Garlic Scape Pesto

This recipe seems to be all the rage this year as more and more people discover garlic scapes. My first experience with garlic scapes (which are the green tops farmers cut off the top of the growing garlic early in the season) came last year courtesy of our CSA. I didn't really know what to do with them so used them mostly in stir fries. This year though, I've come across recipes highlighting the fresh flavor of the scapes, like this pesto I adapted from Dorie Greenspan. I think that my scapes were a bit bigger than Dorie's as you can see that my pesto came out rather thick, even though I kept adding tablespoons of water to thin it out. It has a coarser texture than basil pesto but the garlic flavor and surprising burst of spice made it a great cracker topping. Next I'm going to whir it up in the mini-prep again with some basil leaves to make a scape and basil pesto.

Spring Pea Pasta

I went home from work on Wednesday planning to make some pasta with olive oil and garlic for dinner, as I hadn't really been shopping since we'd come back from New York. Usually, the first thing I do when I get home is read the Style section of the The Washington Post. Even though I could read the whole thing online during the day, I really am a bit of luddite and really like to sit on the couch and go through the paper, turning my fingers gray with newsprint. Reading the paper online just isn't the same for me.

On Wednesdays, the Post puts out its Food section so I start there before moving to style. The section, like most in the paper, has clearly lost some staff over the last few months and introduced a new format. Perhaps because of this, not many recipes have made the leap from the page to my kitchen. Last Wednesday though, the butterfly pasta with baby peas immediately caught my attention.

Farfalle is actually one of my least favorite pasta shapes, but the delicate sauce of peas and snap peas sounded really good. The fussy recipe, involving ice water baths, cooling, reheating and a blender, just seemed like too much for a Wednesday night and I thought that I could streamline the recipe and get a similar taste. I put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta and got started by chopping an onion and sweating it in a bit of butter. Then I poured in some vegetable broth and brought it to a boil. When the onion was soft, I poured in all but a handful of a bag of frozen petit peas and cooked them just for a minute or two. Out came the immersion blender and I whirred the sauce together with a few sage leaves, then drained the pasta and tossed it all together. Much easier than the original recipe. Granted, I didn't have the snap peas or shallot but I don't think the recipe was really harmed for the lack of them.

The bright green sauce livened up the mix of pastas (a result of the bare pantry) and a perfect, slightly sweet dinner for a spring night. Since the whole meal came together in the time it takes to boil and cook a pot of pasta, I'm sure this one will be on the menu again.

P.S. I had some extra sauce leftover, which I ate as a cold pea soup for lunch the next day. The original recipe suggests mixing leftovers with some greek yogurt for a dip...

Spring Pea Pasta
Adapted from The Washington Post
Serves 4 for dinner

10 oz. (280g) your favorite short pasta
2 T. (20g) butter
1 medium to large onion
2 C (480ml) vegetable broth (can sub. chicken broth)
1 lb (450g) fresh or frozen baby peas
3-5 fresh sage leaves (or your favorite fresh herb)

- Put a large pot of water on to boil. Chop the onion and add to a smallish saucepan with the butter. Sweat the onion over medium/medium low heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the vegetable broth, bring to a boil and cook for another 5 minutes.

- Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to the package directions. When the pasta has about 5 minutes left, add all but a large handful of the peas to the veggie broth mix. Boil for 2-3 minutes, until the peas are just tender. Take off the heat, add the fresh herbs and puree very carefully using an immersion blender or transfer to a blender and whir it away.

- Drain the pasta, return to the pot and add sauce to taste. Toss well and serve right away.

Tomato Mozzarella and Spinach Pasta Salad

I ordered a tomato and mozzarella salad to have at a work lunch last week and, as I hate to see food go to waste, brought the leftovers home. With recent family visits and graduation to go to I haven't been cooking very often at all lately. I knew there wasn't much in the fridge but two bunches of baby spinach leaves. Once I got home, I found a box of penne in the back of the cupboard and decided everything could go together to make a warm pasta salad. As I heated the water for the pasta, I washed and spun the spinach, then put it in my big salad bowl along with the tomato mozzarella salad. I cooked the penne then drained it and tossed it together with the veggies and cheese. The pasta salad was summery and delicious. It was good warm and as cold leftovers and would make a great picnic or pot luck addition.

Tomato, Mozzarella and Spinach Pasta Salad
Serves 4-6 as a main course

2 cups tomato mozzarella salad OR 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes plus 1 cup tiny fresh mozzarella balls and 1/2 C. of your favorite red wine vinagrette
2 small bunches baby spinach leaves, washed and dried
10 oz. whole wheat penne

- Set a pot of water on to boil. Clean and dry the spinach and put in in your serving bowl. Add the tomato mozzarella salad and toss to combine.

- When the water comes to the boil, add the pasta and cook until all dente. Reserve 1/2 C. pasta cooking water then drain the pasta. Add the drained pasta tot the serving bowl and toss to combine. The spinach should wilt slightly. If it looks too dry add some pasta cooking water. Serve immediately or save for later.

Daring Cooks: Ricotta Gnocchi

For the launching of Daring Cooks, Lis and Ivonne chose a ricotta gnocchi recipe from the Zuni Cafe. The recipe looked easy enough, especially after watching this helpful demo from the cooks at the Zuni Cafe, so I planned on making the gnocchi as a light Sunday night dinner. Since ricotta is the star ingredient of these gnocchi, I made a special trip to Whole Foods to get an artisanal one, instead of the usually grocery store variety. Both the recipe and the video advised straining the ricotta overnight to ensure that the gnocchi wouldn't be too liquidy so I did. When it was finally time to make the gnocchi, my ricotta has firmed up a bit but it didn't look like the video as it was still very soft. What is a daring cook to do but press on with the recipe in the face of possible failure?

