Pasta – Page 3 – Rosemary and the Goat

Spinach Fettucini with Sweet/Hot Sausage

Good on a cold winter’s night.

Nothing taste better to me on a bone chilling night than pasta, a good salad and maybe some homemade bread or even a good loaf of some artisan bread you picked up at the store.

There are so many pasta and sauce recipes out there that you could probably make a different pasta each week and never have to repeat a recipe.

I found this recipe in a Creme de Colorado cookbook about 20 years ago and I have been making it ever since. I remember the first time I made this dish I was catering an event at a local art gallery. Two people came up to me after the dinner and said they would like me to cater the exact same dinner for them. So, I did make it again and actually a few more times before I ever TASTED the dish. Now, you may say, how could you do that. I don’t have an answer. Sometimes I read a recipe and I know I will like it. I guess I felt no need to sample the finished dish. After making the dish several times (I finally tasted it) it has become a favorite of mine. I love the sweet and hot taste of the Italian sausage together with the sauce. I heard the judges on a cooking show say “if you aren’t tasting, you aren’t cooking”, guess I should start tasting some as I go.

This recipe has a lot of olive oil and butter and of course you could always cut down on the oil and butter that make up the sauce and probably substitute some broth in place of it. If I were you I would follow the recipe the first time as written and then tweak the second time you make it. I cooked 1 lb. each of the hot and sweet sausage and you do want both the sweet and hot flavors or the different sausages. Sometimes if I find the sausage at the butcher counter then I will buy just 1/2 lb. of each. The day I made this I decided to go on and cook the whole package of each and add some extra meat to the dish. You can either freeze your extra sausage for another use or add it to the fettuccini.

I made this for our Bunco Christmas get together last week and it was a big hit. Thanks ladies for being my guinea pigs (tasters is a better term I guess).

Do you have a favorite pasta dish? If so, I’d like to hear about it; please leave in the comment section below.

December 10, 2013 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Browned Sage Butter

Fall is here! Hip, Hip, Hurray!

Fall is here and don’t you just love this time of the year. Thoughts of comfort foods start filling my head and this recipe turned out soooo good I almost knocked the breath out of myself patting myself on the back.

Our leaves haven’t started falling yet; sometimes that doesn’t start until December or even January before we see the sky full of floating leaves. But, with a fading summer and those nice cool nights ahead of us it won’t be long before we are seeing piles of leaves raked up just waiting for some kid to jump and play in them.

While in Chicago several weeks ago Fall was starting to show its prettier side. On our walk to take our grandson, Oliver, to school one day we enjoyed flowers still blooming but also sidewalks full of leaves that gave way to a crunchy sound as we strolled on top of them. We cooked some roasted chicken one night on the grill and a grilled salmon another night and the two sides that couldn’t wait to make their appearance again were Stephanie’s Magic Beans and my Cauliflower Mash with Kale which went perfect with both dishes and to top one of the meals off we cooked some chopped apples and cinnamon which we ladled over ice cream and I think this recipe is going to go onto my favorites list of things I have blogged.

I took a shortcut making the ravioli and used wonton pieces instead of making my own pasta. We all look for shortcuts and I think this is one shortcut you won’t mind taking. And, the good thing about this recipe is that you can freeze the uncooked raviolis for an easy meal some winter night ahead. (If you freeze the raviolis, put in a single layer and put in freezer until they are frozen then put enough in one bag for a meal.)

At the Firefly restaurant in Nashville back in the summer my husband had a Butternut Squash Ravioli with goat cheese and what better to go over it than a Browned Sage Butter. I think this ravioli screams for the browned butter and browned butter and sage are a perfect pair.

October 19, 2013 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Browned Butter Sage Sauce

Another use for the sweet potato.

I like to use my best Italian accent when I try (key word is try) to say Gnocchi. I may even look a little Italian when the word comes out of my mouth. What can I say, I’m a natural. Ha.

A couple of years ago I belonged to a group of cooks or “foodies” called The Darling Kitchen and each month the group is given a challenge of something to make and they make it and within the month the post their pictures for everyone to see. This is my first challenge since having the new “joints” put in.

Gnocchi are potato dumplings made with potatoes and boiled until light and fluffy and served with some type of sauce. Making gnocchi takes practice and patience and I hope some of you have tried my gnocchi recipe back in May. I use to be afraid to try and make different things and finally realized that what’s the worst that that could go wrong — throw it out and start over maybe. (I’m still afraid to try petti fours at least the ones I want to make and maybe I’ll get up nerve some day.)

