Grilled Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad & An Easy Steak Marinade

This pasta salad recipe might also be a bit of a stretch for barbecue month but I'm including it anyway because a crucial ingredient came from the grill. Here's how it came to be...

Night 1, we welcomed our weekend guest, hungry Mike, with grilled chicken tenders and Caesar romaine wedges.

Night 2, I took the leftover chicken (there wasn't much left, unfortunately -- Mike) and I decided to make a pasta salad which ended up being another take on Caesar salad just so I could use the leftover dressing. Don't judge, Mike loved it.

Night 3 for Father's Day, we grilled steaks for Kelly and our adopted dad, Mike. The steak was awesome so I'll just go ahead and share the marinade for that one too...

I kind of made this one up as I went so here goes:

Grilled Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

One bag of tri-color pasta, cooked and drained.
Place in a bowl and add about half a jar of your favorite Caesar dressing.
Add a handful of baby arugula.
Add another handful of cherry tomatoes.
Add about 1 cup of marinated artichokes.
Add about 1 cup of Parmesan cheese.
Add about 1/2 cup of red onion, chopped.
Mix it all up and determine if you need more dressing.
Before serving, add in leftover barbecue grilled chicken, cut in chunks.
Note: There is enough yummy stuff in this, that you could opt to leave out the meat if you wanted a vegetarian version -- still very delish.

Yes, I put out leftover St. Paddy's Day napkins for our weekend guest. I also made him get his own beer.
That's how we roll.

Kelly's Steaks

For three big steaks, we melted about a quarter to half stick of unsalted butter with a ton of minced garlic.
Bathe your raw meat in it, as Kelly is demonstrating in the pic below.
Sprinkle with blackened seasoning.
Grill it up nice and slow, rubbing on more garlic/butter/seasoning goop as needed.

I swear this is the only work I made him do on Father's Day.

Mike with his new shoe accessory to help him climb big mountains. He looks hungry, doesn't he?

Boom. Done!

A for-real Father's Day meal.

Who else saw the sun halo last weekend? Mike thinks it's lucky; I think he's just delirious from hunger.

So, if a rainbow is a perfect circle with no end and no beginning, where do they put the pot of gold?

Turketti Casserole

Remember this recipe come Thanksgiving: Turkey + Spaghetti = Turketti

This is the recipe you want to find when you're wondering what to do with the turkey leftovers (if there's any left after turkey sandwiches). Turketti is another classic recipe from my childhood. It's basically a cheesy spaghetti bake with a bunch of good stuff in it. It's another fool-proof, easy-to-make casserole that will probably be a hit with the kiddos.

Whenever my mom asked my brothers and I what we wanted for our birthday dinner, we chose either Turketti, the previously posted Tagliarini or Red Pork Chops. My poor mom. Pretty sure her entire pantry was filled with tomato sauce, tomato soup and cream of something soup. Oh no wait...that's my pantry.

Turketti

1 1/4 c of 2" spaghetti pieces
1 1/2 to 2 c cooked and cubed turkey or chicken
1/2 c diced cooked ham (optional)
1/4 c pimento (optional)
1/4 c green pepper - chopped or minced
1 can undiluted cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c turkey or chicken broth
1/4 tsp celery salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 chopped onion
1 1/2 c grated cheddar cheese

Cook spaghetti until barely tender. Drain and rinse with hot water. Drain well. Add remaining ingredients except for 1/2 c cheese. Stir well. Pour into casserole dish. Sprinkle with reserved cheese. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until bubbly.

Cook's Note: You can play with this one a bit, although I highly suggest adding the pimentos for a really unique flavor. I didn't add ham this time but I did add chopped carrot and a little chopped kale. If you top it with French fried onions (from that green bean casserole) you will not be sorry.

If you saw my last casserole post for Tagliarini I promised you some follow-up pages from the cookbook my family made for me when I moved away after college. Just take a look; I don't think an explanation is needed...

At least they gave me a little credit...

One example of the love and recipes that went into this book.

Tagliarini Casserole

Tagliarini (in our home pronounced tag-uh-lini, though who knows if that's right?) was a staple in our home growing up. It was one of those meals that fed a lot of mouths for few dollars and my mom knew all five of her kids would scarf it down. And it was a step up from Hamburger Helper, which I will admit we ate, enjoyed, and though I haven't had it in a really long time, I probably still would. So take that, HH haters.

