recipeworld

I know, I know, I’m really on a pasta kick. Don’t worry, though, soon enough I’ll be moving on to a new obsession. I have some soup recipes archived, but it feels too hot to even be talking about soup.

So today I want to tell you about one more quick and easy pasta recipe that includes two things that I always have on hand: frozen spinach and canned tomatoes.

People who wax poetic about using only fresh tomatoes in their sauce couldn’t be more wrong. Yes, in August or September at the peak of tomato season, it’s great to use real tomatoes to make a sauce. But in general, the tomatoes you find in the supermarket have little to no flavor, compared with high-quality boxed or tinned ones that taste great! Go for canned tomatoes with no added flavorings like herbs or salt, and you’ll be fine.

If you can find canned San Marzano tomatoes, from the volcanic regions around Naples, you’ll swoon!

As for the frozen spinach, I buy it in bags where it comes in branches that are wound together to make little balls. The balls of spinach are easily picked out, so you can have quick and simple servings. I usually use two per person for a side dish of spinach.

Spinach is also great for fleshing out pasta sauces like this one. I only had one small can of tomatoes, and the Canadian and I were having pasta for dinner. Adding chicken chunks and spinach really helped the dish.

Pasta with Tomatoes, Chicken and Spinach

8 oz. pasta

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 small chicken breast halves, cut into chunks

1 onion, diced

1 small can tomatoes (I used pureed tomatoes because it was what I had, but I usually use whole tomatoes and chop them up a little before throwing them in a sauce)

1 cup thawed frozen spinach

Cook the pasta according to package directions in a pot of salted, boiling water.

Meanwhile, heat half of the olive oil over high heat. Add the chicken pieces, allowing them to brown on all sides. Remove from the pan. Add more olive oil if necessary, and turn the heat down to medium/medium-low. Add the onion and sweat until sweet and translucent. Add some of the pasta water to the pan to deglaze the browned bits of chicken and onion, and then add the chicken, canned tomatoes and spinach to the sauce. Cook together until heated through and thickened slightly, about five minutes.

Add pasta water if necessary, and then toss about a half-cup of sauce with the drained pasta so that it doesn’t stick. Serve the pasta in pasta bowls with the sauce on top and grated cheese on the side.

In general, the way that I invent new recipes is to start with something that I know really well (for example, polenta or pasta) and then to embellish it with flavors that I like.

I used to make polenta quite often, but I hadn’t in a long time until this Peachy Polenta. Having the bag of cornmeal out inspired me, though.

I have made Parmegiano-Reggiano polenta before, as a side dish, but I wanted to make it more filling, as something I could have for my whole dinner. I had some fresh zucchini in the fridge, and so this polenta came to be!

I always have plain yogurt in the fridge: I eat it for breakfast, but I also throw it into some dishes that should be creamy but that I don’t want to make higher in calories and fat. You really shouldn’t cook plain yogurt, unless it’s strained, or it will curdle, but tossing it into something that’s already been cooked is a nice treat.

Polenta with Zucchini

¼ cup cornmeal
1 cup milk
2 tsp. olive oil
1 zucchini, sliced
½ onion, diced
½ cup parmesan cheese
1 small container plain yogurt

Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat or in a microwave until hot, but not boiling. Add the cornmeal, stirring constantly until the polenta has thickened to a porridge consistency. You may need to add water as it cooks. Stir in half of the parmesan cheese as well as some salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover.

In a frying pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook until translucent. Add the sliced zucchini. Cook on one side until browned, about two minutes, and then flip and cook the other side. Add the yogurt to the polenta, and then stir the zucchini and onion mixture into the polenta. Serve with the extra cheese on the side.

As you can probably tell, I often resort to pasta as an easy dinner. I was raised with pasta on the menu almost every night, so when I have no idea what to make for dinner, I usually make up a batch of rotini.

I used to make a lot of vegetarian pastas: pasta with olive oil, lemon juice and cayenne pepper, macaroni and cheese, fettucine alfredo and, of course, pasta with tomato sauce. But my boyfriend is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, and while he loves pasta as much as the next guy, if there’s no meat in it, it’s not dinner.

I started having to come up with pasta dishes that would please him, and this is one of them. It includes another of his favorite foods, mushrooms, as well as a lot of cheese, which he loves.

Pasta with Mushrooms

8 oz. uncooked pasta

2 tsp olive oil

10 white button mushrooms, thinly sliced

¼ lb ground hamburger meat

½ cup shredded cheese (I use Emmental because it comes pre-shredded here, but any bagged blend is fine)

freshly ground pepper

salt

Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water until al dente, about six minutes. Drain and reserve some of the pasta water.