I followed the rest of the recipe exactly yet the gnocchi mixture looked more like soup than anything that could be scooped into quenelles. I poured a bit of the soup onto a plate of flour and attempted to jiggle it into some sort of shape and when that didn't work, I used a spoon to scoop it up and into a waiting pot. My test gnocchi promptly disintigrated and I didn't think that one egg white would do much to help it. I poured it back into the strainer and decided to try to drain some additional water out of it. One visit from my aunt and uncle and two days later, I remebered the gnocchi at approximately 10am.

I ran down to the kitchen, certain that the batter would be a solid mass, to find a that it really hadn't firmed up much at all. I prepared a test gnocchi though, determined to salvage something from it, and it held together all right so I had the batch and put them straight into the freezer.

A few days later I made the gnocchi for lunch. The gnocchi held together when cooking but didn't fare so well coming out of the pan. The ones that survived were light and fluffy, if a bit salty, probably from concentrating everything by extracting the water. I served them with a brown butter sage sauce, which was mild enough not to overwhelm the ricotta but still added a bit of flavor.

Even though my my gnocchi fell apart the recipe was easy to make, so I'd like to try them again with a different ricotta in the future.

Note: These gnocchi are gluten free except for a dusting of flour as a very last step. I think that you could easily use an alternative flour and keep them totally gluten free.

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi
Source: From The Zuni Café Cookbook.
Yield: Makes 40 to 48 gnocchi (serves 4 to 6)

Prep time: Step 1 will take 24 hours. Steps 2 through 4 will take approximately 1 hour.

Tips:
- If you can find it, use fresh ricotta. As Judy Rodgers advises in her recipe, there is no substitute for fresh ricotta. It may be a bit more expensive, but it's worth it.
- Do not skip the draining step. Even if the fresh ricotta doesn't look very wet, it is. Draining the ricotta will help your gnocchi tremendously.
- When shaping your gnocchi, resist the urge to over handle them. It's okay if they look a bit wrinkled or if they're not perfectly smooth.
- If you're not freezing the gnocchi for later, cook them as soon as you can. If you let them sit around too long they may become a bit sticky.
- For the variations to the challenge recipe, please see the end of the recipe.

Equipment required:
- Sieve
- Cheesecloth or paper towels or coffee filters
- Large mixing bowl
- Rubber spatula
- Tablespoon
- Baking dish or baking sheet
- Wax or parchment paper
- Small pot
- Large skillet
- Large pan or pot (very wide in diameter and at least 2 inches deep)

For the gnocchi:
1 pound (454 grams/16 ounces) fresh ricotta (2 cups)
2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter
2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, or a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg, or a few pinches of chopped lemon zest (all optional)
½ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)
about ¼ teaspoon salt (a little more if using kosher salt)
all-purpose flour for forming the gnocchi

For the gnocchi sauce:
8 tablespoons (227 grams/1/4 pound/4 ounces) butter, sliced
2 teaspoons water

Step 1 (the day before you make the gnocchi): Preparing the ricotta.
If the ricotta is too wet, your gnocchi will not form properly. In her cookbook, Judy Rodgers recommends checking the ricotta’s wetness. To test the ricotta, take a teaspoon or so and place it on a paper towel. If you notice a very large ring of dampness forming around the ricotta after a minute or so, then the ricotta is too wet. To remove some of the moisture, line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels and place the ricotta in the sieve. Cover it and let it drain for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Alternatively, you can wrap the ricotta carefully in cheesecloth (2 layers) and suspend it in your refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours with a bowl underneath to catch the water that’s released. Either way, it’s recommended that you do this step the day before you plan on making the gnocchi.

Step 2 (the day you plan on eating the gnocchi): Making the gnocchi dough.
To make great gnocchi, the ricotta has to be fairly smooth. Place the drained ricotta in a large bowl and mash it as best as you can with a rubber spatula or a large spoon (it’s best to use a utensil with some flexibility here). As you mash the ricotta, if you noticed that you can still see curds, then press the ricotta through a strainer to smooth it out as much as possible.
Add the lightly beaten eggs to the mashed ricotta.
Melt the tablespoon of butter. As it melts, add in the sage if you’re using it. If not, just melt the butter and add it to the ricotta mixture.
Add in any flavouring that you’re using (i.e., nutmeg, lemon zest, etc.). If you’re not using any particular flavouring, that’s fine.
Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the salt.
Beat all the ingredients together very well. You should end up with a soft and fluffy batter with no streaks (everything should be mixed in very well).

Step 3: Forming the gnocchi.
Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. When it boils, salt the water generously and keep it at a simmer. You will use this water to test the first gnocchi that you make to ensure that it holds together and that your gnocchi batter isn’t too damp.
In a large, shallow baking dish or on a sheet pan, make a bed of all-purpose flour that’s ½ an inch deep.
With a spatula, scrape the ricotta mixture away from the sides of the bowl and form a large mass in the centre of your bowl.
Using a tablespoon, scoop up about 2 to 3 teaspoons of batter and then holding the spoon at an angle, use your finger tip to gently push the ball of dough from the spoon into the bed of flour.

At this point you can either shake the dish or pan gently to ensure that the flour covers the gnocchi or use your fingers to very gently dust the gnocchi with flour. Gently pick up the gnocchi and cradle it in your hand rolling it to form it in an oval as best as you can, at no point should you squeeze it. What you’re looking for is an oval lump of sorts that’s dusted in flour and plump.
Gently place your gnocchi in the simmering water. It will sink and then bob to the top. From the time that it bobs to the surface, you want to cook the gnocchi until it’s just firm. This could take 3 to 5 minutes.

If your gnocchi begins to fall apart, this means that the ricotta cheese was probably still too wet. You can remedy this by beating a teaspoon of egg white into your gnocchi batter. If your gnocchi batter was fluffy but the sample comes out heavy, add a teaspoon of beaten egg to the batter and beat that in. Test a second gnocchi to ensure success.

Form the rest of your gnocchi. You can put 4 to 6 gnocchi in the bed of flour at a time. But don’t overcrowd your bed of flour or you may damage your gnocchi as you coat them.

