Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

I made this the other day and it's one of my new favorites!! It's a Rachel Ray but I changed a few things. I bought a bag of frozen shrimp at Sam's Club about 2 months ago and made 4 meals from it which is how I could afford buying shrimp. Try it!!!!!!

Linguine With Shrimp Scampi

Veggie Oil

Salt

3/4 p. Linguine (I used half a box since it's just Mike and I)

3 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter

2 1/2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1 1/2 Tbsp. Minced Garlic (4 cloves)

1 p. Shrimp, peeled and deveined, (about 16 shrimp)

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/3 C. chopped fresh Parsley, (I used Fresh Basil cause lets be honest Fresh basil is AMAZING!!!)

1/2 Lemon Zest

1/4 C. Fresh Lemon Juice (2 Lemons), -1 Lemon if using just half a package

1/1 Lemon, thinly sliced into half rounds

1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes (I didn't have any so I substituted 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper)

Drizzle oil in Lrg. pot salted boiling water. Add 1 Tbsp. salt and Linguine. Cook till al dente.

meanwhile, in heavy bottomed pan, melt butter and olive oil over med-low heat. Add garlic, saute for 1 min till fragrant. Add shrimp, 1 1/2 tsp. salt and pepper. Saute till opaque, about 5 minutes, turning often. Remove from heat, add parsley (BASIL!!!) zest, lemon juice, lemon slices and pepper flakes. Toss with drained pasta in pot and serve.

Argentine Noquis

These are John's specialty.  In fact, other than honey-mustard chicken (ingredients: honey, mustard, and chicken), this is really the only recipe John cooks.  Oh, and he sometimes bakes bread, which is actually quite a bit more delicious than mine.  Anyway, here it is.

John's Noquis


Peel 2 kg. (5 lbs) of russet potatoes, cut them into chunks, boil them in salted water, and mash them.  Add 3 eggs to the mashed potatoes and beat well.  Start adding flour 1/4 cup at a time (it ends up being between 1-2 cups, depending on the moisture of the potatoes and the size of the eggs) until it becomes more of a dough than mashed potatoes, but it will still be sticky.  Flour the counter and roll the dough into long snakes approximately 1" in diameter.  Cut the snakes into pieces 1-1/2 inches long and roll the pieces over a fork to give it the classic noqui shape.  Boil the noquis in salted and oiled water until they float, then retrieve them with a slotted spoon and boil some more.

The following portion of the recipe is word-for-word from John.  He's very particular about the sauce.

John's Noqui Sauce  
Heat 1 tbsp. finest extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet.  Add 2-3 cloves of garlic, freshly minced, and saute until fragrant.  Add 4-5 whole bay leaves and 2 [14 oz.] cans of the finest Italian-style diced tomatoes [side note:  Great Value from Wal-Mart have the best texture for this.  The others are too runny.]  and let it simmer while the rest of the ingredients are being prepared.  Then comes the spinach.  Get 1 package of fresh and tender baby spinach.  After rinsing, each stem should be removed and the leaves should be diced.  Add the diced spinach to the sauce.  It will look like a lot of spinach, but it will cook down.  Then dice 1-2 packages of lunch meat ham, only the finest will do.  [Another side note:  We use cheap, cheap, cheap thinly sliced.  Don't believe his "only the finest" garbage.]  Add it to the sauce. Drizzle 1/4 cup heavy cream into the sauce.  Season with salt, pepper, oregano, and basil to taste.  (The amounts of each of these will depend on what Italian tomatoes you used at the beginning.)  Serve with your noquis.


Back to Em:  Here's the thing.  John's super particular about the sauce and the ingredients when he's making it, but I think it's still delicious when I make it, and I'm not so particular.  Also, the homemade noquis are the worst part, and John's recipe is not the most clear-cut.  I'm sure you can find another recipe out there that uses the same ingredients but gives more specific quantities.  Here's the lesson we've learned, however.  If you add too much flour, the dough is really easy to work with, but the noquis are super gummy.  You don't want gummy noquis.  Oh, and I just buy frozen noquis when it's up to me.  I'm not up to all that work.  :)

Very Helpful

This recipe is one of my new essentials.  It has less sugar, salt, and fat than store-bought spaghetti or pizza sauce, and it tastes much fresher and more tomato-ey.  Which I love.  (I was attempting to recreate Giordano's sauce, and I didn't quite succeed, but it's much closer than Prego or Ragu.)  Plus, it's cheaper, since I stock up on the Great Value brand tomatoes.

Pasta (or Pizza) Sauce

1 can (14 oz?--regular size) Italian style diced tomatoes (the kind with basil, oregano, and garlic)
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. minced garlic (which I get from a bottle for this recipe, but you could mince your own.  Maybe 1 clove?)

Toss everything in the blender and blend away.  I use it just like this, most of the time, but you can also cook it in a flat saucepan (heat 1 tbsp. of olive oil in the pan first) until it thickens a little.  That makes the tomato flavor more rich and less fresh.

