Pasta Con Broccoli is a simple pasta dish made with broccoli, lemon, crushed red pepper, garlic, and parmesan. As with most pasta dishes, it’s the simple ones, the ones with a handful of ingredients, that are the best. And this recipe for Pasta Con Broccoli is no exception. The pop of flavour from the lemon and red pepper brings the broccoli to life and makes this the kind of dish you’ll return to. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s get to it!
Preparing The Broccoli
In total, you want four cups of broccoli florets. I’m sure you could use frozen broccoli for this, but I opted for fresh as it is the middle of summer, and this stuff is everywhere. When cutting broccoli or cauliflower, cut from the bottom. Only cut through the stem to prevent a big mess and keep your florets intact. Cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the broccoli and cook for four minutes. Scoop the broccoli out of the water and set it aside. Save the water and use it for cooking your pasta for a little extra flavour.
Additional Pasta Con Broccoli Ingredients
Other than the broccoli and pasta, the ingredients for this recipe are crushed red pepper flakes, thinly sliced garlic, salt, parmesan cheese, butter, and olive oil. See the recipe at the end of this post for the measurements. Organize the ingredients before making the pasta because things will happen quickly once you get going.
Cooking The Pasta Con Broccoli
Bring the large pot of water back to a boil and set a timer according to the instructions on the package. Once the timer hits five minutes, put a large skillet on medium-high heat. Let it heat up, then add the olive oil and butter. Once the butter starts to foam, add the garlic. Cook for one minute, add the crushed red pepper flakes and cook for another thirty seconds. Put the broccoli in the pan, and sauté for two minutes. Add a cup of the pasta water and the lemon zest to the pan, put it back on the heat and bring it to a boil and reduce it by half its volume. Drain the pasta, and add it to the pan. Toss in the parmesan cheese and salt. Mix well. Take the pan off the heat again, add the lemon juice, toss, taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as needed.
Wrap-Up
Pasta Con Broccoli should be a little creamy, a little lemony, a little spicy, and a lot flavourful. This is the perfect weeknight pasta dish because it comes together so quickly. You can also add some shredded chicken, cooked salmon, or tuna to the dish to bulk it up. This is definitely worth a try. Broccoli done in a similar fashion to this pasta dish makes a great side dish. You can find my recipe for Roasted Lemon & Parmesan Broccoli here.
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Pasta Con Broccoli
Pasta Con Broccoli is a perfect weeknight pasta dish. Serve it as it is, or add cooked chicken, salmon or tuna.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli and cook for four minutes. Remove the broccoli from the pot reserving the water.
Add the pasta to the water and set a timer according to the package instructions.
Once the pasta timer reaches five minutes, put a large skillet on medium-high heat.
Add the olive oil and butter to the skillet. Once the butter starts to foam, add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add the red pepper flakes and cook for thirty seconds. Add the broccoli to the pan and sauté for two minutes.
Add one cup of pasta water to the skillet along with the zest of one lemon. Bring the pasta water to a boil and cook until it has reduced by half its volume.
Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet along with the parmesan cheese and salt. Toss the pasta to mix. Add the lemon juice, toss the pasta again and taste. Adjust the seasoning as needed with salt and pepper. Serve.
In my opinion, mac and cheese should be creamy and gooey. But all too often I see people serving mac and cheese that is a solid mass of greasy, dry pasta. That happens mainly because the mac and cheese is overcooked, causing the fat to separate from the cheese. If that’s how you like your mac and cheese, okay. Keep doing it that way. But, if, like me, you want your mac and cheese to be creamy and flavourful, then keep reading because this four-cheese mac and cheese is everything you’ve ever dreamed of and more. As always, you can find the recipe directly below, but keep reading for some helpful tips and a more thorough recipe breakdown.
The Four Cheeses
The essential part of any mac and cheese is the cheese. That’s where the flavour and texture of the finished product come from. For my money, I prefer a four-cheese mac and cheese. I find that using four types of cheese allows me to add the maximum amount of flavour while also getting the gooey texture of a great mac and cheese. Remember, the cheese you use matters—the better the cheese, the better the mac and cheese. It should be obvious but it isn’t always. One vitally important thing is that you don’t use pre-grated cheese. Pre-grated cheese is dusted with an anti-clumping agent that will affect the texture of your mac and cheese. Buy good quality cheese and grate it yourself. It will not take that much more time or effort and it will make all the difference in quality.
My cheese selection
For this four-cheese mac and cheese recipe, I used sharp aged cheddar, a good quality full-fat mozzarella, Parmigiano Reggiano and a little bit of gorgonzola. The cheddar and the parmesan add the umami flavour that is often missing from mac and cheese, while the mozzarella adds a silky string texture. The blue cheese, which I used very little of, really sets this mac and cheese apart. That small amount of funk and tang from the blue cheese stands out and balances the flavour of the mac and cheese.
Making Bechamel Sauce – The Base Of Mac and Cheese
I’ve talked excessively in numerous different posts about making a bechamel sauce, so I’m not going to get into too much detail here. But if you’d like to read more about it, you can check out this post. When making a bechamel into a cheese sauce, the vital thing to keep in mind is to cook the bechamel for about 10 minutes while whisking, then whisk in the cheese little bits at a time. If you throw all the cheese in at once, there will likely be a separation of the fat from the solids, and you will end up with greasy mac and cheese.
Making Bechamel into a Cheese Sauce
Once the bechamel is made, whisk in the cheese little by little until it is all fully incorporated. Once that’s done, taste the sauce and adjust the season as needed with a bit of salt and pepper. I also like to add a few drops of lemon juice to brighten the flavour.
Making Mac and Cheese
While making the cheese sauce, I was also cooking the pasta for my four-cheese mac and cheese. I used an entire box of Catelli Gluten-Free Macaroni, but you can use whatever pasta you’d like. My only suggestion is to cook the pasta for about a minute less than the package instructions suggest since it is going to be cooked again in the oven. Drain the pasta well, then mix with the sauce and pour into a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish.
Cheesy Breadcrumb Topping
To make the cheese breadcrumb topping combine about a cup of dried gluten-free breadcrumbs (or regular ones) with parmesan, cheddar, and mozzarella cheese. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. You can find all the measurements in the recipe above. Mix well.
Topping and Baking The Mac and Cheese
Top the mac and cheese with the cheesy breadcrumb topping and bake in a 375°F until the sauce bubbles around the edges and the topping is golden brown. It should take about 20 minutes.
Serving the Four-Cheese Mac and Cheese
Take the make and cheese out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving. The finished mac and cheese should be stable enough to be cut with a knife and stand up on its own but should still be cream and gooey. Delicious!
The Wrap-Up
This mac and cheese can be served as a side dish with ham, ribs, roasted or grilled chicken, roast or pulled pork. Or…you can have it as is. Either way, I am confident that this is a recipe that you will come back to again and again. I know I do. Suppose you want to get a little crazy. In that case, you can mix some cooked and crumbled bacon into the breadcrumb mixture and another cup of grated mozzarella into the mix once the pasta and sauce have been incorporated for a bit of extra gooeyness.
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Decadent Four-Cheese Mac and Cheese
If you are looking for a recipe for creamy, gooey mac and cheese look no further. You've come to the right place. This four-cheese mac and cheese recipe has everything you could want from mac and cheese and more.
Put a large pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Cook the pasta for one minute less than the package suggests.
Cheese Sauce
Put a medium pot on the stove on medium heat. Add the butter. Once the butter starts to melt, add in the flour. Stir to full combine the two. Cook, stirring for 2 minutes.