The recipe came from one of my mom's old church cookbooks waaay back in the day. (You know church ladies can cook up some comfort.) Not that the recipe is anything special; it's just filling, cheesy and damn good! Plus, I happen to have good food memories attached to it, so there's that. 

I forgot how quick it is to whip this up, all in one pot. I made a double batch to fulfill Jolie's pay it forward challenge and it was so easy. Most of the ingredients were already in my pantry. 

Hope you enjoy this little gem that's been a favorite of mine for many years...

Tagliarini

2 c Rotini pasta (rainbow Rotini makes it way cooler), uncooked
1 lb ground beef
1 can tomato soup
1 can corn, drained
1 can sliced black olives, drained
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup onion, chopped
2 Tbsp butter or oil
1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz
1 can water (tomato sauce can), 8 oz

Brown chopped onion in butter or oil.
Add meat and brown well. Drain fat.
Add all other ingredients, except the cheese.
Cover and cook until noodles are done, about 15 minutes. Turn off heat.
Add most of cheese to pan and mix (keep some cheese to top casserole).
Pour into casserole dish and top with remaining cheese.
Cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.
Uncover and bake additional 15 minutes or until bubbly.

Cook's Notes: I made a double batch and doubled everything but the corn and olives. Because of that I added a can of red kidney beans for fun. I felt like it was still plenty of everything so I may end up halving the corn and olives from now on when I make a single batch...or perhaps I just need to make a double batch every time. Decisions...

The Tagliarini recipe lives in this cookbook (below) my nieces made for me when Kelly and I got engaged and moved away from family 11 years ago. It's full of some family-favorites...and apparently the family was concerned about us. The following pages describe kitchen tools, measurements, kitchen terms, etc. It's pretty hilarious, and I'd be lying if I didn't say helpful. I have another post coming up from this treasured book later so I'll share a few more pages then. Those are my much-needed placemats pictured left, btw.

"Missy's culinary challenged, how to boil water, I hope I can cook cookbook"

Spaghetti with Pancetta

I’d like to dedicate the following post to my sweet firstborn son, Ansen who just turned 5 on the 21^st! In honor of his birthday I made his favorite, favorite meal: spaghetti. But as any mom knows, multitasking is key and I wasn’t about to just make plain ‘ol spaghetti when I had the opportunity to turn this celebration into a blog post. So I made it with Pancetta, our ingredient of the month! I decided to make spin-off carbonarra recipe. Take out the egg, but add red sauce. There are seriously only 5 ingredients in this recipe so there is no excuse why you should not be making it (as long as you can find pancetta). Plus, everyone loved it so much the boys didn’t even wait for us to cut up their spaghetti and just started slurping it down as fast as they could. I love meals like that. They barely ever happen.

The following day we had Ansen’s birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese and it was a truly horrifying experience. I know, you all warned me. And you were right. But the day will never come when he can call me a bad mom for never having taken him to Chuck E. Cheese. So at least there’s that. This is parenting.

Ingredients

1 package spaghetti

1 cup parmigiano reggiano cheese

1 cup tomato sauce/spaghetti sauce

1 package (aprx. 6-8 slices) pancetta

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions

Slice pancetta into strips or pieces and crisp in a deep sided pan. Boil spaghetti according to package directions. Add spaghetti sauce to cooked pancetta and heat. Reserve one cup of hot pasta water. Drain spaghetti and transfer the hot noodles into the pancetta sauce immediately and drizzle with olive oil. Mix. Add parmigaiano regiano cheese and slowly add reserved pasta water until desired saucy consistency is reached. Serve with a sprinkle of cheese—the kind we like. Not the Chuck E. kind. That is bad. Very bad.

Wait! You can't eat it yet. Mommy needs to take your bowl outside and take a picture of it. This is totally normal. Everyone does this.

Asher

Ansen - the birthday boy :)

Can't quite put your finger on what that expression is? As his mother I can tell you. This is Ansen's expression of complete trepidation. Over to the right there is this crazy looking Mouse Mascot dancing all around and he keeps trying to high-five me. I have one foot on the floor and an eye on the door.

