Inspired Pasta - Penne Alla Jennifer

Have you ever tried a dish at a restaurant so delicious that you can't wait to try to recreate it yourself?

My inspiration came from Fellini's Cafe Trattoria in Media, a cute and busy family BYOB restaurant with authentic Italian meals. A place so down to earth, you order your meal by number. No frills, nothing fancy, just honest food made with care. The #26 caught my eye immediately. The #26, also known as Spagheti Alla Norma, is simply a fresh Tomato Sauce with Eggplant topped with Ricotta over Spaghetti!

Look out Fellini's - it's my time to shine. But no worries, I'll be back.

What You'll Need:

6 Large Roma Tomatoes
1/2 Large Eggplant
Salt
Pepper
Dried Basil
1 Pound Penne or Spaghetti
Olive Oil
3 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
Ricotta for Topping

Directions:
- Heat Oven to 350 degrees.
- Chop Eggplant into 1-inch cubes and toss with 2 tbsp. olive oil, with a dash of salt and pepper
- Spread evenly in large pan and cook in oven for 20 minutes, tossing halfway during cooking
- In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to a boil
- While the water heats, heat a large pan over medium-high heat
- Add 1 tbsp olive oil and heat
- Add garlic to pan and cook for 1 minute
- By this time, the water should have come to a boil. Add salt and pasta. Cook for approximately 10 minutes, or until al dente
- In the meantime, chop tomatoes in one inch cubes and carefully toss in pan
- Add a pinch of salt, pepper and approximately 1 tsp. basil
- Cook tomatoes for 10 minutes, stirring often



- When eggplant is finished cooking, add to tomato mixture and stir to combine.





- Add 1/2 cup pasta water to tomato mixture
- Drain pasta and add to tomato-eggplant mixture
- Remove from heat.
- Stir to combine





- Serve with a few dollops of ricotta sprinkled with a dash of basil

Beer Clams & Linguine

List to Bring With You to The Supermarket:

Refrigerated:

1 Tbsp butter

Pantry:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cans diced clams
1 Tbsp. Anchovy Paste
1 Pound Linguine

Vegetables:

4 small-medium sized Garlic cloves, minced

Spices:

1 Tbsp ground parsley + more for sprinkling
2 Shakes of red pepper flakes
Salt to Season Boiling Water

Liquor:

1/3 cup of beer (I use Lager)


Directions:

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot, add 1 tbsp of salt
Saute the garlic and anchovy paste in oil in a large skillet over a medium-high heat for one minute.
Stir in parsley and red pepper flakes.
Stir in clams and juice and the beer. Cover and cook over low heat 10 minutes,
sirring occassionally
While the mixture is cooking, add the linguine in the boiling water and stir constantly for 9 minutes
Drain Pasta and add the pasta to the skillet with the clams and cook for one minute, stirring to combine
Sprinkle Additional parsley on top and serve

Yada Yada Yada Spinach, Walnut & Feta Pesto

This is my second attempt at making pesto. The first time, I will admit, did not turn out so well, which is a shame, because it is expensive to make. So, rather than wasting money and energy on creating an expensive pesto that may or may not turn out so hot, I decided to make substitutions this time. Usually, pesto is made with pine nuts, basil and Parmesan cheese. I swapped out those main ingredients with walnuts, spinach and feta cheese. I am so glad I did. The texture of the sauce was amazing, slightly thick and very creamy. Garlic was very present in the dish, so if you prefer a less potent taste of garlic, use less.

I will get a picture over to you later today. But you get the gist, pesto is green and creamy...yada yada yada...Got it. Not so hard to imagine, I bet?

Spinach, Walnut & Feta Pesto
Serving Size: 6

What You'll Need:

*2 cups spinach, washed thoroughly and packed tightly when measuring
*2 cloves garlic- chopped finely
*1/2 cup reduced fat feta cheese
*2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
*1/2 tsp. dried basil
*Juice of 1 lemon
*1/2 cup walnuts

Instructions:
*Put ingredients (everything but the olive oil) into a blender and blend while drizzling in the olive oil very slowly until creamy in texture, approx. 1 minute, constantly scraping sides with a spatula
*Serve over your favorite pasta, using approx. a 1 lb. box to 1 1/2 lbs. of pasta, or serve as a spread on sandwiches or a panini

Macaroni & Cheese Egg Rolls, Spaghetti & Meatball Egg Rolls, Stuffing & Cranberry Egg Rolls, Chili Egg Rolls

Yeah. The weirdest dinner I ever ate.

