Guten Appetit! Germany & the Czech Republic

I’ve had a few revelations since my return from Europe this week. For one, my family is nuts – we’ve made over 10 trips to Germany (and surrounding countries) and we’re still making mistakes. You’d think we’d be seasoned pros by now, but nope, not yet. Two, I don’t exercise near as much as I should. We hiked 6 miles up and down a rocky, muddy mountain to see a castle… 6 miles. Crazy. And three, I center my vacations way too much around food. However, this means that I’ve returned with several new recipes in tow to post in the near future. Hurray! And guess what I found in Wuppertal? Cupcakes at McDonald’s!

I’m definitely going on a diet… just as soon as this jet lag moves on. 🙂

 

Pioneer Woman’s ‘Macaroni & Cheese’

I had such a craving for Macaroni & Cheese last night. So starved for it, that I found myself sitting on the kitchen floor thumbing through all my ‘Southern’ cookbooks. You know the ones… those that feature fried chicken, filling comfort foods and big, calorie-laden casseroles. That’s when I grabbed P-Dub’s book and immediately opened it up to her Mac & Cheese recipe. It took a while, but I was finally gobbling it up at 9:30p. Ree says that it makes 8 servings, but unless you’re a giant, this thing will feed an army. Or several hungry cowboys and kiddos. 😉

Macaroni & Cheese (pg. 96-97)
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond
Yields: 8 servings

4 c dry macaroni
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c butter (1/2 stick or 4 tbsp)
1/4 c all-purpose flour
2-1/2 c whole milk
2 heaping tsp dry mustard (or more to taste)
1 lb cheddar or other desired cheese, grated
1/2 tsp salt (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp seasoned salt (or more to taste)
1 tsp ground black pepper

Cook the macaroni until very firm. The macaroni should be too firm to eat right out of the pot. (If you’re in a hurry and don’t want to bake the macaroni and cheese, cook it now until it’s done.) Drain.

In a small bowl, beat the egg. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter a large oval or rectangular baking dish. In a large pot, melt the butter and sprinkle in the flour. Whisk it together over medium-low heat. Cook for 5 minutes, whisking constantly. Don’t let it burn. Pour in the milk. Add the mustard and whisk until smooth. Cook for 5 minutes or until very thick, whisking constantly. Reduce the heat to low.

To temper the egg, slowly pour 1/4 cup of the sauce into the beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking the egg. Whisk until smooth. Pour the egg mixture into the sauce, whisking until smooth. Add in all but 1/2 cup of the cheese and stir until melted.

Add the seasonings. Taste the sauce and add more salt and seasoned salt as needed. Do not undersalt or you’ll regret it for the rest of your life! Pour in the cooked, drained macaroni and stir to combine. Serve immediately or pour into the baking dish and top with remaining cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until bubbly and golden on top. Serve to hungry humans.

 

Inaugural Daring Cooks/May ’09 – Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi

Oh boy! What an exciting month! Yummy TWD choices, samples to try, parties to attend and it’s finally time for the First Ever Daring Cooks challenge! For our inaugural DC dish, hostess’ Lis of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice have chosen The Zuni Café’s Ricotta Gnocchi.

This recipe was time-consuming, but so worth it. I ended up shaping the gnocchi on a fork, much like the potato gnocchi. And as for the sauce, we were free to do as we wished, so I altered Ina’s Basic Pesto into a Lemon-Basil Pesto… and IT. WAS. AWESOME. Seriously, I could eat a bowl of pesto for dinner. With a straw.

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi
Source: 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.

 

Vermicelli with Sauce Alla Sofia

If you’re looking for a quick weeknight meal (that’s fabulous, btw), look no further. After work and a quick trip to this gym this evening, I really didn’t feel like making a big deal about dinner. I remembered seeing this recipe in Gourmet and thought it would be perfect… however, I omitted the capers, olives and anchovies. Quite frankly, the four of us just don’t get along. I wasn’t let down, though… it took about 20 minutes and I was eating yummy pasta! 🙂 Molto buono, Sofia!!

Vermicelli with Sauce Alla Sofia
Source: Gourmet, September 2004

Recipe by Sofia Loren

2 garlic cloves
1-1/2 c loosely packed, fresh, flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 small onion, sliced (about 1-1/2 c)
4 anchovy fillets, rinsed, patted dry and chopped (omitted)
1/3 c brine-cured green olives, pitted (omitted)
2 tsp drained bottled capers (omitted)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 c + 1 tsp olive oil
1 lb vermicelli or linguine

With a food processor running, drop in garlic and finely chop. Stop motor and add parsley, onion, anchovies, olives, capers, salt and pepper; process until finely chopped. With motor running, add 1/2 c olive oil, blending until incorporated.