 



Yacht Chef Spaghetti Carbonara

Megan Says:  You all requested a post from Michelle, our yacht chef, so here you go!  I attempted Kale Carbonara a while back but this carbonara recipe made with pancetta is even better! This is a crew and guest favorite. Bon Appetite!

Michelle says:  OK so Megan Me Crazy has asked me to write my first blog post ever. My apologies if this is not up to scratch but I will do my best. My mother taught me to cook when I was quite young. I had no choice. I just had to. It kind of stayed with me. I studied in Cork, Ireland and in 1999, after 3 years of studying 40 hours a week, working 40 hours and, what felt like partying 40 hours a week, I somehow qualified. After being verbally abused and suffering the chef’s wrath for so many years, I swore I would never step foot in a professional kitchen ever again. Well … 13 years later, here I am … still working in a professional kitchen/galley. I just hope I am a little bit nicer … sometimes!

My contribution to “Beauties and the Feast” is Spaghetti Carbonara with PANCETTA.

One of my selling points as a chef, is cooking healthy, with lots of taste, and less of the carbs and fat. You can “Americanize” this dish by adding some fresh cream but to be honest, it is so delish if made just right you really should not need to.

Glorious Pancetta

Pancetta is often called Italian bacon. That's a true enough description, but unlike American bacon, which is most often smoked, pancetta is unsmoked pork belly that is cured in salt and spices such as nutmeg, pepper and fennel. It's then dried for a few months. Pancetta adds a distinctive pork flavor to pasta and other dishes, without infusing into them bacon's smokiness. In the U.S., it's a common substitute for “guanciale,” which is the cured pork cheek that is the traditional base for many classic pastas, like carbonara.

Spaghetti Carbonara

Ingredients:
* 1 pound dry spaghetti
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (Here is a tip: don’t EVER skimp on good olive oil. Ever)
* 4 ounces pancetta, cubed or sliced into small strips
* 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
* 1 punnett baby bella mushrooms (optional)
* 2 large eggs
* 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, plus more for serving
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
* Red pepper flakes to taste if you like a bit of kick

The key here is to prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished. It is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (I always add the salt only after the water is boiling) add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian "al dente.") Drain the pasta well, reserving 1 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce if you wish.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the mushrooms and sauté for about 3 minutes. Set aside. Add pancetta and saute for about 3 minutes, until it is crisp and the fat is rendered. Toss the garlic into the fat and sauté for less than 1 minute to soften. Add the mushrooms and hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the bacon fat.

Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.) Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste.

Mound the spaghetti carbonara into warm serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Pass shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and red chili flakes around the table and ENJOY!

Better-than-Spaghetti Dinner

I don't want to be here writing this. I want to be back on vacation at the lake, in the pool, or drinking bloody mary's by the river in perfect 80 degree weather with no wi-fi for miles. Alas, I'm back in the real world and back to the grind...but I'll waste a little more time blogging before I fully immerse into emails.

I figured I could slide in a tomato post before August ends if I incorporate it somehow into a meal during our week of vacation. As it turns out, everything tastes better on vacation, or this just happens to be the bomb dish -- either way, dinner was yummy!

I tossed stuff in without measuring, of course, but the good thing about this dish is you can't really screw it up...like you can ever have too much garlic or parmesan cheese....

Here's what you'll need for about 4 servings:

Half bag of spaghetti (or your fav noodles)
Large tomato, diced
1/4 to 1/2 head of garlic, cloves sliced
Package of seasoned sausage links (I used garlic herb chicken)
Herbs de Provence
Salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese
Oil
Butter

Here's what you do:

Cook spaghetti noodles.

Meanwhile, in a large pan, fry garlic in drizzle of oil. Add thinly sliced sausage (or crumbles) and let brown. Make sure garlic is tender.

Drain pasta and add to skillet with oil and butter. Dash of salt and pepper and stir. Sprinkle herbs and parmesan cheese over top and mix in.

Add diced tomato and mix in. Let it all cook together for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve it up hot!

Every ingredient combines perfectly to create a kicked-up, better-than-spaghetti dinner.The filling part of this dish was the yummy buttery pasta and the meat. A necessary sweetness came from the tomato, and the real winner in this dish is the garlic. Sooo good!

We left no noodle standing -- we devoured it. Even the toddler. All that hard work on vacation makes you hungry...

