Ahhh, the core GCC coursework is done, done and done! Congrats to all my fellow 1st years at Rush!! So what’s a girl to do with all this so called spare time? Okay, maybe not really because I still have a couple of papers and 3 exams to study for… but come on now, a little mental breather is well deserved!
I bought a 1 lbs bag of baby spinach this past weekend. If you’ve never seen 1 lb bags of spinach, well it’s A LOT. Eating it raw is the best way, but that’s also a lot of spinach to eat. Why not into some pasta form? Over all, this is a super easy recipe if you just go with the spinach/garlic/chicken part to top off some noodles, but if you really want to go for it, it doesn’t take much time at all for super fresh pasta. Pasta making from start to finish takes me about 1-1 ¼ hrs, resting time included.
Why butterflied chicken breast you may ask? Mainly because it just cooks faster. MUCH faster.
Also- this doesn't really make a "sauce" soooo you might want to have a jar of alfredo on the side.
The last time I made spinach pasta, or attempted to I should say, was in Santa Barbara at my Ladera house. Ah, what a nightmare. I still think that my pasta roller was possibly one of the best kitchen investments I’ve ever made.
Spinach Pasta Noodles with Wilted Spinach, Garlic and Cubed Chicken
ingredients For spinach pasta noodles:
2 cups fresh baby spinach
.25 c water
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tblspn olive oil
2-3 c AP flour
ingredients For Spinach and garlic pasta sauté with cubed chicken
1 cup fresh spinach
2 or 3 cloves of fresh garlic minced
1 tblsn olive oil
2 chicken breasts, butterflied
pecorino romano or parmesan for topping
instructions: Pasta Noodles
1. in a pan, sauté baby spinach in the water and salt until cooked down and tender
2. let cool down, transfer into a blender and mix in egg
3. in your Kitchen Aid mixer bowl, make a well of flour with 2.25 c flour.
4. Pour in spinach/egg mixture into the well, add 1 tblspn olive oil
5. Mix on medium until dough forms
6. If the ball forms but feels sticky, add flour until the dough isn’t sticky anymore
7. Let rest for 15-30 minutes
8. Roll out into desired pasta noodle size (this time I went with a pappardelle)
9. Boil in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente (2-3 minutes)
Makes about 1 lbs pasta
instructions: Spinach, garlic and Chicken
1. In a large pan, heat olive oil, sear chicken breast until about 2/3 of the way cooked through
2. Remove from pan, let rest 1-2 minutes then cube
3. Return pan to stove, on medium high heat, sauté together cubed chicken and garlic.
4. Once chicken has heated all the way through, toss in spinach and sauté until wilted
5. Put sauté mixture on top of noodles, or alternatively toss into noodles.
6. Top of with cheese
Makes enough for 4 servings, ish.
Showing posts with label pasta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pasta. Show all posts
Monday, March 8, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
From Scratch Lasagna
I have two amazing little twin cousins, Cindy&Nancy. Okay, they aren't little as in spunky 8 year old twins, they are actually the ripe age of 25 and going strong at a whole 4'& 10".
I love these two girls as if they are my own sisters. They are the funniest little things because they refuse to put anything green into their Pho (ie the cilantro, the thin sliced onions or the scallions) nor do they eat ground beef (or any ground meats in general). Nan also doesn't eat any vegetables. Apparently, Cindy’s gotten better and since the last time I saw her- has become practically a vegetarian.
So what the heck am I supposed to make? In bulk, making lasagna is the easiest thing ever and I make lasagnas all the time. This was a special occasion though- seeing the Tiny Twins. Of course I am also putting off massive piles of school work as I consciously make the decision to do this: Make a whole lasagna from scratch.
That’s right everyone, I made the ricotta, the mozzarella, the sauce and the pasta noodles. All components are super easy to make. It’s just the sacrifice of time really. Both cheeses (see ricotta cheese entry) take less then 4 ingredients each to make, and can really be done in less then 1 hr. The sauce, once everything is in the pot (mine was just a basic peppers, onions, garlic and tomato), just needs time to simmer and the dough, once formed (whole wheat of course!), just needs to rest and be rolled out.
I would have loved to put layers of vegetables- zucchini, yellow squash, egg plant, etc etc and incorporated some kind of protein (meat sauce or Italian sausage?) but over all, it was possibly one of the tastiest lasagnas and biggest labors of food love I have thus far done in my cooking career.
I love these two girls as if they are my own sisters. They are the funniest little things because they refuse to put anything green into their Pho (ie the cilantro, the thin sliced onions or the scallions) nor do they eat ground beef (or any ground meats in general). Nan also doesn't eat any vegetables. Apparently, Cindy’s gotten better and since the last time I saw her- has become practically a vegetarian.
