Chicken and Basil Ravioli with Veggies in a Garlic Sauce

The other day I was able to harvest the first veggies from my garden!  It was a very exciting day!  I got a zuchinni, a handful of green beans, and a handful of basil.  I looked at them, debating what to use them for, and this dish sprang into my head.  I had leftover shredded chicken in the fridge, so all I had to do was make the raviolis - and that really doesn't take long, though I am out of practice and did not get the dough as thin as I would have liked.  I also spazzed out and forgot how to use my ravioli maker, but I muddled through and it turned out delicious in the end!  As a side note, I tried out a new pasta dough recipe and did not like it so in the future it will be back to the old standby.

Ingredients

Pasta dough, rolled out thinly
1/4 - 1/2 c cooked and shredded chicken
4 large basil leaves, sliced
2 T olive oil
handful diced onion
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 zuchinni, sliced
handful green beans, chopped
2 T olive oil
3 basil leaves, sliced
1/2 tomato, diced

Mix together the chicken and the sliced basil, let sit while you roll out the pasta dough.  Stuff the raviolis with the chicken and basil mix and seal firmly.  Cover and set aside.  Start a pot of water heating for the pasta.  Heat the first 2 T olive oil in a skillet and sautee the onions and garlic until fragrant.  Add the zuchinni and green beans.  When the zuchinni begins to soften, add the remaining 2 T olive oil and the remaining basil.  Cook until the beans are soft, adding more oil as needed.  Add the tomato in the last minute or two.  Meanwhile, once the water for pasta is at a boil, add the raviolis.  Cook for three to four minutes, then drain.  Top raviolis with the veggie and garlic oil mix.  Enjoy!

Pasta with Red Pepper Pesto

Today's post is for the HH6 May challenge:

We're all inspired by someone, whether we know them in real life or just from the tv. Tell us who inspires your cooking and share one of their recipes.


I had a certain something in mind for this post but circumstances made my initial idea impossible.  I am determined to make it possible in the future so I won't spoil it.  Anyway, despite that minor setback, I still have an excellent dish for you.  My inspiration here is my friend Stacey (whose food blog is down, else I'd link).  I met Stacey in the summer of 2008 through a third party who (without permission) invited us to her house for dinner.  Quite rude, but incredibly fortunate as it turned out - who else would I have backpacked the Grand Canyon with, after all?  Anyway, Stacey is an awesome cook and I was newly married and just beginning to experiment on the culinary front.  Seeing what she made really pushed me to be better in the kitchen.  Today I've made a dinner I had at her house last fall.  Salmon, roasted veggies, and pasta with red pepper pesto.

Now, not only is it delicious, but the pasta has the amazing ability to pass The Husband Test.  See, my husband pretty much refuses to eat pasta that doesn't have "red" sauce.  Guess what?  This sauce is red!  If I hadn't told him, he never would have known that he was eating peppers and pine nuts!  As an added benefit, it's delicious hot or cold - bring it to your next summer grill-out instead of the traditional pasta salad!

Side note:  I really dislike the place we are currently living.  There are a lot of reasons for this.  My current reason is that I had to drive an hour to get pine nuts.  I did not buy basil when in the city, figuring that basil, at least, I could obtain closer to home.  Yeah, not so much.  And my own garden basil is not large enough yet.  So I had to use dry.  SOB!

Ingredients

Penne pasta
1/3 c evoo
8 garlic cloves
1/3 c pine nuts
1/4 c Parmesean cheese, chunks or grated
1/4 c asiago, chunks or grated
1 c fresh basil
1 c roasted red peppers

Cook pasta as usual.  Drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a skillet and saute the garlic.  Add the pine nuts and cook another minute or two.  Combine oil, garlic, nuts, basil, peppers, and 1/2 of the cheese in a food processor.  Process briefly until smooth.

Toss with pasta and top with grated remainder of cheese.

Thai Take-In

Okay, so, I took some fantastically gorgeous pictures of this dinner!  Lots of them!  ...Without a memory card in my camera.  Ooops.  I promise I'll take some more (WITH the memory card) when I'm eating leftovers next week.  Unless I forget because I'm busy with the new job (had I mentioned that yet?  I'm employed again!), in which case I'll just have to make this whole thing over again and eat even more Thai and you know, that sounds like an amazing idea really!

ANYWAY!

Rewind four months.  I was just coming back from the Grand Canyon Adventure with Adventure and Cooking Buddy Stacey.  Traditionally, we make our first meal after a backpacking trip a special one.  In Alaska, it was always Moose Tooth.  This time we tried the steak house at the Canyon, but the food was not up to our ridiculous foodie standards.  I thought Stacey was going to cry when her dessert came out covered in cool whip.  So we needed another, better post-Canyon celebration dinner.  Well, plans changed and Stacey came back to Vegas with me before returning home, and she declared that we should feast at Lotus of Siam.  This was a place that had been recommended to me by several people but I just hadn't made it there yet (something which I now regret).  So, off to Lotus we went.

