Kylees Orzo With Dried Cherries and Feta
First and foremost, I want to tell you all that I love Mac Computers, but I have been very frustrated the past two weeks with iWeb. With Apple’s conversion to Mobile Me, I was not able to update my blog! I have tons of recipes to blog about now though! So, come back soon……
Kylee is one of those friends who I have so much in common with, we will ALWAYS have something to talk about. Like me, she is a fairly recent newly-wed (Happy Two Year Anniversary last Monday!) Because we both have dogs the same age, she is also my Greenlake walking partner. And to top it all off, she is one of my co-workers at PNB. We have spent hours talking, laughing, and of course eating!
But, most importantly, Kylee and I have the same passion for cooking, entertaining, and feeding people. When we cook together, we operate seamlessly in the kitchen just like at work. Moving in close quarters, and watching each other, but never touching.
Kylee introduced this recipe to me the other day when we were working on a new project (more to come about that later). She is good at remembering a recipe off the top of her head. As she completed this dish, she asked my opinion about seasonings, etc. I tasted it, and realized that it was perfect. Like her dancing, Her dishes always turn out sophisticated and beautiful.
Watch out for us. We are dangerous ballerinas in the kitchen.
Servings 6
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
*Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis
1 pound orzo pasta
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
3/4 cup feta cheese, (I use french sheep’s milk feta)
1/2 cup dried cherries
12 fresh basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Drain pasta and put the pasta on a large cookie sheet. Drizzle the pasta with 3 tablespoons olive oil, toss, spread out, and set aside to cool.
Once the orzo is cool (about 15 minutes), transfer to a large serving bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and toss gently to combine. Serve room temperature.
This can be made ahead, refrigerated, and brought to room temperature before serving.
Spicy Chicken Sausage Rigatoni
This month’s Bon Appetit was filled with delicious pasta recipes that were fairly easy to make, and fast enough for a weeknight meal.
After a few modifications, I decided on this recipe because:
First: I LOVE anything spicy.
Second: Erik eats anything that has sausage in it, or on it.
Lastly: I love chopping onions and garlic.
This is actually on the healthier spectrum as far as pasta dishes go. Chicken Sausage, two cups of spinach, tomatoes. I am sure if you were really on a “health kick” you could also make whole-wheat pasta. I have not been able to get that one past Erik yet.
Penne alla Carbonara with Spring Leeks
Carbonara has been ubiquitous in all of the cookbooks and magazines that I have been reading lately. It seems easy enough, if you know the basic method. It requires pasta (generally spaghetti but I am using penne), some sort of onion (leek or scallion), hard cheese (parmigiano or pecorino), egg yolk (or whole egg), cured fatty pork (such as pancetta or bacon), and cracked black pepper. This seemed like the perfect meal to make on a lazy Sunday, while watching movies.
The origin of the recipe is unknown, but the name “carbonara” is derived from the Italian word of charcoal, and could have been made as a hearty meal for the Italian charcoal workers. Others says that this pasta was named carbonara because of the specks of bacon and pepper that look like charcoal throughout the dish. Nevertheless, it has not been around for a long time, and was thought to have been made up outside of Rome during the second World War.
I have never cooked pasta with eggs before, but it is really a delicious way to make a simple sauce. Just a tip: Keep your pasta hot when you drain it. Do not rinse it with cold water. The pasta cooks the egg yolks to make the creamy, silky sauce.
Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
If not to make my obsession worse, I got another Donna Hay Cookbook called Modern Classics 1 from one of my best friends, Kylee, for Christmas. This recipe caught my eye the very first day, and has been on my list to make for about a month now.
Because I had the day off today, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try this recipe because it requires about an hour and a half of preparation. This would be a perfect meal to make in advance and freeze. Then, on a busy night, all you have to do is preheat your oven and cook the dish until it bubbles (about 45-60 minutes). I used my basic sweet tomato sauce to cover this pasta, but you could make it even easier by using your favorite store-bought sauce. Also, the fresh lasagna sheets in this dish are to DIE for! I am starting to like fresh pasta more and more. It has a much different flavor and texture than dried pasta, but I am learning to love it. Pretty soon I know I should venture into making my own pasta……
Penne with Wilted Spinach and Prosciutto
I have always had a misconception that when you make pasta it meant you had to put a bottled jar of red sauce over the top. Then, to finish the dish, you top it with fake parmesan cheese, and for an additional perk, you get to soak up the extra sauce with a piece of garlic bread.
Recently, Erik has been craving pasta. He told me the other day that I never cook pasta, which at first I disagreed with, but then I came to realize that it is partially true (maybe because of my misconception). I guess I always feel like pasta is such an easy dish to make, and does not seem “gourmet” in my opinion (unless you are eating at Tavolata). This dish, however, is an impressive pasta dish that took less than 15 minutes to make.
