Pasta is Everyday Food!

I love pasta - from spaghetti to gemelli to ravioli - I love it all. I also enjoy how you can pretty much make a pasta sauce out of anything. For example, the ratatouille from my first post is often pureed at our house and served over pasta with freshly grated cheese. Below are two pasta recipes that we've enjoyed this month. The first was inspired by leftover sausage, and the second by a craving for bacon. Enjoy!

Pasta with Sausage and Mushrooms

1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
6 oz mild Italian sausage, removed from casings*
4 oz shittake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
2 tbsp red wine
1 -28 oz tin chopped tomatoes
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
8 oz fusilli pasta
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Saute garlic, onion and sausage in olive oil over medium high heat for approximately 3 minutes, until sausage loses pinkness. Add mushrooms and saute until slightly limp, approx 2 minutes. Add wine, tomatoes and oregano, bring to a boil and simmer approximately 15 minutes until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with cooked pasta and parsley.

* If using leftover grilled sausage, cut into small dice and add AFTER the garlic and onion is sauteed.

Easy Spaghetti Carbonara

8 slices bacon, cut 1 inch thick crosswise
1 pound spaghetti (or shell pasta for kids)
3 large eggs
3/4 grated parmesan cheese (I have used Kraft and it works fine)
1/2 c half-and-half or evaporated milk

Cook bacon in large skillet until crisp. Transfer to paper towel lined plate. Cook pasta to al dente. While pasta is cooking, whisk together eggs, parmesan half-and-half or milk. Set aside. Drain pasta, leaving some water clinging to it. Quickly add hot pasta to the egg mixture. Add the bacon, season with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Serve immediately with extra grated cheese.

NB The heat from the pasta will cook the eggs!

The Best Pumpkin Loaf

I found this recipe in an LCBO Food & Drink magazine back in 2001 and have been making it to rave reviews ever since. It seems to be especially comforting for friends at home with new babes. I don't often bother with the toppings on loaves or muffins, but this one is entirely worth it. Sit back, enjoy your piping hot coffee with a slice of this loaf and watch the colours fall from the trees!

Orange Pumpkin Bread

1 c flour
3/4 c whole wheat flour
2 tsp b powder
1/2 tsp b soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 c tinned pumpkin
1/3 c canola oil
1/4 c fresh squeezed orange juice
2 tsp orange zest
3-4 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)*

Preheat oven to 350. Stir together flours, b powder, b soda and salt. Combine cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Transfer 1 tsp of the spice mixture to another bown and add 2 tbsp of the brown sugar. Set aside for topping. Add remaining brown sugar to remaining spice mixture. Add eggs and beat until smooth. Stir in pumpkin, oil, orange juice and zest. Stir flour mixture into wet mixture and stir until just combined. Spoon batter into a 9x5 inch oiled loaf pan, or 4 oiled mini loaves. Sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds and topping mix. Bake for 50-55 minutes (35 for mini loaves) and let cool on rack for 15 minutes before turning out of pans.

* I usually just toast the seeds on the tray in the toaster oven. One or two light toast cycles works fine.

Finally - the Kids Like Salad!

Claire has been asking for some time to help more in the kitchen. Usually, I am in a hurry and don't have the time to slow down enough to give her a task appropriate for a 7 year old. This week I had an epiphany. What if I gave her the job of making salad? Would she agree? What would we end up with? Well, my girl she does love the kitchen, and the salads she has come up with have been tasty AND consumed in great quantities by both children because Claire made them. Here are the three variations she has come up with so far:

• Green leaf lettuce with crumbled goat cheese and pecans
• Green leaf lettuce with grated cheddar, cherry tomatoes and walnuts
• Green leaf lettuce with crumbled blue cheese, dried cranberries and broken up multigrain tortilla chips

I'm serious. She came up with the ideas, and both kids have eaten these salads WITHOUT ANY DRESSING. They are yummy! Here's to cooking with kids - may we never underestimate what they are capable of!

Another Chili Recipe for your Collection!

Almost everyone makes chili. And while many complain about those mushy red kidney beans, almost everyone likes chili. It is especially comforting on a cool autumn day when accompanied by a cold beer and eaten outside in a spot of sunshine. That is exactly how the following chili was consumed this past weekend at our place, with neighbours who had spent the whole morning working in their yard to create a new garden space. My chili never tastes exactly the same twice, but this one was so good, I actually put pen to paper to record the recipe so I could, hopefully, create the same taste again. I apologize, but you'll have to use your own judgment on spice quantities as I can only ballpark those. For the kidney bean haters, none found here. Chili was served with jalapeno peppers, a variety of hot sauces, sliced green onions, sour cream and the guacamole from my previous post. Keep warm!

Chicken Chili

2 lb ground freerange chicken
2 onions, diced
1 leek, well washed and sliced
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large tin tomatoes
1 bottle of pumpkin ale (or other dark beer if pumpkin not available)
1 tin tomato paste
2 bay leaves
cumin (around 1 tbsp)
chili powder (around 2 tbsps)
oregano (around 1 tsp)
chili flakes to taste
1 tin rinsed chick peas
1 tin Heinz tomato baked beans (apologies to purists but this is a key ingredient)
up to 2 c. cooked and cooled brown rice (this really thickens things up)
brown sugar to taste

Brown chicken with chili powder, cumin, oregano and chili flakes. Add onions, leeks, carrots, celery and garlic. Saute until carrots are tender crisp. Add tomatoes, ale, tomato paste and bay leaves and simmer gently for 1/2 hour. Stir in chick peas, baked beans and rice, and warm through. Add brown sugar to taste (usually about 1-2 tbsp).

Last Taste of the Southwest

We are just back from a holiday in Arizona where the daytime highs ranged from 85-99 degrees. The chill in the Toronto air is a rude awakening for us all. Along with the warm weather, we are missing the southwest cuisine and, since I managed to find some perfect avocados at the market yesterday, we'll be enjoying guacamole at our place this weekend. Here's the recipe which has found favour with everyone in our family:

Guacamole

2 ripe avocados
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
tabasco and black pepper to taste
1 tomato, seeded and diced

Scoop flesh of avocado into a bowl but do not mash or dice. Add lemon juice, onion, garlic, salt, tabasco and pepper and mix well. Then take a very sharp knife and cut up the avocado in the bowl until the dice is a size appropriate for you. Add tomato and mix well.