Pasta with Butternut Squash Sauce

I was surprised at how much I liked this pasta drenched in a butternut squash puree. Its orangey color made me think of mac and cheese, and I figured that I’d bite into it and just wish that it was mac and cheese, and not some healthy impostor.  But this had so much flavor, and was so surprisingly creamy, that I didn’t miss the cheese at all. For a cheese lover like me, that’s saying a lot.

I made a few modifications to the original recipe, which came from an old issue of Bon Appetit. First and least importantly, I changed the name. They called it a “squash carbonara,” but as it contains no egg, I think that’s misleading. Secondly, they also used prosciutto, fried up and crisp, with the onions cooked in the prosciutto’s rendered fat. I skipped this step as I was trying to keep the meal a little healthier and a little cheaper (the best imported stuff goes for $26/pound where I am!)  The good news is, it was still delicious.

Pasta with Butternut Squash Sauce, adapted from Bon Appetit
2 lb butternut squash, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes (about 3 cups)2 cloves garlic, smashed½ a small yellow onion, diced2 cups chicken stock1 tbsp chopped fresh sage leaves2 tbsp olive oil¼ cup grated ParmesanPinch red pepper flakesSalt and pepper1 box pasta (I used rotelle but think this would be great on linguini)

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add squash, onion, garlic, pepper flakes, and season with salt and pepper.  

Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent, about 10 minutes.  Add broth, then bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half, 15-20 minutes. Let cool slightly, then puree in a blender or food processor until smooth.  Reserve skillet.

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, until al dente. Drain, reserving one cup cooking liquid.

Combine pasta and squash puree in reserved skillet and cook over medium heat for two minutes. If it seems dry, add ¼ cup of reserved pasta cooking liquid. Mix in ¼ cup Parmesan.

Serve, with extra Parmesan for topping.

Make Ahead: Squash puree can be cooked up to three days ahead. Let cool, cover, and chill.

Summer Vegetable Pasta

Whenever I'm in a farmer's market, I get a serious case of my eyes being bigger than my stomach. I want to buy everything, and I grossly overestimate how much I'll actually be cooking that week.
 
This past weekend was no exception. Two of my awesome girlfriends spent the weekend, and we hit up the farmer's market before breakfast. Not knowing what we'd wind up cooking that day, I stocked up on everything- peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant, spinach, tomatoes, fruit, you name it.
 
And as is usually the case with us, we skipped past the vegetables in favor of scrambled eggs with brie, and I found myself with a nice little bounty for the week ahead.
 
Which is where this yummy summer pasta comes in. This is my favorite type of meal to make: an assortment of vegetables, sauteed in oil, deglazed with wine, and finished off with Parmesan and fresh herbs.
 
I'm going to attempt to provide you with a technique, not a recipe, because the beauty of this dish is its flexibility. You can start your saute with onions, garlic, fennel, and any vegetable,  add in anchovies, or tomato paste, or swap the wine for lemon juice, finish with butter.  I don't like to provide exact quantities because you can do whatever you want. If you love eggplant, add a whole one. If zucchini's not your favorite, add a tiny bit.
 
Summer Vegetable Pasta (Serves 2-4)
1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1/2 a large eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 a medium sized zucchini, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/4 cup sliced baby portabello mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped mixed herbs- I used parsley and basil
2 smashed garlic cloves
1/4 dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock (I throw a teaspoon of bouillon in a measuring cup and pour water out of my tea kettle, but you can be fancy
1 box pasta (I used a mix of gemelli and rotelli, was trying to use up those awkward half boxes!)
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Pinch red pepper flakes
Parmesan cheese to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
 
In a large skillet, saute olive oil and garlic until golden. Add in all your vegetables, and saute about 8 minutes, until golden.

Add white wine to pan and bring to a boil. Let wine reduce by at least  half, and then add chicken stock.  Add pasta to your pot of boiling water, and let vegetable mix simmer and reduce a little while pasta cooks.

Drain pasta and add to sauce. Cook together for one minute, then top with parmesan cheese and herbs.

Enjoy!

Spaghetti alla Checca

One stand at my local farmer's market has the most incredible yellow cherry tomatoes.  They are sweet and delicious and taste like summer.

I wanted a way to use these beauties in an uncooked tomato sauce, so I test drove an old recipe from Giada de Laurentiis' first cookbook- Checca Sauce, an uncooked mix of tomatoes, scallions, and fresh mozzarella. It came together in a few quick pulses in the food processor, and perfectly showcased the taste of summer.

Spaghetti all Checca, from Giada de Laurentiis
The original recipe calls for raw garlic; I hate the taste of that so I modified it slightly by cooking the garlic. 

