Summer Garden Pasta

 

To me, September is always bittersweet. I love that it is a harbinger of fall, and yet it also means the end of the garden that I labored over all summer long, as well as the fresh produce. Today I went out and picked what will no doubt be the last of the cherry tomatoes, and snipped off a few basil leaves to use in my supper. It was up near 100° again today, so I wanted something light.

 

Ina Garten’s summer garden pasta seemed just the thing. It’s very easy to make, particularly considering most of the ingredients are assembled four hours before use. When dinnertime rolls around, all you need do is to cook the pasta, toss everything together, and enjoy.  Summer Garden Pasta

4 pts. cherry tomatoes, halved

½ c. Good olive oil

2 T. minced garlic (6 cloves)

18 large basil leaves, julienned, plus extra for serving

   ½ t. crushed red pepper flakes

1 t. kosher salt

½ t. freshly ground black pepper

   1 lb. angel hair pasta

1½ c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving 

Combine the cherry tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil leaves, red pepper flakes, salt, and the pepper in a large bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature for about 4 hours.

Just before you’re ready to serve, bring a large pot of water with a splash of olive oil and 2 tablespoons salt to a boil and add the pasta.  Cook al dente according to the directions on the package (be careful – it only takes 2 to 3 minutes!).  Drain the pasta well and add to the bowl with the cherry tomatoes.  Add the cheese and some extra fresh basil leaves and toss well.  Serve in big bowls with extra cheese on each serving.

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Ina Made Easy: Portobello Mushroom Lasagna

 

Who doesn’t love Ina? She makes some of the most delicious food, her cookbooks are wonderful, and recipes simple to follow. Never has she let me down. That said, there are ways to make her recipes easier and less time consuming by taking a few shortcuts.

 One of my favorite things is Ina’s Portobello Mushroom Lasagna, but I rarely make it because it’s a bit of work. I decided that I wanted the lasagna without the trouble, so I made it without cooking the noodles, and instead used No Boil. In my experience, you can use these noodles in every lasagna recipe that you prepare. The thing that you have to remember is that it needs to be refrigerated for 24 to 48 hours to allow the noodles to soften. What this means is that you can make a dinner a couple of days ahead of time and then just pop it into the oven when you get home from school, work, or however you spend your busy days. Another thing I did here, because I like thicker lasagna, was to make this in an 8” x 8” pan. Yes, you’re not going to have as many servings, but the servings that you will have can be cut smaller because of the thickness of the lasagna, and make for a lovely presentation. I found the amount of sauce worked far better in an 8” x 8” pan than it did in a 9” x 13” pan. Trust me on this. I have made this lasagna using the bigger pan, and the noodles that I had to cook ahead of time, and this version is so much easier.

Ina Made Easy: Portobello Mushroom Lasagna

Adapted from Ina Garten

Good olive oil

12 No Boil lasagna noodles

4 c. whole milk

12 T. (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, divided

½ c. flour

1 t. freshly ground black pepper

1 t. freshly ground nutmeg

1½ lbs. Melissa’s portobello mushrooms

1 c. freshly ground Parmesan

 Separate the mushroom stems from the caps and discard the stems; remove the gills using a spoon (I find a grapefruit spoon works wonderfully). Slice the caps ¼” thick. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a 12” sauté pan. When the butter melts, add mushrooms, sprinkle with salt, and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender and they release some of their juices.

 For the white sauce, bring the milk to a simmer in a saucepan;* set aside. Melt 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of the butter in a large saucepan. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute over medium heat, whisking constantly. Pour the hot milk into the butter-flour mixture all at once. Add ½ tablespoon salt, the pepper, and nutmeg, and continue whisking until mixture, thickens, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

 To assemble the lasagna, spread some of the sauce in the bottom of an 8” by 8” by 2-inch baking dish. Arrange a layer of noodles on top, then more sauce, then 1/3 of the mushrooms, and 1/4 cup grated Parmesan. Repeat 2 more times, layering noodles, sauce, mushrooms, and Parmesan. Top with a final layer of noodles and sauce, and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan.

 Covered with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours. This will allow the noodles to soften from the sauce and taking a day or two heads.