Have a sheet pan ready to rest the formed gnocchi on. Line the sheet pan with wax or parchment paper and dust it with flour.

You can cook the gnocchi right away, however, Judy Rodgers recommends storing them in the refrigerator for an hour prior to cooking to allow them to firm up.

Step 4: Cooking the gnocchi.
Have a large skillet ready to go. Place the butter and water for the sauce in the skillet and set aside.

In the largest pan or pot that you have (make sure it’s wide), bring at least 2 quarts of water to a boil (you can use as much as 3 quarts of water if your pot permits). You need a wide pot or pan so that your gnocchi won’t bump into each other and damage each other.

Once the water is boiling, salt it generously (mine ended up too salty, so you might want to go light on the salt.

Drop the gnocchi into the water one by one. Once they float to the top, cook them for 3 to 5 minutes (as in the case with the test gnocchi).
When the gnocchi float to the top, you can start your sauce while you wait for them to finish cooking.

Place the skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Swirl it gently a few times as it melts. As soon as it melts and is incorporated with the water, turn off the heat. Your gnocchi should be cooked by now.

With a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi from the boiling water and gently drop into the butter sauce. Carefully roll in the sauce until coated. Serve immediately.

Freezing the gnocchi: If you don’t want to cook your gnocchi right away or if you don’t want to cook all of them, you can make them and freeze them. Once they are formed and resting on the flour-dusted, lined tray, place them uncovered in the freezer. Leave them for several hours to freeze. Once frozen, place them in a plastic bag. Remove the air and seal the bag. Return to the freezer. To cook frozen gnocchi, remove them from the bag and place individually on a plate or on a tray. Place in the refrigerator to thaw completely. Cook as directed for fresh gnocchi.

Homemade Lasagna, Daring Bakers Style

I'm back from the longest holiday Real Good Taste has ever had with the DB challenge I made on time but didn't post.  Thank you all for your patience.  New posts will be up shortly and you will see me on your blogs soon.

I was really shocked when I saw that this month's Daring Baker's Challenge was a lasagna. I've pretty much only made sweets since I joined the group and even when we had a savory option, like with the lavash crackers, I still added a sweet topping. My purpose in joining the group was to be challenged in the kitchen though, so pretty soon I was thinking how delicious a lasagna with homemade pasta would be, a definite indication of how long it had been since I last made pasta by hand.

As regular readers of Real Good Taste know, I had a huge exam mid-month that kept me out of the kitchen for far too long. I decided my reintroduction to real cooking would be with this lasagna. Nothing looked too hard, but I thought it would be a good idea to split up the cooking and made the béchamel sauce the day before hand. Lasagna day was a beautiful and warm day here so I thought I would take an hour or two to get the meat sauce and pasta done and then go out and help Zach with some yardwork. Well- I started cooking a 11am and ended at 4pm with few breaks in between.

I used Marchella Hazan's recipe for bolognese meat sauce, as it had far fewer ingredients than the DB version, and while it didn't need much prep, I had to be around to add the milk, wine and tomatoes one by one, allowing for full evaporation in between.

Once the bolognese was gently bubbling away, I turned to the pasta. I assembled everything and decided that my floor would thank me if I beat the eggs and spinach together in a bowl, instead of attempted to do in on the narrow counter and ending up with a Niagara Falls of green eggs cascading onto the slate tile that is impossible to clean. I began to work the flour into the egg mixture and everything seemed to be going well except for one tiny problem- the dough was the right consistency but half the flour was left on the counter. Worried that I wouldn't have enough pasta for the lasagna, I added another egg and kept going but still had about a cup of flour left over. Four eggs seemed like going overboard so I wrapped the pasta dough in plastic and let it rest. Then came the real fun.

Since the move I haven't been able to locate some of my favorite kitchen supplies, including my 2 foot long french rolling pin, so I had to work with was a 10in. american pin. What this means it that I had to divide the dough into quarters and go through the three step rolling process 4 times.  By the end of it my arms were burning like they did the time that I did a strength class at the gym with 5lb. weights only to realize at the end of the class they were 5kg.  While I had hoped to be done with the pasta several hours earlier my arms did get a chance to rest before the assembly.

I cooked the pasta briefly in heavily salted boiling water and started on assembly.  Our instructions called for thin layers of béchamel and bolognese but said that we should use the full amounts of both when putting the lasagna together.  I ended up using 4 layers of pasta, which was only half of what I had made.  I would recommend using two eggs for the pasta and just working in as much flour as you can.   That will make plenty of pasta for the recipe.

By the time dinner was finally ready I was dead tired from the day of lasagna making.  The finished product was good, but I'm not sure it was worth all the effort.  That said, Zach loved it and said he'd like to have it again and I could see everything going a lot better with the right rolling pin and amount of dough.  I did like making pasta by hand and would like to experiment with ravioli or other filled pasta.

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna
adapted from from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper
serves 8 as a first course, 4-6 as a main course

Preparation Time: 15 minutes to assemble and 40 minutes cooking time

10 quarts (9 litres) salted water
1 recipe Spinach Pasta cut for lasagna (recipe follows)#1
1 recipe Bechamel Sauce (recipe follows)#2
1 recipe Bolognese Sauce (recipe follows)#3
1 cup (4 ounces/125g) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Method
Working Ahead:
The ragu and the béchamel sauce can be made up to three days ahead. The ragu can also be frozen for up to one month. The pasta can be rolled out, cut and dried up to 24 hours before cooking. The assembled lasagne can wait at room temperature (20 degrees Celsius/68 degrees Fahrenheit) about 1 hour before baking. Do not refrigerate it before baking, as the topping of béchamel and cheese will overcook by the time the center is hot.

Assembling the Ingredients:
Have all the sauces, rewarmed gently over a medium heat, and the pasta at hand. Have a large perforated skimmer and a large bowl of cold water next to the stove. Spread a double thickness of paper towels over a large counter space. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Oil or butter a 3 quart (approx 3 litre) shallow baking dish.

