Pasta

Mediterranean Asparagus and Artichoke Pasta

I have a bad habit of pouring through my friends’ cookbooks during the down-times of our visits.  I just can’t help myself, I see new cookbooks and I have to read them.  I used to grab sheets of paper and copy down interesting recipes; now I just pull out the iPhone and click.

Sometimes I hit on some winners; tonight’s dinner was one I found in The Best 125 Meatless Pasta Dishes by Susann Geiskopf-Hadler and Mindy Toomay.  I saw it and was immediately hooked – it would use Farmer Kim’s asparagus and my sun-dried tomatoes. I would even use the olive oil from my tomatoes as the cooking oil to amp up the sun-dried tomato flavor.

Mediterranean Asparagus & Artichoke Pasta 7

Mediterranean Asparagus and Artichoke Pasta

Slightly adapted from The Best 125 Meatless Pasta Dishes

1 pound penne pasta

1 1/2 pounds asparagus (from Farmer Kim)

12-ounce jar marinated artichoke hearts

4 Tbsp olive oil, divided (I used the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes)

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp dried oregano (from the garden)

2 tsp dried mint

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, slivered

3/4 cup white wine (I used Riesling)

1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, finely grated

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for the pasta,cook according to package directions.

Meanwhile, drain the artichoke hearts. Break off the woody end of the asparagus and cut on the bias into 1-inch pieces.

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Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Saute the onion and garlic with the oregano and mint for 5 minutes, until the onion is golden and limp.

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Add the asparagus, salt and pepper and saute 5 minutes.

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Add the artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes, stir and cook 5 minutes longer.

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Stir the wine into the vegetables and turn off the heat.

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Drain the pasta and place in a large, warmed serving bowl with the remaining 2 Tbsp oil and the cheese.

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Mix in the vegetable sauce and top with parsley.

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Serve with some additional grated cheese.

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Serves 6.

Categories: Asparagus, Kosher, Main Dish, Pasta, Recipe, Vegetarian | Tags: | Leave a comment

Pasta with Asparagus, Peas and Pesto

Cam and I were home alone for a few days.  Cooking for just the two of us is always a challenge, especially since he is now in a grilled-cheese-for-every-meal phase.  At least he wants to make them with me (he is finally wanting to cook again!)

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One of the few other foods I can still get him to eat is pesto. He removed the asparagus (he is 4, after all) but devoured the pasta and peas, declaring it delicious!  So, I had a tasty dinner and he ate something other than grilled cheese.

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My cooking pictures are using quantities for two people, I have included the recipe for 4 servings.  For the leftovers, I added in some sun-dried tomatoes, another fun way to eat this.

Pasta with Asparagus, Peas and Pesto

12 – 16 ounces pasta

1 lb asparagus (from Farmer Kim)

1 cup peas, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup pesto (I used garlic scape pesto with pistachios, any pesto would work well)

Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano, for serving

Directions

Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions.  With 4 minutes left to cooking, add the peas.  Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water.

While the pasta cooks, cut the asparagus into 1-inch pieces, steam for 3 minutes.

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Place the pesto in a large bowl.  Add the asparagus.

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Drain the pasta and peas and add to the bowl.  Mix well to coat all with the pesto.  Add some of the reserved pasta water if more liquid is needed.

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Serve with grated cheese.

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Serves 4.

Categories: Asparagus, Kosher, Main Dish, Pasta, Pesto, Recipe, Vegetarian | Tags: | 6 Comments

Happy Earth Day, Pulled Tendon and Spinach Seedling Pasta Sauce

Happy Earth Day!  To celebrate Earth Weekend, Arielle and I spent the weekend with my friend Kelly in Harrisburg, PA.  It was to be a weekend of hiking and enjoying nature.  My leg started hurting after our Saturday hike, so yesterday we decided to go for an easy walk at the Shenks Ferry Wildflower Preserve – it was beautiful!  Plenty of wildflowers, like these Virginia bluebells,

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Trillium, Dutchmans britches, and more!  The ferns were getting ready to unfurl…earth day1

So, my break from running to hike may have some bad consequences, it appears that I have strained my achilles tendon again.  The last time this happened I was out of commission for about 2 weeks.  But then I discovered kinesiology tape – this stuff is amazing!  So I picked some up on our drive home and am all taped up.

