Baked Pasta with Meat Sauce

Earlier today, I was browsing the Cooking Light recipes on myrecipes.com in search of something that wouldn't be too bad for me and would utilize something that was on sale at Publix this week.  I came across this recipe, and I decided to give it a go...with some alterations of course!  The tomato sauce that they have got mixed reviews, and it called for wine.  Usually, I'd be all about the wine, but I'm doing a 15 Day Challenge with a friend of mine from work which means no booze for me for 15 days!  Instead, I made my Old School Spaghetti Sauce.  This time around, I added a 1 teaspoon of dried basil (out of fresh) and 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper to the sauce.  For my pasta, instead of using rigatoni, I went with whole wheat penne since they didn't have whole wheat rigatoni.  I was good and didn't go all crazy with the cheese either!  I liked that the recipe mixed the cheese in the pasta as well as had some on top of it.  I normally don't do that and overkill it with the cheese on top.  I also made sure to have a 1 cup serving size as to keep the calories under control, too.  It turned out to be the perfect size, too. 

Here's what I did...

Baked Pasta with Old School Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients

Old School Spaghetti Sauce

2 1/2 cups uncooked pasta

1 1/2 cup part skim milk mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F.

While cooking the Old School Spaghetti Sauce, heat water for the pasta (I season my water with garlic powder and salt).  Add the pasta when the water is boiling and cook it for 7 minutes even thought the box says 9 minutes.  You want to undercook it because it will continue to cook while it is baking.  Combine the sauce, the pasta, and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Top with the remaining cheeses. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until it is cooked thoroughly.

Serving size = 1 cup!

Enjoy!

Old School Spaghetti

Do you remember back in the day when you were a youngen and you had the treat of having spaghetti for dinner?  Or how about when you were first learning to cook and one of the easiest (and yummiest) things that you could make was spaghetti?  It was cool because you could have a "dinner party"...aka all your college friends came over with some cheap wine that they got someone else to buy for them and you had made dinner!  It was nice because you could feed a ton of them with one pot, salad out of a bag (when it was invented), and some bread.  Of course, if you were like me, you had some vegetarian friends which meant that you had to do a meatless marinara sauce, too (i.e., just sauce out of jar with some extra veggies thrown in).

Nowadays, I tend to steer away from these types of recipes as I search for new and exciting meals to make.  I want things that are healthier (or so they seem) than a "traditional" spaghetti from my childhood, but I've been craving a night that doesn't require much effort or brain-power and provides us with lunch for a couple of days.  Maybe it was the 80s A to Z videos that they were playing on VH-1 Classic today that inspired me to make this throwback meal, but whatever it was, I opted to break out a jar of spaghetti sauce (usually reserved for chicken parm or stuffed spaghetti squash), a green pepper, a couple of cloves of garlic, an onion, and some lean ground beef to revisit an old favorite.   I can't tell you how much I had to fight the urge to toss in a little wine when I was cooking the sauce, but I was strong.  I did, however, add some oregano and a little roasted red pepper flakes to my Classico Sweet Basil Sauce (check out their website for a printable coupon!)

I hope that all of you moms out there have a similar recipe that you make for your families.  I'm sure you do.  Every kid loves spaghetti night!!!  My mom used vermicelli noodles instead of spaghetti, and I never knew the difference until I saw a box of it in her pantry once.  I opted for Barilla Plus Spaghetti which has extra protein and fiber and Omega 3s in it...okay, so it's not totally old school because of that, but you better believe that I'm gonna be topping mine with some powdered cheese!

Here's what I did...

Old School Spaghetti

Ingredients

1 jar of spaghetti sauce of your choice (I used Classico Sweet Basil)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper, minced
1 can of diced tomatoes

1 lb lean ground beef
1 tablespoon of dried oregano

1 box of spaghetti of your choice
Red pepper flakes (if desired)

Directions
Cook pasta according to the directions on the box.


In a skillet, cook beef, garlic, onion, and green pepper until the beef is browned and the vegetables are tender.  Meanwhile, in a large pot, heat sauce, tomatoes, oregano, and red pepper flakes (if desired) over low eat.  When the meat and vegetables are done, add them to the pot with the sauce and turn the heat up until it starts to bubble.  