Cooking the Pasta:
Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 2 minutes. If you are using dried pasta, cook about 4 minutes, taste, and cook longer if necessary. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagne from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on the paper towels. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.

Assembling the Lasagne:
Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a layer of about four overlapping sheets of pasta over the béchamel. Spread a thin layer of béchamel (about 3 or 4 spoonfuls) over the pasta, and then an equally thin layer of the ragu. Sprinkle with about 1&1/2 tablespoons of the béchamel and about 1/3 cup of the cheese. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with béchamel sauce and topping with a generous dusting of cheese.

Baking and Serving the Lasagne:
Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagne. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until hot in the center (test by inserting a knife – if it comes out very warm, the dish is ready). Take care not to brown the cheese topping. It should be melted, creamy looking and barely tinged with a little gold. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the lasagne rest for about 10 minutes. Then serve. This is not a solid lasagne, but a moist one that slips a bit when it is cut and served.

#1 Spinach Egg Pasta (Pasta Verde)

Preparation: 45 minutes

Makes enough for 6 to 8 first course servings or 4 to 6 main course servings, equivalent to 1 pound (450g) dried boxed pasta.

2 jumbo eggs (2 ounces/60g or more)
6 ounces (170g) frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
2 C. (240g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour [I updated this to reflect the right amount of flour for the number of eggs)

Working by Hand:

Equipment

A roomy work surface, 24 to 30 inches deep by 30 to 36 inches (60cm to 77cm deep by 60cm to 92cm). Any smooth surface will do, but marble cools dough slightly, making it less flexible than desired.

A pastry scraper and a small wooden spoon for blending the dough.

A wooden dowel-style rolling pin. In Italy, pasta makers use one about 35 inches long and 2 inches thick (89cm long and 5cm thick). The shorter American-style pin with handles at either end can be used, but the longer it is, the easier it is to roll the pasta.
Note: although it is not traditional, Enza has successfully made pasta with a marble rolling pin, and this can be substituted for the wooden pin, if you have one.

Plastic wrap to wrap the resting dough and to cover rolled-out pasta waiting to be filled. It protects the pasta from drying out too quickly.

A sharp chef’s knife for cutting pasta sheets.

Cloth-covered chair backs, broom handles, or specially designed pasta racks found in cookware shops for draping the pasta.

Mixing the dough:
Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and spinach. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the eggs and spinach. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. Don’t worry if it looks like a hopelessly rough and messy lump.

Kneading:
With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. It will feel alive under your hands. Do not shortcut this step. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours.

Stretching and Thinning:
If using an extra-long rolling pin work with half the dough at a time. With a regular-length rolling pin, roll out a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest of the dough wrapped. Lightly sprinkle a large work surface with flour. The idea is to stretch the dough rather than press down and push it. Shape it into a ball and begin rolling out to form a circle, frequently turning the disc of dough a quarter turn. As it thins outs, start rolling the disc back on the pin a quarter of the way toward the center and stretching it gently sideways by running the palms of your hands over the rolled-up dough from the center of the pin outward. Unroll, turn the disc a quarter turn, and repeat. Do twice more.

Stretch and even out the center of the disc by rolling the dough a quarter of the way back on the pin. Then gently push the rolling pin away from you with one hand while holding the sheet in place on the work surface with the other hand. Repeat three more times, turning the dough a quarter turn each time.

Repeat the two processes as the disc becomes larger and thinner. The goal is a sheet of even thickness. For lasagne, the sheet should be so thin that you can clearly see your hand through it and see colours. Cut into rectangles about 4 by 8 inches (10 x 20 cm). 

Dry the pasta at room temperature and store in a sealed container or bag.

#2 Bechamel

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) unsalted butter
4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour, organic stone ground preferred
2&2/3 cups (approx 570ml) milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste

Using a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Sift over the flour, whisk until smooth, and then stir (without stopping) for about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and keep the mixture smooth. Bring to a slow simmer, and stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.

# 3 Bolognese Sauce
Recipe from The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

1 T. vegetable oil
3 T. butter
1/2 C. chopped onion
2/3 C. chopped celery
2/3 C. chopped carrot
3/4 lb. (340g) ground beef (it will be tastier if you use 80 or 85% lean)
salt
pepper
1 C. whole milk
a little ground nutmeg
1 C. white wine (dry if you have it)
1 & 1/2C. plum tomatoes with the juice

- Add oil, onion and butter to pot. Cook on medium until the onion becomes translucent (3-4 minutes) then add the celery and carrot. Cook for another two minutes and stir to coat them in the butter and oil.

- Add the ground beef, a fat pinch of salt and some pepper. Break up the meat with a spoon and cook till it's not red.

- Add the milk and let it simmer over very low heat until it has completely evaporated. Grate in a little bit of nutmeg (less than 1/8t.) and stir.

- Add wine and let simmer over very low heat until it has completely evaporated. Add the tomatoes and and stir to coat the sauce. Use your spoon to break the tomatoes up into pieces. Cook at a very, very low simmer (just a few bubbles popping up every minute) for 3-4 hours. Stir it every one in a while and if it looks really dry, add a 1/2 C. water. In the end you don't want to have any water or obvious liquid left. The sauce should be very thick, more like pieces of beef and veg slightly coated in tomato. It should smell amazing. Give it a taste for salt and use in the lasagna or on your favorite pasta.

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Ok, here is the last of the pre-holiday treat foods that I need to post... after this healthier meals are on the way.

When I saw this recipe on A Good Appetite I knew I had to make it immediately. Macaroni and cheese with butternut squash sounded so good on a cold and dark December night. I got cooking and made a few minor modifications along the way. I used a bit less cheese overall and a more equal proportion of cheddar to Gruyere as that's what I had in the house. I accidentally over-roasted the squash so decided to mash some up and stir it directly into the cheese sauce, which gave it a beautiful orange color. I also put a layer of squash on top of the pasta and topped it with cheese in an attempt to get more veggies into the dish.