Whisk the milk into the flour and butter. Turn the heat down to medium-low.
Add the onion powder and garlic powder and cook, whisking for about ten minutes or until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon and no longer tastes like raw flour
Start whisking in the cheese little bits at a time until all the cheese has been incorporated.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper as needed. Add a few drops of lemon juice to brighten the flavour.
Breadcrumb Topping
In a medium mixing bowl combine the breadcrumbs with the cheddar cheese, mozzarella, parmesan, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix well.
Mac and Cheese
Add the cooked and drained pasta to the sauce and stir to fully combine the two.
Pour the pasta into a 9×13 casserole dish.
Cover the mac and cheese with the breadcrumb mixture and bake at 425°f for 15 to 20 minutes or until the topping has browned.
Remove the mac and cheese from the oven, let it sit for 10 minutes, then serve.
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If you are looking for a quick and delicious meal, look no further. This Sausage and Mushroom Penne ticks all the boxes. Italian sausage provides a base flavour that gives this pasta a big impact with only a few ingredients. Cremini mushrooms and rosemary add depth and body. White wine, stock, and cream create a rich yet elegant sauce. And parmesan cheese ties it all together to create a dish that you would happily pay good money for in any high-end restaurant. Oh, and it takes less than 30 minutes to make, start to finish, even with limited culinary skills. Sounds good, right? Well, what are you waiting for? The recipe is directly below, and you can keep reading past that for a more detailed explanation.
Quick and Delicious Sausage and Mushroom Penne
Italian Sausage and Cremini Mushrooms combine in the quick pasta dish with white wine, stock, and cream and create something so delicious and elegant you'll feel like you're eating in a fancy restaurant.
Fill a large pot 3/4 of the way with hot water, add 1 teaspoon of salt. Cover the pot and put it on the stove on high heat. Bring to a boil and cook the pasta according to the package instructions.
While the pasta is cooking, heat a large skillet on medium-high heat. Put the olive oil and sausage meat in the skillet. Use a wooden spoon to stir and break the meat up. Cook, for 3 to 4 minutes or until browned.
Add the minced onion to the sausage meat and cook for 2 minutes.
Put the mushrooms and garlic in the pan with the sausage meat and onions. Cook for 2 more minutes.
Deglaze the pan with the white wine and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the stock and rosemary. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the cream. Bring to a boil, add the cooked pasta and parmesan. Cook until the sauce is thick enough to coat the pasta.
Taste the sauce, season as needed with salt and pepper and serve.
The first thing you need to do when making this pasta is to get a large pot of hot water on the stove on high heat. Add a teaspoon of salt to it. Put a lid on it, and forget about it while you prep your ingredients.
Minced Onion
First up, take half an onion and mince it. Really just cut it as small and as evenly as you can. The recipe above says you need half a cup of onion, but if you have a little more or a little less, it isn’t going to hurt anything. Just use half an average-sized onion. It will always be enough and never be too much.
Sliced Garlic
Peel two cloves of garlic and slice them as thin as you can. You can mince the garlic if you’d prefer, but I like to have those nice thin slices in the pasta. Also, just like with the onion, if your cloves are a little bigger or a little smaller, it isn’t the end of the world. If they are a little small, add a third clove, otherwise, don’t worry about it too much. I promise it will not have a noticeable effect on the final dish. As long as there are about two cloves of garlic in there, it will be fine.
Cremini Mushrooms
Cremini mushrooms are available in almost every grocery store nowadays though they may be listed as brown mushrooms, mini-bellas, or some other name I’ve never heard before. Just look for a small brown mushroom. These have much more flavour than standard white mushrooms and a nicer texture too. Remove and discard the mushroom stems. Cut the mushroom in half, then cut it into slices. I like to make slices about half a cm or an eighth of an inch thick. Use four to five mushrooms, depending on their size.
Rosemary
Get one sprig of fresh rosemary. Hold it at the top of the stem between your thumb and index finger. With your other hand, grab the rosemary sprig with a gentle but firm grip right below your first hand. Now, pull down. This should strip most if not all of the needles off the sprig. Pull the top off and add it to the needle pile. Discard the stem. Bunch the needles into a nice little pile and cut them as small as you can. One sprig of rosemary should be about a teaspoon once chopped. What I’m about to say may come as a surprise to you, but it doesn’t matter if you have a little more or less chopped rosemary than what is listed in the recipe. Just go with what you get off of one sprig.
Sausage
Take two Italian Sausages (I used mild-Italian Sausage), make a slice down the length of the sausage and remove the meat from the casing. Discard the casing and set the meat aside. Whatever Italian sausage you can get from your local grocery store will be fine. I didn’t use anything fancy, and you don’t need to either. Though, if you want to use a locally sourced, organic Italian sausage, go for it.
Sausage and Mushroom Penne
By the time you’re done preparing all of your ingredients, your pasta water should be boiling. Before you put your pasta on, get a large skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. Let the pan heat up for a minute or two, then add a few tablespoons of olive oil and the sausage meat. Break the sausage meat apart with a wooden spoon and cook it for 3 to 4 minutes or browned. Drop the pasta in the water and cook according to the package instructions.
Onions in the pan
Add the onion into the pan with the sausage meat and cook for 2 minutes.
Mushrooms and Garlic in the pan
Put the mushrooms and garlic in the pan and continue to cook for 2 to 3 more minutes or until the mushrooms are cooked, and the onions have softened.
Deglaze the pan
At this point, there are probably some bits of food stuck to the bottom of your pan. Worry not, my friend, because it is now time to grab a nice bottle of white wine and deglaze your pan. Pour about a quarter cup of white wine into the pan and scrape up any bits of food that have stuck to the surface of the pan. These bits add lots of flavour to the sauce. Continue cooking the wine until it has all but evaporated and the pan starts to sizzle.
Rosemary and Stock
Throw the chopped rosemary into the pan along with about half a cup of beef or chicken stock. The store-bought stuff is fine, and if anyone tells you differently, send them to me, and I’ll set them straight. Of course, if you want to make the stock from scratch, go for it. It is easy to do. See below.
How to make stock
Put a chicken carcass in a pot (leftoverfrom a roast chicken is fine) with sliced onion, half a carrot, sliced, and half a stalk of celery sliced. Add in a bay leaf, a few sprigs of thyme or a sprig of rosemary and cover it all with cold water. Put it on the stove on high heat, bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and simmer it for an hour. Strain the liquid. Discard the bones and vegetables. That golden liquid you have is chicken stock. You can do the same thing with beef, pork, or fish bones. The broth is made the same way but with meat instead of bones.
Cream
Let the beef stock and rosemary boil for about 2 minutes, then add in half a cup of whipping (heavy) cream. Before you ask, no, you can’t use a blend, coffee cream, or milk. It has to be whipping cream because you need that high-fat content, so the dairy doesn’t curdle. You aren’t using enough of it to worry that much about the calories, so just go for it.
Pasta
Once the cream goes in, bring it to a boil, add in the cooked and drained pasta, and about a quarter cup of grated or shaved parmesan cheese. Continue to cook for another minute or so or until the sauce is thick enough to coat the pasta. You might find it helpful to cook the pasta one minute less than the package instructions say. That way, the pasta can finish cooking in the sauce and won’t be overcooked. That’s it! You’ve just made Sausage and Mushroom Penne worthy of any restaurant menu.
