I've tried several recipes for Baked Ziti in the past and none have been remarkable. Not bad by any means- how can pasta, tomato sauce, and cheese be bad?- but forgettable. Until tonight! Last week I came upon this recipe at Mel's Kitchen Cafe (it's originally from Cook's Illustrated Magazine) and I just knew we would love it. Turns out I was absolutely right! It's nice and creamy (but not too creamy) and the herbed tomato sauce goes with it perfectly. The melted, golden cheese on top is the crowning glory. If you are like us and love the pasta, tomato sauce, and cheese combo, definitely give this recipe a try! And just as nice is the fact that this recipe is pretty quick and easy to get going, only about half an hour of prep time before it slides into the oven. My search for a fantastic Baked Ziti recipe is definitely over and I can't wait to make this for my in-laws when they visit next!
Quick note: I've both tweaked and simplified this recipe a bit. Basically, I commit the cardinal sin among parmesan cheese and just use a container of shaved parmesan. Also, instead of cooking the cream with the cornstarch to thicken it, I just stir both ingredients in with the cottage cheese mixture and it ends up thickening perfectly in the oven. Saves time and dishes! Oh and if you're leery of the cottage cheese, don't be- it's very good in this dish and apparently Cook's Illustrated baked a version with ricotta but discovered that the ricotta dried it out.
Dreamy Baked Ziti
1 lb ziti or rigatoni
2 T olive oil
5 cloves minced garlic
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
15 oz tomato sauce
1 t dried oregano
1 T dried basil
1/2 t black pepper
1 t sugar
1 t salt (or to taste)
1 lb cottage cheese
2 eggs
1 C cream
6 oz oz grated or shaved parmesan, divided
8 oz cubed mozzarella cheese, divided
1 t cornstarch
1 t salt
1 t dried parsley
Preheat
oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 pan and a piece of aluminum foil.
Cook pasta in salted water until almost tender. It will continue
cooking in the oven. While pasta cooks, heat olive oil over medium and
saute garlic until golden. Stir in tomatoes, oregano, basil, pepper,
and sugar, reduce heat, and simmer about 10 minutes. Add salt to
taste. While pasta and sauce cooks, stir together all other ingredients
except for half of the parmesan and half of the mozzarella cubes. When
pasta has finished cooking, drain and then stir in cottage cheese
mixture and about 1 cup of the tomato sauce. Spread pasta mixture in baking
dish and top with remaining tomato sauce, spread to cover. Sprinkle
with remaining mozzarella cubes and parmesan and cover with aluminum foil. Bake 30
minutes, remove foil, and bake 30 minutes longer or until nicely golden
and bubbly.
Yield: About 10 servings
Monday, March 25, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Shrimp Egg Foo Young
SHE LIVES! Sorry about the long hiatus. I started a new job in January and have been pretty busy with that so haven't been cooking a lot of new recipes. Several times I did refer to the blog though for recipes I've already made so I could make them again! Hopefully I am out of my cooking slump though. Last night I spent a solid couple hours looking at new recipes and am all excited to try them out.
To kick things off, here is a recipe I made for dinner last night. Egg foo young. A couple of weeks ago my in-laws took us to a nice Chinese restaurant to celebrate our birthdays (which are a week apart) and I ordered a combination plate that had egg foo young on it. Had never had it before, but it sure was good, so I decided to try it at home! The recipe I made is loosely based on this one from AllRecipes. Had to tweak it a bit based on availability of ingredients and so it would suit our tastes better, but it turned out REALLY well and I will definitely make it again.
Oh and I served this with brown rice. I'd never actually cooked brown rice, but found out you could bake it so decided to give it a try! Worked PERFECTLY and it turns out we both really like brown rice, so I plan to make it frequently now. I just followed Alton Brown's recipe, which you can find here. My only suggestion is to cut back on the salt a tad if you're going to serve it with something salty like Chinese food, and the butter is probably unnecessary. Also I haven't tried it yet, but apparently you can double the recipe and bake it in a 9 by 13 pan if you want a whole lot of brown rice!
Quick note: I cooked the Egg Foo Young as one big omelet in the pan to save time, but you could cook it in smaller amounts like pancakes so they're round.