I’ve made gnocchi several times and just back in May I posted my gnocchi with chicken and gorgonzola sauce. Looking around online I saw several recipes that looked interesting. I first decided on sweet Potato gnocchi then changed my mine again and again. I came across a recipe for sweet potato gnocchi that is fried and decided to try that along with the a more traditional style using sweet potatoes but I’m using the browned butter sage sauce on both. Either of these gnocchi would make a savory side dish with any pork dish and some grilled or fried fish would be a good bet too.

September 14, 2013 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta

Szechwan Noodles with Baby Vegetables

A very colorful dish.

After a movie one morning (Yes, I do go to morning movies, and it was a horror movie so I have to go by myself because none of my friends like that type of movie.) I stopped in my favorite little market, Hubble and Hudson, which is right across the street from the theatre.

I came out toting some tiny French green beans, tiny patty pan yellow squash and some baby zucchini and carrots. I already had a package of noodles that looked interesting that I picked up at Trader Joe’s, so I knew I had the makings for dinner one night. And hiding away in my pantry was a jar of Szechwan peppercorns that I needed to use.

Isn’t it nice to have recipes that you can throw together in a moments notice and not feel like you are spending hours in the kitchen preparing food that is eaten in less than 15 minutes?

The flavor from the Szechwan peppercorn comes from the husk around the seed and is know for taming down the other hot/spicy flavors of a dish. The seed itself has no flavor. I love getting out my mortar and pestle to crush the little things.

MY FIRST GIVEAWAY! OK, it isn’t a Kitchen Aid mixer like the Pioneer Woman gives away or a designer purse like other giveaways. I want to see how a giveaway would work for this blog. This giveaway is for a bottle of Smucker’s Key Lime Plate Scrapers that I used in the White Chocolate Key Lime Pie. WINNER drawn August 25th — Donna. Congrats.

August 15, 2013 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta/ Side dish

White Cheddar Mac and Cheese w/ Truffle Oil

Who says you can never go home again!

We were recently back home for my twin sister’s husband’s (Gary) funeral. Why is it so hard to say goodbye to someone you have known for most of your life even though you know there is no more suffering and he is in a better place.

We saw so many of their friends and our old friends from years of growing up in Caruthersville and while sitting in Church looking around, I’m thinking did I get older too, and when did that happen; I guessI haven’t spent too much time looking in the mirror.

Even though it was such a difficult time it was great seeing all of Gary’s family together for each other. One night while visiting with his cousin, Frankie and her husband, Paul (we grew up as neighbors) reminded me of the time he was pulling my sister and me in a little wagon and we were topless. He has the picture and if I get it I will surely post it here. Now, I’m sure we were five or six years old and cute as a bug back then.

So, when I here “you can’t go home again” I say phooey. I can close my eyes and find myself in Figgens ice cream shop as a little kid sitting on a stool, legs swinging, having a Walk-Away sundae, or pulling in at Knox’s drive-in during lunch at high school, or picking cotton (for fun) when we were in high school, riding the loop of our small town, parking at the sea wall, going into Sears and Roebuck to pick up an anticipated brown package with a plaid back to school dress and even memories of standing in the kitchen with my mother with “The Wayward Wind” playing in the background from some vintage radio. When we go back home I really feel like we never left.

One of the homiest (if that’s a word) food I can think of as a comfort food would be macaroni and cheese. While we were in Nashville a few weeks ago, we had dinner at the Firefly restaurant with my sister. We decided to try their Truffled White Cheddar Mac and Cheese appetizer. It was perfect for the three of us to share. It was such a delicious, creamy, tangy concoction topped with crunchy panko bread crumbs.

July 21, 2013 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta/ Poultry

Gnocchi with Grilled Chicken and Gorgonzola Sauce

Here I go again trying to recreate a food experience.

When we were in Chicago back in March we walked to one of the local restaurants in Bucktown. I just love visiting our son and his family there because they have so many restaurants you can walk to. I guess I better be honest and say I didn’t walk. It was way toooooo cold and we had the little ones. So, Missy, my daughter-in-law, and I drove the boys and the dads walked because we all couldn’t get in the car with two car seats and four adults. By the time we loaded the kids up and lucked out and found a parking spot right in front of the restaurant, here comes the big guys just in time to help carry everyone in.

Club Lucky is a cool retro bar and Italian restaurant and has been part of the neighborhood for more than 50 years. The lounge is always filled with locals and the night we were there (5:30 ish — remember we have kids) the place was filled with families and lots of kids. When we entered, the bar was right in the front and before we were seated I decided to ask the bartender if he could make an aviation cocktail. Of course, he could. This is a cocktail from early 20th century (been around since 1911). The dining room is decorated in red, black and green with simple designs and has such a homey feel.

