Pink Shrimp with Bacons & Onions

Being a member of Foodbuzz means that I occasionally get sent goodies to test out. This time I got a jar of Four Cheese Rosa Sauce from Bertolli along with a few recipes on how to use it. I decided to go with Pink Shrimp with Bacons & Onions. All the ingredients sound fabulous, don't they?

It was a tasty dish overall, however I was a surprised to find that it could have used a bit of salt. Usually jarred sauces are way too salty. Otherwise, I definitely recommend this recipe.

I'm also submitting this to Presto Pasta Nights, a fun event created by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast. Check out her blog on Friday to see the other submissions.

Recipe:
4 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

4 slices of bacon, chopped
1 large onion, sliced into thin wedges
1 lb. uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 jar Bertolli Four Cheese Rosa Sauce
8 ounces fettuccine, cooked and drained (reserve 1/2 cup pasta water)

Cook bacon in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon; reserve drippings. Cook onion in reserved drippings over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until onion is golden. Add shrimp and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, 4 minutes of until shrimp turn pink. Stir in Sauce and reserved pasta water; heat through. Toss with hot fettuccine and garnish , if desired, with shredded fontina cheese and parsley.

Pesto Chicken and Green Bean Pasta

I love basil. It has so many uses and pesto is one of my favorites. I made pesto pasta with chicken and green beans and want to submit this to Presto Pasta Nights which was created by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast and is being hosted by Melissa at The Cooking Diva this week. Check it out on Friday to see everybody else's great entries! Happy early Halloween by the way!

Anyway, my basil plants flowered quite a while ago, and apparently (though I haven't tried it), after it flowers, the leaves become bitter. Does anyone know how to keep basil from flowering besides pinching them on a regular basis? Pinching is just way too labor intensive for a lazy girl like me...

Before the leaves got bitter, I took them all and made a big batch of pesto and froze it to use throughout the year. Usually, I use my food processor to make my pesto, but I decided to minimize the mess and try using my immersion stick blender. Even though it still tasted great, it made the pesto too smooth. I like a bit of chunkiness to mine, so next time, I'm switching back to my tried and true food processor method.


I also substituted chicken stock for most of the olive oil. Yes, it changes the taste a bit, but it's still good. Plus I've always found pesto sauce to be too oily anyway, so I prefer it this way. And it's healthier! Everybody wins! Yay!

As far as putting the pesto with chicken and green beans, that's something I learned from Paolo, the Italian grocer/restaurateur I met in Hong Kong who also taught me spaghetti bolognese and many other Italian goodies. According to him, the traditional way to eat pesto in Genoa is spaghetti, potatoes and green beans, and lemme tell you, it is dee-lish that way! But I figured with the pasta, I don't really need any more carbs, so I left out the potatoes and added some chicken to make a more well-rounded meal. It may not be as traditional, but it's still just as yummy.

Pesto Sauce:
(as usual, I don't actual measurements because I just eyeball things, sorry)
- Basil leaves (about 3-4 handfuls)
- Pine nuts (about 1 small handful)
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- Chicken stock/Olive oil
- grated Parmesan cheese (a healthy handful)
- Salt and pepper

This step is optional, but I like to toast my pine nuts in a dry pan to give it a bit more color and bring out the flavor and aroma.

Put the basil, pine nuts, garlic cloves and cheese in a food processor and pulse it a bit. Slowly add the chicken stock/olive oil while pulsing until it reaches the desired consistency. Try not to over-process it and leave it slightly chunky - unlike mine =(. It's less of an issue with a food processor than an immersion blender though.

Salt and pepper to taste (don't worry about this part too much because you can always adjust it when you actually use it).

Put them into small containers and freeze for future use. I find muffin tins to be a good size to freeze them in, and then transfer them to a ziploc bag after they've hardened.

