Cuisine: Pasta

Baked Ziti

My daughter Grace made this classic Baked Ziti recipe. Unfortunately, I got the photo and recipe, but not the dinner invitation! Her version is vegetarian, but you could add ground beef or sausage if you want. It's kind of a freeform lasagna. It's inexpensive to make, family-friendly and doesn't require all the layering that lasagna does. I can also be made ahead to be ready to pop in the oven later in the day. It looks SO good, maybe she'll bring me some leftovers!

By Leslie Blythe

Pizza Spaghetti

This Pizza Spaghetti is my new favorite casserole. If you have kids, this is a must-try. You can add your favorite toppings to the "noodle crust" to make it your own. The next day I reheated it in a cast-iron skillet for lunch. It's so good, I want to make it again, but I probably should wait at least a week!

By Leslie Blythe

Spanish Fideo with Chicken

A few weeks ago, my husband and I went to one of our favorite Spanish restaurants to have a glass of wine, socially distanced outside. We were looking at the actual menu and my husband was curious about the Pasta Espanola con Pollo or Spanish Fideo with Chicken. I decided that I would make it at home. Fideo is a short, thin, vermicelli-like noodle used in paella-like Spanish and Mexican dishes. It was so good, that I will make it again. It was a taste of Spain in a dish!

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Pappardelle

Recently, I lent/gave my pasta maker (you don't necessarily need one to make this pasta) to my daughter Grace. She has been making a lot of pasta lately. My friend Melanie dropped off some homemade marinara sauce that she made from some homegrown tomatoes. So I called Grace and ordered some of her pasta to go with this luscious sauce. As per Melanie's instructions, we made vodka sauce by adding ½ cup of vodka to the marinara - simmer until the alcohol is cooked off then add some cream. It was SO delicious! I can't get any fresher than this! 

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Orzo with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

I made this Orzo with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe and opened a jar of hot Peppadew peppers that were way past the sell-by date, so I used pepperoncini instead. The peppers add a little heat to this dish, though you can leave them out if you prefer.

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Ramen Noodle Frittata

One of my favorite lunches is Peanut Butter Ramen Noodles, which is a recipe my husband invented. Here is another way to use ramen noodles and the first thing you do is throw the flavor dust packet in the trash! Your family will love this Ramen Noodle Frittata. It's very versatile. You can use different vegetables or ground meat in it. The funny thing is that it calls for Oyster sauce and I grabbed hoisin sauce instead, which worked just fine. Then I looked up the difference between the two -

Hoisin sauce is made primarily with soybeans with other ingredients like garlic, sugar and various spices. Oyster sauce does contain the seafood after which it is named. ... Hoisin sauce contains various spices and is sweeter. While oyster sauce contains sugar as well, it is not as sweet as hoisin sauce.

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Instant Pot Lasagna

I made this Instant Pot Lasagna using my 7” Fat Daddio's Round Removal Bottom Cheesecake Pan. I have to say, it was the best lasagna I have ever made. I have also included the oven instructions if you do not have an Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker. I love the way it looks and it's so much easier to serve sliced into pie-shaped wedges.

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Spicy-Sweet Sambal Pork Noodles

My daughter has a friend at Bon Appétit and he told her this was the best recipe they published this year. She made it and called me immediately to say it was the best thing she's ever eaten! So I made it last night and yes, these Spicy-Sweet Sambal Pork Noodles are all that and a bag of chips as my husband says. It's so good that you should make the full recipe. Apparently, it's even better the next day. Sambal is an Indonesian chili sauce or paste.

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Fettuccini with Sausage, Bacon, and Eggplant

Years ago when I lived in NYC, I used to have drinks at the now-defunct Café des Artistes (R.I.P.). This restaurant was an institution and had the best bartender in the US named Victor. His discretion was exemplary. I went there with my friend Brady and he bought me a sidecar, then another, then another. He actually would have my glass refilled when my back was turned. I could have killed him the next day, not sure how I got home that night!

Anyway, in 1988, I bought The Café des Artistes Cookbook for my then-boyfriend / now-husband Eric. So, I thought it would be fun to make something for dinner from the book. I chose Fettuccini with Sausage, Bacon, and Eggplant. Typically, I don’t follow the recipe exactly, mainly because I am lazy. I eliminate steps that seem unnecessary. This recipe is an absolute MESS! The first instruction is to sauté bacon in olive oil. WTF?!?! WHY!?!? Then you are meant to blanch the eggplant (eggplant requires a brief heat treatment, called blanching, in boiling water or steam, to destroy the enzymes ONLY before freezing it!). The next HORRIFYING step is to blanch the sausage! @#%$&???????? Serves 4 > actually it serves 6! Here is the REVISED recipe.

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Chicken Tetrazzini

Last night, my husband said we should make Chicken à la King. I happen to have a lot of chicken at the moment. I then proceed to tell him how to make Chicken Tetrazzini. I get them both mixed up!

It turns out the difference is that Chicken Tetrazzini has cheese in it and Chicken à la King does not. In the 1950s, you would open a can of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup, a package of frozen peas, carrots, a can of sliced mushrooms, some Velveeta cheese, and chicken or turkey and voila...an abomination! Anyway, my version is delicious!

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