The mac and cheese was so good and so rich, we got about 7 servings out of the recipe (1 used 10oz. pasta). In hindsight, I wouldn't have added the extra layer of squash as it made the dish a bit too sweet overall but otherwise it great. Check out the recipe link above if you'd like to make it.

Spaghetti with Crispy Garlic Chard Ragout*

This is another recipe I found in one of my mum's magazines- Gourmet, to be exact. You might remember I mentioned making a Giada de Laurentiis recipe a few weeks ago for pasta and chard that was utterly underwhelming.  Well this Gourmet recipe was exactly what I was hoping for the first time around: delicate chard infused with garlic punctuated by sharp bites of feta cheese, briny olives and bursts of sweet raisin, all topped off with crunchy garlic chips. Basically perfect. So good in fact, that I ate the leftovers for 3 meals running, something that I never do.

The recipe below is very similar to the original with some minor modifications. I cut back on the amount of pasta from a carb overloaded 1 lb. for 4-6 people to 10 oz. and shifted the other proportions accordingly (well maybe I decreased the amount of oil significantly to...). Give this one a try- it does take a little time but it's well worth it. Recipe after the jump.

Spaghetti with Crispy Garlic Chard Ragout
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine
Serves 4-5

10 oz. whole wheat spaghetti
1/2 c. pasta cooking water
3 T. olive oil
8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/3 c. raisins
bunch of Swiss Chard (a small handful when you grab around the stems), stems and center red ribs chopped into bite sized pieces and leaves roughly chopped
1/2 t. salt
fresh black pepper
1/3 c. kalamata olives, roughly chopped
4-5 oz. feta cheese

- Set a large pot of water for the pasta on to boil.

- Add oil and garlic to a large skillet (I used a non-stick since that's what I've got) over medium heat and cook garlic until golden, around 3 minutes. Remove garlic to a paper towel lined plate.

- Add onion to remaining oil in skillet ad cook until softened, 3-5 minutes. Add the raisins and cook for a minute than add the chard stems and give a good stir. [Timing note- add the pasta to the pot of boiling water now] Add in 1/2 c. water, the salt and several grates of pepper to the onion and chard stems and turn the heat up to medium high. Pop on the lid and let it bubble away for 5 minutes then stir in the leaves, recover and cook for another 5 minutes (until the chard is tender).

- Drain spaghetti (don't forget to save 1/2 c. of the pasta cooking water). Toss the spaghetti with the chard mixture and olives, added as much pasta water as you need to coat everything. There won't be that much sauce, but it shouldn't look dry. Plate the pasta and top with crumbled feta and garlic chips and enjoy.

*I know this doesn't seem like a traditional ragout and it isn't but I needed a better name for this dish than pasta with chard and garlic.   I wanted something that would convey a little sophistication and excitement and since one of the meanings of ragout, according to Merriam-Webster, is mixture I though it would work just fine.

Butternut Squash

I was so good about getting my reading done this weekend that by the time Sunday afternoon rolled around I had finished nearly all of it and was mentally wiped out. I had been planning to make a butternut squash soup for dinner that night but then decided I needed a culinary challenge instead since it had been so long since I'd actually cooked anything besides pasta for dinner. I was thinking of things to do with butternut squash and my mind wandered in the pasta direction. I love getting butternut squash ravioli out in restaurants and the weather has turned decidedly fall-late, so I I decided to try making it at home. After searching around for some recipes on the internet, I decided to go with a Giada de Laurentiis recipe from the food network website, with a few minor modifications.

Though tempting, I decided not to try to do the dough by hand, mostly because we don't have a pasta roller and I didn't particularly want to cover the entire counter in gummy pasta reside. Instead, I opted for the wonton skins recommended by Giada. The recipe itself was quite simple- roast the squash, combine with ricotta cheese, onion and garlic and fill the ravioli. The hardest part was peeling and cubing the squash. My method is to cut the round part of the squash off first, leaving me two pieces with flat sides. Then I put each piece flat side down, and cut it in half again from top to bottom, than in half once again until I have eight pieces. I usually use a knife to cut off the skins, but this time decided to try using a vegetable peeler. It took a little while to do since I had to go over it a few times but I think I wasted less than with the knife method.

Once the squash was cubed I roasted in a a bit of olive oil and then combined it with the other ingredients. Then I called in the reinforcements to shape the ravioli. The recipe said it would make about 36 but we filled all 48 wonton skins with a lot of leftover filling. I cooked about 18 for us immediately and froze the rest for later. Giada suggested a brown butter sauce for the ravioli and I complied- using about half the recommended butter. We were out of cranberries so I substituted raisins and omitted the walnuts since Zach really doesn't like them.

Overall the ravioli were good but missing something. I'm not quite sure what, maybe our squash wasn't as sweet as others, or the texture of the wonton wrappers wasn't quite the same as pasta dough. Making ravioli once has made me want to try it again and hopefully the filling will turn out better next time. I'm not giving the recipe here- as I didn't really love this one but you can find Giada's recipe here.

Couscous, Shopska Style

I know my posts have been few and far between in the past few weeks. I wish I could tell you that I have been cooking up a storm and have a backlog of recipes to post but that's sadly not the case. Between the start of the semester and everything else that has been going on I haven't been in the kitchen that much. Last night was an exception, more because I needed to clean out the fridge than any noble nourishment purpose. Read More!

I had some peppers, half a cucumber, small tomato and feta cheese- all the fixing for a Shopska salad (a kind of Balkan vegetable salad). Since this would be our dinner I decided to make turn the Shopska into a pasta salad by mixing it with the Israeli couscous I picked up on the weekend. The whole dinner took about 20 minutes to put together. While the water boils and the couscous cooks you can chop the veggies, then everything gets tossed together with olive oil, red wine vinegar and feta cheese. That's it. Despite the simplicity the salad is light, fresh and delicious. We had it for dinner, but it would be a great side dish to grilled chicken or fish.

I'm entering this recipe in the Monthly Mingle, which this month is Sensational Sides, hosted by Ruth at Kitchen Experiments in place of Meeta, who usually hosts.

