Tag: italian food
Scallop Scampi with Arugula Salad
Italian dish number two is one of my favorites. I love making one pot meals- this one kind of fits the description. I especially love the arugula salad on top. I happen to have some arugula pesto but you can use regular basil pesto instead…
- 1 pound scallops, cleaned and dried
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 5 to 6 garlic cloves, mashed
- ½ cup white wine
- 1 cup diced tomatoes
- ½ pound pasta cooked al dente
- ½ cup saved pasta water
Heat a wide frying pan with the olive oil. Brown the scallops on both sides for a minute and keep aside. Add the garlic and sauté on medium heat. Add the white wine and tomatoes. Mix well and scrape any brown bits off the pan surface. Add the pasta and pasta water. Mix well and add the scallops. Cook for another minute and check for seasonings.
Arugula Salad
- 2 cups arugula, cleaned
- 2 tablespoons left over arugula pesto
- Juice of half lemon
- Salt
Place the arugula leaves in a medium bowl. Add the pesto, lemon juice and salt. Toss well and serve small mounds right on top of pasta.
Roasted Butternut Squash and Sausage with Herbed Polenta
I saw this dish on Rachel Ray’s show. I can’t remember exactly what she did but it definitely inspired this recipe. I love buying the already cut up butternut squash from Trader Joes– I can’t help myself- I just pick it up. The problem is, my daughter is not a big fan- she doesn’t care for the texture. I get it- everyone has something they don’t like.. so I don’t push it.
I love the healthy, orange vegetable. I especially like it with sausage. I roasted the squash and an apple chicken sausage I got from Trader Joes as well. In case you didn’t guess, I am at TJs almost everyday.
I made herbed polenta which is the easiest starch to make. Try this dish- very easy to make…
- 1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 pound cooked chicken sausages (apple and chardonnay), sliced into 1 inch pieces
- 3 to 4 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 tablespoon rosemary, chopped
- 1 tablespoon sage, chopped
- Salt
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic glaze
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Transfer the squash, sausage, garlic, rosemary, sage, salt and olive oil to a lined cookie sheet. Roast till the squash is tender and sausage is warmed through- about 40 minutes, while tossing one time in between. Drizzle the balsamic glaze, mix well. Keep aside.
Herbed Polenta
- 1 cup fine polenta
- 1½ cups milk
- 1½ cups chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons sage, chopped
- 2 teaspoons rosemary, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- Salt
- ½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Add the milk, broth (you may need to adjust quantity according to your polenta package instructions), sage, rosemary, garlic and salt. Bring to a boil and cook according to instructions. Once the polenta is done, add salt and cheese. Serve with the roasted squash and sausage.
Roasted Cauliflower and Sausage Pasta with Pecorino & Thyme Breadcrumbs
I decided to go with the pasta theme from yesterday and post this delicious dish. As a lot of you know, I work with cauliflower a lot- mostly in Indian dishes. I decided to make a change and use the veggie in another cuisine.. how about pasta, I thought??? Well, why not?
I decided to roast cauliflower florets in a hot oven to bring out the nutty, sweetness. I then took off the casings off some delicious chicken sausages and sautéed them with garlic, shallots, white wine and diced tomatoes. The mixture made a delicious sauce- especially after I added some leftover pasta water to it… it thickens the sauce and makes it yummier.
If that was not enough- I decided to add a topping. I slow cooked a delicious combination of garlic, breadcrumbs, thyme and Romano cheese. The topping gives a delicious crunch and flavor to the pasta dish.
This is a great option for a quick, healthy weeknight meal.. try this with a delicious salad and a glass of wine.
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Indian Style Meatballs
I have mentioned this many times- my daughter loves meatballs. In fact, her birthday is coming up and I already know what she will be asking for her special meal. The great thing is that she comes up with really good ideas for new and different ingredients to add to meatballs.
I have to give her full credit for this recipe. She is the one who suggested I make Indian style meatballs. She loves the Indian style burgers I make quite often- in fact she doesn’t like to eat plain burgers restaurants as she only likes the ones I make at home.
So, I ran with her idea and came up with this delicious recipe. I added the usual suspects including ginger, garlic and a shallot. I also added cilantro, coriander powder and garam masala. All of these ingredients created delicious and flavorful meatballs.
I cooked them in my favorite homemade tomato sauce. You can use your favorite store bought tomato sauce as well but nothing like the homemade variety.