KT wrap

I may even be able to run lightly tomorrow.  I am supposed to run a 10k on Saturday; keeping my fingers crossed.  If it feels bad at all when I try to run, I will rest a few more days and see how it is on Friday.

After we returned home, I thinned the spinach in my garden.  This resulted in about a cup of spinach seedlings that I pulled from the ground.

spinach seedlings

Well, I hate wasting anything from my garden.  So I rinsed them well, pulled off any stringy roots, and decided to make a quick pasta sauce with some of the few remaining items in my freezer from last season and this year’s infant spinach.  The result was quite tasty!

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Spinach Seedling Pasta Sauce

2 cups Basic Tomato Sauce

1 cup Tomato Confit

1 cup Frozen Corn, thawed (from Filasky’s Produce)

1 cup spinach seedlings, from the garden (you an use chopped spinach as well)

1 tsp olive oil (I used the oil that had frozen in the tomato confit)

Pinch of Kosher salt

1 pound pasta

Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese for grating

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, cook the pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, if you are using frozen ingredients, thaw the tomato sauce, tomato confit and corn.  Place the tomato sauce and confit in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low.

Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the oil and saute the spinach for about 30 seconds.  Add to the tomato pot.

Put the corn in the skillet and cook until warm and season with a pinch of Kosher salt.  Add to the tomato pot.  Cook over low heat for a few more minutes until the sauce is heated through.

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Serve with pasta and top with grated cheese.  Enjoy!

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Serves 4.

Categories: Kosher, Main Dish, Pasta, Recipe, Spinach, Vegetarian | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Lentil, Orzo & Broccoli Bake

I have been fiddling around in my garden the past few days, nurturing my little sprouts and young plants, weeding, and dreaming about being able to cook again with my fresh bounty.  Chard, broccoli, spinach, carrots, garlic, peas…all are growing more each day.

So when I saw this recipe on moveeatcreate.wordpress.com I envisioned my baby vegetables all grown up and ready to eat.  I couldn’t wait and had to try it. Just to make sure I had items from my garden in the dish today, I converted the fresh herbs to dried and used the basil, thyme and parsley I grew and dried last fall.

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The recipe originally came from Vegetarian Times.  My version is not quite vegetarian since I am using my turkey stock.  I am also using matzo meal instead of bread crumbs in the topping because I still have so much left over from Passover.  The only drawbacks to matzo meal was that I needed to add a little salt to the topping and that it did not brown the way bread crumbs would have.

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Lentil, Orzo & Broccoli Bake

Adapted from Move Eat Create‘s Lemony Lentil, Orzo & Broccoli Bake

1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 large carrot, diced

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 medium head of broccoli, stem discarded, chopped

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 cup dry brown lentils, rinsed and picked through for stones

1 tsp dried thyme (from the garden)

1 tsp dried basil (from the garden)

3 cups stock (I used home-made turkey stock, you can use vegetable stock to keep the dish vegetarian/vegan)

1 cup dry orzo

14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained

Juice of 1 medium lemon

1 tsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 – 1 1/4 cups hot water

1/3 cup dry matzoh meal or breadcrumbs (if you use matzoh meal, add a little salt)

2 tsp dried parsley (from the garden)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly coat a 3-quart casserole dish with cooking spray

In a Dutch oven or other large pot, heat 1/2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat.  Add onions and carrots and cook until softened, about 5 – 7 minutes, stirring frequently.

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Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.  Add lentils, thyme and basil to the pot and stir to distribute.

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Add broth and lemon juice.  Bring the mixture to a simmer.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the chopped broccoli and stir.  Cover and let broccoli soften for 2 – 3 minutes. Remove from heat.  Add the lemon zest, drained tomatoes, salt and pepper.  Stir until well combined.

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Pour all the contents into the casserole dish.  Add enough hot water to ensure orzo is covered with liquid.