Place spaghetti on a place and then top with sauce (and powdered cheese!!!)


Enjoy!

Another Sausage and Pasta Dish

So I had a little bit of sausage left over from this weekend, and I needed to do something with it before it went bad.  After browsing through the pantry and the refrigerator, I came up with this simple meal.   Another nice thing about it is the leftovers that I got to take to work for lunch.  Those MUSC cafeteria prices are a little much since they remodeled the cafeteria in the Big House (aka the main hospital), and I've more than my fair share of sandwiches, salads, or soups from the little cafe in Rutledge Tower.  Rick stayed at home tonight so it was just me.  I'm thinking that I may not share my leftover...hee, hee, hee!  Here's what I did.

Penne with Italian Sausage, Green Pepper, and Onions in a Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

2 Italian Sausages, taken out of the casing and cut into bite-sized pieces

1 small green pepper, chopped

1 sweet onion, chopped vertically

1 can of diced tomatoes (I used the no salt added kind)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

1/2 box of penne pasta

Olive oil

Directions

Cook pasta according to directions.  Drain and return to the pot.

While the pasta is cooking, heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a nonstick skillet.  Add sausage, green pepper, onion, garlic, and basil to the skillet and saute until the vegetables are tender.  Add tomatoes and juices from the can.  Heat for another 2 minutes.  Mix the sausage mixture with the pasta in the pot. Serve and enjoy!

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Earlier this week, my bus buddy, Susan, and I were heading home after a day of work, and the topic of what was for dinner came up.  I told her of my plans to do Chicken Parm, and she said that she was going to be cooking spaghetti squash.  My mind immediately drift to this simple but delicious recipe that I found on epicurious.com back in 2006.  It's so hard for me to believe that I've been making it that long, and everyone that I've made it for has loved it!  I first discovered spaghetti squash about 5 years ago, and it was an exciting time for my mom, too, because she is allergic to sulfates which are usually part of the whole pasta experience.  In the past, I've been known to throw in some mushrooms.  

The spaghetti squash that they had at Publix were on the smaller side than I'm used to using which saddened me...mainly because it meant that I could use a regular knife instead of my electric knife.  Yep, I got an electric knife with the main purpose of halving a spaghetti squash!!!  Anyway, with the smaller squash, I had to play around with the amount of ingredients, but like always, this recipe turned out to be a fantastic meal!  Another cool thing is that it allowed me to use some of the fresh herbs that Susan had brought me!

Here's my adapted original recipe!

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients

• 1 3 3/4- to 4-pound spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise, seeded
• 1 pound bulk pork sausage
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups purchased marinara sauce
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F.

Place halved spaghetti squash shell side up on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Bake squash in the oven for 1 hour.  Let the squash cool.

While the squash is cooling, sauté sausage, bell pepper, onion, basil, and garlic in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until sausage browns and vegetables are tender, breaking up sausage with back of spoon, about 12 minutes. Mix in marinara sauce. 

Using fork, pull out squash strands from shells, leaving shells intact. Mix squash strands into sausage mixture. Season filling to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon filling into squash shells. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover; refrigerate.)

Turn oven up to 400°F. Arrange filled squash halves on baking sheet. Sprinkle each with Parmesan and then top with a little bit of cheddar cheese. Bake uncovered until heated through, about 20 minutes (30 minutes if previously chilled). Cut each squash half in two and serve. 

Enjoy!

Monday Night Italian

Last night when Rick came over (with chicken in hand), he said that he wanted us to do chicken parm again soon.  While I do love that dish, I am trying to eat better these days so I decided to try to lighten it up a little bit by not frying it, and instead, I would bake the chicken first.  I found this Cooking Light recipe on myrecipes.com and thought that it would be perfect.  As you know from my success with cooking steaks inside, I love using my cast iron skillets in the oven, but when I was looking at the nutritional information, I realized that it wasn't all that great for you so I opted to go with my original recipe. I did, however, serve it over whole grain pasta and halved the chicken breasts which meant more meals for us!