The Wrap Up
Not many things in this life are better than the pleasures of a really good pasta dish. I include pasta from all parts of the world in that be it a nice Italian-style pasta, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, whatever it is, when it’s down well, it is an extraordinary thing. One thing that is as true with pasta as it is with any other food is that the less you mess with it, the less fuss, and the fewer ingredients you add, the better it is likely to be. I hope that this Sausage and Mushroom Penne illustrates that point to you. Make this. You won’t be disappointed.
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Imagine it. You’re out in the woods, and the tent is all set up, there’s a nice breeze, so the bugs aren’t too bad, you’re looking out over the forest eating a bowl of smoky, cheesy campfire pasta bolognese. If that doesn’t excite you, nothing will. If you aren’t the camping type, don’t worry. I’ve added a note to the recipe so that you can make this indoors just as easily as outdoors. And full disclosure, I made this in my backyard, not out in the woods, and you can too. As always, the recipe is directly below, but keep reading past it for more detailed information. Let’s get to it!
Campfire Pasta Bolognese with Burrata
Are you tired of eating the same thing every time you going camping or cook over a fire? Well, this campfire bolognese is just the thing you need to fuel yourself for a long night in the woods.
340gDried Gluten-Free Rigatoni. cooked340 g is the dried weight
Instructions
Get a good fire going and let it burn down so there are some hot coals.
Set a castiron dutch oven over the coals and let it get hot for about 5 minutes.
Pour the olive oil into the pot and add the ground beef. Cook until the ground beef is browned, about 5 to 10 mnutes.
Add the onion, carrot, celery, tomato, garlic, and rosemary to the pot. Cook, stirring for 10 to 15 minutes or until the onions and celery have softened.
Pour the red wine into the pot and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until the wine has almost all evaporated.
Add the beef stock and season with salt and pepper.
Bring the pot to a boil, put a lid on it, and hang it about 6 to 8 inches above the fire.
Let the sauce simmmer for about 35 to 45 minutes.
Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning as needed.
Stir the cooked pasta and parmesan into the sauce. Pull the burrata apart into small pieces and place it on top of the pasta. Put the lid on the pot and cover with hot coals. Let it cook for another 10 minutes or until the cheese melts and just starts to brown. Serve.
Notes
This recipe can be easily translated to indoor cooking. Start the beef on medium-high heat until brown. Add the vegetables, rosemary and garlic, cook, until the onions soften. Deglaze with red wine, add the stock, season to taste. Turn the heat down, cover the pot and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in the cooked pasta and parmesan, top with the burrata and broil for 3 to 4 minutes or until the cheese is browned. Done and done.
The ingredients for this Campfire Pasta Bolognese are pretty straightforward. They are ground beef, onion, carrot, celery, tomato, garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper, red wine, beef stock, pasta, parmesan cheese, and burrata cheese. We’ll talk about what exactly burrata cheese is in a minute. Now, you may expect this recipe to have tomato sauce because that is what most of us are used to as a bolognese. However, traditional bolognese has little to no tomato in it. The sauce is wine and stock-based. I generally prefer to add a bit of tomato paste to add richness and a bit of that tomato flavour, but I didn’t have any, so I left it out. Honestly, the recipe isn’t missing it. It tasted great as it is.
What is Burrata Cheese?
Have you ever had fresh mozzarella cheese? I’m not talking about the name-brand blocks you get at the grocery store. I mean real fresh mozzarella. What about ricotta cheese? Well, burrata is pretty much a ball of fresh mozzarella stuffed with ricotta. Sounds good, right! If you can’t find burrata, you can use regular mozzarella, but I had some, and I thought this would be a great use for it. I wasn’t wrong.
Campfire cooking
To cook this pasta over a campfire, you need two things. Firstly, you need a pot that can withstand the heat of the fire. I used a Lodge Castiron Dutch Oven. Secondly, you need something to hang the pot off of. I have a castiron tripod, specifically for this purpose, but you can tie three equal-length sticks together and make a tripod that way if need be. As a bit of a side note, this is the first time I’ve had a chance to use either the dutch oven or the tripod, so it was a pretty exciting day for me.
Cooking the Campfire Pasta Bolognese
The first step in any campfire cooking is obviously to get a fire going. You have to light the fire and let it burn down until you have some nice hot coals to cook over. Next, place the pot over the coals and let it heat for about five minutes. Add a touch of olive oil to the pot along with the ground beef and cook until browned.
Adding the vegetables
Once the beef is brown, add the vegetables, garlic, and rosemary. Cook for five to ten minutes or until the onion and celery have softened.
Season and deglaze
Season the sauce with salt and pepper and pour in the red wine to deglaze the pan. Let the wine cook until it has almost all evaporated. This should only take about two to three minutes.
Add the beef stock
The final step in building the sauce is to add the beef stock. Pour it into the pot, then wait until it comes to a boil. Put a lid on the pot, and lift it off the fire. Set the pot about six to eight inches above the fire and let it simmer for about 35 to 40 minutes.
Finishing the Campfire Pasta Bolognese
After the sauce has had some time to simmer, take the lid off, and taste the sauce. Add salt and pepper as needed. Now, stir in the cooked pasta and parmesan cheese. Pull the burrata apart and place it on top of the pasta. Return the lid to the pot and cover it with hot coals. Let the pasta sit for about ten minutes. Carefully remove the coals from the lid, then remove the lid from the pot. The burrata should be melted and just starting to brown. That’s when you know the pasta is perfect.
Serve the Campfire Pasta Bolognese
All that’s left to do is serve the pasta. This should make enough for four to six people depending on how hungry everyone is. If you want to stretch it a bit further, serve it with a green salad and some toasted bread.
The Wrap Up
If you’re sitting around a fire and someone hands you a bowl of this Campfire Pasta Bolognese, you’ll want to give them a big hug because that’s exactly what they just gave you. This pasta is like a big hug in a bowl. It’s everything you love about pasta bolognese but with a hint of smoke and that special je ne sais quoi that only comes from cooking something over an open fire. Again, you can make this in the house, and it will be delicious, but if you get the chance to cook this on a fire, take it. Becasue this delicious pasta will then truly become something extraordinary.
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Imagine everything you love about a cheeseburger but in a casserole. Guess what; you don’t have to imagine it becasue it’s a real thing. And now, you can have whenever you’d like. And yes, it is as good as you think it would be. But don’t take my word for it. Make this cheeseburger casserole for dinner and see for yourself. Alright, let’s get cooking.
Ingredients
The ingredients for the Cheeseburger Casserole are 2 pounds of lean ground beef, 1 onion, 2 to 3 cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 3 to 4 dill pickles, 2 tablespoons yellow mustard, 1 1/2 cups beef stock, 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon sugar, 340 g box dried penne pasta, 1 cup grated cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, and 1/2 cup ketchup.
Prepping The Ingredients
Start by thinly slicing the onion, garlic, and pickles. In total, you want 1 cup of sliced onions, 1 tablespoon of sliced garlic, and 1/2 cup of sliced pickles. If you added a few extra pickles to the mix, it wouldn’t be a bad thing. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta for 1 minute less than the package instructions indicate. Drain the pasta and rinse under cold water for a minute. Set the pasta aside until you are ready to add it to the cheeseburger casserole.
Cooking The Cheeseburger Casserole
Heat a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Add in 2 teaspoons of canola oil along with the beef and cook until the beef is browned. This should take between 5 and 10 minutes. Add the onion and cook for 3 more minutes, then add the pickles and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Mix in the tomato paste and mustard, cook for 2 minutes, then add in the beef stock. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes.