The waiter brought us a basket of warm bread right out of the oven with some dipping oil and butter. Yum. It was delicious along with my cocktail. I decided on one of the specials which was Gnocchi with Grilled Chicken and Gorgonzola Sauce with some sauteed spinach mixed in for color. It was wonderful and not too blue tasting either.

It was funny watching the kids eat. Oliver had an order of meatballs which he did a good job eating and then licked the butter out of the little individual containers. Now, Charlie, on the other hand, still ate baby food then (only 10 months old) so his mom was giving him bits of the bread and he was making it to his mouth with some of the bread but then we looked at the floor and it was covered with these tiny specks of bread — where were the birds or the DOG when you needed them?

So, I knew I was going to recreate this dish from my first bite and we had made gnocchi at a cooking class in Italy a few years earlier so I knew it would be a piece of cake! Recreating the recipe that is. The gnocchi takes practice.

May 27, 2013 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta

Brussel Sprouts, Chestnuts and Whole Wheat Pasta

Healthy pasta for dinner tonight.

While rummaging through my refrigerator the other day I came up with something interesting ingredients – a partial bag of Brussels sprouts from Christmas (yes they were still good), 1/2 a jar of steamed chestnuts that were left from a yummy Brussels sprout dish that had some sauteed butternut squash added to it, and oh, this partial tub of marscapone (you can use a soft cream cheese if you don’t have marscapone). My grandson, Milo loves cream cheese on his turkey sandwiches. Go figure. He’s a pretty persnickety eater. But he loves his cream cheese and turkey sandwiches. I remember when he called once (age 3) and said “Gran, I like cream cheese now”. Isn’t it just so cute; just about anything the grandsons say if is is preceded with “Gran” just makes me smile.

I love hearing the grandsons say “Gran”. (Two out of the four can talk.) Little Oliver (from Chicago) was so surprised by the snowman pretzel sticks I sent back with their Christmas gifts. He ate so many of these while visiting over Christmas and when I was packing up everything to mail back, there were a couple still staring at me from a glass I had them standing up in. So after falling out of his chair at the dinner table one night, mom gave him a snowman pretzel. She took a picture of him saying “Thanks, Gran, and then a big Ta-duh as he shows the pretzel to the camera.

I think I have finally purged the house of all the sweet things that were made for the holidays that were never eaten. So to come up with some healthy ingredients while cleaning out the refrigerator and pantry was exciting.

The bacon does not have to be used, of course, in this recipe if you want to go meatless; I just like the taste that it brings to the dish.
Continue Reading…

January 8, 2013 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta/ Poultry

King Ranch Pasta

Who doesn’t like the flavors of King Ranch!

I’ve always thought I made absolutely the best King Ranch casserole out there.

When we first moved to Texas and I started catering for some of the local companies and I had request for King Ranch casserole. I’d never heard of King Ranch casserole and didn’t realize that it was named after one of the largest ranches in the world and it’s here in Texas.

So, I set about trying to find what I thought would be the perfect recipe. I never found just one and ended up merging several recipes together to come up with what I thought was the perfect sauce. The addition of spices and spinach to the sauce makes this a favorite with King Ranch lovers.

My family never liked casseroles and I cannot believe that in 20 years of catering, I never made the casserole for my family.

I’ve decided to turn my casserole into King Ranch Pasta. NOT a casserole but a creamy mixture of chicken, spices and sauce mixed with pasta and baked in an oven for 30 minutes. If you want to make the casserole with tortilla, see below for those instructions.

Since Thanksgiving is fast approaching, think of this recipe when you have a lot of left over turkey staring back at you from the refrigerator.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Souffled French Onion Soup — If you love French Onion Soup you will love this one topped with a cheese soufflé. Believe it or not, the soufflé does not fall while you are eating the soup.

November 22, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta/ Side dish

Pasta with Purple Cauliflower and Walnut Cream Sauce

What a beautiful dish and my favorite color — purple.

Purple is absolutely my favorite color; throw in some lime green and you have the colors of our wedding 43 years ago and I still love those colors. Throw in a little pink and a whole lot of black and that’s the color of my closet. Hey, and it looks like purple is suppose to be a HOT color for fall. At least, my color is in style even though my clothes are not.