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Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the matzoh meal/breadcrumbs, 1 Tbsp olive oil, and parsley in a small

bowl and mix well.

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Remove the foil and sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly over the top.

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Return to oven and bake, uncovered, for 20 more minutes.  Let sit 5 minutes or so before serving.  Enjoy!

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Serves 6.

Categories: Broccoli, Carrot, Kosher, Main Dish, Pasta, Recipe | Tags: , | 7 Comments

Fetuccine with Saffron and Asparagus

At last! Local asparagus is in!  I stopped at the farm today and bought a pound to use for dinner.  Picked today, cooked today…doesn’t get much better than that.  I love asparagus and pasta, so I made more than we needed for our dinner so that we can take some for our lunches tomorrow (or turn it into pasta pancakes for dinner later this week).

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To remove the sand from the asparagus, I placed the asparagus pieces in a bowl of cold water and agitated, and agitated, and agitated it.  Then I agitated it some more. Then the asparagus was ready to use.

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This recipe is from Mary Ann Esposito’s Ciao Italia series. The only difference, is that I used Grana Padano cheese instead of pecorino.

Fetuccine with Saffron and Asparagus

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 pound fresh asparagus, cut in thirds (grown within 10 miles of my house)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Pinch saffron threads (I ground them)

1pound fetuccine

Grated pecorino (I used Grana Padano)

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add the onion; cook until it begins to soften. Add the asparagus pieces, sat and pepper and cook until the asparagus is tender.

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Set 3/4 cup of the asparagus mixture aside (I selected the asparagus tips).  Puree the rest.  Transfer to a small pot and keep covered over low heat.

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Cook the pasta until al dente; drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water.  Dissolve the saffron in the reserved water, then mix it into the pureed asparagus.

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Mix the pasta with the asparagus sauce; transfer to a platter and top with the reserved asparagus pieces and sprinkle with grated cheese.  Enjoy!

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Serves 4 to 6

Categories: Asparagus, Kosher, Main Dish, Pasta, Recipe, Vegetarian | 5 Comments

Baked Ziti and Garden Update

The Garden, Plan B

After getting all my early seeds in last month, we had the crazy cold weather, and as of Monday, only the spinach had sprouted.  So I hit Clark Seeds, just up the road, and bought some sprouted lettuce, collards, broccoli, cauliflower and celery (I love watching celery grow).  I then hit another plant center and topped it off with kale, kohlrabi, swiss chard and some extra spinach.  I have never had luck with spring broccoli or cauliflower, but the plants looked so healthy I decided to try again.  So here is my garden, with garlic and strawberries at the bottom, then kohlrabi, chard and my rhubarb from last year.  The empty looking area is the spinach – too small to see in this picture, on the left of that is collards. Then a row of kale, lettuce and celery.  There is the netting for the snap peas (which I replanted over the weekend) then a row you can barely see, with the broccoli and cauliflower. This is the front 1/3 of the garden.  I will be back to Plan A, with the rest of the garden in a few weeks.

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The Food

There are a couple of Italian chefs I turn to whenever I want a really good, traditional italian dish.  One of my favorites is Lidia Bastianich, her recipes have never disappointed me.  So, when I thought I was going to have a houseful for dinner, I decided to use some more of my tomato sauce in her Ziti al Forno.

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I love the mix of cheeses in this, the combination of mozzarella and provolone is great.  The original recipe calls for 1pound of mozzarella, but I found that to be way too much cheese for my taste, so I reduced it to 1/2 pound.  With the 3 cheeses, there is plenty of cheese.

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Lidia calls for adding 9 fresh basil leaves to a marinara sauce, I used  a batch of my sauce which I made with an extra dose of basil, so I did not add any extra.  Basil really does add to the dish, so if you are using regular marinara, definitely add in the fresh basil leaves.

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I originally decided to make this whenI thought we would have a full house for dinner. But middayI found out it would only be the 3 of us, so I decided to make a full recipe, but divide it into 2 dishes, one of which I would bake halfway and freeze.

