Mediterranean inspired pasta salad (warm)

Monday night is often pasta night in this house. I have two in sports and one in occupational therapy. We come home at different times and everyone is always starving the minute they enter through the mudroom. On Mondays I try to prepare dishes that can be enjoyed hot as well as at room temperature.

I often refer to myself as the stove-top scientist as I never really know what I am going to prepare and how it's going to turn out. I may know that we'll have pasta, but I won't know what kind of pasta until I am in the middle of cooking it. Often, just after I have dumped the pasta in to the boiling water I'll sift through the ingredients in my fridge and pantry and see what tastes good together. This is exactly what I did last night.

With the pasta cooking away I grabbed the basil, goat cheese and and olives from my refrigerator. From the pantry I retrieved artichoke hearts and cannellini beans.

I drained and rinsed the beans and the artichoke hearts (which I chopped up) and sauteed them in a little bit of olive oil with some sea salt. I cooked them until they started to brown. And then I added the olives.

When the pasta was ready I drained it and returned it to the pot adding in the beans, artichoke hearts and olives. I made a Greek vinaigrette using 3 parts oil to one part vinegar and some oregano which I poured over the pasta. I tossed in the goat cheese which melted in to the hot mixture giving it a cream-like consistency. At the end I julienned some fresh basil and tossed it in.

If desired you can crumble and brown some sausage to sprinkle in if you feel you need a little meat in this dish.

Ingredients:

2 cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans of artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed and chopped
1/2 cup sliced, chopped or diced kalamata olives
1/2 cup of goat cheese, or more to taste
1 cup of fresh, julienned basil

For the dressing
1/3 cup of red wine vinegar
2/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil, plus more to coat the pan
1 heaping tsp of oregano
sea salt to taste

Pour ingredients in to a jar and shake well and pour over pasta.

This dish is simple and easy to make. If you do not eat this immediately, you may want to drizzle a little extra olive oil over the pasta to replace any that had been absorbed. This is great as a meal or as a side dish

Penne with goat cheese, broccoli rabe and chicken sausage

We are pasta lovers here. I love pasta for it's ease and speed. A fabulous and flavorful meal can be prepared in no time at all. While I adore pasta, I really do get bored of the same old red sauce all the time. My daughter and I had a pasta with broccoli rabe (at Molto in Fairfield, CT) that was fabulous. But it was greasy. I wanted to keep the flavor the same but cut out some of the fat and calories. For starters, I substituted regular sausage for turkey sausage. (Chicken sausage works well too.) I used a minimal amount of olive oil and tossed in a little bit of crumbled goat cheese to create a rich and creamy consistency. The goat cheese ended up complementing the broccoli rabe and the sausage perfectly!

1 box of pasta (any shape) cooked per directions on the box. (I really prefer Barilla)
2 bunches of brocolli rabe, washed and trimmed
2 packages of good quality chicken or turkey sausage. (4 to 5 sausages per package)
1/2 cup of crumbled goat cheese
2 tbs (eyeballed) of olive oil, plus more for cooking
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Add some non stick spray or olive oil to a large saute pan. Then add sausages, cut into 1/2 inch slices to the pan. Do not add all sausages at once! Cook so that the sausages are well browned on both sides. When done place on a plate lined with paper towel. Repeat until all the sausages are cooked.

Meantime add water to a large pot and bring to a boil. When boiling add pasta to the water and cook per directions on box, approx 9 - 11 minutes.

When the sausages are done add a dash of olive oil to the pan and toss in the broccoli rabe. When broccoli rabe is well cooked, maybe 7 minutes, remove and set aside.

When pasta is done, drain and place back into pan. Into the pan toss 2 tbs of olive oil, the sausages, brocolli rabe and goat cheese. Toss well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This is a great meal to serve on those night when your kids are all over the map between after school sports and extra-curricular activities.

Seasonal Citrus Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Red Onion

I was at my childrens' school the other day as the Resident Chef was bringing out items for the salad bar. The lovely purple and orange color grabbed my attention immediately. "What's that? I asked, tongue practically hanging out of my mouth. It was a simple mixture of freshly cooked beets (which are in season) and oranges. I just had to try this beautiful concoction. It was delightful and refreshing. Every bit as good as t looked.

Later that afternoon I got an email asking if I would like to contribute a unique Thanksgiving recipe to the food website CTBites. Immediately I though of Lauren's recipe. I found her in the kitchen the following morning and asked if she wanted to help create an adult version of the salad. She was happy to help.