Finishing The Cheeseburger Casserole
To finish the cheeseburger casserole, add the cream, bring it back to a boil, then add the sugar, pepper, and mix in half the cheddar cheese. Taste the mixture and add the salt as needed. Depending on the beef stock you use, you may need to add more or less salt than the recipe says. Add the pasta to the sauce (Don’t mind that I used different pasta shapes. I had a few boxes with a little bit left in them), and mix well. Combine the remaining half cup of grated cheese with the breadcrumbs and sprinkle over the casserole. Cover the pan with a lid or foil and bake for 15 minutes at 350°F, then take the lid off and bake for another 10 minutes.
The Finished Cheeseburger Casserole
This might sound crazy, but top the casserole with ketchup and serve. It is a “cheeseburger” casserole, after all—the ketchup kind of ties the whole thing together.
Cheeseburger Casserole
Everything you love about a cheeseburger, but in a casserole.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta for 1 minute less than the package instructions indicate. Drain the pasta, rinse under cold water, drain again, and set aside until you are ready to add it to the sauce.
Heat a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Add in 2 teaspoons of canola oil along with the beef and cook until the beef is browned. This should take between 5 and 10 minutes.
Add the onion and cook for 3 more minutes, then add the pickles and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Mix in the tomato paste and mustard, cook for 2 minutes, then add in the beef stock. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes.
Add the cream, bring it back to a boil, then add the sugar, pepper, and mix in half the cheddar cheese.
Taste the mixture and add the salt as needed. Depending on the beef stock you use, you may need to add more or less salt than the recipe says.
Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and mix well.
Combine the remaining half cup of grated cheese with the breadcrumbs and sprinkle over the casserole.
Cover the pan with a lid or foil and bake for 15 minutes at 350°F, then take the lid off and bake for another 10 minutes.
Take the casserole out of the oven, let it rest for 5 minutes, top with the ketchup and serve.
I know that some of you read this recipe and thought everything sounded great until I mentioned putting dill pickles in it. But the dill pickles are key. That little bit of acidity breaks up the richness of the dish. Getting that pop of dill pickle in every bite, to me, is what really makes this cheeseburger casserole special. But again, don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself.
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I love fettuccine alfredo, and I love turkey, so I thought why not put them together? To keep it simple, which is my M.O., I could have sliced up a turkey breast and added that into the pasta. Easy peasy. I’m sure that would have been delicious. But, I wanted to take it one step further. So, I made delicious turkey meatballs, roasted them and tossed them with pasta and alfredo sauce. Amazing! In all honesty, I’ve been thinking about this dish for weeks now, so I am very excited to have finally made it and to share it with you. This recipe is surprisingly light because the sauce doesn’t have nearly as much cream as you would expect. The sauce and the turkey meatballs are a perfect match and exactly what you need for dinner. Okay, enough chit chat. Let’s get to it.
This post is written as a paid partnership with Turkey Farmers Of Canada and thinkturkey.ca
Turkey Meatballs
The first step to this dish is to make the turkey meatballs. To do that, combine one pound of ground turkey with one teaspoon of kosher salt (about half a teaspoon if you are using table salt). Add a quarter teaspoon of white pepper, one teaspoon of each fresh chopped rosemary and Italian seasoning, two tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese, and one tablespoon of minced garlic. Mix well.
Forming the meatballs
First, to form the turkey meatballs, wet your hands with cold water, then pick up about a tablespoon of the turkey mixture and roll it into a ball. Put the turkey meatball on a lightly oiled roasting pan and continue until all the turkey has been used up. In total, you should get around twenty to twenty-four turkey meatballs. Wet your hands after every fourth or fifth ball to prevent the turkey from sticking.
Cooking the turkey meatballs
To cook the meatballs, roast them for fifteen minutes at 400°f. Once the turkey meatballs are roasted, heat a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add one tablespoon of olive oil and a quarter cup of butter. Wait for the butter to melt and start to foam, then add in the meatballs—Cook the meatballs for two to three minutes or until golden brown on at least two sides.
Making the Turkey Meatball Alfredo
A note about Alfredo Sauce
Before we jump into finishing this dish, I want to talk about alfredo sauce quickly. The alfredo sauce that we are used to is a thick, rich, garlicky cream sauce. The original Italian version of the sauce is just butter and parmesan cheese. The parmesan melts into the butter, and when tossed with the pasta, it makes a creamy, light sauce. Maybe you’ve seen videos online of people mixing pasta in a giant wheel of parmesan cheese? Well, that is a version of the traditional alfredo. The sauce in this recipe is a cross between the classic sauce and the one we know. There is a little cream in it and a little garlic, but it still much lighter than what you are likely used to. It’s not going to weigh you down or make you feel disgustingly full. This lighter version of alfredo sauce pairs perfectly with the lean flavourful turkey meatballs.
Starting The Alfredo Sauce
Once the meatballs are browned, add one tablespoon (about two cloves) of thinly sliced garlic to the pan and cook, stirring for about one minute or until you really start to smell the garlic.
Putting It All Together
As soon as the turkey meatballs come out of the oven, start cooking your pasta. For six portions, you want to use a whole (454 g) box. I used gluten-free pasta, but you can use whatever you’d like. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package. Drain the pasta and add it into the pan with the meatballs and garlic. Add in one cup of grated parmesan cheese and half a cup of heavy cream. Cook the pasta, stirring and tossing until all of the parmesan has melted and the pasta is coated in the sauce. Finish the pasta by seasoning it with half a teaspoon of kosher salt and a quarter teaspoon of black pepper, then serve.
Note: You can substitute the cream for whole milk if you’d like.
Turkey Meatball Alfredo
A new twist on an old classic this recipe plays on both traditional alfredo and traditional spaghetti and meatballs to create a unique and delicious dish. Try it for dinner tonight.
Keyword: pasta, pasta recipes, Turkey, Turkey Meatballs, Turkey Recipes
Servings: 6servings
Author: Chef Ben Kelly
Ingredients
Turkey Meatballs
1lbground Turkey
1tspkosher salt
1/4tspwhite pepper
1tspfresh chopped rosemary
2tbspgrated parmesan
1tbspminced garlic
1tspItalian seasoning
Alfredo
1tbspolive oil
1/4cupbutter
1batchTurkey Meatballs
1tbspthinly sliced garlic
1cupParmesan cheese
6portions of cooked pasta
1/2cupof cream
1/2tspof salt
1/4tspblack pepper
Instructions
Turkey Meatballs
Preheat your oven to 400°f
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the turkey with the salt, white pepper, rosemary, parmesan cheese, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Mix well.
Wet your hands with cold water and roll the turkey in small balls using about 1 tbsp of the turkey mix for each ball. In total, you should get between 20 and 24 turkey meatballs.
Put the meatballs in a roasting pan lightly coated with olive oil and cook in the oven for 15 minutes.
Alfredo
Heat a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add in the butter and olive oil. Once the butter melts and starts to foam, add in the turkey meatballs and cook for 2-3 minutes to brown the outside.
Add in the garlic and cook for 1 minute, then add cooked pasta, parmesan and cream.
Turn the heat down to medium-low and stir the pasta until all of the parmesan has melted and the sauce is creamy.
I have wanted to make this dish for a while, and I’m thrilled that I finally got around to it. It was everything I dreamed it would be and more. I hope you try this becasue it is likely something much different than you are used to. The turkey meatballs are bursting with flavour, juicy and tender, and the sauce is light and creamy, with a mild garlic flavour. I really think that you are going to love this. Give it a shot.
Thank you to Turkey Farmers of Canada for sponsoring this post. For more great turkey recipes, check out thinkturkey.ca
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Leftover turkey, there’s always lots of it, and you are always looking for creative things to do with it. This year, you could make that same old leftover turkey casserole or turkey pie, but why not try something a little different. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you my Creamy Turkey Lasagna. The perfect use for this year’s leftover turkey. Let’s get to it.
