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Posts Tagged ‘Italian food’

Rainbow Pasta

11 Mar

Michigan has graced us with four consecutive days of beautiful Springtime weather.

This wouldn’t be such a big deal, except, this time last year it snowed for the last time for the season. And it snowed a LOT.

I know it’s coming. I know it. We always get one more dump of snow and then winter is officially over (usually) the second week of April.

I’m not going to go over the logistics; I’m thoroughly enjoying this weather and hope to continue doing so for a few more days.

In lieu of the warm weather I made a most delicious pasta dish full of roasted vegetables. It just makes me think of Spring and warm weather!

You’ll see why I call it Rainbow Pasta if you keep reading.

Rainbow Pasta starring:


•1 pound Farfalle (bow tie) pasta (or any pasta of your choice)
•3 carrots, peeled
•1 red bell pepper (or 2..they roast up beautifully!)
•1 yellow bell pepper
•1 green bell pepper
•1/2 cup grape tomatoes
•1/2 red onion (or a whole one if it’s on the small size)
•1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasonings (marjoram, thyme, oregano, basil, parsley)
•1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
•1 cup pasta water
*S&P to taste

Start by preheating your oven to 450ºF

Peel and cut the carrots into thin strips. Do the same with all the other vegetables.

See why I call it Rainbow Pasta?? So many pretty colors! Makes me antsy for Spring!
You could also use summer squash, zucchini, eggplant…whatever you like! I haven’t met a roasted vegetable I didn’t like.

Place all the vegetables onto a baking sheet in their own little piles.

Drizzle some olive oil all over the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Toss them carefully and lightly, but try to maintain their little piles as best you can.

Put them into the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes.

While that’s happening, start boiling your water and cook your pasta. I used Farfalle pasta, or bow tie pasta. Really, you can use any kind of pasta you like. Penne would work great, or rigatoni. I just had bow tie in the house and it’s one of my favorite kinds of pasta, so that’s what I used.

After 10 minutes, check on the vegetables and stir them around a bit. At this point, sprinkle the herbs on top and put them back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes.

This is what they look like when they come out of the oven. The vegetables are done when 1). you can smell them (and believe me, you can!), 2). they look a little wilted, which lets you know they’ve roasted beautifully. More importantly, the carrots are tender and soft.

Let them cool while the pasta finishes cooking. You can also get your grape tomatoes ready. The ones that were bigger, I cut in half. But for the most part you can leave them whole. When they’re in the pasta, they’ll burst in your mouth with amazing flavor – so delicious!

You can also grate your Parmesan cheese.

I buy the real stuff. I’ve said it before, but it’s true: using quality ingredients makes a world of difference. I’m also a food snob when I want to be ;-)

When the pasta is done, measure out 1 cup of the pasta water. The starchy water will help mix all the ingredients together and since we salted the pasta water when it came to a boil, it’ll intensify the flavor of the dish even more! Mmm! Mmm!

Drain your pasta and return it to the same pot (no use dirtying a new dish). Pour all your vegetables (carefully!) into the pot and stir.

Pour a little bit of the pasta water and stir a bit more. Add in the cheese, tomatoes and the rest of the pasta water, and give it one more good stir.


Grate some more cheese on top – honestly, you can’t have enough cheese – and enjoy!

It’s such an easy dish to prepare and it’s colorful, fresh and flavorful. I’m sure you’ll love it!

 
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Posted in Food, Main Dish, Pasta, Vegetarian

 

Aparnabiata Sauce

06 Jan

I threw together a quick and easy arrabiata sauce for dinner tonight. It turned out so well!

Unfortunately, I did the unthinkable…and…didn’t take any pictures!

/gasp

/pout

/faint

Sorry ’bout that. I just threw this together and the pangs of hunger REB and I were feeling took over and my camera sat sadly on the coffee table. Sigh.

I’ll take a picture and throw it on here tomorrow or something, but it’s pretty idiot-proof to make. It’s not too terrible for you either. If you use whole wheat pasta or don’t gorge yourself on regular pasta, it’s even better. Oh come on. It’s the new year. I too am in the “must-lose-weight” mode. I predict this will pass in about a month or two. (kidding. …sort of…)

Aparnabiata sauce featuring:
•2 tablespoons olive oil
•2 small yellow onions (approx. 1 1/2 cups), roughly chopped
•1 cup diced green bell pepper (I took the easy way out and bought frozen veggies – win!)
•1 cup frozen stir-fry veggies (gets you the mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, red bell pepper and other vitamin-rich veggies you need!)
•4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
•1 15-oz. can petite diced tomatoes (get the plain kind; nothing doused in garlic oil or chilies or anything like that)
•3/4 of a 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
•4 ounces tomato paste
•3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
•1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
•1/2 teaspoon dried basil
[by all mean, use fresh herbs. I just didn't have any on hand]
•Approx. 7 dashes Franks Red Hot sauce
•1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (I probably added more for that extra kick)
•1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I think I used a little more though)
[I probably should have used one of my all-time favorite condiments, Siracha, but sadly, it didn't make the cut. ...This time...]
•1/2 cup frozen Boca crumbles (totally optional. I’m a vegetarian and added this to get some protein)

It’s spice-time:

1). Fill a large stock pot with water to get it boiling for the pasta. While that gets going, heat the oil in a large skillet.

2). Once the oil is hot, add the onion and cook for about 3-5 minutes. Create a small bed so your garlic won’t burn and then add the garlic. Cook another 2-3 minutes.

3). Add the bell peppers and stir-fry veggies. Since I used frozen, I really just had to cook them through. If you take the time to cut up fresh vegetables, you’ll need to cook them a bit longer so they cook properly and get tender.

4). Drain some of the liquid from the diced tomato can, then add the tomatoes and stir

5). You’ll want to salt and pepper the dish at this point – don’t use too much though!

6). Add half the herbs and stir.

7). Add the crushed tomato, and the rest of the herbs and stir well

8). Add in the tomato paste. I love this stuff. It adds such a depth of flavor and helps thicken the entire sauce. So delish!

9). Let the sauce come to mild boil (basically let it simmer) for a good 10 minutes or so.

10). Your water is probably boiling happily at this point, so salt it liberally (optional, but doing so will allow you to flavor the pasta) and add in your pasta. I used Penne regata (the kind with the lines so it holds all the nom sauce). You can really use whatever pasta you want, though.

11). Once the sauce has been bubbling away, add in the red wine vinegar, hot sauce, red pepper flakes and the cayenne pepper. Stir and taste. I had to do this a few times because I kept thinking it wasn’t spicy enough. So I added a lot more pepper flakes and a lot more cayenne pepper. Yum!

12). In the last 5 minutes, I threw in the frozen Boca crumbles so they could heat through. Tasted one more time to add any more salt or spices I needed and we were done!

What I loved about this sauce is that it’s mild when you first taste it, then you feel the kick and heat of the spices on the back of your tongue. It’s such a great combination!

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Posted in Food, Sauces

 
 
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