A second after I took this photo of Kelly devouring, I realized my son was eating a piece of broccoli in the background.
I feel like I captured a photo of Bigfoot running in the woods.

Would rather be here.

Gnocchi Redemption

I discovered what makes less-than-thrilling leftover gnocchi taste delicious. Marinara! But I wasn't sure...so I had to add basil chicken sausage just to make sure.

This was the gnocchi I know and love! It was the same gnocchi from the night before but when I added a punch of sauce, it became awesome. The gnocchi were that perfect pillowy texture you find in the restaurant slathered in yummy sauce. And instead of "It's okay babe; it's not bad," I got a whole lot of "Mmmm" and "This is gooood; is this the same stuff from last night?!"

So my new recipe not having anything to do with rosemary (sorry Beauties) goes something like this:

Fabio's amazing gnocchi
Trader Joe's amazing marinara sauce
Trader Joe's amazing basil chicken sausage
Some brand of amazing Parmesan cheese

Slice the chicken and brown it in a skillet, add the sauce and gnocchi and get it hot! Serve and top with parm. Mangia!

Skillet gnocchi goodness -- the official name.

I may have had three or four small helpings...

The secret weapon. This might even beat Prego, it's that good.

Has anyone else notice the random re-names for Trader Joe's products such as Trader Giotto's above and Trader Ming's here? I also had some salsa called Trader Jose's. Brilliance.

Rosemary Gnocchi (For Giants)

I recently watched Fabio's super motivational clip (below) on how to make gnocchi and I was like, "That's it? I can do that." So I did...sort of. I figured why not dress it up with rosemary and see what happens.


First let me start by saying I am not a fan of the mixer. I'm really not a fan of extra kitchen gadgets in general. Okay really I'm just not a fan of doing extra dishes. But for this recipe I actually lugged out my hand mixer, climbed to the highest, darkest corner of my pantry to find a deep enough bowl and attempted homemade gnocchi. I actually had to buy all-purpose flour for this -- that's how un-baker I am.


The other factor in play is my lack of patience. I have no patience in the kitchen. I like shortcuts, I like to cheat; I like few ingredients that produce amazing results. That's not too much to ask is it? Well, fortunately I had Fabio at my back and his perfectly humorous analogies inspired me to go slow. I even let the potatoes cool. (You'll see...)


I was so close to doing Fabio proud.


It started to fall apart when I saw the mountain of dough in front of me and I realized I should've halved the recipe. I could make enough gnocchi to feed a small army. So instead of maybe freezing it or doing whatever you would do with that, I lost my patience and just started chopping the gnocchi into giant-sized pieces like it would somehow decrease the amount of food. Don't ask...


The result: I should've meditated, said a little prayer or whatever I needed to do to zen out like the kitchen ninja I'm not, and cut those little suckers smaller. They weren't bad but they were a little too doughy to take on the other flavors. The rosemary was a great addition in moderation (meaning my first batch I added way too much of it) and it definitely needed Parmesan. 


All in all, I learned my lesson: leave the gnocchi to my neighborhood Italian restaurant.

Fabio: He's not raising the bar for a good gnocchi, he IS the bar.

Traditional Potato Gnocchi
Recipe by Fabio Viviani
Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:
3 lbs. russet potatoes, baked
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 ½ tsp. nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Bake the potatoes the night before and let them sit in the refrigerator for a few hours, overnight if possible.
Peel and chop the baked potatoes.
Push the potatoes through a ricer or a food mill.
In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix the flour, cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Add the potatoes to the mixer and work for 5 minutes.
Remove the dough and shape into a fist sized ball. Press out any air bubbles. Roll into a tube and cut the gnocchi in about 1 inch pieces with a sharp knife.
Place the gnocchi in boiling water to cook. All the gnocchi is ready when the first pasta rises to the top of the boiling liquid.

Put oil, chopped or minced garlic, and chopped rosemary in a skillet. Place gnocchi in the skillet and cook till slightly beginning to brown. Enjoy!

Letting my ingredients "date" for a while.

You're right, Fabio! No need to add water...I totally would have.

This is where I get a very slight thrill (what I imagine bakers feel) when I realize it's looking like it should.
This feeling is short-lived.

Oh snap. How much more do I hafta roll?