Bechamel Sauce
The base of this creamy lasagna is a cream sauce. If you really wanted to, you could use a store-bought alfredo sauce or something like that, or you can make the sauce as I am about to describe.
To make the sauce, you will need one small-ish onion, about one cup of sliced onion in total. You will also need two cloves of thinly sliced garlic or about two tablespoons worth. With the onion and garlic, you will need two tablespoons of butter and one of olive oil, two tablespoons of flour (I use all-purpose gluten-free flour), three cups of whole milk, a pinch of ground nutmeg, a pinch of pepper, and a big pinch of salt. You can also add some fresh or dried herbs like rosemary and thyme or even poultry seasoning. You want about one teaspoon of dried herbs in total or a tablespoon of fresh.
Making The Cream Sacue
This sauce is a classic bechamel with a little extra flavouring. One other difference between this sauce and a standard bechamel is that the onions and garlic are not strained out. They add extra flavour and texture to the lasagna. To make the sauce sauté the onion in the butter and olive oil over medium heat for four to five minutes or until the onion is soft. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute or two or until the garlic starts to turn brown. Sprinkle the flour over the onion and garlic and cook stirring for about two minutes, then add in the milk and the seasonings. Simmer the bechamel, stirring for about ten minutes or until the sauce has no remaining raw flour flavour. Use the sauce right away.
Lasagna Noodles
You can use whatever brand of lasagna noodles you’d like. You can even make them from scratch if you want to. I used Catelli Gluten-Free Noodles. These are a no-boil noodle. However, the package says to soak the noodles in hot tap water for ten minutes before using them for cream sauces. This worked well for these noodles, but you will have to refer to the package your noodles came in for specific instructions.
Remaining Ingredients
Other than the sauce and the noodles, this Creamy Turkey Lasagna also has cooked and drained spinach (one cup in total. I used the frozen stuff.), half a cup of parmesan cheese, one and a half cups of grated mozzarella, and two cups of cooked, and pulled turkey.
Assembling The Turkey Lasagna
I made a small lasagna using a 10 ¼x7 ¾ ” (26×20 cm) roasting pan that I got from IKEA. If you want to make a bigger version, go for it, but you will have to double all of the ingredients. This Turkey Lasagna is assembled like any other lasagna. First, put a little sauce down, then a layer of noodles, some turkey, some spinach, and some cheese. I made four layers, not including the top (no turkey or spinach on the top), so each layer should get about half a cup of turkey, a quarter cup of spinach, two tablespoons of parmesan and a quarter cup of Mozza, reserving half a cup to broil on to the lasagna to finish it after baking.
Once the lasagna is assembled, cover it with parchment paper and foil, then bake for forty-five minutes at 350°F.
Finishing The Turkey Lasagna
To finish the turkey lasagna, remove it from the oven and turn the broiler on high. Take the foil and parchment off the lasagna, top it with the reserved Mozza, then put the lasagna under the broiler just until it is browned. Let the lasagna sit, uncovered for ten minutes before cutting into it.
Creamy Turkey Lasagna
If you are looking for something different to do with all that leftover turkey, look no further. This Creamy Turkey Lasagna is exactly what the doctor ordered.
1cupCooked and drained spinach1 cup of frozen spinach is fine
1package of lasagna noodles
Instructions
Sauce
Heat a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil and butter. Once the butter starts to foam, add in the onions and cook for four to five minutes or until they soften. Add the garlic and cook for two more minutes or until it just starts to brown.
Add the flour to the pot and cook, stirring for two minutes. Add the milk and seasonings. Simmer the sauce, stirring for ten minutes or until the sauce no longer tastes like raw flour.
Lasagna
Follow the preperation instruction on the lasagna noodle's package.
Cover the bottom of a 10 ¼x7 ¾ " (26×20 cm) roasting pan with a ladle full of the sauce. Top with a layer of noodles, another ladle of sauce, 1/2 cup of turkey, 1/4 cup of spinach, 2 tbsp of parmesan, and 1/4 cup of mozza. Repeat this three more times.
The top layer of lasagna should be only noodles and sauce. Cover the roasting pan with parchment paper and foil, then bake the lasagna at 350°f for 45 minutes.
Remove the lasagna from the oven, and turn the oven's broiler on to high.
Take the foil and parchment off the lasagna, top it with the remaining half cup of mozza, then broil the lasagna just until the cheese is browned.
Remove the lasagna from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting into it. Serve it with a side salad.
I was thrilled with how this Creamy Turkey Lasagna turned out, and I think that you will be too. It would benefit from adding some poultry seasoning or fresh herbs like I said, but I will leave that up to you. I hope that this has given you something new to try with your leftover turkey. Enjoy!
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Last night as I sat with my family eating a big bowl of Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (garlic and oil), I thought about why more people don’t eat like this. By this, I mean a few good ingredients cooked together to make something magical. It can’t be because of time constraints, because the dish takes only a few minutes to put together. It can’t be because of money because the ingredients are cheap. And, it can’t be because of taste because it tastes amazing. And so my conclusion is that it’s simply a lack of knowledge. With that, I can help.
Simple ain’t easy
In Canada, we tend to overcomplicate pasta. When making the sauce, if it isn’t just coming from a jar, there is a tendency to add more and more ingredients until it tastes good. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom’s spaghetti sauce, and it has like twenty ingredients in it. But the mistake we make is assuming that’s all there is. Those twenty ingredient pasta sauces, tasty as they may be, run counter to the Italian way of cooking. The Italian way is to use quality ingredients that already taste good and add only a few other complementary ingredients. This isn’t just true of pasta. It’s the secret to all Italian food. Less is more.
Now I want to say, and I want to say it very clearly, that simple is not the same as easy. For most cooks, amateur or even professional, the simple dishes are often the hardest. There is nothing to hide behind. If you make a mistake, it’s obvious. But, a pasta dish with only a few ingredients that has been well executed will probably be some of the best food you’ve ever cooked or eaten.
Simple Pasta Dishes
Below you will find a list of five simple pasta dishes. Each one has only a handful of ingredients but will taste better than just about any pasta out there. Try them. Even if you don’t think you’ll like them, even if it’s only one or two of them, try them. Have them for a weekend lunch or a quick weeknight dinner, or whatever. Just try them! I promise that it will be worth your time and effort not only because they will taste good, but also because you will learn a bit about the benefits of simplicity in cooking. I think that can change how you look at food and how you cook overall. Isn’t that worth a quick bowl of pasta?
Ingredients
Before we jump into the list, I want to take a minute to talk about ingredients because the key to simple food is that you have to use quality ingredients. If you are making spaghetti with garlic and olive oil but using garbage olive oil that is overly bitter, the dish will not taste very good. When you are making carbonara and use poor quality bacon, the dish will not taste very good. If you are making pasta with tomatoes, or pasta with cheese and pepper and your tomatoes, or your cheese, aren’t good, you guessed it; your pasta isn’t going to be good either. Good ingredients are crucial to making these dishes taste good.
Recommended ingredients
Olive Oil
When it comes to olive oil, avoid anything sold in a plastic bottle. The oil degrades the plastic, which leaches into your food and gives the oil an off flavour. Second of all, and this may seem counter to what you believe, avoid Italian olive oil. There is a massive issue in Italy with counterfeit olive oil. Seriously, you can read this Forbes.com article from 2016 for yourself. The olive oil that I use most often comes from Tunisia. You’ve probably seen it. It has a yellow label with a black horse on it. The brand is Terra Delyssa, and you can find it at Costco, Walmart, and even most grocery stores now. It is a really smooth flavoured oil that won’t make your food taste bad.