Watching The Neely's cooking BBQ Pork Egg Rolls on The Food Network the other day caused my brain to scatter with visions of different variations of egg rolls. What other fillings would work? With no set menu in mind, my sister and I dashed to the grocery store, wandering through the aisles, searching each shelf for an item to grab our attention.

The vegetable and side dish aisle piqued our interest, containing multiple possibilities for this endeavor. "Would Stroganoff work?" Michele shouted. "How about egg and bacon scrambles?" I yell back. Too many ideas filled our heads, causing an unneeded, time-consuming, could-have-been-cleaning-out-our-backyard-but-instead-decided-to-make-a-random-dinner-including-egg-rolls trip to the market. We decided to make four versions of this treat, including mac and cheese, chili, stuffing and cranberry and spaghetti and meatballs.

Some worked and some didn't. The spaghetti and meatballs was tasty but did not work. If you decide to create this, I suggest wrapping the mixture in two egg roll wrappers, rather than one, so the filling will stay put. The chili also almost popped open in the oven, so I suggest that you experiment with the filling to wrapper ratio. The mac and cheese and the stuffing and cranberry egg rolls were the winners in this random egg roll dinner challenge. The filling was thick enough not to seep out of the sides, creating a hearty bite throughout.


How to prepare egg roll wrappers:


*Place egg roll wrapper in diamond shape, with point facing you
*Brush edges with beaten egg
*Add Mixture as shown in image

*Fold Bottom corner up as shown in image

*Fold sides up as shown in image

*Roll away from you
*Brush with egg mixture and place on sheet pan, prepared with nonstick spray

*Bake on 350 degree for 15 minutes on each side


Mac & Cheese Egg Rolls

What You'll Need:

*1 Box Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
*Milk as listed
*Butter as listed
*1/2 Cup Breadcrumbs

Directions:
*Follow directions on Box to create, adding breadcrumbs to completed mixture.
*Add two tablespoons mixture to prepped egg roll wrappers.


Spaghetti and Meatballs Egg Rolls

What You'll Need:
*1 Can Chef Boyardee Spaghetti and Meatballs

Directions:
*Do not heat mixture. Simply add two tablespoons mixture to prepped egg roll wrappers.


Chili Egg Rolls

What You'll Need:
*1 Packet Chili Mix
*1 15 oz. Can Kidney Beans
*2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
*2 tablespoons flour
*1 Lb. Lean Ground Beef

Directions:
*Follow directions on packet, adding flour to thicken while cooking.
*Add two tablespoons mixture to prepared egg roll wrappers.


Stuffing and Cranberry Egg Rolls

What You'll Need:
*1 Box Stuffing Mix
*1 Can Cranberry Sauce
*Additional ingredients as noted on box

Directions:
*Prepare stuffing as noted on box, mixing in roughly chopped cranberry sauce
*Add two tablespoons mixture to prepared egg roll wrappers.

Collard Greens & Bacon Gnocchi

Why did the pig cross the farm? To get to the other swine.

You strictly read my blog for stories and recipes, not for the extremely creative and very humorous, showing the awesomeness of the creator, jokes. So consider this a treat, my friend.

OK. Enough fun for one day. Now it is recipe and story time, so cuddle up with your iPhone, your future iPad, your personal computer, your expensive reading device, a warm cup of milk, grab your cuddle buddy, and enjoy.

It 'twas a long long time ago, in a far away land where a peasant name Gnocchi once lived. Only tomatoes wanted to be friends with it, because it's mother would shun her from the other vegetables. But one day.... OK enough story time. To sum it up, I created an awesome, and I mean awesome meal consisting of collard greens, gnocchi and wait for it, wait for it some more, wait...Why did the pig cross the farm?... OK, you guessed it. It's bacon. My readers are so smart.

Don't get discouraged by the collard greens. They are cooked with butter and bacon, and anything is amazing if cooked with butter and bacon so rethink your hate for anything green. I'm not saying it is a good idea to have bacon bits with your string bean casserole, I'm simply saying that... wait. That may be good. String beans and bacon? I will write that down.

Enjoy.