Tonight's dinner will be: more gnocchi!
I'm going out for Mexican tomorrow night...  

Donna's It's-All-About-The-Cookie-Gun Manicotti

Welcome guest blogger Donna, who submitted a post of her famously easy manicotti (if not famous yet, soon-to-be). I had some -- it's TO DIE FOR delicious! And I begged Donna to post her recipe so we could all be better people because of it. You're welcome...

Donna:

Who doesn’t love manicotti? It’s one of those Italian pasta/cheese/tomato/garlic/and-hopefully-basil combos that sets your soul soaring. But, I could count on the fingers of one foot how many people I knew who would break out and make the stuff. Well, okay, my one gal-pal did…now and then…actually rarely. Why would she do that to herself, I would ask. Stuffing those slimy tubes is like force-feeding a slug…who won’t even help you by at least resisting. (I have a friend with such an aversion to slugs that after reading this she may never eat manicotti again.) I say go make someone else to do it for you; that’s why God created take-out. Oh no, she said, she didn’t do the tube-thing. Her recipe had crepes…little flat pancakes that you made first (by the thousands, I’m sure)…then rolled them up with filling inside…like a basil-y burrito.  My anal-retentiveness woke up with that. What if I had a crepe leftover, or too few of them? What do I do then? ACK! And how long did all this take? “Oh only about 3 hours…” “Did you really just say “Only”?” I like huge impact with very little time investment, so to no one’s surprise, the recipe sat in the drawer for years…until just after Christmas one year.

When the kids were young, making Christmas cookies always involved a cookie gun, not only so little hands could do fancy things, but also so the afore-mentioned mom-issue didn’t compel me to fix, straighten and improve everything. I have this ancient cutie my mom bought me at some swap-meet once upon a time for a buck. (That wasn’t the great bargain that swap-meets are supposed to cough up, since under old magic-marker I can still read the original price of $3.49) And one Christmas-baking day, while watching the kids “clean up”, which usually involved shooting bits of leftover dough in their mouths, my brain took note, but still set it aside. It wasn’t until I read where you can make lasagna without cooking the noodles first that I had my great epiphany. That day the heavens opened and they’ve stayed open ever since, for I have tamed the untamable. The recipe came out of the drawer and is now well loved, tomato-stained and barely readable. No more thoughts of take-out I could improve on, or slugs that need feeding…for I can throw down manicotti in an hour and a half, including cooking. I am amazing. And you can be too.

You too can enjoy making manicotti once again...

This is what a 32-year-old, well-loved recipe looks like.

There are two secrets to easy-peasy manicotti. One is that oh-so-wonderful cookie gun! Get one. Once you get the manicotti filling made, load up that sucker, turn it on ‘thick’ and let ‘er rip. Once you become a pro like me (about 10 minutes in), you’ll have a pound of them stuffed in about 10-15 minutes. The second secret is to add an additional 2 cups of water to your sauce just before assembling to bake. That will ensure your raw noodles will be cooked when done. (Adding 2 cups of water to the sauce before assembly works with 1 lb of raw lasagna noodles too.) The only downside to this process is that your noodle edges do tend to stick to each other a little and are a bit difficult to separate. Also, if you cook the noodles in the sauce, realize that gone are the days of snow white manicotti noodles that you pour rich, red sauce on. Nope, the sauce will be absorbed right into the little noodle bodies. But one of your Beauties, Missy said it best in her conclusion of “Umm, who cares?”

No tubes were hurt in the making of this manicotti.

And cookie gun sales start rising...

Donna’s Manicotti – make enough for 1 pound or 2 boxes manicotti tubes, Yield: 2 casseroles

Manicotti Tomato Sauce:
1/3 cup olive oil
1 ½ cup chopped onion
Clove Garlic, whatever you like, I use about 3
3 (14.5oz) cans diced tomatoes, or combo of cans and fresh
6 oz can tomato paste
2-3 Tbl. fresh parsley
1 Tbl. salt
1 Tbl. sugar
1 Tbl. fresh oregano, chopped
Small chunk fresh basil, chopped
¼ tsp pepper
1 ½ cup water
If you like heat, throw in some cayenne, a pinch or two to taste.

Fry onions and garlic in oil for a minute to two. Add the rest, including water (this is not the extra water for the raw noodles). Let cook while you assemble manicottis.