Shrimp Egg Foo Young
about a tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
1/2 lb shredded cabbage (I used the shredded cabbage and carrots in a bag for coleslaw)
1 clove garlic, minced
5 eggs
1 C frozen cooked baby shrimp, thawed
1/3 C thinly sliced green onion
1/4 t salt
1 T soy sauce
2 t sesame oil
Sauce:
1 1/2 C chicken broth
1 T sugar
1 1/2 T soy sauce
1 T white vinegar
1 1/2 T cornstarch
2 T cold water
Heat about a teaspoon of oil in a 10 inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add shredded cabbage and garlic and cook just until it starts to wilt. Set aside to cool. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, then add in remaining Egg Foo Young ingredients. Add cabbage mixture once it has cooled. Stir well to combine. Heat remaining 2 t oil in skillet over medium (don't want it too hot), then pour in mixture. Let it cook until it's nicely set on the bottom and sides, about 4 minutes, then cut the round into quarters with a spatula and carefully flip each quarter over. Cook until lightly browned on the other side and completely set, about 2 more minutes. Remove Egg Foo Young to a plate and keep warm in an oven set to 200 while you make the sauce.
To make the sauce, rinse out the skillet or use a saucepan. Add all ingredients except cornstarch and cold water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir together cornstarch and water in a small bowl until smooth. Once liquid comes to a boil, reduce heat a little, then whisk in cornstarch mixture and cook until thickened and clear, which should only take a minute or so. Serve over Egg Foo Young and rice.
Yield: 4 dinner sized servings
To kick things off, here is a recipe I made for dinner last night. Egg foo young. A couple of weeks ago my in-laws took us to a nice Chinese restaurant to celebrate our birthdays (which are a week apart) and I ordered a combination plate that had egg foo young on it. Had never had it before, but it sure was good, so I decided to try it at home! The recipe I made is loosely based on this one from AllRecipes. Had to tweak it a bit based on availability of ingredients and so it would suit our tastes better, but it turned out REALLY well and I will definitely make it again.
Oh and I served this with brown rice. I'd never actually cooked brown rice, but found out you could bake it so decided to give it a try! Worked PERFECTLY and it turns out we both really like brown rice, so I plan to make it frequently now. I just followed Alton Brown's recipe, which you can find here. My only suggestion is to cut back on the salt a tad if you're going to serve it with something salty like Chinese food, and the butter is probably unnecessary. Also I haven't tried it yet, but apparently you can double the recipe and bake it in a 9 by 13 pan if you want a whole lot of brown rice!
Quick note: I cooked the Egg Foo Young as one big omelet in the pan to save time, but you could cook it in smaller amounts like pancakes so they're round.
Shrimp Egg Foo Young
about a tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
1/2 lb shredded cabbage (I used the shredded cabbage and carrots in a bag for coleslaw)
1 clove garlic, minced
5 eggs
1 C frozen cooked baby shrimp, thawed
1/3 C thinly sliced green onion
1/4 t salt
1 T soy sauce
2 t sesame oil
Sauce:
1 1/2 C chicken broth
1 T sugar
1 1/2 T soy sauce
1 T white vinegar
1 1/2 T cornstarch
2 T cold water
Heat about a teaspoon of oil in a 10 inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add shredded cabbage and garlic and cook just until it starts to wilt. Set aside to cool. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, then add in remaining Egg Foo Young ingredients. Add cabbage mixture once it has cooled. Stir well to combine. Heat remaining 2 t oil in skillet over medium (don't want it too hot), then pour in mixture. Let it cook until it's nicely set on the bottom and sides, about 4 minutes, then cut the round into quarters with a spatula and carefully flip each quarter over. Cook until lightly browned on the other side and completely set, about 2 more minutes. Remove Egg Foo Young to a plate and keep warm in an oven set to 200 while you make the sauce.
To make the sauce, rinse out the skillet or use a saucepan. Add all ingredients except cornstarch and cold water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir together cornstarch and water in a small bowl until smooth. Once liquid comes to a boil, reduce heat a little, then whisk in cornstarch mixture and cook until thickened and clear, which should only take a minute or so. Serve over Egg Foo Young and rice.
Yield: 4 dinner sized servings
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Tuesday's with Dorie: Pizza Dough
Okay, okay, so I really only made half of this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe, which is supposed to be Pizza with Onion Confit (can find the recipe here at The Boy Can Bake). I didn't make the onion confit, which sounded very interesting, because my husband was horrified by the idea of topping a pizza with so many onions, and I envisioned my house reeking of onions for the next 3 months. So I decided to make a different kind of pizza, though the dough recipe was followed straight from the book. Sorry, Dorie and Julia!