Bake the lasagna in a preheated 375° oven for 45-55 minutes, or until the top is browned the sauce is bubbly and hot. Allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and serve hot.

 *Doing this makes the process go faster. Do you need to warm the milk? No. If time is less important to you and the number of dishes that you’re going to have to wash, then use milk right out of the fridge.

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Crunchy Iceberg Salad with Creamy Blue Cheese

 

I don’t know about the rest of you, but Ina has never let me down. Even with something as simple as the iconic wedge salad, Ina did it one better by slicing iceberg lettuce into “steaks,” as it were, in order to stretch further than the traditional wedge, make it heaps easier to eat, and a lot prettier. Here is her recipe, unadorned because it’s perfect as it is. The recipe is from her book Make It Ahead. The radishes in the picture I grew myself. I am most proud.

Crunchy Iceberg Salad with Creamy Blue Cheese

For the Dressing:

4 oz. Roquefort blue cheese, crumbled

⅔ c. good mayonnaise

⅓ c. plain Greek yogurt

1 T. sherry vinegar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Salad:

4 tender inside celery stalks, trimmed & sliced crosswise ¼”
6 radishes, trimmed and sliced into thin rounds

5 scallions, trimmed, white & green parts sliced ¼”

1 large head iceberg lettuce, wilted outer leaves removed

4 - 6 oz. Roquefort blue cheese, crumbled

Fleur de sel

For the dressing, place 4 oz. of blue cheese in a small bowl and microwave for 15 seconds, until it begins to melt. Place the mayonnaise, yogurt, warm blue cheese, sherry vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until smooth. Set aside or refrigerate until ready to use.

 For the salad, combine the celery, radishes, and scallions in a bowl. Slice the whole head of lettuce across to make four ¾-inch-thick round disks and place each on a dinner plate. Spoon the dressing on the lettuce and sprinkle on a quarter of the vegetable mixture. Distribute the remaining crumbled blue cheese on the salads, sprinkle with fleur de sel and pepper, and serve.

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Ina’s Outrageous Brownies

I am not a fan of brownies, per se. Despite my past intense love of chocolate cake, brownies never really did it for me. I do like Katharine Hepburn's brownies, and as I recently discovered, I like these. I don’t know what got into me the other day, but I had an intense urge to bake. I had heard nothing but good things about Ina’s brownies, and having laid in a large supply of semisweet and bittersweet chocolate, decided to give them a try. I cut this recipe in half and baked it in a 9“ x 13“ pan to avoid being inundated with them.  These are quite possibly the best brownies that I have ever eaten. They are deeply chocolate, thanks to both semisweet and bittersweet varieties, but also because of the coffee granules. Coffee always makes chocolate taste deeper and richer. I added walnut halves rather than pieces because I love nuts, and I wasn’t sorry. If you have a chocolate craving and urge to bake, these are your answer.

Ina’s Outrageous Brownies

 1 lb. unsalted butter

1 lb. semi sweet chocolate chips, plus 12 oz.

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate

6 extra-large eggs

3 T. instant coffee granules

2 T. pure vanilla extract

2¼ c. sugar

1¼ c. flour

1 T. baking powder

1 t. salt

3 c. chopped walnuts

 Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 12” x 18” x 2” baking sheet; set aside.

 Melt together the butter, 1 pound of chocolate chips, and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. Allow the chocolate mixture to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, coffee granules, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.

 In another medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour, the baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the cooled chocolate mixture.

Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup of flour, then add them to the chocolate batter.

 Pour everything into the baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Do not over bake! Allow to cool thoroughly, refrigerate, and cut into 20 large squares.

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Rigatoni with Sausage & Fennel

 

 I don’t have a lot of experience with fennel, but the little I do have tells me that it tends to enhance anything it’s in. One example is Ina Garten’s Potato Gratin with Gouda and Fennel. Another example, also by Ina, is right here. This Rigatoni with Sausage and Fennel is restaurant quality, for relatively little effort. Do your prep work ahead, buy your sausage in bulk, and this will be on the table in no time. You may never want to go out for Italian food again.

