The next time you go to the store, look on the back of pasta boxes for recipes. They can give you a good start (and detailed instructions) on how to make a dish. Usually they are good, but obviously, don’t try the linguine with clam sauce unless you like clams and white sauces.

Just found this today… looks good, not sure how it is, as I haven’t tried it yet.

RIGATONI WITH RED PEPPERS, WILD MUSHROOMS, AND FONTINA

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/232882?mbid=yh%20oo

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large red onions, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices (about 6 cups)
1 pound assorted wild mushrooms (such as small portobello, oyster, chanterelle, and stemmed shiitake), cut into 1/3-inch-thick slices (about 10 cups)
2 large red bell peppers, cut lengthwise into 1/3-inch-thick strips (about 4 cups)

1 pound rigatoni

3 teaspoons marjoram, divided
1 1/2 cups grated Fontina cheese (about 6 ounces), divided

Heat oil in heavy large pot over high heat. Add onions and cook until soft and beginning to brown, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-high. Add mushrooms and sauté until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add peppers and sauté until just soft, about 5 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.

Add reserved pasta cooking liquid and 2 teaspoons marjoram to skillet and stir, scraping up browned bits. Add drained pasta to sauce and toss to coat. Add 1 cup cheese; stir until melted. Transfer pasta to large bowl; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese and 1 teaspoon marjoram.

Makes 6 servings.
Bon Appétit
Every-Night Cooking
October 2005

If I want to go all out—there is a Cajun Pasta I enjoy.

4 ounces linguine OR penne pasta (I prefer penne)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cubed into 1” pieces
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
2 tablespoons butter
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
4 fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 green onion, minced
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain.

Meanwhile, place chicken and Cajun seasoning in a bowl, and toss to coat.
In a large skillet over medium heat, saute chicken in butter until no longer pink and juices run clear, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Add green and red bell peppers, sliced mushrooms and green onions; cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce heat, and stir in heavy cream. Season the sauce with basil, lemon pepper, salt, garlic powder and ground black pepper, and heat through.

In a large bowl, toss pasta with sauce. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

http://www.43things.com/entries/view/286698

Ziti with Acorn Squash and Roasted Garlic

1 acorn squash
6 tablespoons olive oil
15 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 pound dried ziti pasta or penne pasta tubes
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 teaspoon salt, or more, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, lightly toasted

1. Preheat oven to 375?. Cut acorn squash in half, remove seeds, and place the halves on a baking sheet, cut side down. Bake the squash for 1 hour or until the flesh is soft. Let he squash cool, then spoon out the flesh from the shells, and chop it fine.

2. About 1/2 hour after the squash has begun baking, roast the garlic: Toss together the oil and the garlic, and place them in an oven-proof dish. Bake the garlic, uncovered, alongside the squash for 30 minutes or until the garlic is lightly golden.

3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and cook the pasta until it is just tender. Drain it, reserving 3/4 cup of the drained pasta water.

4. While the pasta cooks, spoon the roasted garlic with its oil into a large skillet. Add the wine and the reserved pasta water, and bring the mixture to a boil. Let it boil for about 2 minutes. Add the chopped squash flesh, and boil the sauce 3 minutes more. Take the skillet off the heat.

5. Add the pasta to the sauce, and stir well. Add the salt, pepper and parmesan cheese, and toss. Divide the pasta among plates, and sprinkle walnuts over, and serve with additional parmesan.

Serves 4

That recipe was from dragonfly, and it’s good and unique. The next one is my own family recipe for lasagne.

Deni’s Family Lasagne

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Moderate
Prep and Cook Time: 2 to 2.5 hours
Yield: 4-6 servings for main dish

Ingredients:
AZOptimist’s spaghetti sauce, recipe follows
Parmesan cheese sauce, recipe follows
4-5 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
6 lasagne noodles
olive oil or canola oil
water
salt
cooking spray, such as Pam or equivalent

Directions:
1. Very carefully break lasagne noodle in half by placing the noodle
over the side of the casserole dish and pressing down on each side of
it with your hands. (Usually one side of the noodle fits more easily
over the side of the dish, and it is the one that works best. Also, if
there are cracks in the noodle that will mean that the noodle will
tear more easily when cooked. I would suggest cooking 1 to 2 extra
noodle(s) to prevent this.)
2. Coat each noodle with cooking spray to prevent them from sticking
to each other.
3. Get enough water boiling to liberally cover all the noodles and add
a small stream of oil and about 1 Tablespoon of salt if using medium
sized pot. (Adjust up if using more water in a larger pot.)
4. Add noodles to water and boil for about 2 minutes shorter than
prescribed on package. (They should be fairly firm in the center, but
not hard or crunchy. This will aid in getting them out of the water
without tearing.
5. While boiling noodles, lay out 3 to 4 paper towels on clean
counter. Spray them with cooking spray. When noodles are done, lay
them on a single layer on the paper towels to drain using tongs to
remove them from the pot.
6. After noodles are well drained, spray 9 inch square casserole dish
with cooking spray.
7. Layer accordingly for 3 layers:
A. Lasagne noodles : (4 ½-noodles make one layer)
B. Parmesan cheese sauce (4 rounded Tablespoons per layer should do.)
C. Spaghetti sauce
D. Mozzarella cheese
8. Be generous with the top layer, it can have more cheese sauce and
cheese than the others. After it’s assembled bake it in a 350° F for
30 to 45 minutes, or until bubbly and browned on top.