Couscous, Shopka Style
Serves 2 for dinner, for as a side dish

1 C. Israeli style couscous
1 1/3 C. water, or a mix of water and broth (I did 1 C. water, 1/2 C. chicken broth)
1/3 white onion, chopped
1 C. cucumber, seeded and chopped
1 small tomato, diced
1 bell pepper, or two small peppers, diced (any color you like, though orange would be prettiest)
2 T. red wine vinegar
1 T. olive oil
3 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

- Set the onion in a bowl full of cold water and swish around then leave till you are ready to assemble the salad. This will help make it a bit less pungent.

- Bring the water (and broth) to a boil in a medium saucepan, stir in couscous and reduce to a simmer, cook for 8-10 minutes or until couscous is tender.* If you notice that you pot has run dry and a few more tablespoons of water.

- While the water boils, chop up the veggies. When the couscous is cooked, stir in the vegetables, oil and vinegar and a few grates of pepper and then the feta cheese. Taste for seasonings and serve immediately.

The salad keeps well in the fridge for a day or two, just fluff with a fork before eating.

*If you use straight water to cook the couscous, add a good pinch of salt to it with the pasta.

Greek Pasta with Tomatoes, Squash, Feta and Oregano

Last Thursday night we were about to drive up to New Jersey for the weekend and I wanted to try to use up the rest of the week's CSA delivery for dinner, but didn't really have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen (I always seem to leave packing to the very last minute). I came across Katerina's Greek Island Pasta and it looked like the perfect way to use up the yellow squash sitting in the fridge along with some leftover feta and a little box of multicolored cherry tomatoes. Of course I forgot to print out the recipe so I just sort of made it up as I was cooking, using what I remembered from Katerina's as inspiration.

The whole dish came together in the time that it took to boil water and cook the pasta. I sliced up the yellow squash, halved the cherry tomatoes and chopped up the garlic while the water came to a boil. When the pasta went in, I sauteed the garlic and squash just for a few minutes then added the tomatoes and cooked the until the tomatoes had given off some juices to make a light sauce but the squash was still crisp. A little pasta water and some crumbled feta gave the sauce some texture and the fresh oregano I popped in at the last minute gave it a Greek flavor. A sprinkle of feta overtop and it was ready to go (and it did pretty well as leftovers too). An added bonus- this was a great way to use the tomatoes we had gotten from the CSA. Neither Zach nor I like raw tomatoes but this quick sauce cooked them just enough to pass the point from rawness to goodness so if you're not a fan of raw tomatoes either, you might want to try this.

Greek Style Pasta
Inspired by Katerina at Daily Unadventures in Cooking
Serves 4 for a light supper.

10 oz. short whole wheat pasta (rotini, farfale, penne)
2 t. olive oil
1 fat clove garlic, minced
1 small summer squash, cut in half and then in 1/8in. half moons
1 C. halved cherry tomatoes, or diced tomatoes
4 oz. feta cheese
10 fresh oregano leaves

- Put the pasta water on to boil while you prep the veggies.

- When the water comes to a boil, add the pasta. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat and add the oil and garlic. Sauté for a minute than add squash and sauté until the squash just begins to turn translucent (about 3 minutes). Add tomatoes and increase the heat to medium high. Cook until tomatoes begin to disintegrate a bit.

- Reserve 1/2 c. pasta water before draining the pasta. Add about half of it to the veggies along with half the feta and stir to melt the feta and create a sauce. Add in the drained pasta and oregano and stir to coat, adding more pasta water if it looks dry. Season with pepper and salt (if needed). Crumble remaining feta over the plates of pasta and serve immediately.

Broccoli Cheddar Mac

Last week we got our first CSA delivery (well Zach went to pick it up, but that's another story) and since it had been so hot here, we got an extra helping of most of the vegetables as they had started to grow so quickly. While it was exciting to suddenly have a fridge full of vegetables it was also a little daunting, as we'd need to come up with some way to eat them all in one week, a challenge slightly complicated by the fact that I'm in class three nights a week at the moment.

Among our vegetable bounty was several pounds of broccoli. This wasn't your average broccoli- the color was much lighter and the stalks were very fine and almost delicate, instead of the short stumpy tree like broccoli you get in the grocery store. As I was thinking about cooking possibilities it suddenly became Saturday and the pressure was on to use as much broccoli as possible before our next pickup on Monday. I was flipping through a Rachel Ray cookbook (while I was avoiding my homework) and came accross a recipe for macaroni and cheese with broccoli.

The recipe caught my eye and I decided to give it a try, with a few modifications, for dinner. I lowered the amount of pasta and quadriupled the broccoli. The recipe also seemed like it would make an obscene quantity of cheese sauce, so I cut it back a bit too. I did use the recommended ammount of spices though, but thought that the cayenne and smoked paprika overpowered the cheddar, so I have adjusted the recipes accordingly in the recipe below. One last note- our broccoli was so tender I didn't cook it, just let it heat through with the pasta and sauce. If you're using regular grocery store broccoli, you will probably want to drop it into the pasta water for the last minute or two of cooking.

Broccoli Cheddar Mac
Adapted from Rachel Ray, 365: No Repeats
Serves 8-10 for a light dinner

10 oz. whole wheat elbow pasta
4 heads of broccoli, tops cut into florets and the stalk trimmed and cut into 1 in. pieces
2 T. butter
1/3 C. chopped onion
2 T. flour
pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 t. smoked paprika
3 C milk
8 oz. very sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
salt and pepper to taste

- Put the broccoli in a large bowl (the one you will serve in).

- Cook pasta according to pasta directions, drain and pour over broccoli.

- Just before you put in the pasta, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the onion. Cook for 3-4 minutes to soften. Add the flour and spices and stir very briskly for 1 minute to create a blond roux. Add about half the milk and stir continuously until it comes to a boil. Add remaining milk and continue stirring until it comes to a boil. Take the pan off the heat and stir in cheddar cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

- Pour cheese sauce over broccoli and pasta and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

This reheats much better than I thought it would. The sauce is on the thinner side so doesn't make a congealed mass the next day.