I was thumbing through some of my old food magazines the other day and saw a recipe for cauliflower and carrot pickles. Now, I can’t say that made me want to jump up and go buy some purple cauliflower to pickle but I did want to try to come up with a dish using this beautiful purple vegetable. I almost made this purple cauliflower and carrot dish but decided it was too boring because all I was going to do was steam the vegetables, mix them together and throw in some toasted sunflower seeds. Then I decided that a pasta dish would be perfect for fall and a walnut cream sauce with Rosemary, sage, and thyme just the thing to hold it together.

So when I saw this purple cauliflower at the market the other day I had to buy it. This purple wasn’t going to hang in my closet, it was going to be eaten. I have always thought of cauliflower as a boring vegetable; but since making my Cauliflower Mash with Kale and this recipe, I have changed my views on this beautiful versatile vegetable which can be steamed, mashed, roasted with some olive oil, fried and served raw in a salad. What more could you ask for in a vegetable.

October 31, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta/ Side dish

Zucchini Pasta with Pine Nuts

Want a healthier pasta recipe?

Again, I find myself sitting around trying to dream up a new recipe. While in Austin last weekend for our grandson’s birthday I was 2 days into the South Beach diet. It’s easy for me to get started on any new diet because I tend to obsess over what to cook and make. If someone likes to cook, then any diet should be easy, it’s a challenge for me to take something boring and make it more delicious.

Seems like everyone is always looking for a healthier way to prepare recipes. This can probably be made even healthier than I made it, so feel free to change up any of the ingredients. My daughter makes julienned zucchini all the time in place of pasta. I just wanted to add a little whole wheat pasta for some texture.

For our Christmas dinner this year we made mashed potatoes mixed with sauteed kale and onions. So, I’m sitting over the weekend thinking how good those potatoes were and maybe I could try doing a cauliflower mash and add the kale and onions to that mixture instead of mashed potatoes. I’m doing that this week and will post the results if they are worth mentioning.

Back to the weekend and the dieting. Well, I blew the diet and it was worth it. My son made about 7-8 different kinds of homemade pizza and a beautiful Mickey Mouse Birthday cake. (Remember the train wreck cake from last year?) I was only two days into the diet so why not just wait until Tuesday to restart.

So, before I get back into “the diet” why not try a healthier pasta dish. The third week of this diet allows for some whole wheat pasta. Here’s what I decided to do. Since whole wheat pasta is suppose to be so good for you, I cooked a very small amount of pasta and then julienned 3 zucchini which I sauteed along with some garlic. A few toasted pine nuts were added along with some Parmesan cheese and some parsley out of my herb garden. I drizzled in a little browned butter but that could easily be changed to olive oil. (I used four tablespoons of butter; but two probably would have been plenty.)

January 25, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta

Cauliflower Onion Linguine

A very delicious pasta dish! So good, I’m making it again this week — tonight.

Cauliflower is one of those vegetables that I frequently pass up in the produce section. I don’t know why, but I have never been a huge cauliflower fan. I love it fried, but what isn’t good breaded and fried and dipped in a decadent sauce? I have used it in my Winter White Vegetable Soup and it’s fantastic, but even on a crudité platter, I will pass it up in favor of other vegetables.

When I saw this recipe in a recent Food Network magazine I knew I was going to have to give this vegetable another try. Pasta is good with practically any kind of sauce or with any type of vegetable mixed with it. I have even made a pumpkin pasta with a browned butter walnut sage sauce that is so delectable. With or without meat, pasta is a very satisfying entree. Sometimes on “girl’s night out” my husband will have me to just make him some plain pasta with either some pesto or nothing more than olive oil and a little Parmesan. He’s not that hard to please and he has been know to open a few boxes of mac and cheese for himself.

So, I say let’s give this vegetable another try you may just have a new favorite vegetable. Continue Reading…

November 4, 2011 By Sherry

Pasta/ Side dish

Firey Angel Hair Pasta

Fire in the pasta!

I love pasta. Even though we don’t eat it often. When I do, I want my pasta simple with a lot of flavor.

I saw Giada do this on Everyday Italian a couple of years ago and knew instantly that it would meet our criteria of simple and spicy.

This dish is great served on it’s own or as a side dish to any meal. We love it with my husbands grilled salmon that we do with olive oil, lemon pepper and lots and lots of dill weed. He smokes this over a wood fire and is delicious along side this pasta or vise versa the pasta as a side with the salmon. It’s hard to decide who is the star of the plate.

My other favorite to serve with this combo is Giadas Italian chopped salad which has white beans, romaine, sun-dried tomatoes and radicchio. I will be posting that recipe soon because I think it will become one of your favorites.

April 26, 2011 By Sherry

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