Showing posts with label pasta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pasta. Show all posts

March Recipe of the Month - by sammysgrammy



Spring is in the air……………Pasta ala Broccoli


Ingredients:

1 fresh bunch of broccoli – rinsed and cut up, including the peeled stems


small onion or shallot – diced


2 tbs. olive oil


3/4 lb. of tricolored spirals pasta


1/4 cup pine nuts – toasted


1 peeled garlic clove


chicken broth (about 1/2 cup)


heavy cream (optional – about 1/2 cup)


Toast pine nuts in a large wok or frying pan over medium heat until they’re slightly browned. Watch carefully, they burn easily. Set aside into a small bowl.

Brown the garlic clove in olive oil in the wok. Remove from oil and discard the toasted garlic clove. Oil is now perfumed with garlic.


Brown chopped onion or shallot in this oil and set aside


In a sauce pan, heat several quarts of water to boil. When it comes to boil, salt the water and cook the broccoli for 5 minutes. Remove with the spider or strainer (reserving the water). Shake as much water as possible from the broccoli. Put the broccoli into the garlicky oil over medium to low heat and brown while the pasta is cooking for the recommended amount of time in the broccoli water.


When pasta is cooked, remove it with the spider or strainer into the broccoli wok. Mix it all together so the pasta and broccoli “marry”. Add salt and pepper.


To this you can add a ladle full of the starchy pasta water, some chicken broth and stir in some of the heavy cream (optional) until you get the consistency you like. Garnish with the toasted pine nuts. Sprinkle with romano or parmesan cheese (I like to drizzle olive oil over it too) and enjoy.


Note: I like it a bit soupy.

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"For as long as the earth lasts, planting and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and Winter, day and night will never stop."

Genesis 8:22


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Broccoli reminds me of little trees and little green trees remind me of springtime. See what springtime surprises these shops have in store for you.




















10:59 AM | Category: , , , , , , , , , | 6 comments

May Recipe of the Month
by Rita of sammysgrammy



Pasta Piselli (Pasta and Peas)


This meal is very simple, fast, economical and satisfying. It can be prepared for two people to twenty by simply adjusting the amounts. I’m going to give you the amounts for a four serving meal.


3/4 pound of bowtie pasta, cooked according to package directions.

As you set the pasta water on the stove to bring to a boil, begin to prepare the “condiment”*.

Brown about 4 oz. of chopped pancetta or bacon over medium heat in a 12 inch fry pan. As the meat is browning, add 1 small chopped onion, cook until just beginning to brown. Remove the fry pan from the heat until the pasta is done. When the pasta is done, put the fry pan back on the heat.

Just before removing the pasta from the boiling water, add 1 cup of fresh or frozen peas to the water.**

Remove the pasta and peas from the water (reserve the water) with a “spider” and add immediately to the condiment. Heat all ingredients together for a couple minutes, stirring to incorporate.

Add about ¼ cup of the pasta water to the pasta in the fry pan, so your presentation will be a bit more juicy.

Remove the pasta into a serving dish. I garnish with a tablespoon or 2 of extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with fresh chopped Italian parsley.

Each diner may add a sprinkling of Romano or Parmesan cheese and then………….Mangia!!

*Condiment is the dressing or sauce for the pasta.

**We just want to barely cook the peas. We want them nice and plump and green.



A Bible Verse for this economical recipe:

Proverbs 31: 17-19 in the New Living Translation

vs. 17 - she is energetic and strong, a hard worker
vs. 18 - she watches for bargains; her lights burn late into the night
vs. 19 - her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber NLT

by Rita of sammysgrammy
9:55 AM | Category: , , , , , , | 11 comments