This afternoon, armed with a dozen freshly cooked beets from our local organic farm, Sport Hill Farm, and some goat cheese I headed off to school. Lauren prepped the oranges as I sliced the red onion paper thin. Our creation was as good as we had anticipated. The crunchy addition of nuts, either sweet or savory, would have truly put this over the edge!

This beautiful salad featuring seasonal fruit and vegetables would compliment any Thanksgiving or Christmas meal.

Children's Salad

Grown-ups salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 dozen small to medium beets (4 - 6 large)
3 -4 oranges*, peeled and cut into segments, reserve all juices
Several thin slices of red onion, quartered. (The thinner the slice the better. You want a hint of onion, but you do not want the onion to overwhelm the dish which will happen if it is not finely sliced.)
A generous handful of crumbled goat cheese

Optional: A generous handful of nuts -- plain, salted or sweet to sprinkle over the top with the goat cheese.
* Clementines may be used in lieu of the oranges. In this case use about 6 - 8 clementines.

Directions:

In a bowl add your beets and oranges and onion and let sit from 1/2 hour to an hour
Arrange in a bowl or a large plate
Pour the extra juices on over the salad
Sprinkle generously with the crumbled goat cheese
Add a touch of sea salt. This will really enhance all the flavors
Serve immediately!

Oven Roasted Vegetables with Shells and Goat Cheese Dressing

I feel this dish could use a little more color... perhaps next time I'll add some roasted squash. It would add another dimension of flavor and color. But this was one of those recipes that came from what do I have in the house that's quick and easy? It was all about connecting with my inner-laziness. I also wanted to see if my oldest son would eat a vegetarian dish! Heh heh heh... shhhhh! ;)

So what did they think? Each and everyone of them thought it was magnificent. As did I! You could add chicken or sausage, or serve it as a side, but I thought it was perfect on its own. And sometimes my kids can do without eating meat. I'll serve this as a leftover, perhaps tonight. Since I won't have enough to serve everyone as a full meal I will make some chicken to accompany it... perhaps a lemon cutlet...

Anyhow, without further ado, these are the ingredients I used. But feel free to use more or less and add something that I might not have.

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower cut into bite-sized pieces
4-5 broccoli crowns, cut into bite-sized pieces, stems included
1 can of chick peas, rinsed and drained
1 can of canellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 small or 1/2 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
Olive oil to coat veggies and saute pan
1/2 cup of crumbled goat cheese, NOT Feta


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

* Cover veggies (beans, cauliflower and broccoli) in a light amount of olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet or two, as needed. They should be ready in about 20 minutes. Watch closely... you want them to brown slightly. Since they are small they shouldn't take long to cook but you will want to keep an eye on them and adjust the temperature as necessary.

* (If preferred you can saute veggies in a pan for equally wonderful results. If you choose this method you will need to saute them batch by batch. Place cooked batches in a large bowl as they are done. Add small amounts of oil to pan as needed.)

* While veggies are in the oven fill a large pot with water to boil for the pasta. When the water is ready, cook pasta per directions on the package. Drain and and add a drop of olive oil to prevent sticking.

* In a saute pan with a little oil, add onions and garlic and cook until translucent. Add to the pasta when they are ready.

* As soon as the veggies are ready add them to the pasta. Mix well

* Add the goat cheese to the pasta, mix well so that the cheese melts and incorporates with the pasta and the vegetables. Season with salt and pepper as desired.

That's Amore!

Practically everyone likes pizza. There's good pizza. Great pizza and mediocre pizza. There's Chicago deep dish pizza, (Icky, imo, lol!) New York pizza which has the chewiest outer crust and makes the perfect pizza "fold." There is also something, in this area, called "New Haven Style" which I didn't take too seriously at first... I mean hailing from Manhattan and all, I had to ask myself, is there really any other kind of pizza? But this New Haven stuff is really pretty good. Pepe's Pizza in New Haven, and now in Fairfield is deliciously reminiscent of the pizzas I have eaten in Italy... brick oven flavor, thin crispy crust.... Mmmmmm! And, if you live anywhere in Connecticut and you are lucky enough to experience The Big Green Pizza Truck, well then, you'll have died and gone to Heaven!