Oh.  My.  God.

We ordered drunken noodles with crispy duck and khao soi with braised short ribs.  I was in heaven.  Absolute heaven.  Unfortunately, we only had a few more weeks left in Vegas at that point.  I set about going to Lotus every chance I got.

Back to the present:  I have been Lotus-less for four months now.  I swear I have actually been dreaming about that khao soi.  I had to have some.  So, I had to make some.  I spent a few days looking at various recipes on the internet, then set about winging it with my own recollection of the dishes from Lotus.  I was very pleased with how the Khao Soi turned out.  The Drunken Noodles weren't perfect, but The Husband loved them anyway.

Khao Soi Braised Short Ribs

Ingredients

6 beef short ribs
salt and pepper
1 T evoo
2 T vegetable oil
1 T minced garlic
1 T red curry paste
1 c red wine
6 c water

1 package thin rice or egg noodles
1 T evoo

2 T vegetable oil
1 T minced garlic
2 T red curry paste
1 can (2 c) coconut milk
2 c braising liquid or beef stock
1 1/2 t turmeric
1 T soy
1 T sugar
1 t salt

Optional:
1 diced serrano chili
pickled veggies*

Place dutch oven** on lowest rack.  Preheat oven to 350.  In a large skillet, heat the evoo.  Rub the ribs with salt and pepper, then brown on each side.  Set aside.  In a sauce pan, heat up the vegetable oil until it is sizzling.  Add the garlic and the red curry, stirring well.  Add the wine and simmer for three minutes.  Add the water and return to a simmer.  Carefully pour liquids into dutch oven.  Add ribs and cover.  Cook for 2-2.5 hours or until meat is falling off the bones.

When the ribs are almost done, make the curry sauce.  Heat the vegetable oil, then add the garlic and red curry, stirring well.  While stirring, add the coconut milk, then the braising liquid.  Simmer for three minutes.  Stir in the turmeric, soy, sugar and salt (for a spicier dish, add the diced chili).  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Cook for 10 minutes.

While the curry is cooking, cook the noodles according to the package instructions.  Drain.  Heat the evoo in a skillet and toss the noodles in, stirring constantly until noodles are slightly toasted.

Serve curry and short ribs over noodles, topping with pickled veggies.

*I tried pickling my own but I wasn't happy with the result.  I will try again.
**If you have a flat bottomed dutch oven, no need to preheat, just use it instead of the saucepan in the following steps.

Drunken Noodles with Veggies

Ingredients

2 T vegetable oil
3 cups diced veggies - baby corn, bell peppers, green beans
2 T minced garlic
3 serrano chiles, diced

1/2 bag of wide egg noodles

4 T soy
1 1/2 T oyster sauce
1 T rice vinegar
3 T brown sugar
lime juice from 1 lime

dash white pepper

Heat the oil in a large wok.  Add the veggies, garlic, and chiles, stirring well.  Cook until vegetables are tender, stirring frequently.  While vegetables are cooking, boil noodles according to package directions and drain.

Once the vegetables are tender, add the noodles and continue to fry for 3 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, mix together the soy, oyster sauce, vinegar, brown sugar and lime juice.  Pour over the noodles and veggies, stirring well.  Cook until the sauce has reduced, stirring constantly.  Top with a dash of white pepper and serve.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

November's a pretty crazy month to do a food challenge, I think!  I managed it though, even while prepping for Thanksgiving (yes I will have more posts about that)!  November's theme for HH6 is "Coming from your part of the world, create/share your favorite comfort food."

I thought for a while about what to do for this challenge.  I considered biscuits and gravy, as we're moving to the south.  Or maybe apple fritters or fastnachts from my Pennsylvania Dutch heritage.  Or maybe something Mexican since we're currently in the southwest!  When you move around so much, "your part of the world" could mean anything!  As a result, I decided to focus more on the comfort side of the challenge and a few memories were quick to pop to mind.  This summer, when I was at our family's cabin in Pennsylvania, a smell suddenly caught my attention.  It was just spaghetti sauce, but it smelled like the most amazing thing ever and I bugged my aunt and uncle to let me have some of their spaghetti.  Then, when we backpacked the Grand Canyon, day three was our hardest day - from the bottom to the North rim and back down all in one day, nearly 14 miles.  What did we choose to pack for dinner that night?  Spaghetti!  And boy did we eat tons of it!

Spaghetti it was, then.  But how to create the most comforting sauce?  I have several sauces I use, from the fancy roasted garlic to my uncle's decadent baby back rib sauce.  None of them were quite right though.  So I warned my husband that we'd be eating a lot of spaghetti over the next few weeks and set to work.