Cook pasta in a 6-8 qt. pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain well in a colander, then return to pot and toss with remaining 1 tsp olive oil. Transfer pasta to a large serving bowl, then pour sauce over top and toss well. Serve immediately.

Cooks’ Note: Sauce can be made 1 hour ahead and kept covered at room temperature.

 

Daring Bakers/March ’09 – Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna

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.

Unfortunately, I left my camera at work and couldn’t take pictures during the assembly process… heck, I didn’t even take pictures of the complete casserole before I dug in!! I guess that’s what happens when you’re STARVING!! 😀 The lasagne didn’t hold up very well after it was cut, either. Not sure why, guess I just need to try it again… which I definitely will. This was absolutely delicious!!

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna (Lasagne Verdi al Forno)
Source: The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food by Lynne Rossetto Kasper

 

Barefoot Bloggers – Grown Up Mac & Cheese

This week’s Barefoot Bloggers recipe was Grown Up Mac & Cheese. I got really excited until I clicked onto Food Network’s site and read the ingredients. One, I’m not a fan of bacon unless it’s burned… almost to the point of disintegration. 🙂 Two, I don’t like any stinky cheeses… like the Gruyere or Blue Cheese that’s called for below. So, now, without those three ingredients, it’s not really “Grown Up” anymore, is it?

It was tasty, but the next time I make it I’m definitely adding a tent of foil half way through the baking time, since the top noodles were crunchy when I took it out of the oven. Overall, pretty good… even if it wasn’t all that “Grown Up”. 😉

Chosen by Heather of Randomosity and the Girl, I give you Ina’s Grown Up Mac & Cheese…

Grown Up Mac & Cheese
Source: Ina Garten

4 oz thick-sliced bacon (omitted)
Vegetable oil
Kosher salt
2 c elbow macaroni or cavatappi
1-1/2 c milk
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
4 oz Gruyere cheese, grated (omitted)
3 oz extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (doubled)
2 oz blue cheese, such as Roquefort, crumbled (omitted)
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Pinch nutmeg
2 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed
2 tbsp freshly chopped basil leaves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place a baking rack on a sheet pan and arrange the bacon in 1 layer on the baking rack. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the bacon is crisp. Remove the pan carefully from the oven – there will be hot grease in the pan! Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and crumble when it is cool enough to handle.

Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don’t boil it. Melt the butter in a medium pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or 2 more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, blue cheese, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and crumbled bacon and stir well. Pour into 2 individual size gratin dishes.

Place the bread slices in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until you have coarse crumbs. Add the basil and pulse to combine. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the top of the pasta. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

 

Lila’s Chicken

I love it when I get to spend a whole day with my little sister… just R and J, no one else. Today was such a day. After hitting our favorite grocery store, we went shopping in a new outdoor shopping haven. 😉 I visited Texas’ first Vera Bradley store and picked up a copy of Vera Bradley – Cooking With Friends… a cookbook I’ve been eyeing for quite some time. Of course, I had to open it up and read through it on the drive home. As I scanned the pages, I came across Lila’s Chicken (something I just knew my sis would love). As I read it aloud to her, she decided that we were making it for dinner! Needless to say, it was very tasty and something I’d definitely make again! I love this book!! 🙂

Lila’s Chicken
Source: Vera Bradley – Cooking With Friends

8 oz vermicelli
1/2 c (1 stick) butter (I subbed about 2 tbsp olive oil)
1 large onion, chopped
1-1/2 c sliced fresh mushrooms
1 (10 oz) can cream of chicken soup
1 (10 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
2 c chicken broth
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
2 c sour cream
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
seasoned pepper to taste

Topping:
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese (omitted)
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese
5 slices rye bread, cut into cubes (omitted)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8×12-inch baking dish (I used a 9×13-inch, which came close to overflowing!!). Boil the vermicelli for 2 minutes; drain.

Melt the butter (olive oil) in a large skillet. Add the onion and saute until translucent. Combine the sauteed onion, mushrooms, soups, chicken broth and uncooked chicken in a large bowl and mix well. Add the sour cream, seasoned pepper and cheddar cheese. Stir in the slightly cooked pasta.

Spoon into the baking dish. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese. Sprinkle the bread cubes over the top. Bake for 1 hour or until the chicken is cooked through.