Parmesan Cheese
Real parmesan is sold in wedges cut off of a large wheel. They will be fairly expensive, running about $15 to $20 depending on size. However, that wedge of parmesan will last an average family of four two months or more. And, it will last in the fridge for months and months and months. To use the parmesan, grate on the fine setting of your cheese grater. That’s it. There is no comparison between real parmesan and the grated stuff that sits in a plastic jar on the shelf. Real parmesan is a necessity for good simple pasta. You can buy real parmesan cheese at the cheese or deli counter of most grocery stores.
Salt
Use either sea salt or kosher salt rather than table salt. Table salt has a harsh flavour and doesn’t dissolve as evenly as sea salt and kosher salt. Yes, this will make a difference in the flavour of your dish.
Tomatoes
It is okay to use canned tomatoes as long as they are of good quality. Avoid no-name cans or store brands. Splurge for a can of San Marzano tomatoes or the best quality ones you can afford. Check the ingredients list on the can. If there are more than tomatoes, salt and basil in the can, it is probably best to avoid it.
Garlic
Garlic should be fresh only. Don’t use garlic that is jarred in oil. It has been pasteurized and likely has chemical additives which will change the flavour. Buy a bulb of garlic and take the time to peel and chop it. And yes, this really does affect the flavour of the whole dish. Again, if you only have a few ingredients, and one of them tastes off, the whole dish tastes off.
Herbs
In all the pasta below, use only fresh herbs. These dishes won’t be cooking long enough for dried herbs to hydrate and release their flavours properly. Save the dried herbs for that twenty ingredient pasta sauce.
Bacon
Bacon should be naturally smoked if you can find it. It is best to buy bacon from your local butcher or smokehouse. If you can’t do that, look for packaged bacon at the grocery store that looks firm and dry. Avoid packages that are soft or look like they have excess moisture in them.
Pasta
It is perfectly fine to use dried pasta in these dishes. However, I would avoid buying the cheapest options there are. Instead, opt for a name brand you know or even splurge for that expensive Italian brand you’ve always seen on the shelf but have never tried. And yes, you can make all of these pastas with gluten-free pasta. That’s what I do.
Okay, that is more than enough chit chat, let’s take a look at the five pasta dishes.
1. Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
Aglio e Olio (Ag-li-ol-e-o) means oil and garlic, and that is basically what this pasta is though there are typically a few other ingredients. Other than oil and garlic, Spaghetti Aglio e Olio consists of crushed red pepper flakes, lots of parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, fresh chopped parsley, and a squeeze of lemon juice. This is the pasta that I had for dinner last night that sparked this entire post. I can’t truly express how delicious this pasta dish is. You’ll just have to make it for yourself.
Keyword: pasta recipes, Quick Meals, Quick Pasta, Quick Recipes
Servings: 4
Author: Chef’s Notes
Ingredients
8ozDried Spaghetti Noodles225 g
1/2cupOlive oil
1bulbGarlic, peeled and very thinly sliced
1/2tspCrushed Red Pepper Flakes
1/2cupParsley, freshly chopped
1 cupParmesan, freshly grated and loosely packed
2tbspLemon juice, fresh squeezed
1/4cup Hot water
1/2tspKosher or Sea salt
1/4tspBlack Pepper, freshly crushed
Instructions
Bring a large pot of satled water to a boil.
In a large skillet, combine the olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Put on medium heat.
Add the pasta to the pot and stir for a minute so that it doesn't stick or clump.
Once the garlic starts to turn golden brown just around the edges, add in the parsley.
Take a 1/4 cup of water out of the pasta pot and set it aside. Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet.
Take the skillet off the heat and add in parmesan, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Toss the pasta to coat it in the sauce. Add in the reserved pasta water, and toss the pasta to coat it. Finish the pasta with a little more freshly grated parmesan and a few turns of fresh cracked pepper.
Spaghetti Carbonara may be the most bastardized pasta dish in the world. If you go to any two-bit pub or chain restaurant, they have some sort of carbonara on the menu. In that context, they are using the word “carbonara” to refer to any pasta with cream in it that isn’t alfredo. Now, here is the big problem with that. Carbonara doesn’t have any cream in it. So how did it become the word that second or third-rate restaurants use for creamy pastas? Probably because carbonara is creamy. Let me clarify.
Where does the creaminess of carbonara come from?
The creaminess of carbonara comes from a mixture of egg and cheese cooked using only the heat from the hot pasta and bacon (traditionally guanciale) and sometimes the addition of a little boiling pasta water. A couple of eggs are broken into a bowl with a few big handfuls of parmesan cheese and some cracked pepper. I like to add a handful of fresh parsley to mine though that isn’t strictly traditional. The pasta is put in boiling water to cook, and the bacon is put in a hot pan to crisp. When the bacon and the pasta are cooked, they are added to the cheese and egg bowl and stirred until the egg reaches a temperature where the white and the yolk begin to coagulate. As the egg cooks, the cheese melts, and what’s left is a thick, creamy sauce. If it is too thick or too dry, a little hot pasta water can be added to the bowl.
As you can see, there is no cream in carbonara. So, the next time you’re at a restaurant, and you see carbonara on the menu, know that what you’re getting is probably just a big bowl of pasta, cream and disappointment that doesn’t even come close to the quality and flavour of its namesake. If you want to know more about Carbonara, take a look at this post I wrote back in 2019 all about it.
Pomodoro is the Italian word for tomato and literally translates to “love apple.” That’s a pretty good name for a tomato if you ask me. Anyway, pasta Pomodoro is a straightforward dish of pasta, tomato, olive oil, garlic, basil, a little red pepper, and parmesan. That’s it. You are going to be pretty hard-pressed to find a better recipe than this one from Bon Appetit. If you are looking for a dish with lots of fresh flavours, that is simple to make and celebrates the love apple, you’ve found it.
4. Cacio a Pepe
You know how kids will eat pasta with a little butter, cheese, and salt and pepper. That’s a real Italian pasta dish. Though, the real version is probably a lot better than what most kids are eating. Cacio e Pepe literally means cheese and pepper. Simple but beyond delicious. Check out this version from Delish
5. Linguine and Clams
If you like clams, nothing can beat a big bowl of well-made linguine and clam pasta. Clam juice, butter and white wine make the sauce’s base, with parsley adding a fresh finishing flavour. I’m salivating as I write this. Again, like all the pasta on this list, this pasta dish is incredibly simple and out of this world good. If you like clams, this is a must.
This list of simple pasta dishes is by no means conclusive. It doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of amazing simple pasta dishes that are part of the Italian repertoire. And that’s just pasta. Once you start getting into other dishes like salads, pizza, braises, roasts, all of it, it’s all simple, focusing on great ingredients, and it all tastes amazing. Now do yourself a favour, pick one or two of the pasta on this list and make them. It will be worth it.
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Gnocchi, you’ve probably had it at your favourite Italian restaurant, or maybe you’re lucky enough to come from an Italian family or at least are friends with one. Either way, if you’ve eaten gnocchi, you’ve likely wondered how to make it. Well, wonder no more. Today, I will show you, step by step, how to make delicious, light gnocchi from scratch whenever you want. What’s going to blow your mind is just how simple this is. Are you ready? Yeah, me too. Let’s learn how to make homemade gnocchi.
What is Gnocchi?