So what the heck am I supposed to make? In bulk, making lasagna is the easiest thing ever and I make lasagnas all the time. This was a special occasion though- seeing the Tiny Twins. Of course I am also putting off massive piles of school work as I consciously make the decision to do this: Make a whole lasagna from scratch.
That’s right everyone, I made the ricotta, the mozzarella, the sauce and the pasta noodles. All components are super easy to make. It’s just the sacrifice of time really. Both cheeses (see ricotta cheese entry) take less then 4 ingredients each to make, and can really be done in less then 1 hr. The sauce, once everything is in the pot (mine was just a basic peppers, onions, garlic and tomato), just needs time to simmer and the dough, once formed (whole wheat of course!), just needs to rest and be rolled out.
I would have loved to put layers of vegetables- zucchini, yellow squash, egg plant, etc etc and incorporated some kind of protein (meat sauce or Italian sausage?) but over all, it was possibly one of the tastiest lasagnas and biggest labors of food love I have thus far done in my cooking career.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Whole Wheat Semolina Pasta
I've been obsessed with two different things in the kitchen as of late. 1. Pumpkin everything (I bought a giant cooking pumpkin) and 2. Homemade pasta.
After making a semi-successful Pumpkin Ravioli (yum filling, crappy dough), I refused to NEVER EVER roll pasta dough out by hand EVER AGAIN. On an afternoon run downtown, I cruised past a store that happened to have one in stock, so for $16.99 (plus the 10.25% chi/IL tax) I picked up a great little pasta roller.
With a mixture of whole wheat flour, all purpose and semolina, I concocted a little ball of pasta dough (and surprisingly proportioned for just 2 people!!!). An easy to put together recipe, longest part is letting it rest, and cranking it through the machine, some yummy, healthy homemade pasta!
Note: this only makes about .75 lbs ish of pasta (I am guessing), you can easily double this recipe
Also Note: I used my Kitchen Aid stand Mixer, dough hook attached, on low
Whole Wheat Semolina Pasta
ingredients
0.5 c AP flour
0.5 c whole wheat flour
0.5 c semolina flour
0.25 tsp sea salt
2 large eggs,
2 teaspoon olive oil
instructions
1. combine dry ingredients
2. make a well
3. in a separate bowl, beat the eggs and olive oil together,
4. pour into well
5. mix slowly until a dough ball forms, knead for another 3-4 minutes
6. if needed, add 1-2 teaspoon water to make dough ball
7. once dough is together, wrap in plastic
8. let rest for 2 hrs in the refrigerator
9. roll it out! Let the ball come up to room temp, cut in half, and roll into desired thickness and shape. In the photo, I rolled out to dial number 5, fettuccine cut ** if it is a little sticky, dust flour as needed **
10. put in pot of boiling water, boil for 4-5 minutes.
makes ~0.75 lbs pasta.
After making a semi-successful Pumpkin Ravioli (yum filling, crappy dough), I refused to NEVER EVER roll pasta dough out by hand EVER AGAIN. On an afternoon run downtown, I cruised past a store that happened to have one in stock, so for $16.99 (plus the 10.25% chi/IL tax) I picked up a great little pasta roller.
With a mixture of whole wheat flour, all purpose and semolina, I concocted a little ball of pasta dough (and surprisingly proportioned for just 2 people!!!). An easy to put together recipe, longest part is letting it rest, and cranking it through the machine, some yummy, healthy homemade pasta!
Note: this only makes about .75 lbs ish of pasta (I am guessing), you can easily double this recipe
Also Note: I used my Kitchen Aid stand Mixer, dough hook attached, on low
Whole Wheat Semolina Pasta
ingredients
0.5 c AP flour
0.5 c whole wheat flour
0.5 c semolina flour
0.25 tsp sea salt
2 large eggs,
2 teaspoon olive oil
instructions
1. combine dry ingredients
2. make a well
3. in a separate bowl, beat the eggs and olive oil together,
4. pour into well
5. mix slowly until a dough ball forms, knead for another 3-4 minutes
6. if needed, add 1-2 teaspoon water to make dough ball
7. once dough is together, wrap in plastic
8. let rest for 2 hrs in the refrigerator
9. roll it out! Let the ball come up to room temp, cut in half, and roll into desired thickness and shape. In the photo, I rolled out to dial number 5, fettuccine cut ** if it is a little sticky, dust flour as needed **
10. put in pot of boiling water, boil for 4-5 minutes.
makes ~0.75 lbs pasta.
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