Not Your Typical Pasta

Pasta is one of the cheapest and easy meals any college student can make. All you do is boil water, cook pasta until soft, drain, and sauce. Voila!! You have a meal. Now, what do you do when you eat pasta at least three times a week? Change the sauce. You can go traditional with garlicky basil and tomatoes, classy with stroganoff, spicy with habanero pesto, or crazy with pumpkin sauce. Hmm which reminds me - I should add my creamy garlic sauce and garlic butter sauce soon.

Here are two more pasta varieties. I only recommend the pad thai only if you absolutely love peanut butter. By love, I mean sitting there with a jar and a spoon and happily eating away. I love PB, but the taste was a little intense. However, it tasted better the next day, so maybe it just needed time.

The Mediterranean pasta I made myself. To be traditional, you would use kalamata olives. However, I only had a can of black pitted olives.


Pad Thai with Creamy Peanut Sauce




8 oz rice noodles (or substitute linguine or spaghetti)
1/8 cup water
1/8 cup sugar
1 Tbsp ketchup
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp chili powder
1/3 tsp lime juice
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup onions, chopped
1 chicken breast, chopped
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup peas

Sauce
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/8 cup peanut butter
1 tsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp ginger

1. Place sauce ingredients in a blender. Process until smooth, about 30 sec. Set aside.

2. If using rice noodles, soak them for 30 minutes in hot tap water; drain. They should be flexible but not soft. If using linguine or spaghetti, cook in boiling water until done.

3. Combine water, sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, chili powder and lime juice in a small bowl.

4. Saute chicken in oil until no longer pink. Add garlic and onions; cook until tender. If using rice noodles, add to pan. If using linguine or spaghetti, do not put in pan. Pour ketchup mixture over chicken.

5. Push chicken mixture to side of the pan. Add egg, stirring until cooked. Add peas. If you are using linguine or spaghetti, add to pan as well. Mix in peanut sauce. Makes 2 servings.

Source: Cooking with Carnation Evaporated Milk, 2006 p.14


Mediterranean Pasta



8 oz. pasta, your choice
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 small can tuna, drained
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped and drained
1/2 cup olives, sliced
1/2 cup feta cheese

Bring water in a small saucepan to a boil. Cook pasta until soft. Meanwhile, saute garlic and onion in oil until tender. Add tuna, tomatoes, and olives. Cook until warm. Add to cooked pasta. Sprinkle with feta. Makes 2 servings.

Source: Recipe by me



Sorry for the horrible lighting, but my dad took a video of Murray being impatient for Christmas.


He's still waiting.

Waiter, There's Something In My Sauce

Pastitsio is a Greek pasta dish that is served as a main course. I made this dish a few years ago and decided to make it again. Normally you would use a tube pasta, such as ziti, but elbow pasta works fine. The original recipe calls for jarred Alfredo sauce. Since I didn't want to buy jarred sauce and this month's Waiter, There's Something In My... challenge is sauces, I decided to make my own. I haven't made homemade Alfredo sauce since high school, so I was hoping everything would work, and it did. If you don't want the sauce to be as dry, cut back on the parmesan cheese. Also, the cinnamon and nutmeg may sound weird in this dish, but trust me you need to add them.


Pastitsio




8 oz. elbow or tube pasta
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 cup green pepper, chopped
1 tsp cinnamon

Alfredo Sauce
1/2 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg yolk, beaten
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp water

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Spray casserole dish non-stick cooking spray. Boil pasta in water for 10 minutes; drain. Run under cold water so the pasta won't cook any further.

2. Meanwhile, brown beef in skillet. Drain grease; remove beef to separate plate. Wipe any remaining grease from skillet. Return beef; add tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers, and cinnamon. Cook for 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Drain any remaining tomato juice.

3. Spread half the pasta into casserole dish. Add meat mixture on top. Cover with remaining pasta.

4. In saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter and cream, stirring constantly. If you don't stir constantly, a milk skin will form on top. Whisk in cheese, egg yolk, lemon juice, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat; add water.

5. Pour sauce over pasta dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Casserole should be bubbly and golden brown.

Source: Dish from Family Circle Sept. 2001, p. 136; Sauce from high school cooking class

Weekend Cookbook Challenge 18

What do you do when you can't find the recipe you're looking for? Make it up. That's right. I made my own recipe!! I had 1 lemon that I needed to use up. When my dad was going through the cupboard above the stove, he pointed out that I had jumbo shells I needed to use (they were up there probably at least a year). What does lemon juice + shells equal? Greek stuffed shells, of course. I googled for recipes, but I got nothing. So I took the typical Greek ingredients and replaced the Italian ingredients with these. I also decided to enter this into the Weekend Cookbook Challenge 18 - Red and White due to the tomatoes and cucumber sauce.

EDIT - Round up is now posted.


Greek Stuffed Shells




12 jumbo shells
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup cucumber, peeled and diced
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dillweed
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1 egg, beaten
5 black olives, chopped

1. Boil water. Cook shells for 10 minutes. Drain; run under cold water to stop any further cooking.

2. For the sauce, combine yogurt, cucumbers, garlic powder, 1/2 tsp dillweed, and 1 Tbsp lemon juice. Cover and let chill in the refrigerator.

3. Combine cheese, 1/2 tsp dill, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, tomatoes, egg, and olives.

4. Preheat oven to 350F. Spread the bottom of 13x9 pan with some of the sauce. Place shells on top. Stuff with the cheese mixture. Pour remaining sauce on top. Cover with foil. Bake for 35 minutes.

Source: Sauce from Recipe Zaar, Shell recipe by me


Nectarine Crisp




I also made dessert. This has nothing to do with Greek cuisine but still delicious nonetheless. I used this recipe from Recipe Zaar. I left out the blueberries and wheat germ. Next time, I will try it with raspberries.