Collard Greens & Bacon Gnocchi
Serving Size: 4

What You'll Need:
*1 tbsp butter
*1 bunch collard greens
*4 slices bacon
*2 cloves garlic (finely minced)
*¼ tsp salt
*¼ tsp red pepper flakes
*2 pounds frozen gnocchi

Instructions:
*Boil a large pot of water
*Add 1 tbsp of butter to pot
*Wash collard green leaves three times to remove dirt
*Cut away leaves from center stalk and discard stalk or use for vegetable stock
*Lay leaves onto each other and roll them from tip to tip- holding roll in place with hand
*Cut ½ inch slices along the length of each roll
*Add collard greens to boiling water and cook for 25 minutes
*18 minutes into cooking the collard greens, heat large sauté' pan over medium-high heat and add 4 slices of bacon
*Cook bacon for 3 minutes on each side
*Remove from pan and place on paper towel-lined dish
*Add garlic to pan and cook for 30 seconds
*Remove collard greens with slotted spoon, making sure excess water drips back into the pot. Return water back to a boil because you will be using this water to cook the gnocchi.
*Add collard greens to pan.
*Add salt and red pepper to pan, stirring to combine
*Cut bacon into tiny bits and add to pan and stir to combine
*Add 1/4 cup of water from the collard green pot to mixture and combine
*Heat through for 3 minutes
*While collard green mixture is heating, add gnocchi to the water and cook for 4-6 minutes
*Strain gnocchi and toss gnocchi with collard green mixture in large bowl and serve.

Orecchiette Pasta with Sauteed Broccoli Rabe- Eat Your Veggies

So my mother voiced her dismay yesterday when I decided to go with a recipe that is not from her collection. She wanted me to make her sausage scallopini. But another meat recipe? Yikes! I might as well add a disclaimer to this blog saying "You must consult a physician before going on a Foogitive regimen." So, I told her that I promised my readers, all 5 of you, that I would cook vegetarian, so that is exactly what I did. Well, she emailed me her recipe for sausage scallopini, anyway. I almost forgot how much I love that recipe. I can almost smell it now. Every time I arrived home when this dish was on the stove, I knew exactly what it was. The fresh mushrooms, sausage, tomatoes, onions and spices boil to a perfect temperature, creating cascades of scent waves throughout the air. So now that I have you salivating, in a few days you will get that recipe, but for now, you are with this leafy treat. I thought mother's wanted you to eat your veggies?

Orecchiette Pasta with Sauteed Broccoli Rabe
Servign Size: 4-6

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 Anchovies soaked in olive oil with 1 tsp olive oil from jar
1 bunch broccoli rabe
1 medium size (0.2 oz) clove of garlic finely chopped
1 tbsp salt for water
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 pound orecchiette pasta

Fill large pot with 12 cups of water
Set on stove with lid over high heat and bring to a boil (will take 10 minutes)
In the meantime, cut 2" off tips of broccoli rabe
In colander, rinse broccoli rabe under cold water for 30 seconds
When water comes to a boil, place broccoli rabe in water, pushing broccoli rabe down with wooden spoon to ensure water is covering
Do not place lid on pot
Set timer for 15 minutes
Every 3 minutes, push down and stir contents of pot
After 15 minutes, drain broccoli rabe in colander and shake around in colander for 20 seconds
Fill pot with 12 cups of cold water and return to stove with lid over high flame
Bring to a boil (will take 10 minutes) * Make sure to use different water as noted unless your pasta will be bitter tasting
Once water comes to a boil, add 1 tbsp. salt and stir
Add pasta and stir
Set timer to 10 minutes
Over medium flame, heat large sautee pan for 30 seconds
Add 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp oil from anchovy jar, 3 anchovies, 1 tsp red pepper flakes and garlic
With wooden spoon, smash anchovies into mixture and move around pan for 1 minute
Add broccoli rabe and mix around until everything is combined and cook for 8 minutes
When pasta is finished cooking, drain in colander and shake around for 30 seconds to remove any excess moisture
Add pasta to broccoli rabe mixture and mix until combined
Remove from heat and serve hot

New Year's Eve Menu- Parmesan Noodles

So I spent my night prepping and cooking my New Year's Eve Dinner for me and my boyfriend. I cooked Veal, Calamari, Soup and pasta. All of the hours of cooking and prepping, and guess what: He loved the pasta the best! Out of everything I made, all of the hard work, he couldn't get enough of the pasta. So if you don't want this simple, yet very tasty dish to outshine everything else, make it by itself!

Simple Moist Parmesan Noodles
Serving Size: 4

What You'll Need:

1 pound wide egg noodles
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp salt

Boil water in a large pot over high heat
Add 1 tbsp. salt to water after water has come to a boil
Add noodles to pot and cook according to directions on bag
Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the water in a measuring cup
Melt butter over medium flame
Once melted add pasta water to pan and mix with spoon to incorporate butter
Return noodles to pot and mix until evenly distributed
Add cheese to pot and mix until evenly distributed
Serve warm