 

Go-To Pasta Salad

Time for the Summer edition of WC’s Recipe Exchange!! This couldn’t have come at a more perfect time for me. I made this to take to my parent’s Fourth of July get-together… along with next week’s TWD Blue(Black)berry Pie… and it was a hit! A family friend loved it so much, she asked for the recipe! 🙂 The only thing I’d add to it next time is a little salt. My changes are in purple… Happy Fourth of July, my lovely readers!!

Go-To Pasta Salad
Source: WC Recipe Exchange Jun/Jul ‘08 – ‘Summertime Favorites’

1 box tricolored rotini (I used Barilla’s new Piccolini!!)
4 thin chicken breasts, 12-16 oz. cubed and cooked
2 avocados, cubed
1 red pepper, julienned (I subbed about 20 grape tomatoes, quartered)
1 bunch broccoli, slightly cooked – thrown in for the last two minutes with the boiling rotini
1 block (8 oz.) low-fat monterrey jack or cheddar cheese, cubed (I used shredded)
1 c low-fat Ranch or Italian dressing, homemade or from the bottle

Cook ingredients as indicated and combine together. I squeezed a lemon over the salad so that the avocado doesn’t turn brown. I also cook my chicken with Italian seasoning (I didn’t) to give it some flavor. Makes a big pasta salad so bring it to your next BBQ!

 

Barefoot Bloggers – Pasta, Pesto & Peas

Holy Macaroni!! 🙂 If you need to feed a small army, look no further… this is the pasta for you. Besides being enough for someone with a horse’s appetite, this is the yummiest homemade pasta dish I’ve ever had. I can’t WAIT to make it again!!

Pasta, Pesto & Peas
Source: Barefoot Contessa Parties! by Ina Garten

3/4 lb. fusilli pasta
3/4 lb. bow tie pasta
1/4 c good olive oil
1-1/2 c pesto, packaged or see recipe below (I made my own)
1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1-1/4 c good mayonnaise (I used 1 c, which was plenty!)
1/2 c freshly grated Parmesan
1-1/2 c frozen peas, defrosted
1/3 c pignolis (pine nuts) (omitted from pasta)
3/4 tsp kosher salt
3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Cook the fusilli and bow ties separately in a large pot of boiling salted water for 10 to 12 minutes until each pasta is al dente. Drain and toss into a bowl with the olive oil. Cool to room temperature.
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, puree the pesto, spinach, and lemon juice. Add the mayonnaise and puree. Add the pesto mixture to the cooled pasta and then add the Parmesan, peas, pignolis, salt, and pepper. Mix well, season to taste, and serve at room temperature.

Pesto:
1/4 c walnuts
1/4 c pignolis (pine nuts)
3 tbsp chopped garlic (9 cloves)
5 c fresh basil leaves, packed
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 c good olive oil
1 c freshly grated Parmesan

Place the walnuts, pignolis, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process for 15 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is thoroughly pureed. Add the Parmesan and puree for a minute. Use right away or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top.

Notes: Air is the enemy of pesto. For freezing, pack it in containers with a film of oil or plastic wrap directly on top with the air pressed out.

To clean basil, remove the leaves, swirl them in a bowl of water, and then spin them very dry in a salad spinner. Store them in a closed plastic bag with a slightly damp paper towel. As long as the leaves are dry they will stay green for several days.

Check out other Barefoot Bloggers here!! 🙂

 

Chicken ‘n’ Spinach Pasta Bake

Chicken ‘n’ Spinach Pasta Bake
Source: Susan Runkle, Walton, Kentucky; Southern Living, February 2007

8 ounces uncooked rigatoni
1 tbsp olive oil
1 c medium onion, finely chopped
1 (10-oz.) pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed
3 c cubed cooked chicken breasts
1 (14.5-oz.) can Italian-style diced tomatoes
1 (8-oz.) container chive-and-onion cream cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1-1/2 c (6 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese (I used cheddar)

Prepare rigatoni according to package directions. Meanwhile, spread oil on bottom of an 11- x 7-inch baking dish; add onion in a single layer. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or just until tender. Transfer onion to a large bowl, and set aside. Drain chopped spinach well, pressing between layers of paper towels. Stir rigatoni, spinach, chicken, and next 4 ingredients into onion in bowl. Spoon mixture into baking dish, and sprinkle evenly with shredded mozzarella (or cheddar) cheese. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes; uncover and bake 15 more minutes or until bubbly.