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Fast & Easy Dinner: Baked Ravioli

partysugar — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 06:50:01 -0700

While there are some pastas, like macaroni and rigatoni, that are commonly used to make baked casserole-style dishes, other types, for example ravioli, are often overlooked.

This recipe thinks outside the baking dish by tossing store-bought ravioli with a quick homemade marinara sauce and lots of grated cheese.

The resulting meal is a crunchy, chewy, comforting mess of pasta that's sure to please the children in your life. For a balanced dinner, serve mixed greens on the side. Get the creative recipe when you read more.

Baked Ravioli
From Martha Stewart

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme, or oregano
1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
2 pounds store-bought ravioli
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add thyme and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, breaking up tomatoes with spoon, until sauce is thickened and reduced to about 5 1/2 cups, 20 to 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook ravioli in a large pot of boiling salted water just until they float to the top (pasta will continue to cook in oven). Drain pasta; return to pot.

Toss sauce with pasta. Pour pasta into a large gratin dish or 9-by-13-inch baking dish, and sprinkle with cheeses. Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

Serves 4-6.

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What Would You Make?

partysugar — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:01:19 -0800

Here's the scenario: you are at home and hungry. You have to cook up something scrumptious for you and your boyfriend/girlfriend/ spouse/child/friend, but the ingredients you have on hand are limited.

You have a bunch of fragrant basil, creamy goat cheese, and marinara sauce. Using these products, along with whatever you currently have on hand in your cupboard and refrigerator, what would you make?

To see what I would make, read more.

I would start by finely chopping the basil. Next I would stir it into the marinara sauce.
I would fill an oven-proof appetizer dish with the sauce and plop a large chunk of goat cheese in the middle.
I would bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling.
Meanwhile I would use whatever bread I have on hand - this week I have regular white sandwich bread - to make croutons. I would do this by cutting it into large one inch crustless cubes and crisping it up in the oven while the cheese and sauce bake.
Finally, I would serve the cheese marinara dip with the croutons and skewers for dipping.

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The Basics: Marinara Sauce

partysugar — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:38:38 -0700

When it comes to cooking, there are many basic recipes that are like building blocks. Take a simple vinaigrette, for example: once you know the most common ratio of oil to vinegar, you can easily change and enhance the flavor by adding herbs, garlic, finely grated cheese, mustard, honey, citrus, or whatever ingredients entice your tastebuds. Our new regular feature, The Basics, highlights these important recipes. We're taking you back to the basics by providing foundation recipes that you can build upon.To kick of the series, I've made homemade marinara sauce. While you can find this staple in every grocery store, it's far more delicious if you take the time to make your own. The recipe is uncomplicated and alterable. It's an effortless tomato sauce that can be tossed with pasta, turned into a dip, or spread on a pizza dough. To look at the recipe and see suggestions on how to transform it into a more complex sauce, read more.

Marinara Sauce
From Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (32-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 dried bay leaf

Directions

In a large pot, heat the oil over a medium-high flame. Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.
Add the celery, carrots, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and bay leaves, and simmer uncovered over low heat until the sauce thickens, about 1 hour.
Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season the sauce with more salt and pepper, to taste. The sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cool, then cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over medium heat before using.

Makes about 4 cups.

Variations
To make a spicy tomato sauce, stir in red pepper flakes and ancho chile powder (or chopped chipotle in adobe) when you add the tomatoes.

To make a rich bolognese-style sauce, deglaze the vegetables with red wine. Pour in milk when you add the tomatoes.

To make a tangy puttanesca-inspired sauce, saute anchovy fillets with the vegetables. Add capers, black olives, and fresh oregano when you add the tomatoes.

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Marinara Sauce

partysugar — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:09:59 -0700

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In Season: Daikon Radishes

YumSugar — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:50:33 -0800

Until I walked past a bin of them on my last trip to the Chinese market, I'd completely forgotten about daikon radishes. The long, white vegetable, which looks like an oversize carrot, isn't that prevalent at Western markets, but is a staple in Asian cuisines. Although the milky-fleshed daikon can be found year-round at some grocery stores, the vegetables are sweetest and mildest during the cold weather months. If possible, shop for them at an Asian supermarket, where they're likely to be fresh, as they may grow bitter with age. Store them in a cool, dry place, where they'll keep for several weeks. If you're new to cooking with radishes, the concept may seem daunting, but this peppery giant is surprisingly versatile. To learn a few ways to enjoy it, read more.

Add pickled daikon to your favorite banh mi.
Mellow out the daikon's bite by pickling it with ginger and serving it alongside a meal.
Simmer chunks of the root vegetable until soft in a mushroom and daikon soup.
For a really different take on East-West cuisine, substitute shaved daikon for fettuccine and serve with marinara sauce.
Julienne peeled daikon and roast alongside a whole chicken.

For those of you who've cooked with daikon or another white Asian radish before: how do you like to prepare it?

Source: Flickr User clayirving

Fast & Easy Dinner: Green Calzone

partysugar — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:30:55 -0800

Tonight skip the delivery pizza in favor of homemade calzones. Stuffed with spinach, Italian sausage, onions, and two types of cheese, these calzones are classic and filling.

Or simply use the recipe as a guide and load the store-bought pizza dough with vegetables and cheese that you have on hand.

Whatever you do, make sure to serve with plenty of marinara sauce for dipping! Get the kid-friendly recipe after the break.

