Weekly Favorites 08/19/18 to 08/25/18

Well I'm late again, no surprise there at this point! This post is this week's Weekly Favorites post, just a week late. At this point, you're probably thinking, "Does this guy write anything besides the weekly favorites?" In fact I do, and I'm working on a few new posts!

Vermicelli di Positano - via The Pasta Project

Pasta, my old friend! I've made a few pasta dishes like this and on a rainy or cold day, they can really hit the spot! There is just something about marinated tomatoes and veggies that is so good!

All you have to do to make this #vermicelli di Positano is marinate the tomatoes, herbs & other veg. Then cook the pasta, mix & eat!! Easy, delicious & nutritious! Recipe > https://t.co/ZaJtlDdurw #lovepasta #PastaGarofalo #vegetarian #vegan #pastarecipe #italianfood #foodblogger pic.twitter.com/hjsmEwH72J

— Jacqui DeBono (@jacquidebono) August 20, 2018

Pesto - via Pesto Champion

I love pesto. I also love history. This very brief history of pesto caught my attention and I had to shared. Now I have a question. Pine nuts or no pine nuts in your pesto?

Impressive!! A #Fun #Fact by #London #Foodie #Pestochampion :) #Wellness #Wellbeing #Healthy #Health #love #food and #travel #Yummy #dinner #lunch #foodporn #ItalianFood #FoodBlogger #Luxury #Travel #londonfoodblogger #londonblogger #blog #blogger #Vlog #lndnfood #Pesto pic.twitter.com/x2QHSIjlZB

— Pesto Champion (@PestoChampion) August 20, 2018

Maseladar Chana dal Tadka or Spiced Yellow Split Peas with Ghee - via Cooking with Anadi

My wife and I cook fair amount of curry, usually chicken or shrimp. Our kids, surprisingly, love rice. I like to see variations on curry, and I've never really done one with a yellow curry. This one looks like one I am going to have to try out!

When you have a great Indian curry you need a delicious bread to truly have a complete meal! Learn how to make one of my recent favourites, laccha paratha to be your next accompaniment!

RECIPE >> https://t.co/eHWuZRH65k#RecipeOfTheDay #recipeblog #Cooking #foodblogger #foodie pic.twitter.com/0PZNZWYyJM

— Anadi Misra (@_anadizzle) August 20, 2018

Weekly Favorites 08/05/18 to 08/11/18

Last week, for Weekly Favorites, I decided to go with a sweets and desserts theme. This week, I decided to go with another theme, and include all pasta articles!

Baked Lumaconi Pasta Shells with Chicory and Porcini - via The Pasta Project

I've always loved stuffed and baked pasta dishes. Pasta stuffed with mushrooms is one of my favorites!

These scrumptious lumaconi #pastashells are filled with ricotta, chicory and porcini mushrooms and then baked in a roasted cherry tomato sauce!! Sounds delicious, right? https://t.co/JdxonsKn7x #lovepasta #italianfood #pasta #bakedpasta #vegetarian #pastagarofalo #foodblogger pic.twitter.com/Dg7U6WPelh

— Jacqui DeBono (@jacquidebono) August 8, 2018

Creamy Tomato Alfredo Tortellini with Sautéed Arugula and Hot Sausage - via The Sweet & Savory Couple

If I'm being honest, I have to admit that I've never been a huge fan of Alfredo sauce. I am however, a fan of tomatoes and Italian sausage. And, I've always been fascinated by tortellini!

Creamy Tomato Alfredo Tortellini with Hot Sausage. Easy meal sure to please the whole family. #foodblogger #italianfood #pastadishes #easydinnerrecipe #dinnertime #sweetandsavorycouple https://t.co/88B9irnbnD pic.twitter.com/Zh9hLbgZlE

— The Sweet and Savory Couple (@sweetsavorycpl) August 4, 2018

Corn Pasta with Bacon and Pecorino Romano - via Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks

We've been cooking with a lot of corn lately. Coincidentally, we made a corn and bacon pasta dish just like this a few weeks ago with some chicken! This combination of pasta and bacon and corn is great!

Grab some sweet summer corn and try this fresh and tasty Corn Pasta with Bacon and Pecorino! https://t.co/bEsJAmdMKz #FarmersMarketWeek #pasta pic.twitter.com/QNPWQu0fHB

— Hezzi-Ds Books&Cooks (@HezziD) August 8, 2018

Rigatoni Filled with Spinach and Gorgonzola - via Make it Kitchen

Maybe it's because I watched a lot of Popeye when I was little, but I love spinach! It's great in salads, but especially in pasta! Pasta stuffed with cheese and spinach is a delicious combination!

Here's another video of the MakeItKitchen guys ! https://t.co/2HCnIAAwIO#pasta #spinach #gorgonzola #Recipe pic.twitter.com/Wc4wmLLWLP— MakeItKitchen (@MakeItKitchen1) August 8, 2018

Spaghetti Mangiafuco

The other day we realized we'd had our fill of the variety of kid shows that seem to loop around our house. Desperate, we went looking for a "mommy, daddy show," that might satisfy everyone involved. We came across an all things Italian episode of Dinners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. This could be interesting.