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Baked Ziti

Sightly adapted from Lidia Bastianich

1 pound ziti

1 pound ricotta, drained (she calls for fresh, but you can use store-bought if you do not have access to fresh)

1/2 lb low-moisture mozzarella, cut in 1-inch cubes

1 cup shredded provolone

5 cups tomato sauce or marinara

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F.  Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and add ziti.  Cook until just al dente, about 10-12 minutes, drain.

Meanwhile, bring the tomato sauce to a simmer in a large skillet.  Stir in the ricotta.

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Spread 1/2 cup of the sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish.  Layer half the ziti on top of the sauce.  Sprinkle with half the mozzarella cubes and half the provolone.

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Pour 2 cups of the sauce over the cheese and spread in an even layer.  Top with the rest of the pasta, and spread 2 more cups of sauce on top.  Sprinkle with the remaining cheeses.

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Dollop with the remaining sauce.

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Bake, uncovered,until browned and bubbly, about 30 minutes.  Let rest 5 minutes before cutting.  (If you are assembling this ahead of time, bake for 15 minutes covered with foil, then, when ready to serve, uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes).

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Serve with a nice salad.  Enjoy!

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Serves 6 – 8.

Categories: Kosher, Main Dish, Pasta, Recipe, Tomatoes | Leave a comment

Mario Batali’s Pasta Pancakes aka a Great Way to Use Leftover Pasta!

I love Mario Batali!  And I love the gift he has given me with this recipe.  We always have leftover pasta and some just don’t taste that great simply warmed back up.  With this recipe, I can turn leftover pasta into, basically, pasta latkes!

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I had previously only done this with pasta that had an olive oil-based sauce.  This time I decided to try it with the leftover Tuna Tomato Cream Sauce Pasta.  It turned out great!  It was like a tuna casserole pancake, how fun!

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So far, I have only made this with long pastas, like fettuccine, linguine, and spaghetti.  I haven’t tried it with tubular or other shaped pasta; although they may not hold together as well, it may be interesting to try someday.

Mario Batali’s Pasta Pancakes

2 servings cooked leftover pasta

2 large eggs (from Farmer Kim)

2 Tbsp fresh bread crumbs

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-reggiano, plus more for garnish

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Place pasta in a large bowl, add the eggs bread crumbs, and cheese.

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Mix in by hand or with a wooden spoon.  Season with salt and pepper.

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Take small handfuls of the mixture and form it into lightly compressed nests about 4 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick, you should have 2 to 3 nests.

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In a 10-12 inch heavy bottomed skillet (preferably cast iron), heat the oil over high heat until it is almost smoking.  Carefully place the nests in the hot oil and cook, turning once, until they are golden brown and the edges are crispy, about 2 minutes per side.

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Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain.

Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmigiano-reggiano and serve immediately.  Enjoy!

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Serves 2.

Categories: Kosher, Pasta, Recipe | 5 Comments

Tuna Tomato Cream Sauce with Pasta

Training Update:

I ended my first week of training by running a 5K race with my daughter, Arielle. I think we were both pleasantly surprised when we each placed 6th in our age groups (out of 40+ in each)!  It was a lot of fun to run the race, 5K is a fun racing distance.  The route was great, along the Brandywine River in Wilmington, DE; ending with a snack in the zoo.

This week I decided to start the run-walk combo used in the Galloway training.  I am surprised that it is actually harder than just running, and did make me run faster than I normally do for my 30 minute runs.  Perhaps there is something to this. :)

Now the Recipe:

I can’t describe just how delicious the sauce is. It is true synergy, put these ingredients together and the taste is so much greater than simply adding each of the ingredients together.  Tuna, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, tomato sauce, half and half – sounds to simple, tastes so rich.  And I can’t but off my love of this as being a “post-Passover” thing, I actually made this before the holiday started.

tuna tomato cream sauce

The other beauty of it was that it was a great way to get protein into Cam.  The tuna broke up so nicely, he never noticed that he was eating it with each bite of pasta – and he ate his entire bowlful!

This is also a great weeknight meal, it comes together in less time that it takes to cook the pasta.