Spaghetti and Meatballs Is a Comforting Classic

partysugar — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:50:38 -0800

A couple of weekends ago, I had to prepare dinner for six guys. I needed a dish that was comforting, delicious, filling, and most importantly, could easily feed a crowd. I decided on classic spaghetti and meatballs. While the tomato sauce requires several hours, the resulting dish is wildly satisfying and not only did the boys love it, but so did I! Ladling out bowls of saucy spaghetti and perfectly juicy meatballs, I felt like a little Italian grandmother. Although there are tons of spaghetti and meatball recipes on the Internet, I chose this one because of some unusual twists. The addition of pancetta subtly flavors the marinara sauce and a half cup of water ensures that the mixture of ground pork, veal, and beef stays moist. I highly recommend you make this rewarding Italian favorite for your loved ones. To do so, get the recipe.

Taste Test: Domino's Bread Bowl Pastas

YumSugar — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:00:53 -0700

The world of fast food is certainly quick paced, so the second Domino's begun advertising five flavors of pasta housed in a bread bowl, it seemed everybody was buzzing about it. When Party and I first got word of these monsters, we were simultaneously shocked (who came up with the concept?), appalled, and eager to try them. Yesterday turned out to be the Domino's day of reckoning - to find out how the bowls stood up to their shock value, read more.

It's hard to fathom why Domino's rolled out this concept of carbs inside more carbs, but the fact that competitor Pizza Hut has already racked up more than $500 million in sales of its Tuscani Pastas and lasagna, puts things more into perspective. However, as soon as we opened the delivery, we were faced with many unanswered questions: How many people was each bread bowl supposed to feed? Was the dish designed to be eaten like a pizza, or were we supposed to eat the pasta first, then the bowl?

Pasta Primavera: This bread bowl was filled with pasta, baby spinach, diced tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and a goopy, oily Alfredo sauce. While the sole vegetarian option was filled with vegetables, I questioned whether the dish contained any protein.

Chicken Carbonara: Although this tasted somewhat like carbonara, it was covered with similar globs of white sauce.

Three Cheese Mac-N-Cheese: This was our least favorite. We love macaroni and cheese, but the flavors of the dish - bland, artificial nacho cheese, subpar penne, and a yeasty bread bowl - just did not seem to meld at all.

Italian Sausage Marinara: If we had to choose a best of the tasting, it would have been the Italian Sausage Marinara, which was rather reminiscent of regular pizza delivery with breadsticks. But then again, why not just order pizza and breadsticks?

Chicken Alfredo: All of the bowls were loaded with sodium (I drank water for hours afterward), but the Chicken Alfredo was swimming in a sauce that was over-the-top salty, to the point of being unpleasant to eat.

Unsurprisingly, the Pasta Primavera, Chicken Carbonara, and Chicken Alfredo flavors - which possess the same mysterious creamy white sauce - all taste remarkably similar. The bread bowl itself, which tastes a lot like Domino's breadsticks, was satisfying, but overall, unless we were starving and had no other options, or were carbo loading for a marathon the next day, we wouldn't eat this again.

Have you tried any of the Bread Bowl Pastas? If so, what was your assessment of them?

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Would You Eat This Wise Guy Burger?

YumSugar — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:50:04 -0700

If the world's largest burger wasn't too much for you, maybe you can appreciate the newest addition to the burgerverse. Grub Street reports that casual chain Red Robin has created a breakthrough called the Wise Guy Burger, which consists of a burger patty, marinara sauce, pepperoni slices, peppers, tomatoes, and yes, mozzarella sticks. Although they say it "just seems wrong" to go there, as a lover of The Palin sandwich at Ike's, I must respectfully disagree. Is it something you'd try?

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Taste Test: Pizza Hut's Tuscani Pastas

YumSugar — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:15:08 -0800

Earlier this year, Pizza Hut played a trick on the country by claiming it had changed its name to Pasta Hut. Although the name change turned out to be an advertising prank, the pizza delivery chain did roll out a new line of Tuscani Pastas ($12.99). After trying out Domino's new line of subs, I decided that to be fair, I'd give Pizza Hut's pastas a try, too. To find out how the chain's new offerings tasted, read more.

Much like we felt Domino's subs tasted like pizza, PartySugar and I thought Pizza Hut's pastas actually looked like pizza. I did a double take on the Meaty Marinara, as it looked like a standard cheese pizza!

Meaty Marinara: This pasta arrived with slightly burnt edges, and was the least appetizing to look at. Thank goodness its name includes the word "meat," since the dish actually looks like it's vegetarian: The pasta, marinara, and meat are on underneath a thick layer of melted mozzarella. The sauce tasted more like pizza sauce than pasta sauce, but this option, with its tomato base, seemed the healthiest of the three.

Creamy Chicken Alfredo: Although the chicken strips were tender and meaty, this was my least favorite of the pastas. The congealed Alfredo sauce was representative of why I usually hesitate to order Alfredo.

Premium Bacon Mac 'N Cheese: This was the best of the pastas, with its smooth, creamy Velveeta-like texture and crisp and meaty bits of smoky bacon.

Beware that these pastas are certainly not light. After tasting a sample of each, I felt satisfied for hours. Later, I had a few more bites of each, and I felt thirsty, bloated, and a little sick. However, if you're already inclined to order delivery from Pizza Hut, there's no harm in ordering a pasta instead - my vote goes to the Premium Bacon Mac 'N Cheese (2 a.m. after a night on the town, anyone?). Have you been tried out Pizza Hut's pastas? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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