Rigatoni with Sausage & Fennel

From Cooking for Jeffrey by Ina Garten

 3 T. good olive oil

3 c. chopped fennel (1 large bulb)

1½ c. chopped yellow onion

1¼ lb. sweet Italian sausages, casings removed

2 t. minced garlic (2 cloves)

½ t. whole fennel seeds, crushed with a mortar and pestle

½ t. crushed red pepper flakes

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 c. dry white wine

1 c. heavy cream

2/3 c. half-and-half

2 T. tomato paste

1 lb. pound rigatoni

½ c. chopped fresh parsley leaves

1 c. freshly grated Italian Parmesan cheese, divided

 Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset, over medium heat. Add the fennel and onion and sauté for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Add the sausage and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, crumbling it with a fork, until nicely browned. Add the garlic, crushed fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon black pepper and cook for one minute. Pour in the wine, bring to a boil, and add the heavy cream, half-and-half, and tomato paste. Bring back to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.

 Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 2 tablespoons salt, and cook the rigatoni according to the directions on the package. Drain and add to the sauce, stirring to coat the pasta. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes to allow the pasta to absorb the sauce. Off the heat, stir in the parsley and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan. Serve hot in shallow bowls with the remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan on the side.

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Baked Spinach and Zucchini

I have, for months, been trying to convince myself that a truly organized person needs only grocery shop once a month. So far, I have been able to stick to this with few exceptions. The problem with this scheme is that I end up buying a lot of produce all at once, and then it all starts to get dodgy at once, and I end up with one vegetarian meal or side dish after another. You may not see a problem with this, but let me tell you, when those vegetables are cruciferous, you end up with a BIG problem. We won’t even go there. As a consequence zucchini that I had planned to use in zucchini bread ended up taking a different direction in Ina Garten’s recipe called Baked Spinach and Zucchini. I love this dish for many reasons. It is relatively easy to put together, can be made ahead, can be served hot or at room temperature, as a main dish or side dish, and works at any meal of the day, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I didn’t have any extra large eggs, so I used three large ones and upped the cream. My version is below. This would be perfect for the holidays.

Baked Spinach and Zucchini
Slightly adapted from Ina Garten

Olive oil
3 scallions, white and green parts, sliced ¼” across
2 small zucchini, sliced in ¼”-thick rounds
½ T. Melissa’s minced garlic
1 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
½ c. cooked basmati rice
2 T. chopped fresh basil
2 T. chopped fresh parsley
¼ t. ground nutmeg
1 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 large eggs
½ c. heavy cream
1 T. unsalted butter, melted
¼ c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra
2 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray an 8” x 8” baking dish with PAM; set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a 12-inch sauté pan. Add the scallions and zucchini and sauté for two minutes. Add the garlic and cook for one minute more. Lightly press most of the water out of the spinach and add it to the pan. Add the rice, basil, parsley, nutmeg, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper, and toss well. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, melted butter, and ½ cup Parmesan. Pour the mixture over the spinach and zucchini, and smooth the top. Sprinkle with some extra Parmesan cheese and the Gruyere. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

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Irish Guinness Brown Bread

It has been more than a decade since Jim and I were last in Ireland, but I remember it as though it was yesterday, including boarding a small plane in what appeared to be a sheep pasture. We had a marvelous time seeing the sights, and consuming a wide variety of foods. One thing I remember in particular, was the bread and butter. It seems that no one can do bread like the Irish. Slathered with a hefty portion of Irish butter it is this side of heaven.

Despite every effort, I have been unable to reproduce their wonderful brown bread, until now. Thanks to Ina Garten, delicious Irish-style Brown bread can be enjoyed at home, and trust me when I tell you that I have really been enjoying it, at absolutely every opportunity. Truth be told, it is so nostalgic and delicious that it is hard to stop.

Whether you’re planning an Irish dinner or not, you must try this delicious (and easy!) quick bread. It calls for no special equipment, just a couple of bowls and your hands for stirring.

Irish Guinness Brown Bread

From Cooking for Jeffrey by Ina Garten

1 cup quick-cooking oats (not instant), plus extra for sprinkling

2¼ cups whole wheat flour

¼ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed

2¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 (11- to 12-ounce) bottle Guinness extra stout beer, at room temperature

1 cup buttermilk, shaken

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for brushing the pan

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Salted butter, such as Irish Kerrygold

Preheat oven to 450° F.

