Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
December 4, 2006 by Andrea 
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Filed under Pasta
Growing up Catholic, Michael had baked macaroni and cheese and other no-meat dishes on Fridays. My family had no such tradition and frankly for years I never had anything more than stove top macaroni and cheese out of the familiar blue box. I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but I do clearly remember that I was of elementary school age when I had my first experience with baked macaroni and cheese…in the school cafeteria. A yellowish-brown gelatinous blob was dropped onto my tray and I just stared, convinced that no one could possibly eat it. I took a taste but never finished the serving. And that experience is proof in my book that it is possible to screw up something as simple and wonderful as baked macaroni and cheese. In fact I didn’t even try it again until I was in college and had some in the university’s cafeteria, but this time it didn’t seem so bad as my prior experience. Read more
Classic Spaghetti Carbonara
October 20, 2006 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Italian foods, Pasta, Pork, Sauces & Marinades
I’m certainly not the first food blogger to reference Marcella Hazan, and I think I can safely predict that I will not be the last. She is considered one of the foremost authorities on Italian cuisine, and her book Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
According to Essentials, carbonara sauce has it’s roots in Rome during the last days of World War II when American soldiers brought eggs and bacon to local families to make into a pasta sauce. Pancetta is the preferred meat in this dish, Read more
Ann’s Spaghetti Sauce
October 11, 2006 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Italian foods, Pasta, Sauces & Marinades
This is Michael’s mom’s spaghetti sauce, the one he grew up with. His mom has quite a sense of humor. She jokes that she isn’t Italian so she can’t make Italian spaghetti, but she’s Polish so she can make “Polish spaghetti.” Authentic or not, it’s a good, easy multi-purpose sauce that you can use for spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, or other baked pasta dishes, and you can cook it all day in the slow cooker or in a couple hours on the stove.
Equipment
6-quart slow cooker or 6-quart pot with a lid
Ingredients
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes Read more
Linguine with Peppers and Roasted Grape Tomatoes
August 21, 2006 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Pasta, Vegetables
We’ve had great luck with the grape tomato plants this year. They’re producing in abundance, and we bring in collanders full of them just about every night. They are sweet, flavorful, and downright addictive. Michael has been packing sandwich bags full of them to take to work for a snack.
Last week I experimented with roasting them, which worked well. The flavor concentrated and they made a tasty addition to this simple and colorful pasta dish. When roasting the tomatoes, dried basil seems to work better than fresh. I found that fresh basil burned to a crisp during the 90 minute stay in the oven. Read more
Baked Penne with Tomatoes and Mozzarella
August 3, 2006 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Pasta
Baked pasta dishes are really enticing for us. We love how the sauce wraps around all of the pasta and how the cheese melts and gets stringy and a little brown on top. Mmmmm.
This is a basic baked pasta dish that requires only a few ingredients. When we first tried it, we felt that the flavor was too mild for us, so I jazzed it up by doubling the garlic and adding a lot more basil than originally called for. You can make this in the summer or winter, although I like it in the summer because I can use lots of fresh basil from my garden.
Equipment
8-quart pot with lid Read more
Japanese Salmon with Soba
July 24, 2006 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Asian, Pasta, Seafood
I saw this dish a few years ago on the old Food Network show Calling All Cooks. It looked so good that I made it the next day with a few modifications based on ingredients that I normally keep on hand. We prefer to use Tamari soy sauce, which has a rich flavor that seems to go really well with the salmon, but you can certainly user regular soy sauce. The original recipe calls for the sauce to be poured over the soba when served, but I like to drain the soba and then add them to the skillet for two or three minutes so that they absorb more of the delicious sauce.
We enjoy this with stir-fried or steamed vegetables on the side. Read more