Pesto Chicken and Green Bean Pasta:
- Chicken (I prefer boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this)
- Green beans
- Pasta
- Pesto sauce
- Salt and pepper
- Parmesan cheese (optional)

Salt and pepper the chicken and grill until cooked through and nicely browned. Let it rest for a few minutes and then cut it into bit size pieces. Set aside.

Boil the green beans until cooked through and drain. Set aside.

Cook pasta according to the directions on the package and drain. Set aside.

Mix the pasta, chicken, green beans and pesto sauce over low heat. Salt and pepper to taste and feel free to add a healthy dose of parmesan cheese on top too!

Roasted Bell Pepper Pasta

So I tried to make homemade pasta again after failing at it last time, and I'm happy to report - MUCH BETTER!

It's still not perfect, but it's getting there. And this time, I did feel like it was worth the trouble. Just barely though. See how much thinner the noodles are this time? I really think that was the key. But I made some changes to my dough too, which I think helped as well. I'll keep playing with it and hopefully become a pro at it one day!

*pats myself on the back*

And because it's been so darn hot, I figured I'd do a lighter pasta. I roasted some colorful bell peppers, carmelized some onions and tossed it with some oil, herbs and cheese. This was really nice. Nice, fresh, a bit smoky and sweet from the roasted peppers. The pasta and peppers were really the stars of the show.

I'm also submitting this blog entry to Vindicate the Vegetable which happens to be highlighting bell peppers this week! I love it when things just fall into place. Check it out on Monday to see everyone else's great bell pepper recipes and stories.

Ingredients:
- 2.5 cups of white flour
- 1 cup of whole wheat flour
- 5 large eggs (I probably would've used 4 if they were extra large)
- 1-2 Tbs water (just becuase again, my dough wasn't coming together like I expected it to, so added a bit of water)

- 1 large red bell pepper
- 2 medium yellow bell peppers
- 1 red onion
- olive oil
- parmesan cheese
- oregano
- salt and pepper

Method:
Pasta -
Make the pasta like you would any other pasta - make a pile of flour with a well in the middle, crack the eggs in, mix until a dough forms, kneed until smooth, let it rest, roll it out in your pasta machine (or if you have a ton of time and energy and patience, you can roll it out by hand too).

Peppers -
Roast the peppers until all black and charred everywhere. Put it into a plastic bag while it's still hot to let it steam a bit, this will help the skin come off more easily. Wash it under cold water to help cool it off for handling and to peel the skin. Cut the pepper open and wash out the seeds too.

Putting it together -
Put some olive oil in a pan and heat it up. Add the sliced onion and a bit of salt and carmelize it. Add in the peppers, some herbs, and the pasta. Add a bit more oil to coat everything, some salt and pepper and cheese to taste. And that's it!

Enjoy.

Handmade whole wheat fettucine

Aw poop. A dud. =( And I was sooo excited about making my own pasta too! I swear I'll do better next time though.

I've been wanting a pasta machine for quite some time now and found a reasonably priced one the other day, so I snatched it up. I love pasta as is, and love fresh pasta even more! But fresh pasta is so darn expensive compared to the dried stuff that I can never justify buying it. Well, you all know what the solution to that is, right? Make your own!

sigh, I've become one of them. Before I really started liking to cook, I liked to watch cooking shows. I'd watch Martha Stewart make her own potato chips or marshmallows from scratch and enjoy the show, but all the while laughing at how ridiculous she was for going through all that trouble for something so readily available and cheap in the grocery store. Sure, I knew hers probably tasted better than the ones in the store, but all that trouble just didn't seem worth it to me. So I went about my business as usual, buying everything from the store and microwaving hot pockets for dinner (I was a college student after all).

Fast forward a few years to a gorgeous kitchen that I love, lots of great kitchen gadgets and some experience under my belt, and now I'm the ridiculous one. Pasta's so cheap and easy, why do I want to go through so much unnecessary work? I guess it's because I've hit that stage in my life where it IS worth it to me. Well, not this time (this one was a dud, remember?), but hopefully next time it will be.