The new challenge, however, was to find something to go with the chicken parm.  I decided that I wanted to do a little appetizer to serve while the main dish cooked.  I decided that I wanted to roast some garlic and serve it with a sliced baguette as a crostini.  I also wanted to make it similar to the crostini that I made a while back but with a tist.  I'd never done roasted garlic myself, but I started it first.  We were really impressed with the final product. I love it when that happens.

 Roasted garlic straight out of the oven!

Here's what I did.


Roasted Garlic Crostini
Ingredients
2 heads of garlic
1/2 baguette, sliced
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Italian Seasoning Grinder
3 Cheese Blend (Shredded)
Basil leaves
Balsamic Vinegar


Directions
Preheat the oven to 400F.

While the oven is preheating, mix olive oil with Italian Seasoning.  Place the sliced baguette pieces on a baking sheet.  Brush the pieces with the olive oil, saving some.  Set aside.


Peel the white skin off of the garlic heads.  Cut the top of the garlic head off (about 1/3 inches off the top).  Place the garlic heads in aluminum foil squares, and place them in a muffin pan.  Cover the garlic with the olive oil mixture and wrap the garlic heads with the aluminum foil.  Place the pan in the oven and cook for 30-35 minutes.  When the garlic is cooked, take it out of the oven and let it cool. 

While the garlic is cooling, toast the baguette pieces in the oven for around 5 minutes.  Once the garlic has cooled, removed the garlic from the skin with a small fork and place it in a bowl.  Spread 1-2 cloves of garlic (depending on the size of the clove) on each piece of toasted baguette.  Sprinkle with cheese and balsamic vinegar, and top with a small to medium basil leaf.  Enjoy! 

Lobster Ravioli in a Seafood Sauce

Don't let the name fool you.  This meal is a super easy, super quick week night meal.  There are a couple of "cheats," though:  packaged ravioli and tomato sauce out of a jar.  Sometimes, I make it as a cream sauce and add 1/3 cup half and half, but I was so excited that I got to use mushrooms that I forgot to add it!  Obviously with the inclusion of mushrooms in the sauce, Rick wasn't here. He's not feeling well so it was just me and the kitties (not that I shared with them).  You can serve 4 if you pair it with a salad.  I divided it into thirds so that I can have leftovers for lunch tomorrow and the next day.

Here's what I did!

Lobster Ravioli

Ingredients
1 package of Lobster Ravioli
1/2 jar tomato sauce of your choice
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
4 oz sliced mushrooms
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1/2 cup white wine 
1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
Crushed red pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper


Directions
In a sauce pan, heat tomato sauce, basil, and white wine.  Season shrimp wit salt and pepper in a small bowl.
 
Heat 1-2  tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a pan.  Add mushrooms and saute until soften.  Add onions and saute until the start to soften.  Add shrimp and saute until they are pink on both sides. Add tomato sauce to pan and heat until it starts to bubble a little bit.

Heat 2-3 quarts of water and bring to a boil (start this as oil is heating).  Add ravioli and cook for around 4 minutes.  Drain and place 1/2 on a plate.  Top with sauce and serve.


Enjoy!

Crock Pot Wednesdays: Slow Cooker Italian Beef

With the cold weather and an invitation from Debbie at Dining with Debbie to participate in Crock Pot Wednesdays, I decided on Friday to break out my crock pot and make something to share.  I haven't used in my crock pot in forever, and with the cold weather and extra time on my hands now that I've graduated, it was the perfect opportunity to try out a new recipe.  I decided to search petitchef.com for something new to create.  I came across this recipe that is an adaptation from a recipe on allrecipes.com for Slow Cooker Italian Beef.  It sounded good, and I had most of the ingredients here at home (minus the chuck roast of course).  I made a couple of changes to it, and I was really pleased with the final result!  Rick called it "awesome!"  I hope that you enjoy it, too!