Deni’s Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients:
1 can tomato paste
2-3 medium cans of tomato sauce
1.5 lbs extra lean ground beef or turkey- seasoned with 1 Tablespoon
salt, cooked, crumbled and drained
3 Tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons Beef Bullion granules (or 2 cubes)
To taste: salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil

Here’s an easy one. Cook your pasta, and then toss some olive oil, fresh minced garlic, and either basil or parsley (or maybe both). Top with fresh grated parmesan.

It’s delicious, you can adjust it to taste, and it’s cheap!

My mom always added things like cream of mushroom soup to pasta. It’s a comfort food for me. All you do is cook your pasta, add cream of mushroom soup after draining the water from the pasta, and eat.

For a different style of pasta, try gnocchi. Cook this potato based pasta as directed on the package. Add an equal amount of broccoli (also cooked, frozen works fine and can be thrown into the boiling water with the gnocchi). Once cooked, drain the water then add some oil (olive, canola or whatever your preferred oil is). Add a healthy helping of grated parmesian cheese and mix thoroughly to evenly spread the oil and parmesian across the gnocchi and broccoli.

My family calls this “gnocchly broccoli” and it’s a favorite.

I make a seafood alfredo. Alfredo sauce, thinned with milk, spiced to my liking. Bit o’ garlic, maybe some cheese, some chives…...YUM!

then, add seafood, your favorite kind (I like alaskan king crab legs, shrimp, lobster and scallops) to the sauce.

Cook pasta to al dente.
place pasta on plate, smother with sauce.

serve with freshly made bruchetta.

One of my favorite meals.

Go raw for a change!
Delicious and a lot healthier. Here is a recipe from the raw gourmet:

Marinara Sauce

2 cups Sun Dried tomatoes, soaked in water for 2 hours

8-10 Tomatoes, garlic, onion, olive oil, parsley, fresh basil, sea salt, oregano
Cut up and blend the tomatoes in a blender. Drain the sun dried tomatoes and add enough of them to the tomato puree until the mixture is quite thick. Add the following to your liking: garlic, onion, a little olive oil, parsley, fresh basil, sea salt, oregano. (Add any other ingredients that you like in a tomato or marinara sauce, such as cut up olives.)

Pour over pasta made of zucchini or pumpkin cut with a vegetable peeler or a spiral slicer and serve at once.

I assume you mean, other than pasta with tomato sauce….I’m a big fan of pesto. Check out Lynne Rossetto Casper’s “The Italian Country Table,” for a number of great pesto recipes. Some of the best take lots of basil, and this time of year, that can be hard to come by and expensive. But what follows is a great pesto for all year that uses nuts as the base. This is also from “The Italian Country Table.” If you make it once, you’ll always make sure you have ample supplies of these nuts on hand. It’s reallly super. BTW, you can buy pistachios shelled, so don’t try to shell a bunch yourself and drive yourself crazy (although I have done this.)The book also has a recipe for a pesto made from chives. Finally, something to do with all the chives I have growing in the backyard!

Linguine with Pistachio-Almond Pesto
From The Italian Country Table: Home Cooking from Italy’s Farmhouse Kitchens by Lynne Rossetto Kasper.

Serves 8 as a first course, 4 to 6 as a main course

A scant 1/2 cup unblanched whole almonds, toasted
1/2 cup shelled salted pistachio nuts, toasted 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 large clove garlic
Pinch of hot red pepper flakes
3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons fruity extra-virgin olive oil
30 large mint leaves (a blend of spearmint and peppermint if possible), plus, possibly, about 10 more mint leaves, or to taste, torn
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound linguine, spaghetti, bucatini, or other string pasta
6 quarts boiling salted water
1 1/3 pint baskets (1 pound) flavorful cherry tomatoes, quartered

1. Mix the cooled toasted nuts. Coarsely chop about one quarter of them and set aside.

2. In a mortar (a processor is second choice), pound (or grind) the garlic to a paste with the hot pepper and 2 to 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Work in the remaining whole nuts and a little more than half the large mint leaves until the mixture looks like very coarse meal, with pieces of nuts at about 1/8 inch. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Tear up the remaining large mint leaves.

