Tortellini Soup

• 1 cup thin sliced carrots
• 1 minced onion
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 8 oz, chopped mushrooms
• 1 lb pork sausage
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 lb. tortellini (I use 4 cheese tortellini)
• Broth (chicken or veggie)-1-2 quarts
• cream
• Spinach (optional)

Sautee the onion, carrot, garlic and mushroom until they brown slightly. Set them aside. 

In the same pan, cook the sausage until it browns slightly- breaking it into small pieces as you go. 

Add in the flour and stir into the sausage for about 1-2 minutes. 

Slowly pour in the first quart of broth, stirring as you go. Put the veggies back in and add in more broth until everything is covered and there is plenty of liquid (the tortellini will soak up a lot of liquid). 

Simmer for at least 20 minutes. 

When you are nearly ready to eat, add in extra broth (if needed) and pour in the tortellini. Simmer the tortellini until cooked. 

Add in cream (and spinach) at the end. Stir until the soup is hot again (and spinach has wilted). 

Penne Rustica

This recipe is our tradition new year's meal. It is decadent and delicious. The recipe calls for chicken, but because we have duck at Christmas, we always use leftover duck instead.

Sauce:

• 2 tsp. butter
• 2 tsp. chopped garlic
• 1 tsp. dijon mustard
• 1 tsp dried dill
• 1 tsp chopped rosemary
• 1 cup marsala wine
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3 cups cream

Pasta portion:

• 4 oz. bacon
• 18 shrimp-peeled and deveined
• 12 oz chicken, sliced
• 16-24 oz cooked penne pasta
• 6 oz butter
• 1 chopped shallot
• 1 pinch salt and pepper
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp paprika

For the sauce: saute butter, garlic, and rosemary until garlic begins to brown. Add in wine and reduce by about 1/3. Add remaining ingredients. reduce by half. Set aside.

For the pasta portion: saute bacon until crisped. add butter, shallots, and shrimp, cook until shrimp are pink but still slightly translucent. Add in the chicken (or duck) and salt and pepper. Mix evenly. Add the sauce and half of the parmesan. Simmer until it thickens. Combine pasta and sauce mixture in a large bowl. Pour into a casserole dish and top with remaining cheese and sprinkle the paprika over the top. Bake at 475 for 10-15 minutes.

Chicken and spinach or 3 cheese ravioli with a mustard cream sauce.

Pasta Dough:

• 2 cups semolina  flour (regular will do if you need)
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbs. Cold water

In a mixer with a dough hook, start by mixing the flour and salt then slowly add in the eggs and mix until it forms a ball. If the mixture is dry, add in a little water at a time. Then take the ball out and knead for about 10 minutes and put the dough in the fridge to set for at least 30 minutes. 

Filling:

• 4 button mushrooms-minced finely
• 1/4 of an onion-minced finely
• 1 large chicken breast-boiled just till cooked then chopped roughly
• 2tbs butter
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 bunch of spinach (about 1.5-2 loose cups)
• 1/4 cup parmesan- shredded
• 1/4 cup mozzarella-shredded

Saute the first five ingredients together in a pan until cooked.

Then place in a food processor with the spinach and process for 15-30 seconds. Don't let it turn into a paste but get everything finely processed.

Let cool then add in the cheese and process until mixed.

Filling 2:

• 1 cup ricotta
• 1/2 cup parmesan
• 1/2 cup mozzarella
• 1 cup sauteed diced mushrooms

mix together

Knead the pasta dough for a few minuted and break off a chunk about the size of a golf ball. Send it though your pasta machine's largest setting a few times, folding it back over itself and going through again. Then reduce the width setting and do it again. Do it on each setting twice. Once just send it through and then fold it in half and do it again. Go to about the middle thickness setting. Too small and it breaks.

Option 1: Then slice the dough into squares. Place a tablespoon of the filling just off center on the square. Use a little water to wet the edges. Then fold two corners together to form a triangular ravioli. Carefully press out the air and use a fork to crimp the edges. Repeat this process for the remaining dough and filling.

Option 2: 

Get one of these awesome ravioli tins. This made the process so much easier. Grease the pan then flour it well. You lay out one of the sheets of pasta and carefully put the filling into the indentations. 

Then place another pasta layer on top and carefully press out any air bubbles. Then use the little rolling pin and it cuts them for you. Periodically re-grease and flour the tin.

Set a large pot to boil with salted water in it.


Sauce:

• 1 shallot diced finely
• 2 Tbs stone ground mustard
• 1 can chicken broth
• 3 tbs. cream
• 2 tbs. Parmesan cheese

Start by sauteing the shallots in a little bit of oil on medium heat until they start to brown.

Add in the mustard and broth and wine and simmer until the sauce has reduced by about half.

At the point, add your ravioli to the boiling salted water and add the cream and Parmesan to the sauce mixture. Whisk the sauce for 2-3 minutes.

When the ravioli float to the top of the pot, wait about a minute and scoop them out with a slotted spoon. Serve with the sauce a sprinkle of Parmesan over top. It may take 3-4 batched to do all the ravioli.

Alfredo Sauce for 2

• 2 Tbs. Butter
• 1.5 cups grated Parmesan cheese (not the powdered kind)
• 1 cup cream

Melt the butter in a double boiler over low heat. Add in the cream and Parmesan and cook over low heat for at least 20 minutes stirring often. After 15 minutes start the water for your pasta. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. When the pasta is done, coat the noodles with sauce. 

This meal is delicious with garlic butter shrimp and steamed green beans. 

