Kids Dish

We’ve been eating a ton of noodles lately since I’ve been way too tired/lazy/pregnant/cranky to cook. Most nights we just toss the cooked pasta with a jar of store bought sauce. Sam, who has for reasons unknown stopped eating tomato sauce, eats his noodles with olive oil or butter and Parmesan. One night, on a whim I decided to go the extra mile and throw together a quick sauce that had a little protein, some vegetable matter, and considerably more flavor than a jar of store bought sauce. I warn you that this recipe is not the healthiest (though it’s not as bad as it could be), but it was delicious. The main selling point was that Sam loved it.

Pasta with Pepperoni, Spinach and Parmesan

*1/2 a box of pasta (I like a sturdy noodle for this recipe- rotini, penne, or farfalle will do) Make it whole wheat or use Barilla plus for more fiber
*2 tablespoons of butter
*2 tablespoons olive oil
*10 slices of pepperoni (turkey pepperoni isn’t quite as bad for you)
*2 oz Parmesan (from a wedge, not the stuff in a can)
*2 cloves garlic, minced (or more to taste)
*1 bag of pre-washed spinach (use baby spinach if you don’t feel like removing the stems

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. While waiting for the water to boil mince the garlic and prep the spinach if needed.

While the pasta cooks, pulse the Parmesan cheese in a food processor for a few pulses until it’s finely ground. Add the pepperoni and pulse a few times more until the pepperoni and cheese are combined and no large chunks remain. Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet or saute pan. Add the cheese mixture and stir to combine. Add the spinach and cook just until wilted. Add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds. Drain the cooked pasta, reserving half a cup of water. Add the pasta to the skillet and stir until coated. If needed, add a small amount of pasta water to help distribute the sauce. Serve with fresh ground black pepper.

I love macaroni and cheese, especially the real kind. I like the stuff in a box too, especially Annie’s brand, but the real stuff, baked in the oven is superior. I’ve fiddled with a number of recipes over the years and found two that have stuck out. The first is Patti Labelle’s insanely decadent Over the Rainbow Macaroni and Cheese. This stuff is the real deal, the mac and cheese of legend. The recipe calls for a stick of butter, five kinds of cheese, eggs and some seasoning. There’s no milk, no flour, no breadcrumbs. It’s insanely good, but since I’ve become more aware of what I eat, it’s hard to justify buying processed cheese food like Velveeta when other recipes exist. If you don’t have similar qualms, run out for the ingredients right now and bake this mac and cheese. It’s worth every calorie.

If you do have similar issues about strange orange cheeselike substances, skip Patti Labelle’s heart attack in a greased casserole dish, and give this recipe from the New York Times a go. This is also the real deal, pasta and cheese mixed to perfection using a ratio of 2:1 cheese to pasta. I love the recipe because you don’t have to precook the pasta- it cooks perfectly in the oven. I’ve made it several times now and each time people have raved about it. Yesterday I made a double batch for Sam’s birthday party. I got distracted and left it in the oven for 20 minutes too long, alerted to my mistake only by the heavenly smell of cheese wafting through the house. It wasn’t as creamy as it is ordinarily, but the extra 20 minutes produced a nice brown crust all over. Overdone or not, it was still fantastic.

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

3. Uncover pan, stir gently, sprinkle with reserved cheese and dot with remaining tablespoon butter. Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes more, until browned. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

This is the quick-ish and easy-ish lasagna I recently overcomplicated. If your ingredients are measured and ready to go this takes an hour total to make. If you like, you can assemble the lasagna, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before use. Allow to sit at room temperature for an hour before cooking. You can also make two and freeze one, wrapping it with a layer of foil over the plastic wrap. Defrost it in the refrigerator for 24 hours and allow to sit and room temperature for an hour before baking.

Simple Cheese Lasagna
from the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

15 oz ricotta cheese (1 ¾ cups)
2 ½ oz Parmesan Cheese, grated (1 ¼ cups)
½ cup minced fresh basil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
6 cups chunky tomato sauce (about 2 24- to 26-oz jars)
1 (8 or 9 oz) package no-boil lasagna noodles
1 lb whole milk mozzarella, shredded (4 cups)

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the ricotta, 2 cups of Parmesan, basil, egg, salt and pepper until well combined.

Spread ¼ cup of the tomato sauce over the bottom of a 9 by 13- inch baking dish. Place 3 of the noodles on top of the sauce and drop 3 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture down the center of each noodle and spread it to an even thickness. Sprinkle evenly with one cup of the mozzarella. Spoon 1 ½ cups of the sauce evenly over the cheese. Repeat this layering two more times.

For the final layer, place the 3 remaining noodles on top. Spread the remaining sauce over the noodles. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and then the remaining Parmesan. Spray a large sheet of foil lightly with vegetable oil spray, cover and bake the lasagna for 15 minutes.

Remove the foil and bake until the cheese is browned and the sauce is bubbling, about 25 minutes longer. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Remember how I wrote that I was going to attempt to start using some quick and easy recipes? It turns out I’m not so good at it. The Saturday after Christmas we had my husband’s aunt, uncle, cousins and their kids over for Christmas round two and I decided that to make things easy on myself I’d make a salad, two lasagnas (because I could make them in advance) and let everyone else bring the rest. I new that one of the lasagnas I planned to make was labor-intensive. It’s a Lasagna Bolognese from Cook’s Illustrated and I’ve been eying it for months. But for the second lasagna I decided to make a regular spinach and cheese lasagna as simply as possible.