The verdict: Pretty good! Easy to make, easy to work with, tender, soft. Definitely not a chewy crust (which may or may not be good, depending on your own tastes!), not heavy or dense, and not too breadlike, which is good. Not especially remarkable though, and no better than my regular pizza dough recipe but takes longer to make since first you make a sponge, let it rise an hour and a half, then make the dough, and let that rise for an hour and a half. Don't think I'll be making this one again, but we ate it happily and the other half of the dough will be enjoyed later, too.
I made my dough into a good ol' pepperoni and olive pizza, which is our default. Used my pizza sauce recipe and baked it on my cast iron pizza pan.
The verdict: Pretty good! Easy to make, easy to work with, tender, soft. Definitely not a chewy crust (which may or may not be good, depending on your own tastes!), not heavy or dense, and not too breadlike, which is good. Not especially remarkable though, and no better than my regular pizza dough recipe but takes longer to make since first you make a sponge, let it rise an hour and a half, then make the dough, and let that rise for an hour and a half. Don't think I'll be making this one again, but we ate it happily and the other half of the dough will be enjoyed later, too.
I made my dough into a good ol' pepperoni and olive pizza, which is our default. Used my pizza sauce recipe and baked it on my cast iron pizza pan.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Salad Stuffed Shells
I came across this recipe on AllRecipes the other day and had to make it right away! What a clever idea, spooning chopped salad into large pasta shells. It's also quick to make and pretty healthy. These would make a great lunch or summer dinner, but I didn't want to wait that long and anyway it was in the 20s here today which is practically summer, right?
This is more of an idea than an actual recipe. Make your favorite salad (with the salad and other ingredients chopped up), add dressing, and stuff it into pasta shells. Feel free to follow this recipe, but you can really put in whatever you want! Oh and if you decide you want leftovers, you can mix up the salad part on the first day, just make sure to only add the dressing to the portion you plan to serve right then.
Salad Stuffed Shells
20 large pasta shells (I suggest just cooking the entire 12 oz box since some will undoubtedly tear)
1/2 of a 10 oz bag pre-washed lettuce, chopped into slightly smaller than bite size pieces
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1 C cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered depending on size
1 C cooked, shredded, and cooled chicken
1 small can sliced black olives, drained
caesar salad dressing to taste (this recipe is our favorite, or you can use bottled)
6 T grated parmesan, divided
Cook pasta shells in a large pot of salted water, then drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water until shells are cold. Drain well, then blot each shell dry.
While pasta cooks, combine salad ingredients, dressing, and 2 T of the parmesan. When shells are ready, spoon some of the salad mixture into each one. Arrange on plates and sprinkle with remaining parmesan.
Yield: 4 or 5 dinner sized servings
This is more of an idea than an actual recipe. Make your favorite salad (with the salad and other ingredients chopped up), add dressing, and stuff it into pasta shells. Feel free to follow this recipe, but you can really put in whatever you want! Oh and if you decide you want leftovers, you can mix up the salad part on the first day, just make sure to only add the dressing to the portion you plan to serve right then.
Salad Stuffed Shells
20 large pasta shells (I suggest just cooking the entire 12 oz box since some will undoubtedly tear)
1/2 of a 10 oz bag pre-washed lettuce, chopped into slightly smaller than bite size pieces
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1 C cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered depending on size
1 C cooked, shredded, and cooled chicken
1 small can sliced black olives, drained
caesar salad dressing to taste (this recipe is our favorite, or you can use bottled)
6 T grated parmesan, divided
Cook pasta shells in a large pot of salted water, then drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water until shells are cold. Drain well, then blot each shell dry.
While pasta cooks, combine salad ingredients, dressing, and 2 T of the parmesan. When shells are ready, spoon some of the salad mixture into each one. Arrange on plates and sprinkle with remaining parmesan.
Yield: 4 or 5 dinner sized servings
Monday, December 31, 2012
Cream Cheese Frosting
The summer between my junior and senior years of high school, I had to take a cooking course for my occupational credits. My mom and I had just moved back to Washington and it was a graduation requirement, so off to summer school I went. The course was 8 hours a day for a month and we used a full sized professional kitchen. It was SO much fun and I learned a lot about cooking! During that course is when I made frosting for the first time. Another girl and I were handed a recipe for cream cheese frosting, and we whipped up about a gallon of it to frost several giant pineapple carrot cakes. It ended up being easily the best frosting I've ever had, and the cake was incredible as well.