I followed this recipe from allrecipes that got rated with 4.5 stars, so I thought it'd be a good place to start. Either I'm terrible at measuring and following directions (which is true), don't know what the heck I'm doing, or all the people who gave this recipe such a great rating are liars! I'll let you be the judge...

Let's go through all the things that went wrong:
- First of all, after following the directions exactly, there wasn't enough liquid to bring the dough together, no matter how long I mixed, so I kept adding a small amount of water at a time until it finally sorta did. I didn't want to add too much since I was already adding a lot more than the recipe called for, so I stopped as soon as the dough came together, which may have still been too little. I really have no idea what consistency pasta dough should be at, but it seemed kinda dry and stiff to me.

- Then the dough kept creaping up the side of my mixer and wouldn't stay in the darn bowl. I kept stopping the mixer to push the dough back down only to have it creep up over and over again.

- Next, I could hear my mixer's motor straining and a slight burning smell. OH NO! Don't you dare break my mixer, I love that thing like a fat kid loves cake! So I took the dough out and kneaded it by hand. Goodness that was freaking workout. Get that cake-loving fat kid to knead some pasta dough and he won't be fat anymore, that's for sure. I half-assed my way through the kneading since it was so difficult, so that probably played a part in the pasta's eventual failure as well.

- Then, this being the first time I've ever made my own pasta, I didn't know what thickness to stop at. My machine can be set at 1-9. I started at 1 and moved up like I'm supposed to and stopped at 6 because that seemed to be the right thickness I wanted it at. Little did I know that the pasta sucks up a ton of water when it's cooked. I knew dried pasta does, but I didn't know that fresh pasta did too. So my fettucine ended being waaay too thick.

- And lastly, the texture. Doing half whole wheat flour was too much whole wheat. It was grainy and stiff, and I could even feel the crunchy grains of whole wheat in my mouth as I ate - and no, I did not drop any egg shells into the dough if that's what you're thinking. It was not at all the nice chewy al dente I was hoping to achieve. Dried pasta from the store kicks this labor intensive pasta's butt any day!

Oh well, there's always next time, right? Anyway, here's the recipe and a few pictures of me hard at work. Try this recipe at your own risk. And if works out for you, there's really no need to tell me because I'm already feeling pretty crappy about the failure and am blaming it on the recipe and not my own incompetence. =)

Oh, and I served it with leftover bolognese.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Stir together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour and salt in a medium bowl, or on a clean board. Make a hollow in the center, and pour in the olive oil. Break eggs into it one at a time, while mixing quickly with a fork until the dough is wet enough to come together. Knead on a lightly floured surface until the dough is stiff and elastic. Cover, and let stand for 30 minutes to relax.
2. Roll out dough by hand with a rolling pin, or use a pasta machine to achieve the desired thickness of noodles. Cut into desired width and shapes. Allow the pasta to air dry for at least 15 minutes to avoid having it clump together.

To cook fresh pasta

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Fresh pasta cooks very quickly. It will float to the surface when fully cooked. Drain, and use as desired.

Simple Bolognese

When I was living in Hong Kong, there was a little Italian grocery store that I liked to frequent. It was called Viva Italia and the owner (a sleazy womanizer with the craziest stories) shipped everything over from Italy. He held free cooking classes/demonstrations and tastings (YUM!) twice a week to show us how to use the ingredients in his store. I'd go to these classes as often as possible, meet lots of interesting people, hear about his shady escapades, eat a lot of great food, and learn a bunch of Italian dishes. Yes, I learned to cook Italian food in Hong Kong of all places!

Back then, I wasn't much of a cook at all. My method of making spaghetti was to brown some ground beef and pour Prego over it. If I was feeling especially adventurous, I might add some onions or mushrooms. If I was feeling particularly lazy, hot dogs did just fine! And don't even think about anything fancier than spaghetti.