I’m guessing that there are some people out there that don’t know what gnocchi is. No problem! Let’s get that out of the way first. You can think of gnocchi in two ways. The first way is as a little potato dumpling. Or, you can think of gnocchi as small balls of pasta made with potato. Both of those are correct. But here’s the thing, gnocchi is easier to make than pasta and dumplings. Really. You cook potatoes, peel them, mash them, mix them with egg, flour, butter, and a few flavourings, roll it, cut, and cook it. That’s it. Let’s look at that process in a little more depth.
How To Make Gnocchi
The Right Potato For Making Gnocchi
As I said, gnocchi is little bits of pasta or dumplings made with potato. So, we have to start with potatoes. Typically, for gnocchi, you don’t want to use a mealy potato like russets. You want a potato with a reasonably high starch content to help bind the dough. I suggest Yukon gold potatoes or other yellow-fleshed variety. These will provide a great flavour and the right consistency for your gnocchi.
Cooking The Potatoes
Some people say that when making gnocchi, it is best to bake the potatoes to prevent them from retaining too much moisture. I always either boil or steam my potatoes for gnocchi, and I have never found that there has been an issue with the moisture content being too high. However, I do find that boiling or steaming the potatoes whole, with the skin still on, does help prevent the potatoes from getting too wet.
To cook the potatoes, put them in a pot of cold, salted water. The cold water will help the potatoes cook more evenly than if they started in hot water. The last thing you want is for the outside of the potatoes to be mushy, while the middle is still hard. Boil the potatoes for 20 minutes or so depending on their size. Really, time isn’t what you should be paying attention too. What’s important is that the potatoes are cooked through but not overcooked. Cook the potatoes just until a knife slides easily into the middle of the potato.
Steam Drying The Potatoes
One other little thing that I find helps prevent any moisture issues is allowing the potatoes to steam dry for a few minutes before peeling them. All I mean by steam drying is that once the water is drained off the potatoes, they are left to sit in the colander for a few minutes before peeling. All the steam that is coming off of the potatoes is excess moisture leaving the potatoes. I go into this in more depth in this post I did way back in January all about 5 Tips For Better Mashed Potatoes. Make sure not to let the potatoes sit for more than a few minutes because you want them to be hot as you mash them. Cold potatoes will become a gummy mess that is next to impossible to work with.
Peeling The Potatoes
Because the potatoes are cooked, the peels will come off fairly quickly. However, the potatoes will still be hot. So, either hold the potato in a towel in one hand and scrape the skin off with a paring knife in the other hand. Or, rub the skin off using a kitchen towel. Rubbing the skin off works well, but it makes a pretty big mess.
Mashing The Potatoes For Gnocchi
There are a few ways that you can “mash” the potatoes for gnocchi. The first and my least favourite is to use a regular old potato masher. I’m not a fan of this method because it is next to impossible to get perfectly smooth potatoes without overworking them and turning them into a gummy mess. The same goes for a mixer. The methods that I prefer are to use a food mill, potato ricer, or if you don’t have either of those, a cheese grater. The goal is to get the mash as smooth as possible while working the potato as little as possible. You also have to work quickly enough so that the potatoes don’t cool down too much. I promise that this is the most complicated this process gets.
Adding Other Ingredients To That Potatoes
Okay, I think that we have covered just about everything there is to cover about the potato portion of the gnocchi. Of course, gnocchi isn’t just potato so let’s look at what else there is. Two ingredients that pretty much stay the same are egg and butter. For one pound of potatoes (before being cooked), use one large egg and a quarter cup of butter. To the mix, add in a big pinch of salt and a little bit of freshly grated nutmeg. Now, this is where things get mildly complicated again.
The Flour
First of all, I use all-purpose gluten-free flour to make my gnocchi. I notice no difference between my gnocchi now and when I could eat it with regular flour. So, gluten-free people, don’t despair. Our gnocchi can be just as good as everyone else’s.
Whether you are using gluten-free flour or regular flour, you have to keep a few things in mind when adding it into the gnocchi dough. The moisture content in the potatoes and the level of humidity in the air will affect how much flour the dough will need. Whatever recipe you’re using (I hope it’s mine which you can find at the end of this post), starts with only half the flour listed. Mix it in and add more as needed. You only want to add enough so that a cohesive dough forms. You want the gnocchi to be light but still hold together. The more flour you add, the heavier the gnocchi will be.
Forming the Gnocchi
To form the gnocchi, divide the dough into four pieces. Roll each piece on a lightly floured surface into a snake about the width of your thumb. Cut the snake into pieces that are as big as your thumb from the tip to the first knuckle. While you are rolling the dough, keep the rest covered with a clean dishcloth. Once the gnocchi is formed, you can roll them on a gnocchi board or on a fork to get the classic gnocchi lines. Those lines will help the gnocchi hold on to whatever sauce you toss them in. You don’t have to do this last step, but it does make the gnocchi look cool and helps them collect the sauce a little better. Once the gnocchi is formed, put them on a lightly floured plate or sheet pan. Do not stack them. Be gentle with them. They should be pretty soft, and you don’t want to deform them.
One thing to keep in mind is the longer the other pieces of dough sit, the wetter they will get. So, you want to work as fast as you can. Even so, you may notice that the last two pieces of dough will be stickier than the first few. That’s okay. You’ll just need to put a little extra flour down on the counter when you are rolling them.
Storing the Gnocchi
With the gnocchi all formed, you have three options. You can cook the gnocchi right away. You can store them in the fridge for a few hours covered with a floured tea towel. Or, you can freeze them in a single layer on a floured sheet pan. Once they are frozen, you can break them apart and store them in the freezer in a ZipLock bag for a few months. Then, cook them right from frozen the same as you would with fresh gnocchi.
Cooking Gnocchi
You want to cook the gnocchi in two to three batches. The reason being that you don’t want to cool the cooking water down below the boiling point. If the water stops boiling, the gnocchi will sit on the bottom of the pot. If the gnocchi sits, they are going to stick and break apart. So, to cook the gnocchi, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Divide the gnocchi into three batches. Take the first batch of gnocchi and gently drop them into the boiling water a few at a time until the whole batch is in the pot. If you dump them all in at once, you risk them breaking and sticking together.
The gnocchi are cooked when they float. Scoop them out of the pot and into your sauce using a slotted spoon. Don’t dump the gnocchi into a colander like you would with pasta. The force of the water will crush and break them. Just scoop them out. And just like that, you’ve made gnocchi.
Additions To The Dough
Like pasta, you can add other ingredients into gnocchi dough for colour and flavour. Cooked, chopped, well-drained spinach makes a great addition to gnocchi dough. You can substitute up to two-thirds of the potato for sweet potato or squash, but you may need to up the amount of flour. You can even add some ricotta or parmesan cheese into the mix. The point is that you can take this basic recipe, add another ingredient or two to it and make it something completely new. But of course, that is up to you and how creative you are feeling.
Sauces For Your Gnocchi
Gnocchi, like other forms of pasta, goes well with a variety of sauces. You can serve it with bolognese sauce, as I did in the picture at the beginning of this post. It goes well with classic tomato and basil. Gnocchi is fantastic in a blue cheese cream sauce. It even pairs perfectly with sage and brown butter, or pesto. Essentially, any sauce you can think of to put on pasta will probably be really good on gnocchi as well.
Gnocchi
An easy and delicious recipe for light and flavourful homemade gnocchi.
Boil the potatoes whole until they are tender when poked with a fork.
Let the potatoes cool slightly then peel.
Pass the potatoes through a food mill or grate on a cheese grater into a large mixing bowl.