Filling:
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
Couple Tbl. fresh parsley
1/3 cup parmesan cheese or combo with parmesan, oregano, asiago
8 oz. mozzarella
2 lb. ricotta

I throw all the filling ingredients in a big mixer for about ½ minute. Load your gun, set on high, take aim and fire at all the noodles. Some might be squashed, so a knife helps here. Once filled, I just put them back in those little plastic crate thingies they come in until I’m ready. Don’t fill too early. They will absorb liquid from the cheese and burst. Not that it matters…

Assembly: Spray 2 13x9 pans with cooking spray. Mix in 2 cups water to your finished sauce for cooking noodles. Put a scoop or two on the bottom of each pan. Add manicottis in one layer on top of sauce and cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle some parmesan, or asiago or romano over the top, add tight tinfoil lid and bake at 350° for an hour, rotating halfway through.

And it's just that easy! 

Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells

The first thing most people think about when they hear ricotta is lasagna or something similar. I am thankful to Emily and Missy for not doing the go-to recipe and leaving me the most obvious one. I went for the Spinach and Cheese shells as I was looking for something with more veggies and no meat. I did manage to find whole wheat lasagna pasta while shopping so next time I'll go for the lasagna. I was also hoping I could freeze something to bring with us on our road trip to Montana in two weeks! It will be one less meal to cook while being gone for over a week!


Spinach and Cheese Shells (taken from www.allrecipies.com:)

32 jumbo pasta shells
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons fennel seed
2 teaspoons dried basil
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
3 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, gently place pasta shells in boiling water; bring water back to boil. Cook until noodles are just tender; drain well.

Squeeze spinach dry. Combine spinach, ricotta, 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, fennel, basil and garlic in a large mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper; mix well.
Spread 1/2 cup marinara sauce evenly over the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Fill each pasta shell with the spinach cheese mixture. Arrange the shells, filling side up in the baking dish. Spoon remaining marinara sauce over the shells. Sprinkle remaining Parmesan cheese on top of the shells.

Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil and bake in preheated oven until heated through; about 30 minutes.

Modifications: I used fresh spinach because it's easy to do (the big one from Costco). I used a ton of sauce because it looks better. I did cook two shells to taste test for my post. I thought they weren't too rich and I didn't think the spinach flavor was noticeable. I just hope the kids feel the same way. The rest I freezed in a throw away pan.





Wish me luck with the kids on a 12 hour road trip! Any tips?

Kale Recipes

Posted by Emily

I really, REALLY love kale. It’s so healthy and something easy to have on hand to chop up and throw in smoothies, homemade soups or salads. Kale chips are all the rage right now and I’ve wanted to try making them, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. And this would have been the perfect opportunity, BUT I got a pasta attachment for my Kitchen Aid for Christmas, so I really wanted to incorporate this secret ingredient into homemade pasta! Plus I made a few other recipes (below) and didn’t want to be a complete kale recipe hog! The “chips” will be on my agenda for another time.

And I don’t know about the rest of you, but Pinterest is a gold mine for these secret ingredient challenges. Type “penne” or “kale” into the search box and next thing you know, you’ve wasted 30 minutes scrolling and drooling! And anyone who is following me probably already got the hint that either kale or quinoa was going to be the big secret ingredient for February.

Here are the three kale recipes I’ve made this month. And even if you don’t have a pasta maker, you can keep reading, because ravioli is easy to make with wonton wrappers. Plus there are two more super easy kale recipes below. Promise.

KALE RAVIOLI STUFFED WITH ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND TOPPED WITH KALE WALNUT PESTO 

This pesto is pretty similar to Jolie’s kale butter, but of course I found a recipe that incorporates cheese! 


Homemade Kale Pasta 
Adapted from Jillian’s Kitchen

Serves 4 (I made a double batch)

 ¾ Cup Fresh Kale – de-stemmed and Chopped
1.5 Cup Flour (I used King Arthur Pasta Flour)
1 Egg
1tsp Olive Oil
3TBSP Water
1/4tsp Salt
Additional Flour for rolling/storing.

Rinse and dry the kale, then place in a food processor and mix until very finely chopped. Mix the kale with the flour until evenly mixed, add the egg, olive oil, salt and water and mix until evenly incorporated.

