Pasta Caprese is Easy Peasy!!!

I know, I know, I was supposed to use my new skillet and post about it. But, I got carried away by this most awesome of awesome "almost no cook" pasta dish.

Do you have an excess of :

• tomatoes?
• belt holes in your belt?
• taste buds that need exercise?
• bored brain cells?
• children who turn their nose up at anything?
  

If you answered yes to any of the above questions.....well then let's just get on with the fun!

Simply whisk together:
the juice from 2 lemons,
1/4 cup of Extra Virgin olive oil,
1 finely minced clove of garlic
And a minced shallot. Add some salt and pepper and then add 1 1/2 pounds of chopped fresh tomatoes to the vinaigrette.

Let these marinate for no more than 45 minutes at room temperature or until you complete the following:

Dice 12 ounces of FRESH mozzarella cheese. Put it on a plate and freeze for 10 minutes.
Cook 1 pound of tubular pasta, such as ziti, rigatoni, penne etc. in salted water. Drain, and add to the tomatoes, add the semi frozen cheese. Wait 5 minutes then stir in a handful of chopped fresh basil, adjust seasonings with salt, pepper, or sugar. EEEAATTT

The folks at Cook's Illustrated are responsible for my expanding waist line. They really are.

There is no excuse for my lack of a photo here. Except to say. We pigged out and ate this before we thought to photograph. Oink. Okay, I thought to photograph, but I didn't care, and I was afraid they would eat it all gone before I could snap the shot and claim my share.

Barefoot Bloggers do Meatballs and Spaghetti

I really was looking forward to this post!!! Yes these were terrific meatballs. They came together in a snap and they were so moist and tasty. I have made hundreds and hundreds of meatballs of various sizes and recipes and I have learned that they can be cooked in the oven with great success. So when Ina called for 1/4 inch of oil in a pan and to fry them; I totally ignored that part. I also just used ground beef from the ranch in California that has the sustainable thing going on, I didn't want to use veal or pork like Ina recommended.

The Ragu' was so easy and tasty. I made this recipe after church on Sunday, it took me about an hour. My family loved it.

You can link to the recipe here Ina's Real Spaghetti and Meatballs or click on Ina's picture to order the book.

I added my own mix of Herbs 'd Provance, and I made my own Boule' bread for the bread crumbs.
Check out what the other Barefoot Bloggers did by clicking on the button below!! And thanks to Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake , for choosing this fine recipe this month.

Big Orange Book--Cold Chicken Satay Noodles

(page 174)

I have a really hard time watching Rachel Ray on television. I hate her asinine homemade words like yumm-o and stoup, and that really insipid way she giggles, it just comes across to me as being really affected-- def. "speaking or behaving in an artificial way to make an impression". I am however, very tolerant of her recipes. She makes really good food; plain and simple...the girl likes to eat. Well this girl likes to eat too, and I also share with Rachel the love for the color ORANGE. So when I saw this book and read some of the reviews, I was not going to bite off my nose to spite my face; just 'cause Rachel irritates me does not mean I have to ignore her food!

Like her or not, you have got to get you a copy of this book! I posted about its arrival to my home here and it has not left my hands since. Val from Bellini Valli visited my blog and suggested we coordinate a post from this book (which she so handily won in a contest). Then Laura from Real Good Food left a nice comment and I invited her to join me by posting a recipe at her blog today too. So visit Val and Laura by clicking on the links above.

I personally own 5 R. R. cookbooks including this one, and I think this is the cherry on top, the cat's meow, winner-winner-chicken dinner, and all that jazz. Out of 330 pages or so, of recipes I think I could see myself wanting to create about 85% of them. Pretty good percentage. I chose the following recipe because I have a hectic week, and I could easily make a vegetarian version of it for my daughter Tiny. I did kick up the heat amps for this recipe by serving jalapeños on the side! My kids wanted to add extra lime juice too.