Slow Cooker Italian Beef
Ingredients
1 can low sodium beef broth
1 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon of Italian Seasoning (I used McCormick's Italian Grinder)
1 bay leaf
1 package of Good Seasoning Italian Salad Dressing mix
1 3 lb chuck roast
1 chopped green pepper
1 chopped sweet onion



Directions
Combine all ingredients except for the green pepper and onion in the crock pot and cook on low for 10-12 hours or high for 4-5 hours.  When there is one hour left, add the green pepper and onion to the crock pot.

To make sandwiches:
Additional Ingredients

Hoagie Rolls

Provolone Cheese slices

Dijon Mustard

Directions
Preheat broiler.  Cut hoagie rolls in half and place Dijon mustard and cheese on one side of the roll and the meat on the other.  Place in the broiler until cheese is bubbling (around 4 minutes).

Chicken Parmesan

When Rick and I were deciding when to do the new pork tenderloin recipe that I've been wanting to do (it has been postponed until the weekend), we started talking about which recipes that I've made that we both love. We actually have this conversation quite often, and he always brings up the Parmesan-crusted tilapia as one of his favorites. Another one that we both agree on being in our favorites list would be Chicken Parmesan.

The first time that I made it was just prior to my starting this blog. We had gone out to dinner a couple of weeks before that, and Rick had ordered Chicken Parmesan. I left the restaurant with dinner-envy as I wished that I had ordered that instead of what I had. Don't you hate when that happens? Something wonderful came out of it, though: I started scouring the internet for the perfect Chicken Parm recipe. Luckily for me, foodnetwork.com provided a couple that I was able to combine and tinker with to create this one.  

While I was taking the pictures for this blog entry, Ty kept trying to get to see what I was up to and get to the food.  I thought I'd include the picture with him peaking up from the chair, too.  Enjoy!!

Chicken Parmesan
Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups of Italian bread crumbs
1 cups of panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
Fresh ground black pepper
All purpose flour (for dredging)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons of reduced fat milk
Vegetable oil for frying
6 Cheese Blend grated cheese
Cheddar cheese
Marinara sauce (recipe to follow)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 F.

Put each chicken breast between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound them out to a uniform thickness (around 1/3 inch).

In a large bowl, mix together salt, Italian bread crumbs and panko. Season with fresh ground black pepper.

Place flour on a large plate. In another large bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Dredge a chicken breast in flour and shake off excess. Next, dip the chicken breast into the egg mixture, and then dredge in the bread crumb-panko mixture, shaking off an excess. Transfer to a baking sheet and repeat with the remaining chicken breasts.

In a large skillet, pour vegetable oil to a depth of 1/2 inch. Heat the oil over medium heat until it registers 400F on a deep frying thermometer. Fry one breast at a time until golden brown on each side (around 6 minutes total). Using tongs, remove the chicken from oil and place on a paper-towel covered plate.

Lightly brush a baking dish with olive oil. Cover the bottom of the baking dish with half of the marinara and place the chicken over the sauce. Cover with remaining sauce. Scatter 6 cheese blend on top, and sprinkle a little bit of cheddar cheese on top of it. Bake until sauce is bubbling and the cheese is brown (around 30 minutes). Serve immediately over the pasta of your choice.

Marinara Sauce
Ingredients
1 jar of store bought marinara sauce
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 green pepper chopped
3 gloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup fresh basil
Extra virgin olive oil
Italian seasoning grinder

Directions
In a medium sauce pan, heat sauce over low heat. Add basil. Stir occasionally.

In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion, garlic, and green pepper and season with Italian seasoning. Stir until vegetables are tender (around 5 minutes). Transfer to the sauce and raise heat under sauce to medium. Cook (stirring occasionally) for another 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Penne with Shrimp and Herbed Cream Sauce

Tonight is the first night this week that Rick and I have been able to spend together. Even though our daytime commitments have us a little stressed out, I'm so glad that we got to spend some quality time together tonight. With NY Strips on sale at various supermarkets, I was thinking "grill out!!!" but Rick wasn't that hungry so I opted to do a shrimp pasta dish. I searched foodnetwork.com for a recipe, and I came across this one. We both agree that it wasn't a stand out, but it was definitely a good one so I thought that I would share it here. The changes that I made was to up the red pepper flakes to 1/2 teaspoon, added two shallots, subbed low fat milk (made a roux with butter and flour) for heavy cream, a can of diced tomatoes (drained), and crab stock for clam juice.