This is the best sauce for a margherita-style pizza when it's winter and the fresh tomatoes are not-so-fresh and from somewhere like Chile.  :)

Sun Dried Tomato/Roasted Red Pepper Marinara Sauce

I made this tonight and put it over a cheese stuffed ravioli type thing and it was sooooo good.

Sun Dried Tomato/Roasted Red Pepper Marinara Sauce

2 Slices of Bottled Roasted Red Pepper

3/4 C. Sun Dried Tomatoes with oil

1 small Sweet Onion diced (I used green onions cause they needed using.)

2 C. Tomato Sauce (I pureed canned tomatoes)

1 T. Lemon or Lime juice

1 T. Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp. or 1 T. hot sauce (depends on if you like it hot)

1/4 C. Butter

Oregano/Basil/Bay Leaf to taste

1 tsp. Fennel seeds

2 Cloves of Garlic (minced if you like but I kept mine whole. I also used 4 cause I like Garlic.)

Method: Chop Peppers and Sun Dried Tomatoes in a food processor to desired texture. I pureed them:) Melt Butter over med. heat in sauce pan. Add Onion and Garlic cooking till fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

I then put it over my pasta which required baking for 45 minutes giving my ingredients time to mingle. If your putting it over pasta that doesn't require that much prep time or your using it as a dipping sauce I'd recommend adding water and letting in simmer for 20 minutes or so then letting it rest for about an hour then reheat:)

Some of this I just eyeballed so I had to kinda guess what the measurements were which is why it says season to taste on the herbs. Sorry:)

Query

Every time I cook something with shell noodles I have to worry about the shell getting stuck inside another shell, inside another shell, inside another shell. Is there any way to fix this without going through and picking them apart? Should I give up on shells, stick to farfalle?

Lemony Tortellini with Peas and Bacon

I have adapted this recipe from Everyday Food, which is seriously the best food magazine ever.

1 package cheese tortellini, frozen or fresh, but not dried (about 20 oz.)--the ones you get at Sam's Club are the best
1 bag frozen peas
1/2 pound bacon
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper

Boil the tortellini according to the package directions.  Don't overboil, or all the cheese leaks out.

Meanwhile, chop the bacon into little pieces and fry in a pan until crisp.  When the bacon is all crispy, turn off the heat and when everything stops sizzling in the pan, add the garlic to the bacon grease.  (If you add it while everything is still crazy hot, the garlic burns and turns bitter--NOT good.)

When the tortellini are done, add the bag of frozen peas, and immediately strain both the peas and pasta and put them either back into the pot or into a large bowl.  Scoop the bacon and garlic out of the bacon pan, leaving most of the grease behind, and add them to the tortellini.  Add the lemon zest and lemon juice to the pasta.  Salt and pepper to taste.  (If you need to, you can also add another tablespoon of the bacon grease to the mixture, since bacon is always delicious.)

Aunt Steph's Pasta*

*Moved it for you, Mom. :)

Chicken Garlic Pasta
6-8 cloves of fresh garlic
1 T. plus 1 t. oil
chicken bullion
1 purple, red, or yellow onion ( we ended up using a yellow onion)
1 yellow or orange pepper sliced very thin (again we had to go with a green pepper)
2 green onions sliced
1/4 t. dried red pepper lakes (add more for more spice)
1 lb. penne pasta
2 bunches of broccoli (cleaned and cut into flowerets)
12 cherry tomatoes, halved (didn't use because Annie thinks they are poisonous)
pinch of ground nutmeg
Fresh, shredded basil ( fresh is best, but we used dried)
2 c. cooked chicken, cubed ( She usually grills it with jsut salt and pepper--we stir fried it in a little olive oil-still very good)
Freshly ground parmesan cheese ( we used 6 oz.)
Fresh ground pepper

Heat olive oil to medium heat and add garlic and chicken. Add the opinion, peppers, pepper flakes, green onion. cook , tossing until onion is crisp and tender.

Boil pasta until partially cooked. Add the broccoli to the pasta pot and let it cook for 5 more minutes until still slightly crisp. Scoop our the broccoli and set aside and save 2 cups of the boiling water and add 2 bullion cubes to it until dissolved. Thoroughly drain pasta.

Return the pasta and broccoli over low heat to the onion and the pepper mixture. AD the 2 cups of bullion, cherry tomatoes, nutmeg, basil and ground pepper. Stir just until tomatoes are hot and serve with fresh parmesan cheese.

We loved this for dinner tonight. Annie was the cook, but we all gobbled it down.

Pasta with Roasted Tomato Sauce

(Sunday Strategy, continued)

Menu for Wednesday:

Pasta with Roasted Tomato Sauce

10 Roasted Tomato Halves, chopped
salt/pepper
1/4 cup evoo
1 lemon
12 oz. pasta
1 handful fresh basil
1 clove garlic, minced

Boil pasta in salted water. Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat oil, add tomatoes and garlic. (I also added some oregano and rosemary because I love them.) Stir together until pasta is done, then toss the pasta with the tomatoes. Juice the lemon and chop the basil and pour both over the pasta. Serve with crusty bread. YUM!