Noodle Love IV: Penne

Everyone is excited about spring, and I can’t join in. Not yet. I’m not ready for spring. I still have too many winter dishes to make. You see, every time I find a recipe I want to try (which is often), I add it to the queue. With my schedule being what it is, I’m not able to do the cooking as quickly as I’m able to do the finding, and I still have a list of soups, stews, and baked pastas I’m not ready to give up on.

It’s supposed to be 65 degrees here in Maryland today. Soon it’ll reach 70—warm enough to open the windows but not to turn on the air conditioner—and I will insist on turning on the oven to make chicken and biscuits, and our small apartment will become very hot, and I will get very cranky, and I already feel bad for Adam because I see where this is going. But I must make the recipes! I can’t wait another year. And meanwhile I’m collecting spring recipes, and pretty soon I’ll have too many of those, and so the cycle will continue.

This is why I can’t get excited about spring. But the good news is that this dish, Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables, can become a spring dish.

As it is, I’d say it’s mostly suited to late fall/early winter. Turning on the oven to roast vegetables doesn’t initially scream “Spring!” to me. But I think that it can if you just play with the ingredients a bit. You could swap out the zucchini and peppers for asparagus and artichokes and use diced tomatoes instead of tomato sauce. Or even use roasted cherry tomatoes. Personally, I can’t stop wondering how this would taste with my favorite roasted vegetable of all time—Brussels sprouts. Brussels sprouts and pasta sounds sort of strange, but I’ll never know for sure unless I try it. So I’m adding that to the queue, as well.

Also, I want to point out that this dish is easier than it might seem. Just cook the pasta while the vegetables are in the oven, and when they’re both done, toss them together in a big bowl (or your pasta pot) with the sauce and cheese. Bake and you’re done.

Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables
Adapted from Giada’s Penne with Roasted Vegetables

1 yellow and 1 orange bell pepper, cored and cut into 1-inch wide strips
1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 yellow onion, peeled and sliced into 1-inch strips
5 garlic cloves, lightly smashed
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 tablespoon dried Italian herb mix
1/2 pound penne pasta
2 cups marinara sauce
3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup grated fontina cheese
1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

On a baking sheet, toss the peppers, zucchini, garlic, and onions with olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and dried herbs. Roast until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. When they’re done, lower oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook for about 5 to 6 minutes, until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water.

In a large bowl, toss the drained pasta with the roasted vegetables, marinara sauce, cheeses, peas, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Gently mix until all the pasta is coated with the sauce and the ingredients are combined. If your mixture seems a bit too thick, add some of the reserved pasta water until you reach the desired consistency. Remember that the pasta will continue to cook in the oven and absorb some of the sauce/liquid.

Pour the pasta into a greased baking dish. Top with extra Parmesan cheese and butter pieces. Bake until top is golden and cheese melts, about 20 minutes. Top with parsley.

I’m thinking I’ll submit this to Presto Pasta Nights, which I’ve never done before but sounds fun. Who can ever have enough pasta recipes? Not me.

Meatball Heroes

I keep trying with meatballs. I have a bit of a troubled past with them. The first time I made meatballs I used Ina’s recipe; they were fine, but, after a while, the nutmeg in them got to be a bit much. I had a bunch of the mixture left over, so I made meatball pizza. Still too much nutmeg.

Then I made Rachael’s meatball pizza. It was good, but I thought the deep-dish focaccia crust was the star of the show there. Plus, those weren’t really meatballs on top.

So now I’m at it again with Giada’s mini meatball heroes. These meatballs are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I wouldn’t exactly call that “mini,” but I guess it is on the smallish side. Anyway, I think this is officially my first real meatball success. These are perfectly moist without being too soft, and the flavor is just right. Mr. Man, who has claimed not to like meatball heroes, said this is the first good one he’s had. I don’t know that this recipe is radically different from most others, but there is a certain something special about it. What I liked most is the size. I have a really hard time eating a meatball sub without having a meatball shoot out the back and land on my lap, and I didn’t have that problem with these—they stayed securely snuggled in the bun. I think the cheese helped glue them in place. Definitely don’t skip the provolone and Parmesan on top, because they were the perfect complement.

