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I find that pasta is the go-to meal when you’re short on time. It only takes a few minutes to boil the water for noodles, a couple of seconds for pre-prepared sauce, and you’re good to go. But it makes a nice special dinner too, with a little extra effort. One of the easier, faster homemade sauces I make for pasta is garlic cream sauce. No, really – its fast and easy – and I can be impatient, so that’s a good thing. This was D’s plate of shells and garlic cream sauce with sauted shrimp and halved grape tomatoes. Trust me, its worth it.
Easy Garlic Cream Sauce
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 1 bulb garlic, chopped very fine or to a paste
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
Melt you butter in a pot and add the garlic. Saute at low heat until garlic just begins to turn golden. Add flour and stir very well – cooking at low heat for a minute or two. Stir in sea salt, then slowly mix in heave cream. Use a stick blender to make sure the garlic is well incorporated, then heat on low for 5 minutes or so. Now you’re ready to go!
Originally uploaded by mosli
I really do love wonton wrappers. They are so incredibly useful for holding different kinds of fillings, and can be cooked in so many ways. I used them for ravioli. again. with a-typical filling. why not?
For these little pillows of goodness I made a roasted garlic and aubergine (aka eggplant) filling. They were topped with balsamic and olive oil so that the creamy garlicy filling was the star. Very good – I’ll definately be using this again.
Roasted Garlic and Aubergine Ravioli Filling
- 1 medium augergine
- 10 or so cloves of garlic
- tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp basil
- drizzle olive oil
Slice aubergine in rounds 1/2 inch thick and peel cloves of garlic. Drizzle oil on baking sheet and lay down aubergine and garlic cloves. Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350F until garlic is golden coloured and eggplant is soft. Puree in food processor or blender until smooth. Filling is ready for its pasta wrappings!
This is not my kitchen. obviously. I went to visit family for Thanksgiving and had the luxury of cooking a dish for my aunt and uncle. With a full feast already on the menu (including Al’s amazing looking grilled turkey and and Em’s excellent greenbean casserole {alliteration – sorry}) , what’s a girl to do? why, make stuff up and pretend to know what she’s doing! So I decided on doing a savory pumpkin ravioli. believe it or not, it was excellent and I now have the problem of trying to make it again sometime. I can’t really give a recipe (because there wasn’t one) but the ingredients included purreed pumpkin, ricotta cheese, orange zest, and minced onion in wonton skins, with balsamic, olive oil, and orange segments on top.
*hugs* thanks for letting me use your kitchen!
I have a problem with ravioli. I’ve never liked your typical varieties, i.e. meat or cheese. They just always seemed heavy and fairly bland apart from the sauce they were drenched in. Maybe i just never had good ravioli.
I much prefer a savoury squash or vegetable filling, which I why I thought, why not use courgette? I scoured my recipe books and the internet and after coming up short, I deceided to do what I usually end up doing anyways, make stuff up and pretend that I know what i’m doing! These garlicy roasted courgette filled wonton ravioli were excellent, and the shallot-balsamic-olive oil sauce was a simple compliment. The only request from D was to make more next time!
Roasted courgette wonton ravioli
- package wonton wrappers
- 2 cups courgette (zucchini) in chunks
- 1 head garlic
- 1 cup sliced shallots
- 1/2 cup olive oil, plus
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinnegar
- 2 tbsp basil
- 1 tbsp sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
Put chunks of courgette and cloves of garlic from a whole head in aluminum foil wrap with a drizzle of olive oils and roast at 345F for about 1/2 an hour until all is tender. Purree courgette and garlic with 1 tbsp basil and a little salt until smooth.
To assemble ravioli, brush two wonton wrappers with water. Put about a tbsp of filling in the center of one, placing the second wrapper on top. press down edges, trying to get as much air out as possible. seal edges by applying pressure with a fork. Drop in boiling water for about 5 minutes until done.
In a sauce pan carmelize shallots in a little olive oil. Add tomatoes, basil, and sugar. Mix in balsamic vinnegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Drizzle over finished ravioli
There’s nothing more exhausting than vacation. I actually look forward to going back to work for the relaxing, scheduled normalcy. And for some odd reason, I cook more when I have a work schedule than when I’m on vacation. I honestly don’t get it.
So to celebrate my return to work, and the fact that I still had a rather large courgette in the crisper, I made baked courgette parmesan. I love aubergine (eggplant, to some) parmesan, and substituting courgette works wonderfully. You prepare the slices of courgette just as you would if you were making courgette fries, but depending on the thickness of the slices you are using, should cook from 20-40 minutes. When the slices are golden brown, spoon pasta sauce over the top and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. This returns to the oven only until the cheese is melted and starts to bubble (5-10 minutes).
Originally uploaded by mosli
I am a bread fiend. No, really. Even when i was younger i’d be the one who dove head first into the garlic bread or dinner rolls and made sure that there would be no leftovers. Of course, like most things, I think that garlic bread is best home-made. This time I paired this with pasta and vodka sauce.
The first way I learned to make garlic bread is the easiest way. Take a baguette or rolls and split down the center lengthways. Then you spread it with butter and give it a generous sprinkling of garlic powder. The way I make it now is a bit more labour intensive, but tastes wonderful and is definately worth the effort.
Garliky Garlic Bread
- 1/2 full size baguette
- 1/2 head garlic
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp butter
Cut the baguette in half lengthwise and place on baking sheet, cut side up. Peel the garlic cloves, smash with the side of your knife, and give them a good chop. With a mortar and pestle, mash and grind the garlic cloves with the sea salt. Gradually add the olive oil, grinding with the pestle until the oil is a little opague, but some bits of garlic remain. (You can also do this in a food processor, grinding the garlic and gradually adding the olive oil.) Spoon the garlic and olive oil evenly over the halves of baguette. Cut the butter into small pieces and place evenly over the halves. Broil until the top is a light golden brown.
Originally uploaded by mosli
Its a dilema as old as time. Rice or pasta. Or, in this case, rice salad or pasta salad. Every picnic needs one (doesn’t it?). I couldn’t decide, so I made both! On the right is rice salad with orange, cranberry, and orange-balsamic sauce. I wasn’t overly pleased, so I’m going to work on this one and post the recipe later. On the left is an Italian pasta salad. I love this so much, its a shame that I don’t make it more often.
Italian Pasta Salad
- 4 cups cooked pasta
1/2 cup sliced marinated artichoke hearts
1/2 cup sliced roasted red pepper
1/4 cup capers
1/2 cup halved grape tomatoes
1 clove crushed garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinnegar
salt and pepper to taste
Whisk together garlic, olive oil, and balsamic vinnegar for dressing. In a separate bowl mix all other ingredients. Toss in salad dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Originally uploaded by mosli
Its another bento (partially because I was too lazy to take a picture of my latest adventures in cooking)! This is D’s lunch from yesterday, and I know that gladware doesn’t make for the most beautiful pictures, but it serves the purpose. Apple rabbits and half an orange fill the top tier and salad with tomato and cranberries in the bottom tier. The little pink hamster bottle has balsamic vinegrette. D found this a little disturbing when he opened his lunch, but I’ll do it again, anyways :p .
Noodle-less lasagna is something more like a roasted vegetable gratain, I suppose. Instead of using noodles, I pre-roast slices of aubergine (eggplant) in the oven and use those to layer. I’ve used corgette for this (zuchini) and it works pretty well. Oven roasting the vegetables removes moisture from them so that the lasagna sets and holds shape.