Meanwhile, heat a skillet over high heat and add one teaspoon of the olive oil. Place the meat in the skillet and add salt and pepper. Allow the meat to brown on each side before turning, about four minutes total.

Remove the meat from the skillet and drain off all but two teaspoons of the fat. Add the mushrooms and more salt and pepper, and sauté until cooked through. Add the reserved olive oil if necessary.

Add the meat back to the skillet, and toss with the pasta. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Add some of the reserved pasta water if necessary. Taste for seasonings.

Some days, the key to a good meal is knowing what to do with what you have lying around the house. Most days, I plan ahead for dinner and go to the store to get what I’ll need. Other days, though, I just need to raid my fridge and see what I come up with. Since I always have canned tomatoes on hand, this usually means a simple pasta with some kind of tomato sauce… usually with some meat or veggies thrown in. However, one night I started making some pasta: fresh ravioli, when I realized I didn’t have any canned tomatoes.

This led to this baked ravioli dish, a really quick and easy supper with lots of yummy veggies. I like to enjoy ravioli this way now: the absence of a thick tomato sauce allows you to focus on the taste of the fresh pasta, which I don’t have too often because of the expense.

Baked Ravioli

1 package fresh ravioli, cooked

1 green pepper, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

2 teaspoons dried basil

fresh black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

2 oz. Parmegiano-Reggiano cheese, broken into chunks

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Toss all of the ingredients except for the cheese in a large baking dish, adding more olive oil if the ingredients are not sufficiently coated. Scatter the cheese chunks over the top. Bake until the cheese is melted and the tomatoes have released their juices. Remove from the oven and toss so that the tomato juice is evenly distributed, and serve with extra grated cheese on the side if you like.

Rice pudding is an easy comfort food: it’s really quite simple to make, and there’s nothing better than having a steaming bow of something hot and sweet to warm you up and make you feel good from the inside out.

This recipe makes just enough for one person (no need to share) so that you can enjoy your little morsel and not have to worry about leftovers (leftover rice pudding doesn’t reheat well.

Rice Pudding

1 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. Arborio rice

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup whole milk, heated

Heat the butter over medium-high heat in a small saucepan until melted. Add the sugar and stir until melted. Add the rice, vanilla and cinnamon and cook until the rice toasted, about one minute.

Add the milk a few tablespoons at a time, stirring to allow it to absorb before adding more. (This technique is like the one used for risotto: if you are accustomed to making risotto by sight instead of by using instructions, then just do it however makes you comfortable.)

Add enough milk until the rice is cooked through and the pudding becomes creamy. Serve immediately with more cinnamon on top if desired.

Sometimes, I have strange cooking urges. It usually happens in class.

I’ll be sitting in a classroom, half-listening to the professor, when suddenly, a craving overcomes me. They’re always different: potato and honey pizza, caramelized onions and apples, melted brown sugar on toast… they’re odd or may not work, but I decide, at that point, that there is something that I have to have, and then I figure out exactly when and how I am going to have it.

That’s what happened with this Peachy Polenta. I was sitting in class, minding my own business (and actually taking notes, for a change) when I suddenly decided that I had to have polenta and peaches together. I don’t know why, but that’s what my stomach told me. And over the past 21 years, I’ve learned that my stomach is usually right.

And it was. When I made this (for my dinner, oddly enough, although it would be much better as breakfast) it was better than I ever could have imagined. The polenta was creamy and perfect, while the peaches added just the right amount of sweetness. Sometimes my cravings are right on, and this was one of them.

Peachy Polenta

1 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 4 oz. container plain, lowfat yogurt
1 peach, cut into sections

Heat the milk over low heat and add the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Slowly add the cornmeal, stirring all the time. If you find that the cornmeal soaks up the milk too quickly, you can add a little bit of water. When the polenta is cooked all the way through, turn off the stove and spoon about 3/4 of the yogurt container into the pot and stir. Place in a bowl and top with peach segments and the remaining yogurt. Serve hot with extra cinnamon if desired.

This is one of those super-easy techniques that will make guests think you were slaving in the kitchen all day. Oh, I love those days.

Roasting any food essentially dehydrates it, concentrating its flavor, while also caramelizing its sugars. For a fruit like a tomato, this means a lot of flavor and a lot of sugar. Throwing in some garlic, which also has a lot of natural sugar, means you’re left with a tomato sauce (or tomato topping) that has none of that unpleasant acidity: you get just enough acid from the flavor of the balsamic vinegar to let the true taste of the tomato shine through.

These tomatoes can be served as part of an antipasto platter, as a pasta sauce, or as a simple topping to go with warm, crusty bread or crostini. However you choose to enjoy it, I promise you’ll be coming back to this recipe again and again.