Warm Pasta Salad with Spinach, Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onions

Kat over at A Good Appetite has inspired me again. Last week she made a warm pasta salad recipe out of Bon Appetite magazine that looked so good and so easy I decided to make it right away. I made a few changes to the recipe, to reduce the amount since the original served 6 and I substituted some dried herbs de Provence for the fresh herbs. I also used whole wheat pasta instead of white since that is what I always have in the cupboard. The original recipe also called for chicken but since we didn't have any in the fridge, I used some leftover soy protein but you could you any leftover meat or even smoked tofu instead. The sweetness of the caramelized onions balanced the tang of the goat cheese and the white wine tomato sauce was light yet balanced the other flavors perfectly. That, plus the fact that there is more than a serving of veggies in every portion mean that it will be making a reappearance soon.

At Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen 's suggestion, I am submitting this recipe for this months No Croutons Required vegetarian blogging events with the theme 'salads with cheese' hosted by Holler at Tinned Tomatoes. (Recipe after the jump.)

Warm Pasta Salad with Spinach, Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onions
Serves 4, Adapted from Bon Appetite Magazine

6 oz. whole wheat pasta (any short shape will do)
1 T. olive oil
1 red onion, cut in half then sliced into thin half moons
1 t. sugar

1 t. white wine vinegar
4 oz. soy protein, or whatever protein you happen to have around (or leave it out completely)
1 C white wine
a pinch of chicken or vegetable bouillon
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
1 t. herbs de provence
1 bag baby spinach leaves
2 oz. goat cheese
salt and pepper to taste

- Boil a large pot of water and cook pasta according to package directions.

- Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium. Add onions with a pinch of salt and cook until beginning to brown. Add sugar and vinegar, stir and continue to cook till onions are browned. Set aside.

- In the same skillet brown the soy protein, if using. Set aside.

- In the same skillet, over high heat, reduce the wine by half. Add in the bouillon, tomato and herbs and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the cooked and drained pasta, onions and soy protein. Stir and cook for another minute or two. The sauce will be very thin.

- Divide the spinach among 4 plates (or two plates and two tupperwares) and top with the warm pasta. Crumble the goat cheese on top of each plate and add a bit of fresh pepper, if you'd like.

Note: This dish saves pretty well but the pasta will get a little soft if you have it for lunch the next day.

Thai Curry

Zach and I both really like Thai style curries and over the years we have tried to make them at home, varying the recipes and amounts of curry powder but to no avail. The curries were always edible, just not that good.  I had all but given up on making curry at home when a recipe appeared in the food section of the Washington Post a few months ago... (I can't fight with Blogger anymore- the middle of this post is somehow hidden so if you would like to read it please click here) Local chef Sak Pollert had a green curry recipe that looked good and could be made in 30 minutes (even better) which he served over linguini.  I never ever would have thought about using linguini with curry before this recipe, but it works (although to be honest I do prefer rice). 

The first time we made the curry we used Thai Kitchen brand curry paste and ended up adding nearly the whole jar as the curry just seemed bland otherwise but we happened to find the Maesri brand paste that Pollert recommends (and at less then half the price of Thai Kitchen-- I think we bought 8 tins of it...) and needed the recommended amount, so tasting the curry as you go along is a must to get the spice level right.

After making the recipe a few times I've changed things up a little bit. I use low-fat coconut milk (but still cook the curry in the coconut milk before adding other ingredients- it seems to really deepen the curry flavor) and tofu in place of chicken (if you want the original recipe with chicken click here) and this time we used red curry instead of green and brown sugar instead of white. It's really easy to have all the ingredients on hand for this curry and it's definitely a good change from pasta with red sauce, our usually standby on night we need something quick and I'm not feeling creative.

Red Curry with Carrots, Peas and Pasta

Adapted from a recipe by Sak Pollert published in The Washington Post

Serves 4

8oz. linguini

1 brick extra firm tofu

2t. vegetable oil

8oz. fresh/frozen snap peas (defrost the frozen kind, if that's what you're using)

8oz. baby carrots, cut into halves or quarters, depending on size

1C lowfat coconut milk (the fat rises to the top, so I usually end up using a wisk on it)

1/4 C curry paste

2T brown sugar

-  Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta.

-  Cut the tofu into bite size cubes or triangles and pat dry with a paper towel.  Heat a skillet over medium high and add a teaspoon or two of oil and add the tofu.  Cook until golden brown and then flip over to cook the other side.  Let the tofu hang out while you start the curry.

-  Heat 1/2C of the coconut milk in a large skillet over medium heat, when it begins to simmer add the curry past and stir well.  Cook mixture until it darkens, 3-4 minutes.  (your pasta water is probably boiling now so it would be a good time to salt the water and drop it in)

-  Add the rest of the coconut milk and the sugar; stir.  Add the vegetables and stir to coat and pop on a lid and set your timer for 10 minutes (the heat should be medium high).

-  Drain the pasta when it is done cooking.  When the veggies are done cooking, stir in the tofu and check for seasoning, adding salt and pepper if needed.  

-  Serve with the curry atop the linguini.

Pasta with Spinach, Feta and Soy

I seriously debated putting 'soy' in the title of this post, thinking it might scare some people away, but I decided to do it- I will say here in the first sentence that you don't have to use soy, but more on that later. I have been making some variety of this dish since I was in high school and decided to become a vegetarian (as you can see by some of my other entries, I'm not vegetarian now but I try not to eat a lot of meat). I first made this dish when I was trying out all the soy based meat substitutes and while I made some pretty strange things in that period- this pasta dish was a keeper. Since it´s one of my favorite pasta dishes, I've decided to enter it into this weeks Presto Pasta Roundup, hosted by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast.