Guy stopped by a small family run restaurant in Collodi, Italy, where they made a dish called Spaghetti Mangiafuco. Of course, I had to set out to recreate this dish, and maybe even put my own spin on it!

The Recipe:

• 1 Package of Cherry Tomatoes - Halved 
• 5 Cloves Garlic - Minced 
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil 
• 1 Tbsp Butter 
• Oregano 
• Parsley 
• Salt and Pepper 
• 1 Bushel Spinach - Rough Chopped 
• Crushed Red Pepper Flakes 
• Pasta

Start off by getting all of the ingredients prepped while the water boils. This is all going to happen fast, so wait until the pasta hits the water before putting anything in your pan. Fresh pasta would go really well here.

Spaghetti Mangiafucco

In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Toss in the garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper. When the garlic turns golden, reduce the heat and add the

butter. Now, bring in the tomatoes, oregano, and parsley. The tomatoes are going to reduce a little and make thin tomato sauce. Just before the pasta comes out of the water, add a few spoonfuls of the pasta water to the sauce.

Now for the spinach. The spinach is going to cook really quick and reduce down. I added the spinach and stirred it in just long enough to change color. The spinach will finish cooking when the sauce and pasta are tossed together. Serve alongside garlic bread and garnish with fresh Parmesan cheese.

As a variation, add some tomato puree to give the sauce a little more body.

Happy Eating!

Recipes for a Single Mom - Part 3

This is the last part of a series of recipes I’m sharing that I wrote for a single mom back in college. I met her while working at Starbucks. She was one of our semi-regular customers. She was looking to cook some healthy meals for her kids, but wasn’t sure where to start. So I offered to share a few recipes with her. Some of them were recipes I already had, and some were new ones I wrote for her.



Today, I am sharing a recipe for Arrabiata Sauce, which is a spicy tomato sauce.








The Recipe:

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 28 ounce can tomato puree
• 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• fresh basil, chopped
• fresh oregano, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
• Spaghetti 

In a sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and parsley and sauté until the onions turn translucent. Remove to a heavy bottom pot or Dutch oven. Add the remaining ingredients. Under low heat, let simmer covered for 6 to 8 hours, stirring occasionally. To finish sauce, puree with an immersion blender or in a conventional blender, until it is mostly smooth.

Serve with spaghetti or a pasta of your choice. This goes great with meatballs, chicken meatballs, or Italian sausage. It also makes a great sauce for lasagna.

Chicken and Rosemary Meatballs with Sautéed Tomatoes and Spinach

I've been thinking about this one for a while, but have only recently gotten around to making it. I wanted to try something different with meatballs besides beef and veal. I haven't tried it yet, but I would imagine this would go great with lamb in place of the chicken. I'm a big fan of the lamb and rosemary flavor profile.


For the Sauce:

• 2 Garlic Cloves - Minced
• 1 14.5 oz Can Diced Tomatoes
• 1 Bunch of Spinach - Rough Chopped
• Salt & Pepper
• Pasta
• Olive Oil

Sauté the garlic in olive oil over medium heat until light brown. Add in salt and pepper and tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes until the sauce reduces. Stir in the chopped spinach. Cook until the spinach is wilted, stirring occasionally. 

Chicken and Rosemary Meatballs with Sautéed Tomatoes and Spinach

For the Meatballs:

• 1 lb Ground Chicken
• 1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan
• 1/2 Cup Italian Breadcrumbs
• 1/2 Tablespoon Fresh Rosemary - Chopped
• 1 Teaspoon Water
• 1 Egg
• Salt & Pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. This best done by hand. Roll the mixture in to balls a little bigger than a golf ball. If they are much bigger than, the outside will burn before the inside cooks. Arrange the meatballs on a sheet pan and place under the broiler. Cook until the top is brown. Remove the meatballs from the broiler and flip. The bottom will likely be brown already, but the middle still needs to cook a little more and you don't want to burn the top. Place back under the broiler for a more minutes. Serve the meatballs with the sauce over pasta. 

Recipes for a Single Mom - Part 1

Lemon Chicken with Red Wine Tomato Sauce shown here with penne
pasta and green onions.

Back in college I worked at Starbucks. One of our semi-regular customers was a single mom looking to cook some healthy meals for her kids. She really had no idea where to start, so I offered to share a few recipes with her. Some of them were recipes I already had, and some were new ones I wrote for her. I'll be doing a series on these recipes in the next few weeks.

The first recipe I gave her was for my Chicken Florentine. You can find that recipe here.

The second recipe I gave her was for Lemon Chicken with Red Wine Tomato Sauce.


The Recipe:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 large lemons, juiced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus a ½ teaspoon
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4 roma tomatoes, diced
• 1 small portabella mushroom, diced
• 1 bushel fresh basil, chopped
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 cup red wine
• salt and pepper
• rigatoni

Marinate the chicken in the lemon juice with salt and pepper for about thirty minutes. Remove the chicken from the lemon juice and lightly brown in a sauté pan in a ½ teaspoon of olive oil.

In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and some salt. After about 1 minute, add the tomatoes and the mushrooms, and let sauté about five minutes. Add the basil, red pepper, chicken, red wine, and salt and pepper. Cover and let cook for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and let cook for another five minutes, stirring once.

Remove from sauté pan and serve over rigatoni pasta.