Here is the original recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 pound penne pasta
  
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled, and deveined
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
• 1 (15-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/3 cup clam juice
  
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the pasta and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Cook, stirring frequently until the shrimp turn pink and is cooked through, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the shrimp and set aside.

Add the tomatoes, 1/4 cup basil, 1/4 cup parsley, and the red pepper flakes. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the wine, clam juice, and heavy cream. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 7 to 8 minutes until the sauce thickens. Add 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, the cooked shrimp, the cooked pasta, and the remaining herbs. Toss together until all ingredients are coated. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Transfer the pasta to a large serving bowl. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and serve immediately.

A late entry: Lemon Chicken with Crostini

As my final semester in nursing school speeds forward and NCLEX gets closer and closer, my time to blog gets smaller and smaller. I may end up "creatively" utilizing some time during a certain time period on Thursdays in order to share some of the recipes that Rick and I have been enjoying on Wednesday nights. If you know me, you know that I'm pretty good (for the most part) at making the most of my free time. With two early morning clinicals this semester, Rick and I have learned which nights we can see each other and which ones we can't. Wednesdays and Thursdays have become our week nights together. Last week (yes, I know, I suck ;) ), we used some chicken that Rick had thawed out to make this recipe. Instead of doing the crostini that is included with the lemon chicken, we did a different version. I made the different version again over the weekend when my dad and stepmom were in town. I don't have pictures of these because, well, the chicken didn't look as yummy as it is in real life. Hopefully, however, my dad and stepmom will send me a picture of the stack of meat that we grilled out this past weekend. We used that awesome, awesome, awesome seasoning that Rick got from his parents and took advantage of the great sale that Food Lion had on t-bones!

Cooking has become somewhat dangerous with the kittens playing in the kitchen floor. As I sit here and compose this post, little Ty is "chasing" the little squares in the kitchen tile...and then in a flash, he and Weezy are off to terrorize some other part of the condo. What amazes me about the pets that I have had in my life is that the smell of sauteing garlic can bring them in the kitchen within seconds. Can someone please explain that to me???

Here are the recipes for your culinary enjoyment....

Katie's Crostini
Ingredients

• One baguette of bread (I like to get my cut at Publix, but if your grocery store baker won't do it, cut to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, minced
• olive oil (extra virgin)]
• Parmesan cheese, shredded/grated
• Italian seasoning grinder
• Garlic powder
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• Balsamic vinegar
• A splash of white wine
• Cooking spray

Preparations
Add drained can of diced tomatoes, minced garlic, diced onion, fresh basil, three-four twists of the Italian seasoning grinder in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet or pizza pan with cooking spray. In a small plate, pour some olive oil. Add two to three twists of the Italian seasoning and garlic powder to taste and stir.

Place pieces of baguette on the sprayed pan (you may have several pieces left over). Brush pieces of bread with olive oil mixture and place back on the pan. Toast bread for 4-5 minutes or until slightly browned. Remove from oven.

Change oven setting to broil.

Spoon a little bit of balsamic vinegar on each piece of baguette toast. Next, add a spoonful of the tomato-onion mixture to each piece of baguette toast. Sprinkle each piece with Parmesan cheese. Broil until cheese melts about 1-2 minutes. Serve immediately.



Here is the original recipe for Lemon Chicken with Parmesan Crostini
IngredientsFor crostini

• 12 1/4-inch-thick French bread baguette slices, toasted
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 12 thin slices plum tomato
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

