Slurp-tastic Herb Noodles

I recently tried this recipe from Heidi Swanson over at 101 Cookbooks. I love pretty much all kinds of curry regardless of where they’re from or how spicy (or not) they are. This one calls for either green or yellow curry paste—I tried green, which I’d never cooked with before, and I’ve eaten it for at least three meals in the past week. I think you could say I liked it.

4 oz thin, dried spinach pasta
1 cup coconut milk (light is fine)
Scant 1 tbsp green or yellow curry paste
1 1/2 cups lightly flavored vegetable broth
1/4 tsp salt (more or less depending on the saltiness of your broth)
6 oz tofu, cut into small cubes or pieces
1/4 cup chives, minced
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped (I left out the cilantro)
1/4 cup basil, chopped just before using
Pinch of crushed red chili peppers (I used a lot more than a pinch--I like a little kick)

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. This is eventually going to be the pot you cook the pasta in.

In a separate large, thick-bottomed pot, bring 1/4 cup of the coconut milk to a simmer, mash and stir the curry paste into the coconut milk so there are no lumps. Now add the rest of the coconut milk and the vegetable broth and bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and stir in the tofu. Taste and decide if you need to add more curry paste or salt—if you do want to add more curry paste at this point, make a slurry by combining the additional curry paste and a bit of the broth, working any lumps out—add this to the pot.

Back at the pasta pot, salt the water generously and cook the pasta per package instructions. Drain.

Just before serving stir the chives, cilantro and basil into the curry pot. To serve, place a nice helping of noodles in the center of each bowl and finish with a ladle of the curry and tofu along with a tiny pinch of crushed red chili peppers.

Two-Bean Tamale Pie

Here is another lovely recipe from another lovely blogger—Leslie over at Definitely Not Martha.

Leslie notes that her recipe was stolen and lightly modified from Better Homes and Gardens.

I like this dish for three reasons:

1. It’s quick and easy to make.
2. It’s spicy hot.
3. I think it might actually be good for me.

1 tbsp oil
1 green pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (I love garlic so I threw in four or five cloves)
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 can kidney beans, rinsed, drained and slightly mashed
1 can pinto beans, rinsed, drained and slightly mashed
2/3 c vegetable juice (Leslie used 1 cup fresh salsa instead and so did I—the hot stuff)
1 (4-oz) can diced green chili peppers, not drained
1 box corn muffin mix
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (I left this out)

1. Grease a 9x13 glass pan (I used a cake pan that wasn’t glass and it didn’t seem to matter). Set aside. In a large skillet, cook green pepper, onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add chili powder and cumin. Stir.

2. Add kidney and pinto beans, vegetable juice, and chili peppers and stir. Heat through. Dump into 9x13 pan and smooth out evenly.

3. Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare corn muffin mix according to package directions.

4. Add cheese and cilantro, stirring just until combined. Spoon cornbread mixture evenly over the top of the bean mixture. Bake, uncovered, for about 25 minutes or until golden. Leslie grated a little more cheese over the top of the pie before baking so I tried it too. Highly recommended.

White Bean and Chicken Chili

I found this recipe in a recent issue of Bon Appétit—it’s one the magazine reprinted from JW’s Food & Spirits in Grand Haven, Michigan. Although I planned to make it Sunday night, I forgot to defrost the chicken so it had to wait until Monday. After throwing the first few ingredients in with the olive oil, I realized the chicken needed to be cooked (duh). Luckily that was no big deal since chopped chicken is pretty easy to whip up in a pan on the stovetop.

I will warn you that if you’re not a fan of spicy food, this really is not the chili for you. The jalapeños add a lot of flavor—you definitely don’t want to leave them out.

OK, away we go!

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 tbsp chopped pickled jalapeño peppers, from a jar
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 (15-oz) cans Great Northern beans, drained
1 lb cooked chicken breast, chopped
1/2 cup half and half

Directions

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium high heat. Add celery, onion, bell pepper, and jalapeño and sauté until beginning to soften, about 4 minutes.

Add garlic, chili powder, and cumin and sauté 1 minute.

Add broth and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.

Add beans, chicken and half and half. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper and enjoy. (I left out this part—it is plenty seasoned without salt and pepper.)

Chili Chicken Tacos

Hmm. I'm beginning to think I need to branch out. This is yet another Martha Stewart recipe that I tried. But you know what? There's a reason she's got so much dough (am I funny or what?). If even your jacked up recipes taste good, you've got skills. Lucky for me, this recipe wasn't at all jacked up and the result was spicy, tasty, yummy grub.

One of the best things about cool/cold weather is that the slow cooker makes a comeback. There are so many different things you can make in the slow cooker and the three reasons this quintessential kitchen item rules are (1) it's about the easiest way to make a meal, ever, (2) any kind of meat you cook in it comes out moist, tender and falling apart and (3) the smell from the slow cooker makes your house smell awesome. Well, unless you cook a lot of broccoli in there. Which I never have.

This particular recipe is from Everyday Food and gets two large thumbs up from my husband. Enjoy!