It starts with about 2 oz. of pasta per person. While the water for the pasta boils, you chop up some garlic and spinach. Then when you add the pasta to the water, put the garlic in a separate pan with a little bit of oil and start to heat it. When the garlic is just golden, add the soy protein (or ground beef, chicken, or turkey, or just skip the protein) and the spices (in this case oregano as I was going for a greekish flavor). Sauteé till browned and wait for your pasta to cook. Save 1/2 cup of the pasta water and then drain it. Put the spinach on top of the soy protein, then add the pasta, pasta water and a bit more olive oil. Mix the whole thing on medium heat for a few minutes until the spinach wilts, then crumble in the cheese and mix to combine. It's that easy' and the best part is you can change up the flavors for variety. Some of my favorite combos are basil, oregano and parmesan cheese and herbs de provance with a soft goat cheese.

Though the dish doesn't have a sauce per se, it's not dry as the spinach gives it moisture and the cheese gives it a ton of flavor. The feta I used was really creamy and melted slightly to coat the pasta and I added a few grates of fresh nutmeg at the very end, which added another level of flavor. It's really quite healthy too, especially if you use a whole wheat or multi-plus pasta. The leftovers reheat well too.

Pasta with Spinach, Feta and Soy
Serves 4

8 oz. whole wheat penne
1 T. olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 t. dried oregano
8 oz. meat substitute (I use Gimme Lean Ground Beef Style)
4 oz. spinach, roughly chopped, or the same amount of baby spinach, whole
4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
freshly ground nutmeg
vegetable or chicken bullion (optional)

- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Chop the garlic and the spinach.

- Add the pasta to the boiling water, set timer for the recommended cooking time (the pasta should be quite al dente).

- In a large pan, put garlic and half the olive oil. Heat over medium low till the garlic is golden then add the soy protein and oregano. Use a wooden spoon to break the soy up into little chunks and brown.

- Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water and drain pasta (you can add a pinch of bullion to the reserved cooking water for extra flavor). Put the spinach over the soy in the pan, then pour the pasta on top. Add a bit of the pasta water and the remaining olive oil and mix everything together over medium high heat till the spinach wilts. Turn off heat and add crumbled feta. Serve immediately.

Moroccan Couscous Salad

To go with the roast chicken dinner this weekend I decided to keep with the Mediterranean theme and make a couscous salad. The current issue of Cuisine at Home had a recipe for Moroccan Couscous Salad that looked great- it was gorgeous, full of vegetables and the best part- I could make it before anyone arrived and serve it at room temperature. It seemed like a winning combination to me. I made a few modifications to the recipe along the way, to accommodate the Israeli style couscous I had on had (and that I knew one of my friends prefers) and to reduce the fat and up the flavor content a bit.  I used minimal oil to roast the vegetables and toasted the spices to refresh their flavor (mine have been in the cabinet for a while- if you have very fresh spices you may want to use a bit less).  The salad was a hit- the cumin and coriander gave it a deep flavor and a bit of cayenne pepper added some heat. The roasted veggies had a sweet flavor that balanced out the spice. The best part- there was even enough leftover for me to have for lunch the next day.

Moroccan Couscous Salad

Serves 8 as a side, 4-5 as a main course

For the veggies
1 lb. baby carrots, cut into 1 in. chunks (not the bullet shaped ones in the plastic bags but thin, young carrots, if you can find them)
1 large red onion, cut into large cubes
3-4 small yellow squash, cut into 1 in. cubes (about 4 cups) 
olive oil, salt and pepper

For the couscous
8 oz. Israeli style couscous
2 t. olive oil
1.5 t. cumin
1.5 t. coriander
pinch of cayenne pepper, according to taste
juice and zest of one lemon
1/4 c. honey
2  c. vegetable or chicken broth

1/2 c. chopped parseley
2/3 c. raisins

- Preheat oven to 450F. Put a large baking sheet into the cold oven to heat up. Meanwhile, toss the carrots with just enough olive oil to coat them, salt and pepper. When the oven comes to temp, carefully spread the carrots out on the baking dish. Bake for 5 minutes.

- Toss the onion and squash in the same bowl you used for the carrots, adding just enough oil to coat and seasoning with salt and pepper. Add them to the carrots, making one even layer of veggies in the pan. Roast for about 20 more minutes, stirring once or twice, until the carrots are tender and the veggies are starting to brown.

- While the vegetables are roasting, juice the lemon into a large measuring cup (you'll need the zest so you might want to grate it off first), add the honey and then add enough broth to equal two cups.

- Heat a saucepan over medium, add the olive oil and spices. Toast for a minute or two. Add the couscous and stir till the couscous is coated and slightly toasted. Pour in the liquid and bring to a boil; cove and cook for 8 minutes.

- Gently mix the couscous, roasted vegetables, raisins and parsley in your serving bowl. Serve immediately or at room temperature.

Speedy Pasta Bake

Pasta is my go to dinner item- whenever I don't know what to eat or didn't plan for a specific meal, I turn to pasta. It's quick, goes with just about anything and did I mention it's quick?

A few weeks ago, it was shaping up to be just another pasta and red sauce night when I thought- why not make a pasta bake to use up some of the leftover veggies in the fridge? (I don't know if this happens to you, but I always seem to end up with a quarter of an eggplant, half a bell pepper or 3 button mushrooms left over-- amounts too weird to use for much of anything). I started the water boiling and then chopped up the vegetables and satueed them in a bit of olive oil and herbs de provance for a change from the regular basil and oregano taste. Then I added some leftover red sauce and, since there wasn't quite enough of it, added some diced tomatoes with their juice. I mixed in the pasta and decided it needed just one more color and since I didn't have frozen peas, mixed in some baby spinach.

I poured the pasta mix into a casserole and topped it off with a low-fat 4 cheese blend (also leftover from another project- I'm not usually one for low fat cheese) and a bit of grated parmesan as I was afraid the low-fat cheese might not melt well. The whole thing went into a 400F oven for about 25 minutes and came out golden brown and quite delicious-- definitely a great dish to clear the fridge out with...