This recipe makes a lot of meatballs. For two of us, I only made 12 meatballs, and I have plenty of leftover mixture stashed in the freezer. I’m already thinking about what to do with it next. Italian wedding soup could be good; so could meatball stromboli. Or maybe just good old spaghetti and meatballs. I was at Macaroni Grill not too long ago and got their mozzarella-stuffed meatballs—I might have to try making those on my own.

The recipe for Giada’s meatball heroes is here. I followed the directions for the meatballs exactly except I omitted the veal and, instead, used a pound of ground beef and 1/2 a pound of ground pork. After frying the meatballs I simmered them in about a cup of sauce, and while that was going I warmed the rolls in a 350-degree oven for 3 minutes. I then filled the rolls with sauce and meatballs, and I put a slice of provolone and a couple sprinkles of Parmesan on each one. Then I put them back in the oven for just a couple minutes to melt the cheese. I recommend putting only a small amount of sauce on the sandwiches themselves and serving the extra on the side—if you’re anything like me, a sandwich filled with red sauce is equivalent to an open invitation for a freshly splattered stain on your shirt.

Sunday Breakfast

One of my favorite parts of the weekend is getting to have a nice big breakfast. I don’t eat breakfast at all on weekdays, so it’s something I look forward to every Saturday and Sunday. But by “big” I don’t necessarily mean “heavy.” A big breakfast can also be light, and it can be just as satisfying as bacon and eggs.

On today’s menu:
Pussyfoot
Spiced Americano
Cinnamon-Oat Scones
Strawberries and Whipped Cream

Pussyfoot

This is Nigella’s recipe. I have no idea where the name comes from, but it is what it is. I cut the recipe in half to make enough for two people. It’s just 1.5 cups grapefruit juice, 1.5 cups orange juice, 1 tablespoon lime juice, and 1 tablespoon grenadine. The grenadine is what really caught my eye about this recipe. I’ve had a soft spot for it ever since I first laid lips on a Shirley Temple.

When I did my shopping for this I didn’t want to buy a carton of grapefruit juice and a carton of orange juice (crowded fridge), so I got a carton of grapefruit juice and a bag of oranges. In case you’re wondering, you’ll need about 6 oranges for 1.5 cups of juice. Also, half a lime will get you the tablespoon of juice you need. Nigella always uses “plastic lime,” as she calls it, which is just lime juice from a bottle. I find her no-fuss approach very refreshing, but I have to say that, when I have both fresh and plastic lime on hand, I’ll choose the fresh. There’s definitely a difference, and fresh is definitely better.

Spiced Americano

This recipe comes courtesy of Giada, and it’s just equal parts espresso and water sweetened with a spiced simple syrup and topped with whipped cream. The hardest part of this is making the simple syrup, which isn’t actually “hard” at all, but it’s something you may not want to bother with first thing in the morning. I suggest making it ahead, if you can, and storing it in the fridge. If you’re going to also make the strawberries and whipped cream, make some extra cream now while you’re at it.

Cinnamon-Oat Scones

This is a Betty Crocker recipe that is, of course, based on a Betty Crocker product. I love these kind of short-cut baking recipes. I love just dumping everything in the same bowl and being done with it, especially in the morning when you’re hungry and don’t want to wait forever for breakfast. One warning here: the dough is very sticky. The oats will suck up all that moisture in the oven, but working with it is messy. If you have a silpat, use it. Dump the dough onto your prepared pan and sprinkle it with some streusel mixture right away. This will keep the dough from sticking to your fingers. Shape the streuseled dough into an 8-inch circle, top with the rest of the streusel, and cut into 8 slices. I used a pizza cutter, which worked well.