In a large bowl, combine oats, flours, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the beer, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. With your fingers, stir the batter from the middle of the bowl to the outside, until it’s well mixed. It will look more like cake batter than bread dough.

Brush a 9 × 5 × 2½-inch loaf pan with melted butter (I sprayed mine with Baker’s Joy and it worked perfectly.). Pour the batter into the pan and sprinkle the top with oats. Put the bread in the oven, immediately turn the temperature down to 400° F, and bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn the bread out onto a baking rack and allow to cool completely. Slice and serve with salted butter.

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Ina Garten's Sautéed Asparagus and Snap Peas

Do any of you like Ina Garten? I suspect a good many of you do. I've been a fan of hers ever since I first saw her on Food Network. She has a new show now called Cook Like a Pro. I'm not sure if I like it better than her original show, Barefoot Contessa, or not, but I have been enjoying, and learning, from it. I have never had an Ina recipe fail. Never. I tend to stick with her simple recipes, and I'm always amazed at how good they turn out.

One of her easiest recipes is simply asparagus and sugar snap peas, sautéed together, seasoned, and served. It sounded almost ridiculous when I read it the first time. I mean, how can something this easy be any good? But it is. I changed up the recipe only slightly, by using white asparagus instead of green. I love white asparagus, but particularly here for the contrast in color, the white asparagus against the bright green peas. It's surprisingly delicious, not to mention super fast and easy. If you're looking for a wonderful side dish to go with this summer's grilled meats, this is the one. 

Ina Garten's Sautéed Asparagus and Snap Peas

1 pound Melissa’s white asparagus

3/4-pound sugar snap peas

2 tablespoons good olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Red pepper flakes, optional (But use them!)

Sea salt, for serving

Cut off the tough ends of the asparagus and slice the stalks diagonally into 2-inch pieces. Snap off the stem ends of the snap peas and pull the string down the length of the vegetable.

Warm the olive oil in a large sauté pan over a medium heat and add the asparagus and snap peas. Add the salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, to taste, if desired. Cook for approximately 5 to10 minutes until al dente, tossing occasionally. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve hot.

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Best Ever Pecan Pie Bars

As you probably know from reading this blog, I am not a pie lover. I'm not sure exactly what it is that I don't like about pie, but I suspect it's the crust. I'm just not a crust person. If I were to pick the pie that I liked the best, I would probably say pecan. It's my dad's favorite too, so maybe our liking for it is genetic. But if you take the crust out of the mix and replace it with a shortbread cookie, that's the dessert I can really sink my teeth into. That exact thing has been done in this recipe from Ina Garten called The Best Ever Pecan Pie Bars, and they are.

I have been trying recipes for pecan pie bars for the past three or four years. I haven't been wild about any of them, largely because one of the main ingredients is honey, and I just don't care for honey in this case; I think it overwhelms the delicate taste. But this recipe does not call for honey, and that is what makes it so good. I took these to dad's along with barbecue that I picked up at a local barbecue joint when number two son and I took Christmas Eve lunch to him. They were a huge success! They're easy to make, keep forever,  and I know this because, quite frankly, I'm still eating them. And I suspect they freeze beautifully, although I haven't tried that yet. If you love pecan pie, and you're a fan of cookies like I am, this is the best of both worlds.

Best Ever Pecan Pie Bars

(Thank you, Ina Garten)

Crust
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Topping:
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 pounds pecans, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8" x 8" pan with foil, leaving a 2" overhang on each end. 

To make the crust, cream together the butter and sugar until light, approximately 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the batter with the mixer on low speed until just combined.  Press the dough evenly into your foil-lined baking pan, pressing it up the sides a bit to form an edge. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the crust is set but not browned. Allow to cool.

To make the topping, combine butter, corn syrup, and brown sugar in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat until the butter is melted, stirring frequently. Raise the heat and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the heavy cream and pecans. Carefully pour over the cooled crust. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the filling is set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold. Using foil edges, lift from pan onto a cutting surface and cut into bars.

 

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