Whip It Up - Pasta!

Okay, for my first foray into the Whip It Up challenge, I stuck to the suggested theme of pasta. My friend Sarah had recently posted this Rachel Ray recipe on her blog and I was interested in trying it out. I made a few modifications of my own, which I have made note of below. Bryon and I both liked it, and it was super-easy, so I think it will definitely stay in our "rotation."

A few notes about this recipe (and RR recipes in general) from Sarah's blog:

• Read through the entire recipe at least once before you start. There are always a couple of twists and turns that you might miss if you aren't ready for them.
  
• You must chop/prep all the ingredients before you start cooking.

I used the entire 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper that it called for. We tend to have somewhat "milder" palates. This amount was just fine, but any more would have been too much for us. Those out there who like spicier Italian dishes will probably want to add more. In the future, I'll probalby use just a little bit less. I may also cut back just slightly on the amount of fresh basil in the future (I was probably a bit heavy-handed with it this time). I love fresh basil, but it almost gave the sauce a slightly licorice-like taste. The allspice gives the sauce a really nice flavor, though. It sort of warms you from the inside out.

You only use half of the meat/tomato sauce in the final toss. The leftover sauce is supposed to be for topping purposes. We found this wasn't necessary. In the future, I'll probably just make a half-recipe of the meat/tomato sauce, since the other half is currently sitting in the refrigerator, waiting for me to come up with a use for it.

Not-sagna Pasta Toss

Easier than lasagna, because it's not, this pasta, meat sauce and ricotta toss-up is just as hearty and comforting as the layered Italian fave, but it's ready in a fraction of the time and with much less effort.

1 pound curly, short cut pasta (i.e., campanelle, fusilli, cavatappi)
Coarse salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (2 turns of the pan)
2 pound ground sirloin*
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (eyeball it in your palm)
Black pepper
½ teaspoon allspice (eyeball it in your palm)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce*
½ cup dry red wine (a couple of glugs)
½ cup beef stock
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
**3 teaspoons granulated sugar**
1 cup fresh basil (about 20 leaves)
½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (a couple of handfuls), plus some to pass at the table

Notes:
*I used whole wheat pasta, ground turkey, twice the amount of Worcestershire, and the entire 15 oz. container of ricotta.*
**RR's recipe does not call for sugar in the sauce. My grandmother taught me that almost any recipe involving cooked tomatoes needs some sugar to bring out the flavor, and I found that to be true of this recipe as well. **

Heat a large pot of water to boil for pasta. Salt water and cook pasta to al dente. Heads up: you will need a ladle of the starchy cooking water to help form sauce before draining.

Heat a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan. Add the meat and break it up into small bits as it caramelizes. Once meat has good color to it, 4 to 5 minutes, add garlic, onions and red pepper flakes and season with salt, pepper, allspice and Worcestershire sauce. Cook another 5 minutes, deglaze the meat and onions with red wine, cook off a minute, then combine about 1/2 cup of stock into the meat. Stir in the tomatoes and bring to a bubble. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 5 minutes.

Place ricotta cheese in the bottom of a shallow bowl. Add a ladleful of boiling, starchy pasta water to the ricotta and stir to combine. Add a couple of handfuls of grated Parmesan to the ricotta and mix it in.

Drain pasta. Toss hot pasta with cheeses. Add half the thick meat sauce to the pasta bowl and combine. Tear or shred the basil and add to the meat and pasta, toss again. Taste to adjust salt and pepper.

Serve bowlfuls of Not-sagna with extra sauce on top and more grated Parmesan to pass at the table.

Source: Express Lane Meals by Rachel Ray, Food Network

Someone's in the Kitchen with Kelly... Bryon Makes Dinner!

aThe husband recently decided that he will take over cooking dinner on Saturdays and wants to use this as an opportunity to experiment and try new recipes. He started out last Saturday with three recipes from Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen cookbook. Pork chops with spiced apples and raisins, roasted carrots with orange brown butter and sage, and corn pudding. All three were big hits with us and are definitely "keepers". I could eat the orange brown butter with sage poured over ice cream!