These aren’t real scones, of course, but they’re good and they’re easy. You could do muffins instead if you wanted to. I served mine with butter and strawberry preserves.

Strawberries and Whipped Cream

You don’t need a recipe for this, of course, but a good tip is to serve these along with the Americano, so that you can get twice the use out of making fresh whipped cream. I served this in the mini margarita glasses I just got from Crate and Barrel. So cute!

So there you have it. A weekend breakfast that is easy and elegant. Believe me, I love pancakes and sausage and bacon as much as the next person, but sometimes it’s nice to lighten things up a bit. Especially when the hours you’ve been spending in the kitchen have begun to translate into inches around your waist.

Fried Ravioli

Pasta is one of the easiest and cheapest things to make. On the other hand, if you’re not careful, it can get boring. When I was growing up, my mom made spaghetti with plain marinara about once per week, and, after so many years of this, I groaned (silently) every time we had it. Now, I can no longer eat spaghetti with plain red sauce. I have to do something to it. I’ve added sausage, chick peas, cream cheese—anything that’ll mix it up a bit.

Ravioli carries similar challenges. I’ve experimented with sauces, made casseroles out of it, but I’m still always looking for something new. Recently I saw Giada make fried ravioli, and I thought, Why didn’t I think of this before? I’ve seen fried ravioli on restaurant menus as an appetizer, but there’s no reason not to make a meal of it. Some fried ravioli, marinara for dipping, a big salad, and you’re good to go.

The full recipe is here, but this is so easy that you don’t really need it. Just get a package of fresh ravioli, some buttermilk, and some Italian breadcrumbs. Begin heating up some oil in a skillet (I used vegetable oil in cast iron). One at a time, dip ravioli in buttermilk, then dredge in breadcrumbs. When you’ve dipped and dredged your way through the ravioli, fry them in batches, 3-4 minutes per batch, tuning half-way through. Let drain on paper towels, grate some parmesan over them while they’re warm, and that’s it. Add a salad, and a not-so-boring dinner is served.

Chicken Tetrazzini

Recently I caught an episode of Everyday Italian in which Giada was cooking a meal to serve to her husband and his friends. They were out biking, and “the boys,” as she kept calling them, would be hungry upon their return. So Giada spent the day in the kitchen, standing over the stove, cooking for the boys, and when they arrived she emerged fresh, her hair recently taken down and arranged just so, food in her arms and a very large smile on her face. She laughed when they spoke and applauded as they ate. She was so enthused, so sickeningly sweet, that I almost—almost—lost my appetite. But truth be told, as annoying as I may sometimes find Giada herself, that day I found her chicken tetrazzini irresistible. And so I made it.

This is the type of food I love to eat. Casseroles, one-pot dishes, anything like that. There’s something I love about having a bunch of yummy ingredients combined in one dish. It’s just comforting. As I type this I imagine the future time when my fiancé, who insists that there is no such thing as “comfort food,” will read this post and make a face, but there is such a thing as comfort food, and this is it.

I adjusted the recipe just a bit. This makes a ton of food, so I reduced the recipe somewhat. Plus we don’t like mushrooms, so I left those out. The original recipe is here, and my modified version follows.

Chicken Tetrazzini
adapted from Giada’s Chicken Tetrazzini

8 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 large onions, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk, room temperature
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, room temperature
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 pound linguine
1 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/3 cup grated parmesan
1/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs
kosher salt, black pepper, and poultry seasoning

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread 1 tablespoon of butter over a 3-quart baking dish. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning—a thin dusting of each on both sides of each breast. Add the chicken to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes per side. Allow chicken to cool, and then shred or chop into bite-size pieces. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.

Add 3 tablespoons of butter to the same pan. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme, and sauté until the onion is translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until it evaporates, about 5 minutes. Transfer the onion mixture to the bowl with the chicken.

