Tag: marinara sauce
Easy and Fast Pasta Recipe: Seafood Pasta
I love pasta- in all forms and in different preparations. I make it all the time, I especially love the one pot meals I come up with. They are so easy to put together and great to serve to a big crowd- all the prep work is done- all you have to do is stick it in the oven. View some of these one pot meals I have made in the past- healthy mac and cheese, penne with tomatoes, spinach and sausage, and a baked vegetable pasta. My all time favorite pasta is the one I make with broccoli rabe and sausage – I make with lots of lemon zest and garlic- it has no marinara sauce. Now, every time I make this pasta, my husband asks, “is there any marinara sauce “? I get very annoyed at the question since I feel the pasta has so much flavor that we don’t really need a ‘sauce’. Also, there are delicious pastas to be had without marinara sauce! – but he loves the red sauce so much that he wants it in every pasta preparation. So, when I made a big batch of marinara sauce last weekend, I made sure to save some for a pasta preparation. I used the rest in the grilled pizzas I made.
School is done and my daughter is home this week before camp starts. We had plans to go into New York City for lunch. We had a great lunch, went to a kid’s bookstore and came back around 3:30. While we were on the train coming home, I started to wonder what I was going to make for dinner. I had the marinara sauce in the fridge and some bucatini in the pantry. I love using bucatini- it is thicker than spaghetti and it is hollow inside. It’s a lot of fun to eat. I decided to stop at the fish store and buy some shrimp and scallops to make a seafood pasta. Once we got home, my daughter insisted on going to the pool- so we did- even though it was supposed to rain- and it did! We got home around 5:30 and that is when I started making dinner. Luckily it was going to be a quick one. I boiled the pasta; started the anchovies in another pan and added the marinara sauce. It took all of 15 minutes to make this dish and it was delicious! My daughter really enjoyed it.
I realize most Italians don’t add any cheese on seafood dishes- but I really like cheese on mine. I added some Pecorino Romano– it was really yummy! I served it with a green salad and a Malbec. My husband was a happy man- he finally got his pasta with marinara sauce!
Sausage and Asparagus Lasagna
I admit that a lot of my recipes have chicken sausage in it- but I do think it is a very versatile ingredient. I bought a Sicilian style chicken sausage from Traders Joes. They were raw, and very easy to take out of the casings. Any kind of sausage can be used for this recipe- whatever flavor you like. My sister-in-law bought the most beautiful looking thin bunch of asparagus I have ever seen. The initial plan was to make a pasta with asparagus in it, so I started looking at recipes. She informed me that my brother and niece like marinara sauce with their pasta- so I started thinking about a lasagna! I love lasagnas- sky is the limit, you can add whatever you want. So, I decided to add a meat element and of course the first thing I thought of was sausage! My other favorite ingredient is pesto. It adds great flavor to a dish without a lot of effort, especially if you get the store bought one. It is good to have it in your fridge. I made a yummy concoction with the sausage, onion and pesto. I also added parmesan cheese to the ricotta as well as garlic- it gives the cheese mixture great flavor! I topped the lasagna off with grated fontina cheese. I love using this particular Italian cheese in my dishes- it melts really well and the creamy flavor goes really well with the sausage and pesto. We washed the lasagna down with some garlic bread and a California Merlot! It was a very enjoyable meal!
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 2 garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Mix the ricotta, egg, garlic, salt and Parmesan in a small bowl and keep aside.
- 1 portion basic marinara sauce (recipe on the blog)
- 9 no-bake lasagna noodles
- 1 pound uncooked chicken sausage
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 bunch asparagus, cut into 2-3 inches
- 1 medium onion, chopped into 1 inch squares
- 3 tablespoons pesto, store bought is fine
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups Fontina cheese, grated
In a large pan, heat the olive oil. Take the sausage out of the casings and add to the pan. Cook on high heat and separate the meat as it cooks. Brown the sausage for about 5 minutes. Add the onion and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Then add the asparagus and cook for another 5 minutes. Turn the heat off and add the pesto and the salt. Mix well and keep aside.
Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.
In a lasagna pan add ½ cup of marinara sauce and spread. Add three lasagna noodles. Add about 2/3 cups of the ricotta mixture and spread on the noodles. Add half of the chicken sausage mixture and spread on top of the ricotta mixture. Add the noodles and repeat the process with the ricotta mixture and the chicken sausage mixture. Top with the last three noodles and top it with a cup of marinara sauce. Bake covered for 40 minutes. Uncover and add the cheese and bake for another 20 minutes.