pasta with spicy tomato sauce (all’arrabiata)

Pasta and sauce, there are countless recipes, yep just boil up some pasta and throw in a can or bottle of sauce your done !

OR…. Start some sauce early in the morning and tend the pot all day !

Strike a balance with this recipe , quick and easy, some prep involved but the time is worth the effort in the finish. No meat is involved so it could be served as a side dish as well.

Recipe and technic is from Nick Stellino

Pasta with spicy tomato sauce

 

• 1 lb pasta, penne
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper flakes
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
• 1 and 1/2 cups tomato sauce
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 4 tablespoons romano or parmesan cheese

In a pot of water under cook the pasta by 2 minutes

In a large pan (big enough to hold both the pasta and sauce) heat the oil and add the red pepper flakes 

 

 

 

 

…..add the garlic cook a minute or two  Add 2 tablespoons of the parsley to the pan, stir well.

 

 

 

 

Now add the tomato sauce and stock, bring to a boil and stir for 5 minutes.

 

drain and add the pasta

……and continue to cook till almost all the sauce is absorbed by the pasta.

Off heat add the grated cheese and stir to incorporate.

Plate and garnish with parsley and grated cheese.

Red pepper heat is as much as you add to the recipe. Reminds me of a traditional american chop suey recipe as the pasta is cooked in the sauce. As a personal note this is to me actually better served cold, once refrigerated, eaten from a tupperware type container later in the evening. 🙂

 

Roasted bell pepper salad

A bit of a twist from a pasta / bacon salad , inspired from a recipe found on the internet made with available ingredients.

Instead of oven roasting the peppers, I opted to flame char the peppers on the burner

The peppers were then, sliced thin.

Using a vegetable peeler, slice the yellow squash, and chop into fine noodle like pieces if you don’t have a spiralizer.

dressing, 3 tbls olive oil 1 tbls seasoning (oregano) 2 tbls rice vinegar lemon juice salt and pepper

dress and toss, shaved Parmesan and bacon bits added

A change from the usual salad.

chicken vegetable noodle soup

Even though it’s late July doesn’t mean soup is off the table. Cooler nights, vegetable stock in the fridge and pieces and gizzards from a chicken in the freezer…. soup.
a basic recipe, for all those who make their own soup, just peruse the pictures.

It seems like a lot of work but make a small portion of noodle dough *. Set aside covered for an hour.

To two mason jars of vegetable stock, previously made, add the back and gizzards from a chicken and simmer in a stock pot with some star anise.  Season slightly.

Dice baby carrots, sweet red onion, lettuce, greens, sliced thin broccoli what ever else you desire.

(Warning ! This recipe has several pans) In a fry pan saute each of the soup additions in oil,butter,bacon fat etc.
I saute and season each separately. Set aside.

After the simmering broth has loosened the meat from the chicken pieces,

strain broth into a smaller container and pour back into the stockpot. Set the chicken pieces to cool.

Set up the stock to simmer and add the sauteed adjuncts.

De-bone and dice the meat from the chicken pieces, dice the gizzards. Add to the soup.

Proceed to roll out noodle dough and cut into desired shape, here wide short noodles. Boil in a pot of water,

with a strainer spoon, add to the broth.

Simmer and serve with shaved Parmesan.

 

*noodle dough

• 2/3 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon oil

mix, knead, set aside, covered.

chicken parm

Some recipes just have Parmesan cheese but mozzarella is also used.

kinda of a version that was on Cooks Country.

OK your supposed to have bread crumbs which I don’t have so slice and chop bread in processor.

Spent grain bread fro the crumbs.

since the crumbs are fresh, I’ll toast them in a fry pan.

very toasty ,perhaps a bit more than needed , the spent grain bread give very crunchy crumbs.Add an amount of grated cheese, parm that is ,and seasonings if desired to the crumbs.

Set up pans/bowls with beaten eggs, and crumbs close to fry pan, typical bread coating setup for frying.

extra dark and crispy

yep, these are course crumbs

transfer the chicken breast to a baking pan , apply some tomato sauce and mozzarella, broil till melted.

The chicken is not cooked in the sauce for maximum crunch.

top with additional sauce

Not the best looking pictures but delicious with outstanding crumb coating, good with a side of pasta.

After shopping salad

With the warm weather, there has been less actual cooking, what can be made without heat is good . Baking bread if necessary is done at the later hours when it’s cool and usually flat bread that does’t require a hot oven. But for now a salad is great after shopping and a chance to taste the recent purchases.

over a bed of Romaine lettuce , sliced tomatoes, red onion, chunked Parmesan and Romano cheese and snap peas.

Some Balsamic and olive oil is all that’s needed along with a couple of bread rolls. DONE !

pizza

 tonight’s deep dish pizza

mushrooms, hot Italian sausage, beef, garlic onion, American cheese, parmesan, Romano.

pizza

 tonight’s deep dish pizza

mushrooms, hot Italian sausage, beef, garlic onion, American cheese, parmesan, Romano.