For chicken

• 4 4-ounce skinless boneless chicken breasts
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions (white and pale green parts only)
• 2 small garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Directions
Make crostini:
Place bread on baking sheet. Spread tomato paste over. Top each with 1 tomato slice. Sprinkle cheese atop.
Make chicken:
Pound each chicken breast between sheets of plastic to 1/4-inch-thickness. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Place flour in bowl. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in large nonstick skillet over high heat. Lightly coat 2 chicken with flour; shake off excess. Transfer to skillet and cook until brown and cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate and tent with foil. Repeat with 1 teaspoon oil, flour and remaining chicken.
Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in same skillet over low heat. Add green onions and garlic; sauté until tender, about 2 minutes. Stir in broth and wine scraping up any browned bits in skillet. Add lemon juice and 2 tablespoons parsley. Increase heat to high; boil until liquid is slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Mix in lemon peel. Season with salt and pepper. Return chicken to skillet; simmer until heated through, turning to coat.
Meanwhile, preheat broiler. Broil crostini until cheese melts, watching closely, about 1 minute.
Transfer chicken to plates. Spoon pan juices over chicken. Sprinkle with remaining parsley. Serve with crostini.



The only change that I made was breading the chicken in my favorite mix: Parmesan cheese, panko, and Italian bread crumbs.

Calamari Night

I am happy to report that I survived my third semester of nursing school. There are a couple of things that are less desirable about the end of the semester including way too many hours at the library, too many meals at Subway (because they are the only thing open at MUSC after 8pm), and no time with Rick. When the weekend after another week from you-know-where rolled around, I was excited to spend time with him and cook dinner for us. I have been wanting to do this recipe when I came upon it while searching for stuffed pepper ideas. Rick and I had been talking about doing it since we took a journey across the Ravenel Bridge and visited a little seafood place on the Crosstown by MUSC, Crosby's. In my rush to get the heck out of Dodge on Friday after our poster presentations, I forgot to go by there so I hit Mt. Pleasant Seafood on Shem Creek instead for a little over a pound of squid.

I've never cooked calamari, but I have been a fan of it since I first tried it in Italy back in 1991. When I back came from Italy, very few people that I knew had tried it. My favorite version of it is in frutti di mare, and hopefully one day, I get brave enough to try the frutti di mare recipe that I have in the Italian cookbook that I own. It was the first one that I ever bought for myself, and the main reason I did was for that recipe. Maybe someday soon, I'll get brave enough to make it for Rick and me.

For a side, I decided to go with something easy that we've done before. I marinated a green pepper and half a red onion in balasmic vinegar, soy sauce, garlic powder (feeling too lazy to mince garlic) , and a couple grinds of Italian seasoning. That's my stand-by marinade, and it works really well with the veggies.

Much to my surprise, stuffing the squid was quite easy actually...thanks to a hint from a previous cook on Epicurious.com. I rolled the sausage mixture into small tubes and then stuffed those in the squid bodies. So easy!

As I stuffed them squid, I wasn't sure what to do with the leftover tentacle and one of the squid bodies that was split in half. Rick came up with the perfect idea to fry them in peanut oil. I put him in charge of those as he has more experience frying things than I do, and I really think that he's better at it than I am. As I've said before, I like to "play" with what I'm cooking which doesn't lend itself to good frying. Rick breaded the tentacles and the lone cut-up, body pieces with the panko-Italian breadcrumb mixture that I keep on hand and then fried them. Yum!! We dipped them in the little bit of leftover marinara sauce that I had in the refrigerator.

The stuffed squid didn't go over as well as I thought that they would. They were good, but they didn't make Rick's Favorites List. In the future, I think that I would serve them with marinara sauce drizzled on top or to dip in if I do make them again. Unfortunately, I didn't have that much on hand Friday night.

The Recipes:

Fried Calamari
Ingredients
1 egg
1/2 cup panko
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
Calamari (don't really have a measurement here since we just used the tentacles and the cut up the one body that was split and unable to be stuffed)
Peanut Oil
Marinara

Beat one egg in a small bowl. Fill another small bowl with 1/2 cup panko and 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs Dip calamari into egg and then into mixture and place on a separate plate. Pour enough cooking oil into a heavy skillet to cover about 3 inches. Heat peanut oil over medium heat until around 350F. Slowly add calamari to skillet and fry until they are a golden brown (about 1-2 minutes total). Place on another plate that is cover with a paper towel to drain. Serve with marinara sauce of your choice!


Balsamic-Soy Marinade
Ingredients
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
1 glove garlic minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Mix ingredients together and use to marinade the vegetables of your choice.