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 6)
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 cup prepared tomato salsa, plus more for serving (optional)
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo
1 tablespoon chili powder
Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 hard corn taco shells
Cilantro, shredded cheese, lime wedges, and sour cream, for serving (optional)

In slow cooker, combine chicken, garlic, salsa, chiles, chili powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and teaspoon pepper. Cover; cook on high, 4 hours (or on low, 8 hours).

Transfer chicken to a serving bowl, and shred, using two forks; moisten with cooking juices. Serve in taco shells, with toppings, if desired.

A couple of notes:

*I left out the salt. You don't even miss it.
*I used corn tortillas instead of hard taco shells. That’s how I like my regular tacos so it tasted great to me. I always heat up the tortillas in the microwave or fry them in a little oil on the stovetop—I like them better when they’re a little warm.
*I decided against the cilantro, cheese and lime and instead went with avocado and sour cream. My husband decided to use just avocado. The chicken gets so spicy that you don’t really need many toppings to add flavor.

Spinach and Prosciutto Lasagna

On Thursday night I decided to make a nice hot dinner since my husband has been sick with a cold. I found a recipe a little while ago in Everyday Food (Martha Stewart) for spinach and prosciutto lasagna—it sounded good and looked very easy to make, so I gave it a shot.

Here’s the thing. As I mentioned in my other blog, I love Martha and her recipes, but every once in a while I try one of her recipes and it’s all jacked up. This was one of those recipes. The measurements were really off. By that I mean I precisely followed the recipe, but realized a little less than halfway through that I had way more filling and sauce/prosciutto mix than I needed to fill the lasagna. I ended up adding an extra layer to the lasagna, plus I added more filling and sauce/prosciutto mix to each layer. Even so, I still ended up with leftover ingredients. Annoying and, more importantly (particularly given the country’s economic woes), not terribly cost effective. I didn’t have enough left over to make another lasagna, so I ended up having to trash the remainder. I hate being a food waster.

Anyway, the recipe is below. Despite all my griping, the dish itself tasted really good, plus it didn’t take longer to cook even with the extra layer and additional filling. I would recommend trying it out if you don’t mind having to fudge things a little. I think after a couple tries you can find a way to make sure all ingredients are used.

2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta
1 garlic clove, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 1/2 cups jarred tomato sauce (I like Bertolli Organic Olive Oil, Basil & Garlic)
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, finely chopped
6 no-boil lasagna noodles (I used Barilla)
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella (4 ounces)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make filling: In a medium bowl, stir together spinach, ricotta, garlic, teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; set aside. In another medium bowl, stir together tomato sauce and prosciutto.

In an 8-inch square baking dish, spread cup tomato sauce. Layer 2 noodles, 1/3 filling, and 1/3 remaining tomato sauce; repeat twice. Top with mozzarella. Bake until browned, 35 to 40 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

BTW, my husband loved it so much he ate three pieces.

Orzo with Artichokes and Pine Nuts

I found this one on epicurious.com (it was also published in Gourmet in May 2006). Really nice quick dinner--I made it tonight and added sun-dried tomatoes (in oil) and goat cheese crumbles (but left out the parsley). Other epicurious.com readers suggest adding capers, olives, peeled shrimp, roasted garlic cloves, cherry tomatoes or feta.

1 1/2 cups orzo
3 tbsp pine nuts
1 (14-oz) can whole artichoke hearts (not marinated)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp red-wine vinegar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp finely grated fresh lemon zest (this is such an important ingredient!)

Cook orzo in a 4- to 5-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain in a colander.

While orzo cooks, lightly toast pine nuts in a dry small skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until pale golden, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cool 1 minute, then coarsely chop.

Drain artichoke hearts in a large sieve and rinse well. Pull off leaves from bases of hearts and quarter bases. Rinse leaves and bases well, then drain thoroughly.

Stir together oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add orzo, pine nuts, artichokes (leaves and bases), parsley, and zest and toss to combine.

Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

This one is from marthastewart.com. It's good for a quick weeknight dinner. I made it last night, but halved the recipe for the two of us. To make it extra spicy, I used the full amount of olive oil and red pepper flakes, plus three cloves of garlic.

Serves 4

Coarse salt and ground pepper
12 oz rigatoni, penne or other short tubular pasta (I used pipette)
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed), thinly sliced
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp red-pepper flakes
5 oz soft goat cheese, crumbled, plus more for topping (optional--but in my opinion, you can never have too much goat cheese)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (the recipe doesn't say it's optional, but I left out the parsley and the dish still tasted very good)

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta 3 minutes less than package instructions. Add sun-dried tomatoes and cook 3 minutes. Remove 2 cups pasta water; reserve. Drain and return pasta mixture to pot.

Meanwhile, heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add almonds and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl; reserve. Return skillet to medium heat; add oil, garlic and red-pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, 20 to 30 seconds. Remove from heat.

To pasta mixture in pot, add garlic mixture, reserved pasta water, cheese and parsley. Season with salt and pepper; stir to combine. Let stand until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Divide pasta among four shallow dishes; sprinkle with almonds and, if desired, additional cheese.