Paolo, the owner of the store, always used a base of shredded carrots, diced onions, and diced celery for his tomato sauces. I thought this was such a great idea! You don't really even realize it's there, it gives the sauce more body, flavor and chunkiness, and you sneak in a lot more veggies! The ratio was always 2 parts of onion to 1 part of carrots and 1 part of celery.

Anyway, so given my new found discovery, this is now my recipe for spaghetti bolognese (or paperdelle in this case).

And I just found this wonderful event - Pasta Presto Nights! Even though I kinda want to wait to submit something fancier for my first entry, I'm impatient and want to participate now! Check out Once Upon A Feast on Friday to see the roundup, and if you want to join in on the fun, send your submissions to Ruth AT 4everykitchen DOT com.

Ingredients:
- 2 parts diced onion
- 1 part of celery diced
- 1 part of carrots shredded
- 1 package of ground meat (beef is best, but turkey and chicken work too)
- 2 large cans of tomatoes or a jar of Prego
- 3 tbs of tomato paste
- red wine (0ptional)
- minced garlic
- oregano
- salt
- olive oil
- ground black pepper

Method:
- Heat some oil in a large pot
- Add the onions and sweat until mostly soft
- Add the minced garlic
- Add the carrots and celery and sweat until mostly soft
- Add some oregano and stir everything together
- Add the tomato paste and stir together
- While the veggies are going, brown the meat in a separate pan. Then add it at this point. Or, if you're lazy like me, go ahead and add the raw meat now and brown it the best you can with everything else in there too. - Pour in the wine. This is optional but I like put in about a cup. - Pour in the cans of tomatoes. If you like whole tomatoes, crush or dice them first. - Salt to taste and grind some black pepper in. - Simmer until the sauce has thickened to your desired consistency. Add more tomato paste if thickening is a problem.

- Serve over pasta of your choice and sprinkle with a bit of parmesan cheese!

Pasta salad

I had some leftover cucumber from the sushi that I wanted to use up, so I decided to make a pasta salad with it. I basically used whatever I found in the fridge and this is what I came up with. It was pretty good in my opinion and would go well with grilled chicken.

*Edit - I added some cut up ham to the leftovers for my lunch the next day and it was even better!

Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound of pasta (I used shells)
- 1/2 cucumber diced
- 1 can of corn drained
- 1/2 red onion sliced thinly
- marinated artichoke hearts
- ham (diced)

Dressing:
*These measurements are just estimations. Do yours to taste according to your preferences.
- 2 tbs dijon mustard
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 3 tbs balsamic vinegar
- a squeeze of lemon juice
- salt
- pepper
- dill
- oregano

Method:
- Cook the pasta until al dente and then run under cold water to cool it off
- Mix the pasta and other ingredients in a large bowl
- Put all the dressing ingredients in a jar. Close the jar and shake. Taste it and adjust the seasonings/ingredients as needed.
- Pour the dressing over the pasta and veggies and mix.
- Serve alone or as a side.

Pasta Primavera with Chicken

It's springtime! The weather is great, my veggies and herbs are in the garden (I sure do hope I have a green thumb. I guess only time will tell...), it's time for pasta primavera!

Here's my version - which was dictated mostly by what veggies I had in the fridge


Ingredients -
- 1 lb whole wheat Fusili
- 2 zucchini
- 3 big handfuls of spinach
- 1 large can of tomatoes (I always use whole tomatoes and chop them into cubes)
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 2 grilled chicken breasts
- 1 onion diced
- 1 tsp sugar
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions -
- Cut all the vegetables and meat into bite size pieces
- Put a little oil in the bottom of the pan/pot and saute the onion until soft
- Add garlic and saute a bit longer
- Add zucchini and cook until halfway done
- Add tomatoes (and half of the juice from the can) and sugar and cook down
- Undercook the pasta by ~2 minutes
- Drain pasta and add to sauce and veggies and the spinach
- Salt and pepper to taste and stir to mix sauce, pasta, and to wilt the spinach