Pizza Pasta Pie

When I came across this dish on Pinterest, I knew I had to come up with my own version of it. What a fun and exciting dinner that any child and adult alike would get a kick out of! It's the taste of pizza, with the comfort food of pasta, beautified into a pie! Yum!

 

1/2 box dry spaghetti

2 large eggs, beaten

1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cups of tomato sauce

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 Tbsp Italian seasoning

2 Tsp garlic powder

1 Tsp onion powder

2 sausage links, cut into 1 inch pieces

12-15 slices pepperoni

1/4 cup chopped peppers

1/2 cup chopped onions

 

Recipe Adapted from Culinary Couture Blog

 In a bowl, mix ricotta cheese with the spices. This was a strictly personal addition for me. Ricotta cheese has never been my thing so, when I cook Lasagna and similar dishes, I spice it up really well.

Spray a non-stick skillet with cooking spray and cook sausages, onions, and peppers over medium high heat for 10-12 minutes, or until browned.

Lightly spray a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray and set aside.
Cook the spaghetti for the shortest time indicated on the package, al dente. Drain, rinse under cold water, and shake well to remove excess water. Pat down the top with a few paper towels. Toss in a large bowl with egg and the gratedcheese.

Press the spaghetti firmly into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate to form the bottom of your pie. I found that refrigerating the pie for a bit kept it together better when cutting slices.

Spoon ricotta mixture over the spaghetti and spread evenly along the bottom.

 Spoon the meat mixture over the ricotta and fan out the pepperoni slices on top. Top with tomato sauce. Sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until heated through. Remove from oven and let stand for 10-15 minutes before cutting into it.

Thank you to my friend, Alyssa Gray for the last picture as I left this dish for her to serve and didn't see the finished product.

Beef and Snow Pea Stir Fry

This is a great stir fry with crisp snow peas. I've recently started cooking with fresh ginger. I wasn't a fan of the pickled ginger served with sushi so I hadn't tried to use it but, dishes like Ginger Beef still were pleasing to me. So, I tried it and found that I do like it for adding flavor to Asian dishes. I use a zester to quickly add it in. It's a great item to grab at the grocery store (a small one can be 50 cents or cheaper) and just peel it and keep it in a Ziploc bag in the vegetable bin of your fridge.

 

1 Tbsp fresh ground ginger

1 small can of mushrooms, drained

8 ounces of fresh snow peas

1/2 cup chopped onions

1 bunch of scallions, chopped

1/4 Tsp Chinese 5 spice

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce

1 Tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 lb of top sirloin steak tips

 

Recipe Adapted from Epicurious

 

Heat up a large saucepan on medium heat and add the oil. Add oil, garlic, onions, and ginger and saute 3-5 minutes until the onions begin to caramelize. Add snow peas, spices, and sauces sauteing for an additional 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and scallions and mix. The last item that should be added is the beef. It will cook up very fast. I prefer beef rare, so I only cook until the outside is brown enough to serve, but cook it to your taste. This dish is great by itself or served accompanying rice.



Greek Shrimp

A few years ago, I signed up for a Greek cooking class from North Shore Community College. I really just wanted to learn how to use Filo dough better and the teacher quickly asked why I wasn't teaching the class instead! While I was having a good time catching up with my high school friend Katie, who had recently married a Greek guy and wanted to surprise him with a few dishes, I did manage to perfect my use of the dough as well as nab this great dish that I never would have really thought of by myself. It's a wonderful wine reduction that I never fail to get rave reviews on! My friend, Alyssa, also took this to a party and told me that the dish was scraped clean!

 

Just make sure you use a good wine because it will be the dominant taste of the dish. Never cook with any wine if you wouldn't want to drink it.

 

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 ½ cups chopped onions

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

1 clove minced garlic

½ Tsp sugar

3 Cups chopped plum or cherry tomatoes

1 Cup Retsina or white cooking wine

1 ½lbs peeled shrimp

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until a light golden brown, about 7 minutes. Add the parsley, garlic, and sugar and stir to mix. Add the tomatoes and cook until they soften and the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Add the wine to the skillet and cook until the liquid is absorbed. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 seconds. They will cook really fast!

 

 Remove from the heat. Pour contents into a casserole dish. Top with feta cheese and bake until cheese melts, about 5 minutes.

 

 

Broccoli and Rabe Sausage with Orzo

The other day I ran into Stop & Shop to pick up a few things. I really never shop there so I decided to look around a bit. I found this great broccoli and rabe sausage! I mean look at the colors in the photo below, it just looked so good. I searched Pinterest for some inspiration on sausage dishes but didn't come up with much. I actually really didn't even know what rabe was!
 

(räb) A vegetable plant (Brassica rapa) related to the turnip and grown for its pungent leafy shoots. Also called rapini.
 

I sent myself into the kitchen and came up with this little gem that my husband raved about.

1 lb broccoli and rabe sausage

(or really any sausage if you can't find something like this)

1/2 box cooked orzo

1/2 cup white wine or cooking wine

1/4 cup milk

1 Tbsp flour

1 cup chicken or beef broth

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1/4 cup chopped onions

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 cups steamed broccoli

Parmesan cheese (to taste)

Cook orzo to package directions and steam broccoli (I did use a Fresh n' Steam package because it was all I had at the time). Chop up the sausage links into about 1 inch pieces and saute over medium heat until thoroughly cooked, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped onion and garlic.

 

I love cooking with garlic and onions, so I buy minced garlic to keep in the fridge and cut up an onion or two at the beginning of the week and keep it in an onion saver to cook with it.

 

Let the oil from the sausage caramelize the onions a bit and then you can begin to assemble your sauce in the pan. Add the oil and stir and then add in the chicken broth. After a few minutes of simmering, add in the wine.

 

I used a Pinot Grigio, which just happened to be the "3 buck Chuck" from Trader Joe's my husband was working on in the fridge at the moment.

 

The last steps are adding the milk and flour to cream up and thicken your sauce. If you don't trust yourself adding the flour directly to the pan and being able to avoid any lumps, mix it ahead of time in the cold milk and then add them. I cooked this sauce as a reduction so I simmered everything for about 10 more minutes on medium-low and then tossed in the broccoli and the orzo. Add some Parmesan cheese to top this and you have one delicious original meal!

 

 

Hindsight:

(My plan is to add tips to my recipes. I tend to experiment a lot and not usually follow recipes so if I discover something along the way in writing these, I'll share the tips here.)

My husband likes everything with "light sauce", so I tend to cook that way. If I make this dish again, I'd like it a bit saucier. I'd up the recipe on everything in the sauce by 50% so you might consider doing that.