Melt 2 more tablespoons of butter in the same pan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk, cream, broth, nutmeg, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 10 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the linguine and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally, about 9 minutes. Drain. Add the linguine, sauce, peas, and parsley to the chicken mixture. Toss until the sauce coats the pasta and the mixture is well blended.

Transfer the pasta mixture to the prepared baking dish. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a bowl, and to the bowl add the cheese and breadcrumbs. Combine thoroughly and sprinkle the cheese mixture over the pasta. Bake, uncovered, until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

Espresso Brownies

I’m always seeing recipes that call for adding coffee to chocolate baked goods. Espresso, coffee, instant granules—you name the coffee, I’ve seen it added to chocolate.

Recently, I picked up some instant espresso powder for just this purpose. I was eager to try it out, so I made Giada’s Espresso Brownies.

These are pretty good brownies. I like that they’re tiny, because they’re so easy to eat. Plus I somehow feel like I’m not eating very much, no matter how many I shove in my mouth.

The espresso powder is meant to highlight the flavor of the chocolate, which is exactly what it does. You don’t get much espresso flavor—just more chocolatey chocolate flavor. The topping is where the espresso really comes through. The rich brownie and the sugary espresso-vanilla glaze are a great combination.

Best of all, this is a very easy recipe. It’s simply jazzing up some boxed brownie mix. The only real work is in making the glaze, and that takes all of two minutes. The only suggestions I have are decreasing the baking time by about 10 minutes (if you’re using a 9x13x2 pan, they definitely don’t need 35 minutes) and adding about half a tablespoon of extra water to the glaze, just to make it more spreadable.

Oh, and a third suggestion: serve with ice-cold milk.

Thanksgiving for Two

I've never made Thanksgiving dinner before. I want to, but I never get the chance. Thanksgiving is always at someone else's house, which means that I'm not doing the cooking. But it just seems wrong that, on perhaps the biggest food holiday of the year, I'm not in the kitchen whipping up something new (or repeating something new I saw on TV). That's why this year I decided I would have two Thanksgivings, and one would be all mine.

Now, there's sort of a problem with that, as well. It's just me and my fiance at my place, and we can't eat a whole turkey. I would love to have leftovers (turkey sandwiches, turkey tetrazzini, turkey potpie . . . . so many possibilities), but I already have our little freezer stuffed to capacity. So I decided to do a mini Thanksgiving with just enough food for one big meal.

After scouring around a while for the perfect recipes, I decided on turkey cutlets with cornbread, sage, and prosciutto stuffing and brussels sprouts with pancetta. As with most Thanksgiving meals, the turkey, while good, was sort of forgotten among the sides, which were better than good.


The cornbread stuffing had a much finer texture than usual stuffing. It was made with corn muffins, and my muffins broke down a lot during the cooking process. But that's okay. This was one of those rare and wonderful recipes where I wouldn't change a thing, although I imagine it would also be really good with a bit of sausage crumbled in.


The other side was brussels spouts with pancetta. This was the first time I've made brussels sprouts on the stovetop. Normally I roast them in the oven with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and the outside leaves begin to brown and crisp and they're just delicious. This recipe (Giada's) calls for cooking the brussels sprouts in a pan with pancetta and chicken stock. These were good, but I missed those outer crispy leaves that you get with roasted brussels sprouts. The fiance, in perpetual opposition to me, liked the softer texture of these sprouts. I'll have to play around with this one some more. Maybe if I left out or reduced the chicken stock, I could get them to be just a bit crisp but not as crisp as ones done in the oven.

For dessert? Leftover pumpkin butter gooey cakes, of course.

So, in short, it was a very satisfying mini Thanksgiving. I actually much prefer a small meal at home to a big elaborate affair at somebody else's house. Of course, I didn't have leftovers, which as everyone knows are one of the best parts of Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll wait til next week and see if I can get a small turkey on sale and, if there's room in my freezer by then, I'll try again....