Oh sure, I love the classic pasta with clam sauce, both the red kind and the white kind.  I like the kind with the clam shells, and the kind where there are no shells and just bits of delicious clams in the sauce.  When it comes to pasta with clam sauce, I’m not a picky girl.  However, I’m all for shaking things up here and there, and I’m also all for streamlining whatever can be streamlined if the dinner is meant for, say, a Wednesday night when it is cold and rainy and you’ve done one million things throughout the course of the day and you are tired and cranky.  Not that I am ever cranky.  The Southern husband will swear to it.  (While I am within hearing distance anyway!)

Which brings me to this, my current favorite new pasta with clam sauce recipe.  Now prepare yourself, because it calls for jarred pasta sauce.  I think that might be the first time I have every typed the words “jarred pasta sauce” on my blog, but in this case, it really does work, and it’s essential to the speedy Wednesday night approach for this.  The sauce in this case is tomato vodka sauce, and I promise that there is a jar of it in your supermarket spaghetti sauce aisle, just waiting for you.  And in this case, I promise that it’s going to ultimately taste fabulous…after we get done messing with it.

So here’s how this goes:  Find yourself some nice short pasta.  I like campanelle, which looks like little wavy seashells, and Barilla makes this variety, but if you can’t find it any short pasta like penne will be fine.  Boil it up in some nicely salted water.  While it’s boiling, you are going to make what I think is one of the best parts of this whole thing, which are some crispy, buttery, herby breadcrumbs.  All you do for that is to grab a couple pieces of bread, whirl them in your food processor until they are crumbs, and then stir them in a small frying pan with some butter until they are golden and crunchy, and then mix in a little fresh chopped parsley.  All of that will take about 5 minutes.

Now!  Grab that jar of vodka sauce and pour it into a large saucepan along with some lemon juice and some garlic.  Heat it to a simmer and then stir in the pasta and some canned clams.  I like using the whole baby clams, but if you can only find chopped or minced they will do just fine.  Now cover your pot, let it stand for about 5 minutes, and then dish it out.  Give everyone’s plate a nice generous topping of breadcrumbs and a grinding of fresh pepper, and you’re set!  

And I promise you, unless someone spots that empty sauce jar in the recycling, your secret is safe with me!

Recipe adapted from The Pampered Chef 29 Minutes To Dinner Cookbook

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Now that my blog is all new and spiffy, I have all kinds of plans for celebrating its new groovy look, and so stay tuned to this channel for some fun upcoming events!  But I thought the best way to kick it off would be a good old bacon recipe.  It just seemed like the right thing to do.  And so, I bring you these bacon buttermilk biscuits.

Being married for a million years to a Southern man, I have eaten a biscuit or two.  Along with grits and okra, they pretty much go with the territory.  Not that I am complaining.  At all.  So, being the loving and obliging Northern wife that I am, I am always on the lookout for the next great biscuit recipe.  So when I came across this particular one that involves both buttermilk and bacon, I pretty much knew I had hit the all-time biscuit jackpot. 

Now, this one started out at Cooks Illustrated, so you KNOW it’s going to be good.  I upped the amount of bacon (naturally), and I used a biscuit cutter to make mine nice and round, even though the original recipe  says you can make these as drop biscuits (meaning you can just scoop out the biscuit batter in 1/4 cup scoops and drop them on your cookie sheets, and you definitely CAN do this if you want to).  But I like my biscuits in nice round biscuit shapes, and so that’s the way I rolled with this one.

So there you go…the new and improved Framed Cooks has now been inaugurated with a bacon recipe, and all is now well with my world.  Stay tuned for more celebratory events in the next few weeks!

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   Bacon Buttermilk Biscuits

   Yield: 12 biscuits

   

   Ingredients

   8 strips bacon, cut into 1/4 inch squares

   2 cups flour

   1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

   2 teaspoons baking powder

   1 teaspoon sugar

   1/4 teaspoon salt

   1 cup cold buttermilk

   8 tablespoons melted and cooled butter, plus two more tablespoons melted butter to brush on top

   Directions

   1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Fry bacon in 10-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towel-lined plate and cool to room temperature.

   2. Whisk flour, pepper, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, cooled bacon, and salt in large bowl.

   3. Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in medium bowl, stirring until butter forms small clumps.

   4. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just mixed.

   5. Turn batter out onto a clean floured surface - I used a Silpat for this part. Pat into a square that is about 1 inch high. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out round biscuit dough circles. If you don't have a biscuit cutter, a drinking glass that is about 2 inches wide will work just as well.

   6. Place onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes.

   7. Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before serving.

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   Recipe adapted from Cooks Illustrated

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Second, my romantic, encouraging, amazing Southern husband.  He pushed me to do this when I was being a wimp about it, held my hand through the whole thing, and didn’t complain one single time during these past weeks when I have been just a little bit more wrapped up in my blog then I usually am.  Just a little. 

Please come visit Framed Cooks for more recipes, pictures and kitchen adventures!

Please come visit Framed Cooks for more recipes, pictures and kitchen adventures!

We are not big ham eaters in our house, but every once in a while we get a craving for it.  And we do, it’s often so we can eat this glorious mixture of sweet pears, salty chunks of ham and melty, creamy Brie cheese, all baked together in a simple custard of milk, a little butter and an egg.  Mixed throughout all of it are chunks of bread, and the whole thing is basically a casserole version of the best dang ham and cheese sandwich you ever ate meets French Toast, and then some.

So there you go…this is obviously a great, quick supper dish, but it makes a perfect brunch as well, especially if you are having a hungry crowd.  (And in my experience, crowds are always hungry!)  Here’s the recipe.

Ham, Brie and Pear Bake

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Asparagus Grilled Cheese, adapted from from Closet Cooking 

Please come visit Framed Cooks for more recipes, pictures and kitchen adventures!