1 box thin spaghetti
4 scallions, white and green parts, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove
2 pints cherry tomatoes- use fresh, in-season tomatoes! No plastic packaged grocery store tomatoes here
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
2 tbsp grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
4 oz fresh mozzarella, cubed

Saute the garlic clove in oil until lightly golden. Toss garlic clove and set oil aside to cool.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. When boiling, add lots of salt and your spaghetti.

In your food processor, pulse scallions, tomatoes, half of the basil, Parmesan, and reserved oil until tomatoes are coarsely chopped. Do not puree.

Drain pasta, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water. Top pasta with tomato mixture, adding pasta water if it looks a little dry. Toss with remaining basil leaves, salt, pepper, and fresh mozzarella. Serve immediately.

Mother's Day Menu

I’m not sure why Mother’s Day is always associated with brunch. I’m thinking of doing dinner for my mom this year, and here’s the menu I’ve got in mind:

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Antipasto Platter

I pretty much think anything in life is better when it starts with a cheese and salumi platter. I love combining taleggio, hunks of fresh parmesan, and crackers with olives and prosciutto. Yum.

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Giada’s Linguini with Clams and Pinot Grigio

This is a spectacular, and easy, recipe. The whole thing comes together in the time it takes to boil and cook the pasta. The clams make it a little special, the wine sauce is elegant, and the addition of arugula lends a fresh, peppery bite, perfect for springtime alfresco dining. This is a favorite.

 

Personal Pic (can't you tell?)

 

Almond Cake

My mom doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, and she’s always on a diet. This cake, made with almond flour and olive oil, is a bit of a healthier alternative to a butter cake, and it provides the perfect elegant but not too sweet end to a meal.

 

 

Lasagna

Yesterday, I shared my classic Italian dinner party menu with you, and today I'll share the lasagna recipe.

My recipe comes inspired by my friend and old roommate Laura, who used to spend Sundays in college rolling out her own fresh pasta and making lasagna for us.  Laura’s parents were from Italy, and as per them, her lasagna contained no ricotta, just a combination of creamy bechamel sauce and rich, meaty Bolognese. It was completely spectacular.

I don't own a pasta machine, so I cheated a little bit, and bought fresh pasta at Eataly. It was only marginally better than the boxed stuff; not nearly the same as making it yourself.  So if you are ambitious like Laura, I’d highly recommend you get your pasta machine going, but rest assured that if you’re a little more like me, purchased pasta will still be delicious. 

Classic Italian Lasagna

1 recipe Bolognese sauce, see below

1 recipe Bechamel sauce, see below

1 lb fresh lasagna noodles

½ lb fresh mozzarella, sliced

½ cup good Parmesan cheese (I mean the stuff from Italy, not anything that comes in, God forbid, a green can)

Butter

Fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 400° and get a large pot of water boiling on the stove. Next to that, fill a bowl with cold water and ice, and lay out a few sheets of paper towels on your counter.

When the water boils, add a big dose of salt (a tablespoon or so), and drop in 3 or 4 of your lasagna sheets. Boil for a minute, and then immediately remove to the ice bath to stop the cooking. Pick up the strips and let excess water drain off, and then lay out flat to dry on paper towels. Repeat this process until all the lasagna noodles have been cooked.

Spread the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with lots of butter, and a tablespoon of the béchamel sauce.  Layer the bottom of the dish with a single layer of noodles, cutting them to fit as necessary.

Combine the meat sauce and béchamel sauce, and spread a layer on top of the noodles. Sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese.  Then add another layer of pasta, cutting it to fit again, and another layer of béchamel and Bolognese. Repeat process until all the noodles have been used. Cover the top layer of noodles with remaining sauce mixture, and then spread the sliced mozzarella all over. Top with any remaining Parmesan.  Dot with a little extra butter.

Make Ahead: At this point, you can tightly cover and refrigerate it for a day. When ready to bake, bring it to room temperature for an hour ahead of time.

To continue on, bake on the upper rack of the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove, let stand for 10 minutes, and serve, garnishing with fresh basil and passing extra Parmesan at the table. 

Leftovers will keep in the fridge for two days, or you can freeze them for 2 months. 

Bolognese Sauce

1 28oz can San Marzano tomatoes, crushed

2 6oz cans of tomato paste

1 lb ground beef (or 1 1b 3 Stooges* if you prefer)

1 large clove garlic, smashed

Large handful fresh basil

Pinch red pepper flakes

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

Bolognese sauce is four simple steps:

1. Over medium heat, coat a large Dutch oven or other large pot with enough olive oil to just cover the bottom. Drop in your garlic clove and red pepper flakes. Let garlic sizzle for a few minutes, until just lightly golden.