Thick Pork Chops with Spiced Apples and Raisins

Note: Bryon cut the brine recipe in half, as we were only doing two pork chops, but made the full recipe of spiced apples and raisins. Before we even made it, we suspected that part of the recipe would be good enough to want leftovers. We were right! To prepare four pork chops, double the brine recipe

Pork Chops:
1/2 gallon water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sea salt
1/2 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
1 1/2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
1 fresh thyme sprig
2 double-cut bone-in loin pork chops, 1 pound each
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil

Combine the water, brown sugar, sea salt, apple juice, peppercorns, and thyme in an extra-large plastic bag or container. Give it a stir to dissolve the sugar and salt. Submerge the pork chops in the brine, seal up the bag, and put it in the refrigerator for 2 hours to tenderize the meat. Do not brine any longer than that or the meat will break down too much and get mushy.

Preheat the oven to 350. Remove the pork chops from the brine and pat them dry with paper towels. Sprinkle both sides of the meat with salt and pepper. Put a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add a 3-count drizzle of olive oil and get it hot. Lay the pork chops in the pan (if doing 4 chops, put 2 in the skillet at a time) and brown 4 minutes per side. Remove the pork chops to a large baking pan. Put the baking pan in the oven and roast the chips for 30 minutes. The pork is done when the center is still rosy and the internal temperature reaches 140 to 145 when tested with an instant-read thermometer.

Spiced Apples and Raisins:
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced in 1/2-inch-thick wedges
Leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs
1/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Pinch of cardamom
Pinch of dry mustard
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon

While the chops cook, melt the butter in a clean skillet over medium-low heat. Add the apples and thyme and coat in the butter; cook and stir for 8 minutes to give them some color. Toss in the raisins and add the apple juice, stirring to scrape up the brown bits. Stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and dry mustard; season with salt and pepper. Squeeze in the lemon juice to wake up the flavor and simmer for 10 minutes or until the apples break down and soften. Spoon the spiced apples over the pork chops to serve.



Roasted Carrots with Orange Brown Butter and Sage

1 bunch young carrots, with tops
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 orange, halved
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
4 sage leaves

Preheat the oven to 350. Cut off all but 1 inch of the carrot tops, leaving a little green. Put the carrots in a large shallow pan, add the oil, and season with salt and pepper. Turn to coat the carrots. Stick them in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, until the carrots are fork-tender.

While the carrots are roasting, melt the butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Swirl the pan around and cook until the butter begins to become brown and nutty. (Note: Tyler Florence says "crazy nutty".) Squeeze in the juice from the orange halves, add the brown sugar and sage, and continue to cook for 2 minutes or until syrupy.

Remove the carrots from the oven and arrange them on a platter. Drizzle the orange brown butter over the carrots and serve.

Corn Pudding

2 ears fresh corn, in the husk

2 cups milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

3 Tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 eggs, separated

Preheat the oven to 350. Put the 2 ears of corn, in their husks, in the oven, directly on the center rack. Roast the corn for 30 minutes, until soft. Cool slightly so you don't burn your hands, then remove the husks. Cut the kernels off the cob with a sharp knife and set the loose corn aside. Leave the oven on.

In a large pot over low heat, combine the milk, cream, and butter. Once the butter has melted, turn up the heat slightly and bring the mixture to just under a boil. Pour in the cornmeal in a slow, steady stream, whisking at the same time. Cook and whisk constantly until the cornmeal is blended in and the mixture is smooth and thick, like a porridge. Take the pot off the stove and fold in the corn, chives, salt, and pepper. Mix in the egg yolks, one at a time, to make it more like a batter. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks. Fold the whites into the corn pudding to lighten it. Coat the bottom and sides of an 8x8-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Spoon the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. When it's done, the corn pudding will look puffed and golden brown, like a souffle.

Source: Adapted from Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen cookbook.