Of course I couldn’t make it simple. Rather than use a jarred sauce like most easy lasagna recipes call for I decided to make my own. Two days before the scheduled dinner I pulled out the tomatoes I froze over the summer and made a quick (ish) chunky tomato sauce. Then I started the ragu for the bolognese. As the meat simmered I realized that most of my husband’s family wouldn’t understand a plain meat lasagna. They’d want to know where the cheese was. So I decided to make a third lasagna with meat and cheese. This meant making more sauce because if I was making homemade for the first two I certainly wasn’t going to buy a sauce for the third.

While it should have taken no more than 2 hours to assemble all three lasagnas it ended up taking most of the following afternoon after making another batch of tomato sauce, reheating the ragu, making a bechamel sauce, cooking the meat for the third lasagna, chopping, cleaning and spinning spinach and basil, combining the ricotta mixture and grating four cups of Parmesan. Once all of that was done it took no time at all to assemble the three lasagnas, but I really could have simplified things by buying a couple of jars of sauce, pre-grated cheese and frozen spinach.

Here they are assembled and uncooked. From left to right: meat and cheese, spinach and cheese, bolognese

Sam just woke up from his nap so tomorrow I’ll post the recipes for the meat and cheese and the spinach and cheese. I promise I’ll make it easier for you than I did for me.

My husband’s family tradition is to eat Pasta e Fagioli, also called Pasta Fazool, on Christmas Eve. I believe the tradition started because the dish, a hearty bean and pasta soup is quick and easy to make before mass and heat up when you get home. We don’t go to mass, but now that we’ve had his family over for Christmas Eve dinner the past two years we’ve kept the tradition going and made a big pot of soup.

My father in law prefers the soup the way his mother made it- with tomato sauce, just a few beans, spaghetti, and no onions, garlic or herbs (other than a shake of dried oregano) to speak of. I prefer a more flavorful, heartier version using smaller, bite sized pasta that fits on a spoon. Either way you make it, both recipes are quick, easy and healthy. Serve with warm Italian bread.

Pasta e Fagioli

Cook the onion in the olive oil until softened, about five minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook about a minute more. Add the tomatoes and the juices, the chicken broth and the beans and simmer about 10 minutes. For a heartier soup, add the pasta and cook in the soup for about 10 minutes, checking often to see if it’s al dente. For a more soup like soup, cook the noodles separately and add just before serving. Add the herbs, salt and pepper and serve with freshly grated Parmesan.

In the past few weeks I’ve seen carbonara recipes all over the place and for the first time ever they started to appeal to me. Carbonara is basically bacon and eggs pasta. I’ve heard rumors that it’s Italian hangover food. I love bacon but I’m not a huge fan of eggs which is why the idea of carbonara never intrigued me. But lately? I don’t know, for reasons I can’t explain I needed to give it a go. I’m so glad I did.

Carbonara is not a recipe for people on low fat, low cholesterol diets or for people who live in permanent fear of getting sick from what they eat. The three eggs used in the sauce are not fully cooked. The recipe I used calls for heating an oven-proof serving bowl in the oven while the rest of the dish is prepared so the combination of hot pasta and hot bowl cooks the eggs just enough. I recommend using the freshest, locally grown eggs from humanely raised chickens you can find for this dish. The whole thing takes about 30 minutes start to finish. Heat up a loaf of fresh bake Italian bread along with it and serve with a salad and a simple steamed vegetable. We skipped the salad last night and inhaled the entire bowl of pasta with some leftover steamed broccoli and half a loaf of bread.

Sam, after deciding the fork was entirely too much at the pasta by the handful. He ate two and half bowls crying “More noonoos” each time his bowl was empty. Since he was eating by the handful, we refilled his bowl using spaghetti spilled on his tray and bib three or four times. Seriously, he loved the pasta. Loved it. This is the first thing he’s loved since my leftover pot pie and it took him two or three days to warm up to that. This he couldn’t get enough of from the first bite.

Spaghetti Carbonara

When the pasta is still slightly firm (al dente) drain in a colander, first reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water. Leaving the pasta slightly wet, add it to the pan and toss it with the bacon and reduced wine. Add in the egg and toss with tongs until well combined. Transfer to warm serving bowl, add fresh parsley if using and salt and fresh ground pepper to taste and serve hot.

I loved this pasta, but I plan on modifying the recipe the next time I make it. I don’t think the bacon needs to cook in olive oil. Well, perhaps it does if you’re using pancetta or another more authentic Italian bacon, but I used locally raised cured bacon and it didn’t need any extra oil. I’ll skip the oil, drain the crisp bacon on paper towels, pour off all but a tablespoon of the bacon grease and follow the recipe as written from there.

Because it’s all I have in the house I used whole wheat spaghetti. Next time I want this I’m going to use regular spaghetti to make it more like comfort food. And if you don’t have white wine you can substitute vermouth or chicken or vegetable broth. If you use broth, add a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to the egg mixture.

If you’re sketched out by the barely cooked eggs, this recipe from Emeril calls for cooking them slightly.