My first attempt used sausage and roasted garlic.  It was good, but didn't have the flavor profile I was looking for.  My second attempt used beef instead of sausage.  Much closer, but it needed to be simpler.  The best comfort foods are simple, and here the third time  was the charm - a nice, thick, beefy sauce!  Yum!

Ingredients

1 T oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 head garlic, minced
1/2 lb ground beef
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
oregano
pepper
crushed red pepper

Saute the onion and garlic in the oil until the onion is translucent.  Add the beef and cook until browned.  Pour in sauce and tomatoes.  Season liberally with oregano and cautiously with pepper and red pepper.  Simmer until thickened, 40 minutes or so.  Top with grated parmesan or aged gouda.

Herbed Hen Pasta

The upcoming challenge involves using only what is currently in our pantries, so here's my proof of what I have at the moment.

More later!

Update:

September's Challenge: We all need to be prepared in the event of a disaster.  You have stuff in your pantry and fridge/freezer.  If a disaster should strike today and you have no access to going to a grocery store but your stove/grill is still working, what would you make with what you have on hand?


For this one, I went with a one-pot meal, easy to do even if we can only use our little camp stove.  I feel a bit uncreative using pasta, but hey, it works and it's easy.  This is a nice simple dish that's pretty as well as flavorful, and different every time depending on what spices you use.


Ingredients

1 game hen (or chicken)
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/4 onion, diced
Your favorite herbs and spices
water
1 T olive oil
1 box pasta
1 can diced tomatoes
4 T pesto
grated parmesean

Take the olive oil and gently brown the onions and garlic in a saucepan.  Add in the herbs and spices, the hen, and about 1/2 c water.  Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until bird is cooked through, adding more water as needed.  Remove hen and set aside to cool.  Once it has cooled sufficiently, shred the meat.

Meanwhile, cook and drain the pasta.  Stir in the shredded hen, tomatoes, and pesto.  Top with grated cheese.

Seafood Pasta

We spent this past weekend skiing at Alyeska.  Since we were already in Girdwood, we had to go to the Double Musky for dinner.  Once there, we spent a while debating over what to order.  I finally ordered the garlic seafood pasta.

Immediately, I knew I had made a mistake.  I wanted to call the waitress back, but it was too late.

Now, I hadn't made a mistake because the Double Musky's seafood pasta was bad, you see.  I had made a mistake because MY seafood pasta is better!

Ingredients

1/2 c bread flour
1/2 c seminola flour
1 egg
1 T oil
water

1/2 fillet of fish (halibut or salmon, but anything can work!), cut into chunks
2 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced

Combine flours, egg, oil, and just enough water to allow the dough to reach the correct consistency.  Knead for 3-5 minutes, cover with plastic wrap and rest for 20 minutes.

Following the directions on your pasta roller, roll out the dough and cut into fettuccine noodles.  Cook noodles for 3-4 minutes in salted water.

Sautee the fish and garlic slices in the olive oil.  For a variation, blacken the fish with your preferred rub first.  Pour fish and garlic oil over the pasta.

Backpacking Menu 6/5-6/7

We're going backpacking this weekend down by Hope, and I figured I'd post our weekend menu and some recipes.  I've got quite an assortment here, making good use of my dehydrator which has already paid for itself.

Each day has a breakfast, lunch, dinner, and three snacks since we'll be putting in significant mileage during the day.

Saturday

Breakfast - at home
Lunch - Subway, since we won't have to haul it very far!
Dinner - Spaghetti (dried noodles, dehydrated sauce)
Snack - home-made trail mix
Snack -fruit (fresh)
Snack - oreos

Sunday

Breakfast - cereal with dried milk
Lunch - PB&J for him, tuna salad for me
Dinner - Beef stew (beef and veggies dehydrated at home, stew mix from the store)
Snack - peanut butter/cranberry roll-ups
Snack - fruit leather
Snack - oreos

Monday

Breakfast - oatmeal
Lunch - same as Sunday
Dinner - home!
Snack - fruit leather
Snack - home-made trail mix

Now, for the recipes, since that's what this blog is all about!

Trail Mix

This one is easy and entirely customizable.  Here's what I throw into mine:

1. Nuts.  Just buy whatever kinds you like at the store.  I don't like them much, so I buy tiny ones like peanuts and slivered almonds.

2. Fruits.  You can buy dried fruits or dehydrate your own.  I've found that dehydrated strawberries are a HUGE hit, as are dehydrated apples.  I slice the strawberries, and dice the apples as small as possible.  Craisens I just get from the store.

3. Granola crunch.  Because we all need that crunch!  Mix up some granola, applesauce, and spices (salt is quite tasty, actually) in a bowl.  Add some nuts if you want.  Spread thin on a sheet and bake until hard and crispy.  Break into small chunks and toss in the bag!