But since most of you live no where near CT... and since many of you have to deal with crappy fast food pizza like Pizza Hut, or worse... Domino's... and you may even have a pizzeria in town, but many so called Pizzerias have only so-so pizzas. You have got to try to make your own. It's so easy and so divine! And it's a great family activity.

The kids made a typical red pizza using a good marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. They also added some olives, green and black and sausages that I cooked up quickly. It was deelish!

I wanted to try something a bit different this time... something with a Greek flair. I thought about the ingredients in a Greek salad... the olives, peppers, artichoke hearts, feta... Mmmm, so I did just that. My only mistake was using the green olives instead of black ones. This was a little too salty for even me!

I used a little mozzarella, just enough to barely cover the dough. Then I added a generous amount of crumbled feta, peppers, artichoke hearts, olives, a few chic peas and since there was a little left over sausage I tossed that on too!

Daddy was skeptical, but after the very first bite there was no stopping him!

If you have access to a good quality pizza dough at your supermarket this will work just fine. (You may want to try a few to see which you like the best.) If you don't pizza dough is simple to make.

Basic Pizza Dough

1 cup of warm water

1 package of active dry yeast

2.5 to 3 cups of flour

2 tbs, olive oil

1/2 tsp, salt

Combine the water, yeast, and 1 1/2 cups of the flour in a large bowl. Mix well. Add the oil, salt, and remaining flour. With large wooden spoon or your hands mix the ingredients together until the dough holds its shape. You may not need the entire amount of flour so add the last half gradually. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. If the dough becomes sticky, sprinkle a bit more flour over it. Likewise, if the dough seems too dry add a few drops of water until you get the texture desired. Transfer the dough to a slightly oiled 2-quart bowl, then cover your bowl with a dish towel and let sit for about an hour or so, until the dough doubles in size.

When the dough has risen, place it on a lightly floured surface, divide it into two or more parts and roll them into balls. Cover them with a towel and let rest for 15 minutes. The dough is ready to be shaped, topped and cooked.

Shape your dough carefully and slowly. Manipulating it too much will result in dough that will not be supple and pliable.

Place your dough on to a lightly greased cookie sheet or pizza pan and shape as desired. Add the desired toppings.

To make a regular red pizza add marinara sauce spoonfuls at a time, just enough to lightly cover the dough, working it out to the edges. Then add the cheese and whatever topping your heart desires!

Such toppings can include but are not limited to:
olives, peppers, roasted peppers, onions, mushrooms, meatballs (crumbled), sausages, anchovies... anything your heart desires!

To make the Greek Inspired Pizza:

Add a light coating of mozzarella cheese to cover the dough, then add a generous amount of crumbled feta cheese, followed by artichoke hearts (canned and quartered), olives, garbanzo beans, a thinly sliced pepperoncinis.

Once the pizza toppings have been added place pizza in the oven (one at a time is best for taste and texture) and cook at 350 degrees for about 10 -15 minutes, depending on the size. Look for a golden crust as well as bubbling and golden cheese.

Enjoy!

Grape Tomato Salad & Goat Cheese for Bruschetta

I think this will become my new stand-by. It was simple, fast, portable and delish!

The busy weekend ended with a bang. We met up with a couple friends for a late afternoon get together at the beach. We brought sandwiches for the kiddos, wine, drink and appetizers for the older set.

I wanted something yummy, relatively healthy and portable. So I made tomato bruschetta of sorts. I cut up (about 2 cups) of grape tomatoes -- sliced them as thinly as possible, and marinated them in about 2 tbs. of olive oil, sea salt, 2 tbs, of minced basil and thyme. I let it all marinate in a plastic container for a couple of hours. (Same plastic container I brought to the beach to cut down on dishes!)

From the bakery we picked up a fresh Baguette that they sliced for us.

In a ramekin I put some herbed goat cheese.

On our picnic table I set everything out and people could make their own Bruschetta!

Had we not been at the beach, I would have toasted up the bread to make crostini... and had I used a plain goat cheese I would have added 1 or 2 cloves of minced garlic to the tomatoes.

I also brought along some of the fresh strawberries we picked the other day and the Ricotta Creme to dip the strawberries into. Yum-Yum!

Summer BBQ With Friends

We had our close friends over for a BBQ lunch yesterday. Our friends Beth and Chris were celebrating their 13th Anniversary and our friends John and Kara had just returned home after 2 years in Japan. Mutual friends Mike and Laurie joined us. All donned their children. Great time and great food was had by all!