This is a great way to change up your usual meatball recipe and make things a bit more interesting…
- 1 pound ground turkey (dark meat)
- 1 medium shallot, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 inch fresh ginger, chopped
- ½ cup cilantro
Add the shallot, garlic, ginger and cilantro into a food processor and process till smooth.
Take the mixture out into a medium bowl.
- ½ cup panko crumbs
- ¼ cup milk
Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk for 15 minutes.
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons salt
Add the soaked breadcrumbs, egg, garam masala, coriander, and salt into the shallot mixture. Mix well and add to the ground turkey. Mix with both hands. Keep aside for 2 to 3 hours.
- 3 cups marinara sauce
Heat the sauce in a large saucepan.
In the meantime form meatballs (the mixture makes about 14 meatballs). Drop the meatballs into the simmering sauce as you form them. Once all the meatballs are in the saucepan, simmer covered for 15 minutes. Check for seasonings and serve with spaghetti.
Zucchini Pesto with Thyme
This is a great sauce to make in the spring/summer. I love making different kinds of pestos to use with pastas, on top of fish or any meat, or even as a sauce for pizza. In fact I have made one in the past which I used in numerous dishes.
This one has fresh thyme paired with pistachios. It is a delicious sauce to simply mix with pasta. I served it with brown rice pasta with some simple chicken on the side. The great thing about this pesto is that kids will eat it.. they have no idea what is in there..
As my daughter was finishing her last bite, I asked her to guess the main ingredient in the pesto.. she had no idea and she was very surprised when I revealed it was zucchini…
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Greek Meatballs- Revisited
My daughter loves meatballs. Whenever I ask her to guess what is for dinner- inevitably, she guesses spaghetti and meatballs.
We had family coming over and I asked my daughter for suggestions for a meal- of course she asked for meatballs. She requested the Greek ones I had made a while ago. I don’t like to repeat a recipe if I don’t have to .. so I started thinking about how to make these meatballs different from the ones I made before. While looking at the previous recipe, I realized I did not use any kalamata olives. That was it- I decided to add some into the meat mixture. The combination of the feta and olives made the dish deliciously salty and nutty.
It was a big hit. I served it with spaghetti, a big green salad and garlic bread. My daughter thought it was a perfect meal…
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Orcchiette Pasta with Cauliflower and Sausage
This is a different kind of dish I tried the other day. I don’t end up making pasta as often in the summer months. Most meals are grilled and quick to make. As I have mentioned many times before, my husband loves cauliflower in any form and cuisine. I usually end up making it with Indian flavors- but for this meal I decided to pair it with pasta and sausage. I read a recipe in a magazine where the cauliflower was served in an anchovy sauce- I love anchovies and use them anywhere I can.
So, for this dish, I cooked the sausages with the anchovies, garlic and thyme. Somehow I always think of thyme when I cook with cauliflower- the two work really well together. I roasted the cauliflower in the oven and added the florets to the sausage mixture once they were golden brown. I paired it all with some orcchiette pasta (they look like tiny little ears). I love buying different shaped pasta- it makes for an interesting meal.
To add great texture to the dish, I roasted some leftover bread cut into small pieces with a drizzle of olive oil. Once the croutons were golden brown and crispy, I added them on top.
The pasta was delicious- essentially a one pot meal since it had everything in there.
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Place the florets on to a lined cookie sheet and drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle the salt. Mix well and bake for 45 minutes or till the florets are golden brown and soft. Keep aside.
- 3 to 4 slices of sour dough bread cut into ¼ inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Place the bread pieces on a small lined cookie sheet and drizzle the olive oil. Bake in the same oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or till the bread pieces are golden brown and crunchy. Keep aside.
- 1 four pack chicken sausage, taken out of the casings and crumbled
- 3 to 4 anchovy fillets
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
- ½ pound orcchiette pasta, cooked al dente
- ½ cup spare pasta water
- ½ cup fresh ricotta cheese
- Salt
In a large frying pan, add the olive oil and anchovy fillets. Cook on medium heat for a minute or two. Add the crumbled sausage and cook on high heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic cloves and fresh thyme. Saute for a minute and add the cooked pasta and pasta water. Add the cauliflower and mix well. Next, add the ricotta cheese and mix well. Cook for another minute or two till the cheese is heated through. Add the salt and taste for seasonings. Serve each plate with a sprinkle of crispy croutons on top.