just until sauce lightly coats back of spoon, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and cool to warm, stirring occasionally. Stir in eggs, salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 cup cheese.

Spread about 1 1/4 cups sauce over bottom of an 11- by 8-inch baking dish. Cover with a layer of 3 lasagna sheets. Coat sheets in about 1 1/4 cup sauce, sprinkle with cheese, mushrooms and chicken. Repeat layering 3 more times, then top with remaining sauce and remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake, uncovered, until browned, 45 to 55 minutes.

Sauce can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered (once cool).

Update {07/13}: I halved this recipe but thought that I needed to up the flour to compensate for the less thick 2% milk. Such is not the case, equal parts butter (fat) and flour is the base of this type of sauce. Then add and stir liquids to desired consistency. Halving it should not be a problem.

Penne in Vodka Cream Sauce

The recipes that I combined to make this involved first browning prosciutto or Italian sausage in olive oil and garlic. I tried it with ground venison because I wanted to use it. I thought it was good; Taylor said he could taste the vodka too much so I may use less next time and allow it to reduce better than I think I did this time. And of course the sauce can be put on other types of noodles.... here is the doubled version of the recipe.

Penne with Venison in Vodka Cream Sauce
INGREDIENTS
1 (16 oz) package dry penne pasta cooked according to directions
1 T. olive oil
8 cloves garlic minced
1 lb ground venison (or a package of prosciutto or other meat...)
1 t. red pepper flakes
2 (16 oz) cans whole peeled tomatoes
1/2 c. vodka
1 c. heavy whipping cream
3/4 c. Parmesan cheese
parsley, basil, and cracked pepper
DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in wok or large pot over medium. Add garlic and red peppers. Saute slightly about 2 minutes, stirring continually. Add meat and brown. Stir in tomatoes and about 1 t. each of dried parsley, basil and cracked pepper...to taste. (though about 1/4 c. fresh would be better) Cook tomatoes until they begin to break up, either about 3 minutes on medium or simmering 15 minutes on low. Stir in vodka and bring to a boil, then add cream and simmer, uncovered about 15 minutes. Add cheese and melt. Toss with cooked penne.

I accidentally bought crushed tomatoes instead of whole peeled and as a result, I think it was more liquid-y. So as it happened, I'm uncertain about the best way to recommend cooking the tomato base. Using crushed tomatoes, I brought the tomato, meat mixture to a boil and then simmered it covered on low for 15 minutes. I think crushed tomatoes would have been fine as long as you did a little less cream and vodka, because they are more liquid-y. Or you could do half crushed, half whole if you wanted some chunks..... but then the recipe is hard to half (like I did) because what do you do with two leftover half cans of tomato product? Also, I think it's important to simmer the vodka and cream addition uncovered so the alcohol can reduce.

Anyway, I'm going to make it again! Sorry for the delay in recipe deliveries and lack of pictures! New feature! wine recommendation! We drank Bogle "Old Vine" Zinfandel with this.

zimply ziti

I first made this when our friends, David and Emily, came to Austin for New Year's. Taylor about died telling me how good it was. So it returned for our first married meal, before we even had real silverware. It's modified from Real Simple: Meals Made Easy. For appropriate portion sizing, I cook the whole pound of hamburger meat and then refrigerate half of it for spaghetti or something else involving ground beef, for later in the week.

Lasagna-Style Baked Ziti
INGREDIENTS
1/2 lb. (half a box) dry ziti
1 T. EVOO
1 small yellow onion, chopped
3/4 t. kosher salt
1/4 t. ground black pepper
1/2 lb. ground beef
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. fresh oregano or 1 T. dried oregano powder
1/2 to 3/4 a jar chunky pasta sauce
3/4 c. ricotta
1/2 c. grated Parmesan
1 c. shredded mozzarella
DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 400. Cook ziti according to package directions. Heat oil in large pot over medium, add onion, salt, pepper and cook for 5 min. Add beef and cook, crumbling with a spoon, about 7 min. Add garlic and oregano and cook for 2 min. Add pasta sauce and cook for 3 min. Remove from heat. Add drained ziti to pot and toss. Add ricotta and 1/4 c. of Parmesan, 1/2 c. mozzarella and toss again. Spread mixture into a 2 quart baking dish and sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Bake about 12-15 minutes, until the cheese melts. Serves 4, with leftovers. :)

Tay likes this and diced tomatoes can be added as well as spinach. I want to try it with chicken soon. Stay tuned for pumpkin cookies!!

pesto whole wheat penne pasta

This is a vestige of my college days. I could eat this for every meal. Once tay and I discovered HEB's premarinated fajita chicken meat, it made an excellent addition to this dish. That fajita meat is great for us because we can grill it on our little indoor grill and then I can put the meat in a variety of dishes throughout the week to make it fit our 2 person portion size. Typically I can make this pasta, we have leftovers for the next day and we still have half the fajita meat for another dish. The fajita meat doesn't have a Mexican-y taste. It has a lot of flavor and is really tender. It has gone great with everything that I've put it in, and Taylor likes it, so, anything with it in it, he will eat.
Here goes.

Pesto Penne Pasta with Chicken
INGREDIENTS
1-2 c. diced HEB premarinated, grilled, fajita chicken meat
8 oz. Whole Wheat Penne pasta
1/3 c. pesto
1/2 c. grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
2 T. olive oil
DIRECTIONS
Cook pasta according to package directions (this is half the standard size box). Drain and return to pot. Add chicken. Pour in olive oil and pesto, mix well. Add cheese, mix well. The more pesto the better. I buy those little containers made by HEB. Without the chicken, it would be good sided for grilled chicken breasts. If I served it as a side, I'd probably add some little diced roma tomotes.

I don't think Tay is a huge fan of this but I really like it and he eats it because of his fajita chicken meat. I think I served this with some chopped cantelope and honeydew. Yum yum!