Tuna Tomato Cream Sauce with Pasta

Adapted from Tomato Cream Sauce with Tuna by David Rocco

3 Tbsp olive oil (best if you can use the olive oil from the sun-dried tomatoes)

1 clove garlic, minced

8 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (from the garden)

12 black olives, pitted (I prefer Kalamata olives)

1 can solid white tuna, drained and finely flaked

2 cups tomato sauce, from the garden

1/2 cup fat-free half and half

Cooked pasta, al dente

Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, for serving

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan.  Add the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and olives.  Cook about 1 minute, until the garlic turns golden in color.  Pour in the tomato sauce and cook for a few minutes.

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Add the tuna, cook for another minute.

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Add the cream and cook on high heat until the sauce is very hot, but not bubbling.

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Put the cooked pasta and the sauce in a pan, mix together and cook for a few minutes.

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Serve immediately, either drizzled with high quality olive oil or grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Enjoy!

tuna tomato cream sauce

Serves 4.

Categories: Kosher, Main Dish, Pasta, Tomatoes | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Lemon Broccoli Pasta

We planted the first seeds this weekend:  sugar snap peas, peas, spinach, red and purple carrots, rainbow chard, and lettuce.  Now I hope for regular rains to nourish my seeds.  The strawberry plants are looking a little worn, perhaps they have played themselves out, we will see how it goes the year.  The garlic are looking happy though.

Sometimes I am in the mood for a simple, refreshing dinner. With broccoli, whole wheat pasta, lemon, basil, parmesan, cannellini, garlic, crushed red pepper, this dish is just that. But also add in heartwarming, there is something in it that just makes me feel very happy and content when I eat it.

Lemon Broccoli Pasta

1 pound whole wheat pasta, such as rotini or penne

4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided

6 cloves garlic, sliced

1 pound broccoli florets

1 Tbsp dried basil (from the garden)

1 can cannellini, drained and rinsed

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the pasta. Drain the pasta and reserve 1 cup of cooking liquid.

While the pasta is cooking, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook 1 – 2 minutes, until golden.

Add broccoli, basil and water, cook, covered, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until tender.

Add beans and heat through. Add lemon juice, zest, salt and red pepper.

Add pasta. Stir in remaining oil and enough liquid to create a sauce.

Serve immediately with cheese on the side. Enjoy!

Serves 4 – 5.

Categories: Broccoli, Kosher, Main Dish, Pasta, Recipe, Vegetarian | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Hidden Carrot Baked Ziti

Life with a 3 year old is a challenge – sometimes even I resort to hiding vegetables to get them into my son’s diet. Even with his love of eating things from the garden, he is still a pre-schooler whose food whims change weekly. These days cucumbers are a favorite, but carrots are on his “no thank you” list, so into the pasta sauce it goes. And it worked, not only did he eat his whole plate, but had another helping a little later!

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I used to make a Latin American pasta sauce that included carrots, so it makes perfect sense to me to incorporate carrots into my sauce. Carrots do add extra sweetness to the sauce, so to counteract that, I added a bit of crushed red pepper as well.

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This is a great dish to make in the winter using some tomato sauce I made and froze when tomatoes were plentiful in my garden. I tasted my sauce before adding the carrots, it didn’t need any additions. But taste your sauce after you thaw it, sometimes it will need additional tomato paste or herbs to give it body. For the ziti, I only use a relatively small amount of mozzarella on top, feel free to add more if that is your preference.

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Hidden Carrot Baked Ziti

1 large organic carrot, shredded – about 2 cups.

3 cups basic tomato sauce

1/8 – 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1 lb ziti

2 cups part-skim ricotta

3/4 cup mozzarella, shredded (more is you like)

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta according to directions.

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Meanwhile, add the carrots and crushed red pepper to the tomato sauce and heat over low heat.

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Preheat the oven to 350F.

Stir the pasta, sauce and ricotta together in a 9 x 13 dish, mix thoroughly.

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Top with mozzarella. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

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Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Enjoy!

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Serves 6 – 8

Categories: Carrot, Kosher, Main Dish, Pasta, Recipe, Tomatoes, Vegetarian | Tags: , | 2 Comments

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