The Menu

Grilled Vegetables
Corn Salad
Lemon Parmesan Pasta Salad
Tomatoes with Basil and Feta
Cherry Tomatoes Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Basil

Grilled London Broil
BBQ Chicken
Lemon Garlic Chicken

(For the children:
Corn on the Cob
Grilled Hot Dogs)

Dessert

Warm Brownie Ice Cream Sundae
Watermelon

Grilled Vegetables

4 Summer squash

3 zucchini

3 red peppers

1 orange pepper

1 green pepper

1 container white mushrooms
1 package Italian Dressing Marinade (Good Seasons)

I washed and cut all vegetables into chunks

And made the low oil version of the dressing (recipe on the back of package)
I put all the veggies in two large Tupperware containers and poured the dressing equally over both batches and left the veggies to marinate overnight.

You can either grill the veggies prior to serving or grill ahead of time and serve at room temperature. If you want to grill the night before just remember to take the vegetables out of the fridge at least an hour before serving to bring them back to room temperature. I'm all for getting as much done ahead of time as possible.

You can use any salad dressing (use a low oil for less flare up on the grill) you desire. These vegetables are wonderful in balsamic dressing as well.

Corn Salad

The corn salad is The Barefoot Contessa's Recipe. It's a summer staple. I've posted it before. Click here for the recipe.

Lemon Parmesan Pasta

The lemon Parmesan pasta salad is another summer staple. I adapted it from Giada de Laurentis' recipe. This time I added some fresh parsley from the garden. It was a nice touch! To see the recipe click here.

London Broil

My husband has a dry rub recipe that we adore and therefore he seldom alters. Because he never writes down amounts certain elements vary from time to time, though the flavor is very consistent.

Ingredients:

1 or 2 Top Round or Shoulder London Broil
Garlic Powder
Charcoal Seasoning
Meat Tenderizer (Adolph's)
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne Pepper

Trim steak of all fat

Rub generous amounts of charcoal seasoning, tenderizer and garlic powder onto both sides of the steak. Massage well.

Add a little salt, pepper and as much of the cayenne pepper as you can handle!

Wrap steak in Saran Wrap for at least an hour so that the meat can absorb the flavors.
Grill to taste for rare, medium rare, or well done

BBQ Chicken

We totally cheated and used our favorite jarred recipe. I trim the breasts of all fat and "goop."I then cut each chicken breast into quarters that I let the chicken sit in the marinade overnight and thinly sliced some garlic for additional flavor. I use a fork to poke holes in the chicken so that the flavors can penetrate deep inside. I used 6-8 breasts and 2/3 jar of the sauce. The remaining sauce was poured over the chicken as it was grilling. (The chicken cooked about 5 minutes per side because the pieces were fairly small. You will want to check for done-ness as you do not want undercooked chicken!)

Lemon Garlic Chicken

For the marinade:

1/2 Cup of olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
Lawry's Seasoned Salt

Trim and cut the chicken as in the above recipe and place in a large marinating dish. In a small bowl mix together lemon and olive oil, pour over chicken. Lightly sprinkle each piece of chicken with the seasoned salt (both sides) and use a fork to poke holes in the meat so that the flavors can really penetrate. Sprinkle garlic over the marinating chicken. Flip container from time to time to help enhance flavors -- so that each piece is completely covered in the olive oil mixture.

(Pictured below, BBQ and Lemon Garlic Chicken)

Cherry Tomatoes Stuffed With Feta and Basil

My friend Laurie brought this with her and it was out of this world. She got the recipe from the Williams-Sonoma website. I will be making this for sure!

Sliced Tomatoes with Feta and Basil

Had I know Laurie was bringing the other I would have made something different. But nary a tomato was left over so people must have enjoyed!

5 tomatoes
1/4 cup crumbled feta
2 Tbs. chopped basil
Olive oil
Sea Salt

Wash and slice tomatoes. As you pile them in the plate be sure to sprinkle each slice with feta and basil and lightly sprinkle with salt. Repeat so that each slice is covered. Drizzle olive oil over the top.

Brownie Sundae

Whether you opt to make yours from a box or from scratch, this recipe will delight everyone!

You will need, brownies pre-cut into square
2 flavors of ice cream, more if you dare!
Hot fudge sauce
Caramel Sauce

I arranged everything on the table and left it as a make your own Brownie Sundae bar! Couldn't be easier!

Sliced Watermelon
Simple and perfect for summer. Need I say more?