3. Cook the pasta in fiercely boiling water, stirring often, until tender yet firm to the bite. As the pasta cooks, gently blend the pesto, tomatoes, and 1/2 tablespoon of the oil in a deep pasta bowl.

4. Skim off 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the pasta water just before draining, and drain pasta in a colander. Add the pasta to the bowl. Toss together with the reserved pasta water, the chopped nuts, and salt and pepper to taste. Then toss in the reserved torn mint. Taste for seasoning, adding extra oil, mint, salt, and/or pepper if needed.

Serve hot or warm. No cheese is used here.

3 T olive oil
broccoli—about 1 1/2 cups, cut into small flowerettes
3-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 pound penne
3 T butter, cut into smaller pieces
dry basil
dry oregano
dry parsley
sea salt
pepper

1) Put a big pot of water on to boil for penne. When it boils, throw in penne and cook as long as it says to on the box.
2) put broccoli in the microwave on high for 2-3 minutes, until just-softened, but not cooked through.
3) Heat olive oil and saute garlic, about 1 minute
4) add peppers, squash, zucchini and cook about 4 minutes until color is bright and vegetables are a little soft.
5) add brocolli and heat.
6) Drain penne and stir into vegetables.
7) add basil, oregano, parsley to taste and toss.
8) stir in butter.
9) add salt and pepper to taste.

I LEARNED THIS WHEN MY HUSBAND WAS IN THE HOSPITAL WITH HEART PROBLEMS.
USE BONLESS SKINLESS CHICKEN BREAST CUT INTO BITE SIZED CHUNCKS,DICED TOMATOES, ALFREDO SAUCE, MUSHROOMS (I PREFERRED CANNED) BELL PEPPERS, (ANY COLOR WILL WORK) PASTA NOODLES (ANY KIND WILL WORK I PREFERRED ANGEL HAIR OR PENNA)
COOK NOODLES AS DIRECTEDSEASON AND COOK CHICKEN UNTIL DONE AND JUICE RUNS CLEARPUT A SMALL AMOUNT OF OIL IN A SAUTEE’ PAN AND GET IT HOT, THEN ADD VEGITABLES AND CHICKEN.
STIR FRY FOR ABOUT 3 MIN STIRING FREQUENTLY. ADD ALFREDO SAUCE BRING TO BOIL AND POUR OVER DRAINED PASTA.
YOU CAN COOK A LITTLE OR A LOT JUST USE YOUR OWN PREFERANCE.

I dont have a recipe handy but I do know, if you search on the internet, you may be able to find a good recipe for Macaroni Cheese. Tastes really good if you make it from scratch with the cheese sauce. This is good cause you can learn how to make great cheese sauces…great for potato bake and pasta among other things.

MARNIE’S TUNA CILANTRO PASTA
This is soooo quick and easy, really tasty & zingy and can be prepared in the time it takes the pasta to cook.

INGREDIENTSPASTA – shapes are best
TINNED TUNA – allow one can of tuna per 1-2 people.
OLIVE OILGARLIC – cloves to taste
CORRIANDER LEAVES – good sized bunch
PARMESAN CHEESE – grated
FRESH LEMON JUICEBLACK PEPPER

Put your pasta on to cook – penne, rigatone, shells or other shapes are good (it can be served with brown rice too is you want change/fibre).

Chop up loads of garlic according to taste and gently saute (ie so it softens but doesnt go brown) in olive oil in large frying pan.

Add your (dolphin friendly) drained tinned tuna – heat (no need to cook it)

Juice a lemon or 2 and grate a heap of parmesan cheese to taste.

Chop a hole bunch – GO FOR IT – of corriander leaves (perhaps called cilantro in USA). I chop stalks finely too.

Once pasta is cooked, drain, toss into hot garlic/tuna mix. Mix well with some olive oil (or not if you are slimming). REmove pan from heat and stir in lemon juice and corriander leaves/cilantro. Add loads of freshly ground black pepper.

serve with parmesan cheese.

Viola, tasty healthy meal and in 15 minutes or less. It quickly became firm favourite of mine especially when need too cook after long day.

You know, sometimes it’s really just about the pasta…
There’s a place in Berkeley, Ca., Phoenix Pastaficio, see: http://www.strauscom.com/farmfresh/cfpasta.html which makes schnazzy stuff like key lime/cilantro pasta or romantic versions like rose petal pasta. Simple food is just that: a few ingredients and light preparation. Simply good.

Fetuccini alfredo with mushrooms and chives is the best!