2. Add in chopped meat, and sauté in garlic and oil until browned.

3. Add in two cans of tomato paste, and cook for one minute.

4.  Add 28 oz can of tomatoes and the basil and stir to combine.  Lower heat slightly to medium low, and leave pot lid ajar.  Let the sauce simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally.

Let this sauce cool on the stove for an hour and then refrigerate for 2 days, or freeze for a few months.

*That’s a mix of ground beef, pork, and veal, for all you non-Italians out there.

 

Bechamel Sauce (adapated from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)

A béchamel sauce is a sauce made of flour, butter, and milk. It adds a deliciously creamy layer of flavor to the lasagna. 

2 cups milk

4 tbsp (half stick) of butter

3 tbsp flour

¼ tsp salt

Put milk in a saucepan and turn heat on to medium low. Heat just to the verge of boiling, where you see a ring of small bubbles.

While heating the milk, put the butter in a heavy, 4-6 cup saucepan, and turn heat on to low. When completely melted, add the flour and stir constantly with a wooden spoon for two minutes. Do not let the flour become colored. Remove from heat.

Add the hot milk to the flour mixture, no more than 2 tbsp at a time. As soon as that has become incorporated, add another 2 tbsp. Repeat until you have added ½ cup of milk, and then add the rest of the milk ½ cup at a time, stirring constantly.

Put the pot back over low heat, add salt, and cook, stirring nonstop, until the sauce is the consistency of thick cream.

Can be made ahead 1 day. Press a piece of plastic wrap to the surface of sauce and refrigerate until needed.

Dinner Party Menu: Classic Italian

I love Italian Sunday dinners, the early afternoon tradition of carbo loaded meals, laden with tomato sauce, meatballs, and lots of wine.  My family’s Italian, and my mom always cooked classic Italian American dinners- baked ziti, meatballs, and my personal favorite, Sunday “gravy,” aka tomato sauce filled with braciole, pork, beef, and sausage and piled on top of spaghetti.  The one thing she never made was lasagna, because she thought it was similar to baked ziti, only more annoying. 

So when my parents came for dinner this past Sunday, I knew they’d want a nice Italian dinner, and I decided to make lasagna, since my Sunday gravy and ziti could never compete with my mom’s.  I rounded it out with light appetizers and a salad, and it was a delicious meal and perfect complement to a great day with my family.

Our Menu:

Speck and pistachios

Lasagna Bolognese

Big Italian Salad

Smitten Kitchen Apple Cake

I’ll post the recipes this week, starting with our salad:

Big Italian Salad, adapated from Food & Wine

1 garlic clove, smashed

Salt
2 tbsp mayo
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
½ tsp dried oregano
¼ cup plus 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

2 romaine hearts, chopped

1 small head of radicchio, chopped
1 celery rib, thinly sliced
½ small red onion, sliced
½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
¼ cup green olives
¼ cup sliced radishes
8 pepperoncini
Parmesan cheese shavings, for garnish

Rub the inside of a large bowl with garlic clove and discard clove.  Whisk together salt, mayo, vinegar, oregano, oil, and black pepper. Combine remaining ingredients and toss. Serve immediately.

You can prepare this a few hours ahead, just store the salad and dressing separately and toss together just before serving.

This was delicious and very Italian, with its spiky vinegar and oregano flavors. Yum!

Antipasto Salad

I love this recipe from Giada’s Everyday Pasta book. She combines antipasto and pasta into one delicious salad, perfect for fall’s upcoming football parties.

Feel free to swap out or change ingredients- the sundried tomatoes can easily become roasted red peppers, salami can become pepperoni, or add Provolone, mozzarella, artichokes - whatever you love!

Here is the recipe, with my changes:

Antipasto Pasta Salad, adapted from Giada de Laurentiis

For the vinaigrette:
¾ cup olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

For the Pasta:

1 lb cavatappi, rigatoni, or fusilli pasta
6 slices Genoa salami, cut into strips
6 slices smoked turkey, cut into strips
1 cup arugula
½  cup fresh basil
¼ cup grated Parmesan
½ a bunch of asparagus (about 10 spears), chopped in thirds
¼ cup tbsp sundried tomatoes (I prefer the ones packed in oil)
¼ cup kalamata olives

Combine all dressing ingredients in a blender. I don’t like raw garlic, so I sautéed mine in the oil, removed it, and just whisked everything together with the flavored oil.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Generously salt water and add pasta. Cook according to package directions, about 8-10 minutes. Two minutes before the pasta is done, add the asparagus. Drain, and rinse both under cold water.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss with dressing. Serve at room temperature.  This can be made a few hours ahead and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before serving.

For an attractive presentation, I mixed my pasta with half the dressing, and arranged each ingredient in a stripe on top of the pasta, Cobb salad style.  I sprinkled the Parmesan cheese and poured remaining dressing over that.