Add the egg, butter, flour, salt and nutmeg into the potatoes and mix just enough to combine all the ingredients.
Divide the dough in two. Cover half the dough with a tea towel and roll the other half of the dough on a floured surface into a finger-width rope.
Cut the rope of dough into 1-inch pieces and place them on a floured baking sheet.
Roll and cut the other piece of dough.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Place the gnocchi into the water and wait for about 3 minutes for them to cook. Once the gnocchi starts to float scoop them out of the pot with a slotted spoon and into your sauce.
Once all of the gnocchi have been scooped out of the pot, toss them with the sauce, garnish with parmesan and fresh parsley and serve.
Nothing about making gnocchi is hard. Yes, you have to put some thought into it regarding moisture and flour and all of that, but it is not difficult. But here is the thing, it seems like it is. People think that it is. Even now, you probably are skeptical about how easy I’m making it seem. Because most people believe that gnocchi is hard to make, when you serve it to them, it will blow their minds. So, make this, get a feel for it, then the next time you have people coming over for dinner, make it again. You won’t believe the reaction you’ll get. Plus, it’s fun, and gnocchi is delicious, so what do you have to lose?
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Twenty years ago, I sat down at a table in suburban Toronto and ate a meal that would forever change my perspective on Italian food. Up until that point, all I knew of Italian cuisine was the heavy meat sauce and garlic bread my mother would make once every couple of weeks, and, of course, pizza. I know now that my mom’s sauce was about as Italian as a Hawaiian Pizza. It was delicious (unlike Hawaiian Pizza), but it wasn’t Italian. I left that meal, all those years ago, stuffed beyond belief, and with an understanding of the rustic simplicity that is authentically Italian.
Looking back on that moment now, and reflecting on my career, I can see with absolute clarity that the shadow of that meal still affects how I cook and view food to this day. I’d like to share that meal with you. If it affects you in even the smallest way that it has affected me, it may just change your entire perspective on food and cooking. If that isn’t worth five minutes of your time, nothing is.
The Meal
It was August in Ontario. Hot, humid, unbearable. I had come to Ontario from rural Nova Scotia to spend the summer with my sister and brother-in-law. I was working my first job doing prep and cooking in a Chinese Restaurant and, I was having the time of my life. My sister and her husband had a friend who lived just outside Toronto and needed help moving. As an able bodied fifteen-year I was pulled in to help carry boxes and furniture. After the move, in return for my help, I was taken to a meal at the family home of the Maria, the person we were helping move.
There was food growing everywhere.
Maria’s family home was like nothing I’d ever seen. Their backyard was mostly garden. Shading their back deck were grapevines brought to Canada from Italy and used to make the family wine. There was food growing everywhere. In this small suburban backyard, the family grew a large percentage of their food. It was beautiful and a stark contrast to the manicured lawns and concrete beyond the backyard fence, an oasis in the middle of a desert of asphalt. As taken as I was with the garden, it was the preparation of the food that really caught my attention.
…the table was covered with more food than I had ever seen in one place.
I stood back quietly and watched as the family worked together to prepare enough food for three times the number of people that would be at dinner. The brother, Dino, was grilling bell peppers and sausages from the local Italian butcher. The father picked fresh vegetables from the garden and took them into the kitchen where Maria and her mother were making pasta and salads. When the family finished cooking, they put the platters of tortellini, spaghetti in pesto, bell peppers, salads, and grilled sausages on their old wooden dining table that creaked under the weight of it all. It was more food than I had ever seen in one place. It was all fresh, light, and simply prepared. Colourful and vibrant. It was immediately apparent that what I knew of Italian food was wrong.
…a chorus of “Mangiare!” would encourage me to eat more…
I dug into my first authentic Italian meal with the hunger and ferocity that only a fifteen-year-old boy who has been lifting boxes and furniture all day can. I ate everything that was put in front of me. When I thought I was done, a chorus of “Mangiare!” would encourage me to eat more, and more. I ate until I couldn’t possibly fit another bite of food in my body, and then I ate some more. By the time I had actually finished eating, I thought I was going to die, but I was going to die happy.
…this was the first time I saw people eating for pleasure.
On the surface, it may seem like I ate a good meal, and that’s about it. It was a delicious meal, but it was more than that. I grew up eating, heavy, meat and potato dishes. We always ate well, and my mom took pride in her cooking, and she was good at it, but despite that, food was fuel. Its purpose was to keep us going until the next meal. We got it in us as quickly as we could then went about our day. This Italian meal was something much different. It went on for hours. It was as much about fueling the soul as it was the body. The family talked and joked, enjoyed each other’s company. Thinking about it now, I think what struck me most was that this was the first time I saw people eating for pleasure. These people loved food. Their whole way of life was dedicated to it. There was no rush to eat so that they could go do something else. Eating, laughing and drinking was what they wanted to be doing. That had such an impact on me that twenty years later, I think about that meal at least a few times a week.
An Authentic Italian Meal Twenty Years Later
The meal I am about to share with you is not the exact meal I ate all those years ago. I honestly can’t remember everything that was on that table. But, this is as an authentic Italian meal as you’re going to find just about anywhere. What you will notice is that there are very few ingredients in each dish. The flavours are fairly mild, and the meal is relatively light. There is nothing fancy about it, and there is no pretense. It is good food, prepared simply to create a fantastic meal. That’s it.
Peppers and Onions
The first dish is peppers and onions. Remove the seeds and stems from two bell peppers (the colour doesn’t matter). Slice the peppers about 1 cm thick. Peel an onion (white, red, or yellow) and slice it the same width as the peppers. Slice two cloves of garlic as thin as you can.
Heat a medium-sized pan over medium heat, add in 2 tbsp of good olive oil. Put the garlic in the pan and cook for about 45 seconds, then add in the peppers and onion. Season with a pinch of salt, pepper, and dried oregano. Cook the peppers, stirring every minute or so for 7 to 8 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. That’s it. That’s the whole dish.
I also made a quick pasta dish of fettuccini noodles tossed with homemade pesto. To make this, cook the pasta, drain it, then toss it with a few tablespoons of pesto. Top it with a little salt, pepper, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. You can find the pesto recipe below.
The final piece of my authentic Italian meal is a few sausages. Where I live, there are no Italian butchers, and I didn’t have time to make the sausages myself so, I bought some mild Italian sausages from the grocery store. Cook them on the grill over medium-high heat if you can. If not, roast them in the oven on 400°f for 20 minutes or until they are fully cooked.
What I find works really well is to cook the sausages over direct heat for about 5 to 7 minutes, then turn the center burners of the grill to low, put the pan of peppers on the grill and put the sausages on the warming rack above the peppers. Put the lid down and let the sausages cook for another 7 to 8 minutes. Crank the heat back up and finish the sausages over high heat. You don’t have to go through this whole process but you’ll be happy you did.
Conclusion
My authentic Italian meal isn’t nearly as big as the meal I ate all those years ago. But, it definitely brought me back to that time. What’s really crazy is that this meal didn’t take long to make. If you already have the pesto made and the vegetables roasted, as I did, this meal will take you less than 30 minutes to put together. What’s more, is that you are going to feel like a king or queen eating it.
Is there one meal that stands out from your life? If so, I’d love to hear all about it. Tell me in the comments below or on Facebook.
Thank you for reading the post. If you liked it, remember to share it on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter by clicking the icon to the left of the right of the page. Did you know that Chefsnotes.com has almost 400 posts just like this one? Don’t ever miss a post again. Become a Chef’s Notes member right here. You will be notified of every new post. And if you would like to know more about me, click the link below to read my story.
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