My Sweet and Savory

Pasta with Broccoli Sauce

2013-05-21T19:57:00.000-04:00

I am in cooking mode and as usual, I am overwhelmed with my cookbooks. I have a decent library of books and most of them are valuable and should be used. How many cookbooks can we use at once?

Automatically, I keep my Donna Hay and Coffee Cake books separate from the others since I use them weekly. Ina gets pulled out, at least monthly. My kosher cookbooks are popular in terms of usage and solid recipes.

There are, what I call my miscellaneous cookbooks such as the one, I used for this recipe, Not Your Mother's Weeknight Cooking. There is a series of these Not Your Mother's ........ cookbooks and I have two of them. One came free when I bought the other. I didn't expect much from them but both turned out to be filled with good cooking.

The description of this book by Beth Hensperger is "Quick and Easy Wholesome Homemade Dinners" and it is an apt descriptor. The book is divided into categories such as Healthy and Delicious, Supper Specials, The Soup Kitchen, Dinnertime Classics and Supper Out of Hand. There are additional chapters and all have the same appeal, good home cooking.

I looked in the index for mushrooms and found about 13 recipes. Considering, there are around three hundred pages with usually a recipe on 2 pages, that is a good representative number. A recipe will probably be found, if you want to use mushrooms. Lots of dairy, fish, meat, poultry, salads, and on and on. I can see this becoming a staple in my kitchen.

I selected this pasta with broccoli sauce for a few reasons. I assumed, it was an easy recipe. I had all the ingredients in the house. We love broccoli and a sauce made with it had to be good and it had cheese.

It was a little more difficult than I had expected because it called for a food processor and I only had my mini processor, the one that comes with the immersion blender. I had to use it for three different batches which is tedious. Granted, with a regular food processor, this would not be at all difficult.

This turns out to be a filling recipe that I wanted to serve with salmon cutlets and sliced tomatoes, baked with Parmesan.

Pasta with Broccoli Sauce (adapted from Not Your Mother's Weeknight Cooking)

Ingredients:

3 cups frozen broccoli, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup vegetable broth
olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
salt and fresh black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup heavy cream or plain yogurt
1 box macaroni of any shape, cooked according to package directions (I used gluten-free)
3/4 cup Cheddar Cheese (or more according to taste)

Method:

Microwave broccoli for 2 minutes in water.

In food processor, place broccoli, olive oil and broth. I used 1 tablespoon of the olive oil but the recipe called for 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons. It probably would have blended more smoothly with the oil but I try to use as little as possible.

In a skillet, cook onion in a little olive oil until translucent (3 - 5 minutes).

Add onion in the food processor and pulse a few times. There will still be lumps.

Heat the processed broccoli and then whisk in cream. (I have cream in the house, maybe twice a year which is why I made this recipe. I forgot to mention that, on the top of the post, when mentioning the other reasons.

Ladle sauce over pasta and top with Cheddar. If you want the cheese to melt, pop into microwave or oven.

Eat and enjoy.

My Meatless Mondays - Potato - Spinach Pie

2013-05-19T13:28:00.000-04:00

I have certain favorites, I have made over the years. Two of these are potato pie and spaghetti pie, both which I made, last week. The trick, of course, is never to make them the same way. I think, I have become a master at this. I, either find a new recipe or make my own up, depending on the mood.

I don't know about you but mood has a lot to do with what I cook. If I am tired, I have no desire to bake but I will spend 15 minutes, dicing and slicing and be perfectly happy. I think that has something to do with the many vegetable dishes, we have been eating, these days. I feel tranquil when I sit down with a grater or sharp knife. (sounds like the makings of a good mystery) I also only sit when I dice or slice. Otherwise, I cook, on my feet. This is a golden excuse to relax.

The day, I made this was not a baking day but the shredder looked quite appealing. Ever since, I almost cut the tip of my finger off, I have shown respect for my mandolin. That blade has tremendous potential to do harm as well as slice onions, cukes, carrots, tomatoes and turnips. Try it on turnips and you get beautiful slices. Anything, it will work on, it gets used for.

That is how I got to making my potato pie - a desire to slice.

Potato Spinach Pie

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups shredded white or yellow potatoes (you can use hash browns)
1 onion, thin sliced
1 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup of any Jack cheese, something with a little bite to it
2 cups spinach or more, if you would like
4 large eggs
1/2 cup milk

Method:

Heat skillet with olive oil. Add sliced onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Drain and put aside.

Spray a pie pan with olive oil.

Combine potato and 3/4 cup Cheddar and press into the bottom and sides of pie pan.

Beat together eggs and milk. Add remaining cheese. Pour over potatoes. Top with spinach and onions. Sprinkle additional shredded cheese on top. I added about another half a cup but I did not measure.

Bake for 40 minutes. Start checking at 30 minutes. When a knife inserted comes out clean, it is done.

Eat and Enjoy.

Looking back:

Italian Skillet Eggs - My Turn (for Us) - what a hearty and wonderful breakfast

Cook with Sara made these delicious looking Spanakopita Bites.

Colorful Asian Stir Fry from Dancing Carrots is calling my name.

The Vegetarian Casserole Queen is providing dessert for us, this week. Look at these Double Chocolate Red Velvet Cookies -yum.

Your turn now. Thank you for sharing with us weekly. I love checking out your dishes and I have quite a list, I want to make. I wish, I could keep up with the list. Have a wonderful week.

Baked Broccoli with Smoked Cheese Sauce - GF

2013-05-16T22:39:00.001-04:00

I have been cooking a great deal over the past two weeks and have not had time to share so much with you. It has gotten to the point that a dish is not considered completed until it is blogged.

I am wondering if this is a good or bad habit to have. Once upon a time, I cooked to eat and now I cook to eat and to blog. If it were not for the blogging, we would not have experienced so many new dishes as well as new foods. Who knew how many wonderful veggies are out there? It sounds silly but it is so true.

This recipe from Food.com called for blue cheese sauce but I had no blue cheese so I checked my inventory and found a smoked cheese to use. It was a good choice and gave the dish a strong and pleasant flavor. Cream cheese makes any dish creamy and special so I was thrilled to find it in this recipe.

Baked Broccoli with Smoked Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups florets
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons brown rice flour
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup milk
1/2 cup smoked cheese
3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup tortilla crumbs

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°.

Cover broccoli with lightly salted water in a medium saucepan. Heat to a boil over high heat; cook 2 minutes. Drain and transfer to a shallow, buttered casserole dish.

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat; stir in the flour and garlic. Cook, stirring, until bubbly, about 1 minute.

Stir in the milk, smoked cheese and cream cheese. Cook, stirring, until sauce thickens, about 4 minutes. Pour over broccoli; sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Bake until heated through and lightly browned, about 25 minutes.