4. Chocolate.  You can't have trail mix without it!  I like peanut-butter M&Ms, the hubby goes for regular.

Throw everything into a bag and you are good to go!

Peanut-butter Cranberry Roll-ups

I feel guilty even calling this a recipe.  Get the tiny flour tortillas from the store.  Spread with peanutbutter and craisens.  Roll up tightly and seal in a bag.  Easy snack that won't go bad for a few days hike!  High in protein, too!

Leathers and Dehydrated Sauces

I've talked about this before so I'll be brief.  The same idea that works for fruit leather (puree, spread, dry) works for sauces, too.  If you've got a chunky tomato sauce, it's probably a good idea to run it through the processor for a moment to smooth it out.  Otherwise, spread it out, dry, roll up, and you're good to go.  Just toss it into the pot with the pasta and the water!

I'm making four different fruit leathers for this weekend - strawberry/raspberry, strawberry/apple, peach/cinnamon, and mixed fruit.

Dehydrated Beef Stew

Not as hard as it seems.  Take your stew beef, trim off all the fat.  Simmer for an hour or so, until cooked through.  Dehydrated at around 145 for 6 hours or so, until hard.

Dice up all of your veggies.  Dehydrate at 130, 145 for onions.  Toss in a bag with the beef.

If you need more calories, throw some rice or quinoa in as well.

Take a packet of stew seasoning or bouillon cube with you - toss the seasoning, meats, veggies and all into a pot of water, and cook away!

White Wine and Cheddar Shells

Sometimes my randomly thrown-together meals work out even better than my well-thought out, planned experiments. This is one such. Last night I just pulled whatever I had out of the pantry and came up with this beauty. It's not hard and it's relatively quick to make. I don't have specific measurements - adjust the proportions according to how many servings you need.

Ingredients

Pasta shells
1 T butter
1 T flour
Pino Grigio or Chardonnay
grated rosemary cheddar (or regular cheddar)
diced ham
baby spinach, coarsely chopped
garlic and wine seasoning

Preheat the oven to 350. Boil the pasta until just al dente - drain and set aside in an oven-safe pan. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Once it is frothy, stir in the flour. After the mixture blends smoothly, add a small amount of wine. Melt about 1/2 the cheddar into the wine mixture, adding more wine if needed to produce a thick but still liquid and silky texture. Pour the sauce over the pasta, adding the ham and spinach and stir to thoroughly coat the pasta. Sprinkle the remaining cheese and the garlic and wine seasoning on top. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until cheese browns and bubbles.

Drunken Mac and Cheese

This is the result of an aha! moment that I had last week. Beer cheese dip is wonderful. Mac and cheese is wonderful. Why not combine them both? I haven't quite perfected this yet, but it's still pretty darned good for a first attempt!

Ingredients

5 cups shredded cheese, approximately 80% cheddar and 20% swiss
1 bottle of beer, preferably Alaskan Amber
2 T butter
2 T flour
Worcestershire sauce
Dijon mustard
Horseradish sauce
Garlic and Wine seasoning
Salt and Pepper
1 box of macaroni

Preheat the oven to 400. Cook pasta as directed, drain, pour into an oven safe pan and set aside. Set the beer simmering in a large saucepan while melting butter and flour together in a small pan. Add Worcestershire, Dijon, horseradish, garlic, salt and pepper to the beer to taste. Blend in the flour and butter mixture and slowly stir in 3 cups of the cheese shreds. Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta, stirring to mix well. Toss pasta with the remaining cheese shreds and top with bread crumbs. Bake 20 minutes.

Meat Sauce

Nothing better than pasta with a good meat sauce! This recipe is based off of my Uncle Carl's sauce, but I've added a few twists of my own.

Ingredients

1 lb ground sausage
1 lb spicy ground sausage
1 slab baby back ribs, cut into individual rib pieces
1 stick pepperoni, diced
3 28 oz cans diced tomatoes, Italian flavored
1 29 oz. can tomato sauce
16 to 18 oz tomato paste
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
3 T Italian seasoning
2 to 6 T olive oil
2 t sugar – add more to your taste
4 fresh or 2 dried bay leaves
2 t each salt and pepper or to your taste.
Dash of cayenne pepper
Kale

Brown the sausage in a skillet and set aside. Slice the ribs apart, rub with salt and pepper, and brown them as well. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes.

Transfer to a large pot and add in the sausage and pepperoni. Add tomatoes and tomato sauce. Stir well and add Italian seasoning, some of the sugar and bay leaves as well as the cayenne. Then add the paste. Stir very well and let simmer for several hours. Adjust the seasonings to taste.

The sauce is done when the rib meat has fallen off the bones. Remove the bones and the bay leaves.

Take a handful of kale and slice it a few times. Toss it in the skillet with a bit of oil and a spoonful of sauce and sautee for a few minutes. Stir into the sauce and serve over fresh pasta.