Gently form the dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap that you have rubbed a little bit of oil on. Put in the refrigerator and let it sit for 2 hours. Make ravioli filling (recipe below) while the pasta is resting.

Once the dough has had a chance to rest, remove it from the refrigerator and cut it into 4 equal sections. Make each section into its own flat disc and run it through your pasta roller on the thickest setting, fold the dough in half and run it through again, keep doing this until the pasta has stretched to the width of the pasta roller.

Now move the rollers so it is on the next setting and run the pasta through once or twice. Continue this process of stretching the dough and thinning it out moving the rollers closer together one step at a time, until you have a desired thickness for ravioli.

Butternut Squash and Italian Sausage Ravioli Filling 
Adapted from Haute Apple Pie

1 cup pureed butternut squash
1/4 cup NF Greek Yogurt (I was going to use mascarpone, but had to go to plan B when there wasn’t any in my fridge)
2-3 tablespoons fresh grated Parmesan plus more to grate or shave on the final dish
dash of nutmeg
1 recipe kale pasta dough or 1 package wonton wrappers
Amaretti cookies, crushed
1 lb. Italian Sausage
1 onion, chopped.

Preheat oven to 400.

Toss the squash with olive oil and roast for 30 minutes. Puree the squash with the Greek yogurt and Parmesan cheese. Mix in a tiny bit of nutmeg and then place in the refrigerator to allow it to cool down.

Cook the onion until soft. Add the sausage, break into small bits and cook until done. Mix the sausage with the butternut squash puree.

Put a dallop of the squash/sausage mixture on the pasta sheets about 3 inches a part.

Top with another pasta sheet and cut with a ravioli cutter (they’re nice because they crimp the dough together) or a biscuit cutter or water glass (if you use this method, you may need to make an egg wash to seal the pasta or wonton wrappers).

Gently drop into boiling water and cook for about 3 minute or until they float. Serve topped with kale pesto, crumbled amaretti cookies and freshly grated Parmesean cheese.

Kale and Toasted Walnut Pesto
From TasteSpotting the blog

You can make this pesto with plain (raw) walnuts, but toasting them gives them a little extra flavor that can hang with the slightly more intense (and bitter) taste of kale.

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients
½ cup plain/raw walnuts, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, smashed
about 3 cups chopped kale
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ – 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add walnuts and stir constantly (or gently shake pan) until toasted, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let the walnuts cool.

Pulse garlic clove ion food processor until it is chopped finely, about 30 seconds. Add kale, toasted walnuts and Parmesan cheese and pulse until chopped. You may have to stop the food processor, open the top, and push the kale down toward the blades. With the food processor running on low, add olive oil in a steady stream until you get the consistency you want. Season to taste with salt and pepper (we used about 1½ teaspoons salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper).

Recipe #2: SAUTEED KALE AND ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH

Yes, I’m on a squash/kale kick. The orange squash and bright green kale just look so good together!


Ingredients: 
Butternut Squash
Kale, washed, stems removed
Olive Oil
Rosemary or other fresh herbs
Brown sugar, honey or agave syrup Salt and Pepper

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 400.

Chop the butternut squash (or buy pre-peeled and chopped from Costco!), I leave the peel on and slice in my Cuisinart. Toss with olive oil, rosemary, salt, pepper and a little brown sugar. Roast on a cookie sheet in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Five minutes before the squash is done, sauté the chopped kale in a pan with a little sesame oil (or your favorite kind). Mix the roasted squash in and serve!

Recipe #3: KALE SALAD WITH SPICY PEANUT DRESSING 

Salad Ingredients:
Kale (remove stems) and chopped
Red Onion, sliced thin (Amber, you can leave this out!)
Peanuts (I used toffee peanuts)

Dressing ingredients (I wouldn’t be too exact here, just blend up whatever ingredients you have on hand):

1/2 cup orange juice and grated rind from one orange
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 T. peanut butter
 2 T. almond butter
1 t. soy sauce
1/4 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled
1/4 clove garlic
¼ cup kimchee

Blend all ingredients in a high power blender until smooth. Toss kale with sliced red onions, peanuts and dressing.

Since we now know kale is a powerhouse super food, Missy and I have been joking that we’re going to start sneaking kale into everything we eat. Our husband’s are already rolling their eyes! Pin It