Roasted Tomatoes

1 lb. whole tomatoes, quartered

3 tbsp. olive oil

several hefty pinches of salt

3 whole cloves of garlic, punctured but not unwrapped

1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar (optional)

fresh ground black pepper

1 tbsp. herbes de Provence (I like this blend, but feel free to use whatever herbs you like. Some suggestions are basil, rosemary, oregano, or a combination)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the tomatoes, olive oil, salt, garlic, and vinegar if you’re using it. Place in the oven and roast until the tomatoes begin to release their juices, about 20 minutes. Turn the tomatoes and add the herbs and black pepper. Roast for about another 20 minutes, or until they have released all of their juices and are darkened and caramelized.

Note: If you decide to toss the tomatoes with pasta, use a little bit of the cooking water to loosen some of the caramelization from the bottom of the pan and toss it with the pasta for extra flavor.

In my quest to find new recipes and new styles of cooking, I sometimes forget about the old, faithful dishes that used to work so well when I was just starting out as a fledgling cook. One of my favorite things to cook when I was just starting was chicken piccata: chicken cooked with lemon juice and white wine and often capers. When I was deciding what I would make for dinner this week, with just a hot plate to use, I remembered my old standby, and I was surprised at how easy it was compared with how I remembered it.

It was just as tasty.

Chicken Piccata

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup white flour

1 lemon

½-1 cup white wine

salt and pepper

8 oz. spaghetti

1 cup thawed frozen spinach

Heat a skillet to medium-high heat. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Rinse and pat dry the chicken. Dredge first in flour, then in egg, allowing the excess to drip off, and then again in flour. Salt and pepper the chicken breasts.

Heat the olive oil in the skillet until hot but not smoking. Lay the chicken breasts in the pan and allow to sear, two minutes on each side. For optimal browning, do not move the chicken while it is browning.

Turn the heat down to medium low and add the wine to the pan. Allow to cook, making sure that there is always liquid in the bottom of the pan so that the chicken does not burn. Turn once.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in the boiling water until al dente, about six minutes. Drain, reserving about a cup of cooking liquid, and add the spinach to the pasta.

Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the chicken, and then remove to a separate plate. Add more wine to the pan if necessary, and scrape up all of the bits on the bottom. Whisk together and add to the spaghetti. Add the juice of the other half of the lemon.

Serve the chicken over the spaghetti, with cheese on the side if desired.

Comfort food is a funny, funny thing. Sometimes the strangest combinations end up being absolutely delicious.

Take one of my favorite comfort foods. The combination of boiled potatoes, plain yogurt, mustard and chives should not be nearly as delicious as it is. It’s a simple recipe I learned a long time ago from a French family, but I still make it whenever I want something hot and simple for dinner. I used a big potato in this picture, but the presentation is a lot nicer with little, red-skinned new potatoes.

Chive-Mustard Potatoes 

½ lb. new potatoes

2 cups plain yogurt

2 tbsp. Dijon mustard

2 tbsp. chives

Boil the potatoes until cooked through, about 20-25 minutes. Drain and toss with salt. Place in a large serving bowl.

Combine the yogurt, mustard and chives, adjusting amounts for your preference (I like it spicy and chivey).

Serve potatoes with a bowl of sauce on the side. Some charcuterie (cold cuts like prosciutto, salami and ham) and a fresh, green salad make good accompaniments.

Note: You can also mash the potatoes: increase the sauce proportions by half and mash with the potatoes, adding a pat of butter to each serving.

Once again, I bring you eggs.

This time, I’ve combined pungent gorgonzola cheese and woodsy mushrooms for an omelette that is sturdy enough to be dinner on a winter evening with a side of green salad. I’ll never tire of omelettes, and neither should you: they’re a cheap, delicious way to clean out the fridge and experiment with different combinations of ingredients.
 

Gorgonzola Mushroom Omelette

5-6 crimini mushrooms, sliced

salt and pepper

1 tsp. olive oil

1 tsp. butter

2 oz. Gorgonzola, broken into small chunks

6 eggs

3 tbsp. milk

1 tbsp. crème fraiche or sour cream

Heat a skillet over medium head and add the butter and oil. Add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt (the cheese will bring salt as well). Cook the mushrooms until they have released their liquid and it has evaporated, and they are brown and toasty on the outside. Spread them evenly across the bottom of the skillet. If you need more oil, add another teaspoon of olive oil.

In a bowl, combine the eggs, milk and crème fraiche. Pour the mixture over the mushrooms. Top immediately with the Gorgonzola cheese and black pepper. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cover. Cook just until the omelette has set, about five minutes, checking the bottom for doneness. If necessary, turn the temperature down to low to keep the bottom from burning.

Carefully, flip one side of the omelette over the other to form a half moon. Cook another thirty seconds to set, and then transfer to a plate. Cut into wedges and serve.