Rachel Ray's Cold Chicken Satay Noodles

Salt
1 pound whole wheat spaghetti
1/4 to 1/3 cup smooth or chunky rpeanut butter (eyeball it)
2 Tablespoons honey
1/4 cup warm water (eyeball it)
1/4 cup tamari (eyeball it)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
juice of 2 limes
1 teaspoon hot sauce (Sri Racha)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
a handful of shredded carrots
4 scallions thinly sliced on the bias
1 cup spinach, thinly sliced (chiffonade)
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
2 cups shredded store-bought rotisserie chicken
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water liberally, then add the pasta and cook to al dente. Run the cooked pasta under cold water to cool. Drain well.

While the water comes to a boil and the pasta cooks, heat the peanut butter in the microwave in 10 second intervals until softened. Place in a large bowl with the honey and warm water. Whisk in the tamari, garlic, lime juice, and hot sauce, then whisk in the oil in a slow stream.

Add the cold noodles, veggies, and peanuts to the bowl and toss until the ingredients are well mixed.

Serve the noodles in shallow bowls topped with the chicken and cilantro.
(and of course with the limes and jalapeños)

Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

Christina is miserable. She had her wisdom teeth out on Friday, she has been fighting a rotten cold, and Christmas vacation is over. He poor face is as fat as a chipmunk gathering food. She took one look at herself in the mirror and broke out in sobs. Oh, there is a party at the Glad house tonight. She is going to school sick or not. So to celebrate the end of the vacation, I prepared this sophisticated pasta dish. She couldn't chew it, so,I didn't bother with a vegetarian version...Oh I am so mean.

Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli

I have had this recipe pinned on the fridge to try since I saw it a month ago. Did you know it is next to impossible to find Orecchiette shaped pasta in Provo? I saw a great package of it at Sunflower Farmers Market and didn't bat an eye at the $3.50 price tag; I figure it is organic and made by monks in Italy, so what the heck. But it IS impossible to find broccoli rabe in Provo, if you know where to find some let me know. So I used two crowns of broccoli and 3 large handfuls of spinach.

One of the special touches I loved was toasting some really good day old bread crumbs from a Great Harvest loaf of bread and a spoonful of olive oil, and topping them on the pasta. Inspired by a Nancy Silverton recipe that was featured in the January 2009 issue of InStyle Magazine.

1 box (12-16 oz.) orecchiette pasta (ear shaped)
1 bunch (1 1/4 pound) broccoli rabe
3 handfuls of spinach about 3 cups
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 lb. hot Italian sausage, casings removed
2 1/2 cups store-bought marinara sauce
1/4 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese
1/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup toasted bread crumbs

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook orecchiette according to package directions. Add broccoli during last 3 minutes of cooking;drain.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until onion starts to soften. Add sausage, breaking it up with a wooden spoon; cook until browned, about 3 minutes. Add cooked pasta and broccoli rabe to skillet, tossing until combined. Stir in marinara sauce; cook 1 minute or until heated through.

3. Sprinkle with cheeses and the toasted bread crumbs before serving.

Barefoot Bloggers-Grown Up Mac and Cheese

Grown Up Mac and Cheese by Ina Garten, was this weeks Barefoot Blogger Challenge. I was really excited to give this one a try. For once, a recipe of the Contessa's that doesn't call for a cube of butter!

This recipe is "grown-up" because of the mature tastes of the cheeses included. I found them delicious here in this recipe.

Bacon makes anything taste better, n'est pas?

I used large macaroni, it was really a good choice. I cooked a bit undercooked.

I wish it had been gooier.

I doubled the recipe and made a smaller dish for my vegetarian daughter.

A nice change side dish, was this crispy salad.

We all have sophisticated palates at the Glad home and, everyone even my baby daughter who is 16 thought it was nice. If I make this again, I will make more sauce, so it won't be so dry.

NOTE"I had this as leftovers several days later, it was better as a leftover"!