You can go traditional with fettuccine noodles or change things up with other kinds. My favorite is radiatori. The ridges hold the sauce really well.

You can easily make a double boiler by placing a small pot inside a slightly larger pot. The outside pot should have an couple inches of water. Enough that the smaller pot touches the water but not enough that it boils over the edges when the water boils. 

Spaghetti bolognese

This is not your typical spaghetti sauce.

• ·         1 medium bell pepper
• ·         5 tomatoes
• ·         1.5 lbs ground meat- I like to use pork sausage but beef or even chicken or turkey will work well
• ·         1 TBS oil
• ·         1 large carrot- diced into small pieces
• ·         8 oz mushrooms- diced into small pieces
• ·         1 medium onion- diced into small pieces
• ·         2 cans broth (chicken unless you are using ground beef as the meat, then use beef)
• ·         1 tbs garlic
• ·         1 tbs rosemary
• ·         1 tbs thyme
• ·         ¼ cup cream
• ·         Parmesan to garnish

Start by roasting the tomatoes and pepper in the oven on 350 for about half an hour.

While this is happening, brown the ground meat with a little salt and pepper. Do your best to break up the meat into the smallest pieces you can. Drain off the fat and reserve the browned meat.

In your medium sized pot, heat up the oil and add in the diced veggies. Sautee until the onions have softened and everything has started to brown. Then add back in the meat, and add in the broth, garlic and herbs.

At this point you can take the roasted veggies, peel off the skin and dice them into small chunks. Add these with all the juices that have come out into the pot. Simmer for 2-3 hours on low.

Once everything has simmered for a while, add in the cream and cook for about 5 more minute.

Serve over pasta with Parmesan cheese on top.

Pad Thai

I love Pad Thai. It is one of my favorite dishes to get at almost any restaurant. I recently got it at this little restaurant Rice and Noodles at 3315 Court Street in Pasco. The owner treats you like family and the food is delicious. This is my attempt to recreate restaurant quality Pad Thai at home. You can use any kind of thin sliced meat or even shrimp or more veggies to make this. I found all the ingredients for a pretty reasonable price at my local Asian Market. Beware though, as you simmer the sauce, it smells really powerful and not necessarily pleasant. But, by the end, everything comes together to taste fabulous.

Sauce:

• ·         1 cup tamarind paste
• ·         1 cup palm sugar
• ·         3 tbs fish sauce
• ·         3 tbs shrimp paste

Simmer ingredients together on medium-low in a pot for 1 hour, stirring often.

• ·         ½ carton mushrooms- sliced thinly into matchstick sized pieces
• ·         ½ onion diced into small pieces
• ·         White parts of 1 bunch of green onions dices into small pieces

Sauté these ingredients in a large pan or wok over medium heat with 1 Tbs oil till starting to brown. Remove from the pan and reserve. Add 1 more TBS oil to the pan.

• ·         2 large chicken breasts sliced thinly across the grain
• ·         2 TBS corn starch
• ·         2 TBS soy sauce

Mix these ingredients together in a bowl then put in the pan over medium heat until the meat starts to brown. Add back in the cooked veggies.   

• ·         1 package of thick rice noodles prepared according to directions on the box and drained

Then add in the cooked noodles and sauce and stir quickly to mix everything together.  

• ·         3 eggs

Push all the mixture in the pan to the side and crack in the three eggs. Let them start to cook then place the pasta mixture over the top. After about a minute, start stirring. Until the egg is just cooked.

·         Green parts of the bunch of green onions diced into small pieces

·         1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
·         1 cup of chopped bean sprouts

Add in these final ingredients and stir until everything is warm through. 

Serve and top with the following.

• ·         ½ cup of crushed salted peanuts
• ·         1 lime cut into wedges

Pasta With Peppers

This pasta and peppers dish creates a Mediterranean inspired dish with a complex flavor. Though it does take some time,  there is nothing difficult about making it. This dish evolved from the original recipe found in the first Top Chef cookbook, though it has gone through a few changes. It is a favorite in out family.

1 large onion, diced

3-5 large cloves (not heads) of garlic, minced

2 shallots, minced

2 large or 3 medium red peppers sliced into inch long thin strips

1 lb of diced chicken, raw

1 Tbs. Butter

1 jar Sundried tomatoes in oil- sliced into strips

1 Tbs. minced Rosemary

Half a regular size bottle of white wine-Riesling is best

2 regular boxes of Penne Pasta

1 jar of sliced Kalamata Olives -drained

Grated parmesan cheese to top final dish.

Put a pan with a Tablespoon of olive oil on the stove on medium heat and reheat it. Add the onion, garlic and shallots. Stir often.  Cook until the onions are just getting translucent.

During this time, set a large pot of water to boil with a teaspoon of salt in the water.

Add in the peppers to the onion mixture.

In another pan melt the butter and cook the chicken until it just starts to brown and is almost cooked through. Then add the chicken mixture to the onions and peppers. Also add in the sundried tomatoes in oil and the rosemary. Slowly start pouring in some wine and letting it reduce until at least half the liquid is gone then add more.

When you first add the wine, start cooking the pasta in boiling water. When you have used about half the wine, add in the olives. When the pasta is done and the wine has reduced down to just a little sauce in the bottom of the pan, toss the pasta and sauce mixture together and top with parmesan cheese and serve.

Optional:

You can add toasted pine nuts to a variation.

To make it vegetarian-you can take out the chicken. To make it vegan, take out the cheese as well or replace with vegan cheese. This is a great opportunity to add in the pine nuts for protein.