Unfortunately for me, I did not save the recipe for either. I just assumed that all cream cheese frostings would be as delicious since the ingredients were only cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Easy, right?! Yes, definitely, but I have NEVER had cream cheese frosting turn out as perfectly since and I have no idea why! They've basically all been big flops for me. Vanilla frosting, too. Maybe the powdered sugar I used in the cooking course was a different kind? I've mentioned before on this blog that powdered sugar has a strong, strange flavor that completely turns me off, I think it's the cornstarch they add to it. Whatever the reason, I was never completely happy with another homemade non-chocolate frosting recipe until I tried this one from Southern Plate. It's nice and sweet, not too tart (but still obviously cream cheese based), and has a rather interesting addition: butter flavoring! Lucky for me, the addition of butter flavoring completely masks the unappealing powdered sugar flavor. You can either try it with the butter extract or just use vanilla if you like.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 stick salted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 t butter flavoring or vanilla extract
3 1/2 to 4 C powdered sugar
Beat together butter, cream cheese, and flavoring until fluffy. Beat in powdered sugar until frosting is thick and has the desired consistency, you will probably use the full amount. You can add more powdered sugar 1/4 C at a time if necessary, or thin it with about a teaspoon of milk at a time. Use immediately.
Yield: Enough to frost a 2 layer cake, or a 9 by 13 cake with some leftover.
Unfortunately for me, I did not save the recipe for either. I just assumed that all cream cheese frostings would be as delicious since the ingredients were only cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Easy, right?! Yes, definitely, but I have NEVER had cream cheese frosting turn out as perfectly since and I have no idea why! They've basically all been big flops for me. Vanilla frosting, too. Maybe the powdered sugar I used in the cooking course was a different kind? I've mentioned before on this blog that powdered sugar has a strong, strange flavor that completely turns me off, I think it's the cornstarch they add to it. Whatever the reason, I was never completely happy with another homemade non-chocolate frosting recipe until I tried this one from Southern Plate. It's nice and sweet, not too tart (but still obviously cream cheese based), and has a rather interesting addition: butter flavoring! Lucky for me, the addition of butter flavoring completely masks the unappealing powdered sugar flavor. You can either try it with the butter extract or just use vanilla if you like.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 stick salted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 t butter flavoring or vanilla extract
3 1/2 to 4 C powdered sugar
Beat together butter, cream cheese, and flavoring until fluffy. Beat in powdered sugar until frosting is thick and has the desired consistency, you will probably use the full amount. You can add more powdered sugar 1/4 C at a time if necessary, or thin it with about a teaspoon of milk at a time. Use immediately.
Yield: Enough to frost a 2 layer cake, or a 9 by 13 cake with some leftover.
Hershey's Red Velvet Cake
Well, it looks like 2012 is almost over! My first complete calendar year of having this blog. I haven't shared a lot of recipes this month, but I HAVE cooked lots of good ones. This is the red velvet cake that I made for our Christmas dessert. It's not the first red velvet recipe I've tried, but is definitely the best! It turns out that red velvet is kind of hard to make really good, it always seems to have an odd texture or flavor. This recipe though is not just good, it's great. Moist, tender, fluffy, and sweet with a hint of chocolate flavor. It also stayed fresh for a good 5 days! If you want to try a red velvet cake recipe, I suggest you try this one! Normally red velvet cake is topped with cream cheese frosting, my favorite recipe is here. Sorry there aren't any photos, we loved it so much and devoured the whole thing rather quickly. I do believe it will become a Christmas tradition here!
This recipe is from the Hershey company and can be found here. My only changes were to halve the amount of salt because I thought 1 teaspoon sounded like too much and to bake in a pair of round cake pans.
Hershey's Red Velvet Cake
1 stick butter, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla extract
2 C flour
1/2 t salt
1/3 C cocoa powder
1 C buttermilk (or 1 C milk with 1 T vinegar added and allowed to sit 10 minutes)
1 oz bottle red food coloring
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 T white vinegar
Heat oven to 350 and grease 2 round 8 or 9 inch cake pans. I used nonstick pans and Baker's Joy spray, my cakes came out of the pans perfectly after cooling!
Beat together butter and sugar, then beat in eggs and vanilla extract. In another bowl, stir together flour, salt, and cocoa powder. In a measuring cup, stir together buttermilk and food coloring. Beat in a third of the dry ingredients, then a third of the buttermilk mixture, and repeat until both have been completely incorporated into the batter and batter is smooth. Add baking soda and vinegar, then mix thoroughly.
Evenly divide batter between pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean, about 20 to 30 minutes. Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting with cream cheese frosting.
This recipe is from the Hershey company and can be found here. My only changes were to halve the amount of salt because I thought 1 teaspoon sounded like too much and to bake in a pair of round cake pans.
Hershey's Red Velvet Cake
1 stick butter, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla extract
2 C flour
1/2 t salt
1/3 C cocoa powder
1 C buttermilk (or 1 C milk with 1 T vinegar added and allowed to sit 10 minutes)
1 oz bottle red food coloring
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 T white vinegar
Heat oven to 350 and grease 2 round 8 or 9 inch cake pans. I used nonstick pans and Baker's Joy spray, my cakes came out of the pans perfectly after cooling!
Beat together butter and sugar, then beat in eggs and vanilla extract. In another bowl, stir together flour, salt, and cocoa powder. In a measuring cup, stir together buttermilk and food coloring. Beat in a third of the dry ingredients, then a third of the buttermilk mixture, and repeat until both have been completely incorporated into the batter and batter is smooth. Add baking soda and vinegar, then mix thoroughly.
Evenly divide batter between pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean, about 20 to 30 minutes. Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting with cream cheese frosting.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Olive and Caper Tomato Sauce
As much as I love tomato based sauces and pasta (as evidenced by the large number of this kind of recipe on my blog!), I am kind of particular about tomato sauce. In my experience, usually they have to cook for a long time to be very good. Over the years I have tried many quick recipes and they nearly always end up kind of blah. Not bad by any means, but lacking character and any level of deep or complex flavor. What I usually do is make up a great big batch of bolognese sauce or meatless marinara and freeze it since they take quite a while to make and it's easy to make big batches.
This recipe, however, is a sauce that only takes about half an hour to make (chopping time included) and is really, really good! How can it not be when it's full of olives and capers, then simmered until thick? I got this recipe from Giada de Laurentiis' book Everyday Italian and have made it several times over the past couple of years. The recipe is called "Spicy Tomato Sauce" in her book and is apparently her version of arrabbiata sauce, but it honestly does not seem spicy to us at all with just a big pinch of red pepper flakes for heat. It's really good though without being hot and you can add as much pepper flakes as you want. Even olive haters may be alright with this one. My husband only likes plain black olives you buy in a can, but he enjoys the salty, briny flavor of kalamata olives and capers in this recipe. This sauce is astonishingly good, as good as any sauce I've had that was simmered all day. As another bonus, you can keep the ingredients on hand and whip it up really quickly!
Quick note: This is a great choice for a vegan meal if you use eggless pasta and don't add any parmesan.
Olive and Caper Tomato Sauce
3 T olive oil
1 small onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C pitted kalamata olives, chopped coarsely
2 T drained capers
large pinch of red pepper flakes (or more if you like it spicy!)
salt to taste (recipe calls for 1/2 t but canned tomatoes, olives, and capers are already salty)
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
Heat olive oil over medium high and saute onion until it begins to brown, then add everything but the crushed tomatoes. Saute for a minute or two, then stir in the tomatoes. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 20 minutes. Serve over your favorite pasta, we like linguine. A sprinkle of parmesan on top does not hurt!
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
This recipe, however, is a sauce that only takes about half an hour to make (chopping time included) and is really, really good! How can it not be when it's full of olives and capers, then simmered until thick? I got this recipe from Giada de Laurentiis' book Everyday Italian and have made it several times over the past couple of years. The recipe is called "Spicy Tomato Sauce" in her book and is apparently her version of arrabbiata sauce, but it honestly does not seem spicy to us at all with just a big pinch of red pepper flakes for heat. It's really good though without being hot and you can add as much pepper flakes as you want. Even olive haters may be alright with this one. My husband only likes plain black olives you buy in a can, but he enjoys the salty, briny flavor of kalamata olives and capers in this recipe. This sauce is astonishingly good, as good as any sauce I've had that was simmered all day. As another bonus, you can keep the ingredients on hand and whip it up really quickly!
Quick note: This is a great choice for a vegan meal if you use eggless pasta and don't add any parmesan.
Olive and Caper Tomato Sauce
3 T olive oil
1 small onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C pitted kalamata olives, chopped coarsely
2 T drained capers
large pinch of red pepper flakes (or more if you like it spicy!)
salt to taste (recipe calls for 1/2 t but canned tomatoes, olives, and capers are already salty)
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
Heat olive oil over medium high and saute onion until it begins to brown, then add everything but the crushed tomatoes. Saute for a minute or two, then stir in the tomatoes. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 20 minutes. Serve over your favorite pasta, we like linguine. A sprinkle of parmesan on top does not hurt!
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)