Grilled Sausage Stuffed Calamari

• 3/4 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika (preferably pimentón dulce)
• 12 cleaned small (3-to 4-inch) squid bodies plus tentacles (about 1 pound total)
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for drizzling
• 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

• Accompaniment: lemon wedges

Preparation

Soak bread crumbs in milk in a large bowl.
Toast fennel seeds in a dry small skillet (not nonstick) over medium-low heat, shaking skillet occasionally, until fragrant, 3 to 4 minutes. Chop fennel seeds and add to bread-crumb mixture along with pork, garlic, paprika, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Gently mix with your hands until well blended. Using a small spoon, loosely stuff squid with fennel sausage, leaving a 1/2-inch space at top (you may have some stuffing left over). Seal tops using wooden picks.
Prepare grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (medium heat for gas); see Grilling Procedure .
Coat stuffed squid and tentacles with oil and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Oil grill rack, then grill stuffed squid, turning frequently, until golden in spots and an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of filling registers 150 to 155°F, 13 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a platter. Grill tentacles until opaque and curled, about 1 minute, then add to platter. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with parsley.

My helpful hints:

• To make stuffing the squid easier, roll the sausage mixture into tubes before stuffing.
• Serve with marinara sauce
  

A Hidden Gem in My epicurious.com Recipe Box

Even though I was excited about seeing Rick last night, I have to admit that I was tired after a long night at the library the night before. I took a power nap after work, and when Rick's calling woke me up, I wasn't in the mood to do anything complicated for dinner. Rick said that he wasn't really hungry after going to luncheon at work so I started combing my epicurious.com recipe box for something light and easy to make. I wanted to do something with seafood as I always have a pound of frozen shrimp in the freezer, and I didn't want to have to go to the grocery store. I was looking for something new, and nothing was really appealing to me until I came to the last one in the box. Luckily, epicurious.com has this really cool feature that allows you to sort so I didn't have to go through all 600+ recipes. This particular recipe was added in June 1999, and oddly, I had never tried it. Sounded good...pasta, seafood, basil, garlic....and didn't sound too difficult.

When I went to the pantry, I realized that I didn't have any linguine. I called Rick, and he didn't either so despite my lack of desire to go to the grocery store, I found myself heading up to Publix. While there, I cruised over to the seafood counter and saw that bay scallops and small shrimp were on sale so I went ahead and got a pound of shrimp (already peeled and deveined!) and a half of pound of bay scallops to go with my pasta. I also decided to get a shallot, too.

Our timing was perfect as Rick and I got to my place at the same time. We picked some basil from our plants. Rick was on pasta duty while I did all the chopping. I wasn't able to crush the fennel seeds, and I really think I need a mortar and pestle. When cooking the shallot, garlic, and basil, I used pepper oil instead of plain ole olive oil. I never really measure how much I put in the pan before I saute--just enough to cover the bottom. I reduced the fennel seeds by half. The smell of the garlic, basil, fennel, and shallot that filled my condo was amazing.

After the shrimp (yep, used the whole pound) and scallops cooked for around two minutes, I added 1/2 of white wine and continued to cook until the shrimp were opaque. Finally, I added 1 tablespoon of butter to the pan. I made sure not to cook the sauce down too much. I had Rick taste it to see if it needed anything else, but he couldn't think of anything. We both thought that maybe it was a little salty. When the pasta, seafood mix and 3 cheese blend (I live by this stuff!) were all tossed together, saltiness was definitely not a problem! A little more cheese and a sprinkle of dried parsley to garnish were added when I plated it. Rick called the dish exceptional! He really liked the little bite that the pepper oil gave it.

Yep, this dish was perfect. It was simple and easy and not heavy at all. I think that next time, I may use another shallot.

Here is the original recipe.

Seafood Catizone

Bon Appétit | December 1990

A shrimp and scallop pasta dish with basil and fennel.

Yield: 4 first- or 2 main-course servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried basil, crumbled
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1/2 pound medium uncooked shrimp, peeled, deveined
1/2 pound scallops
8 ounces linguine, freshly cooked
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
Additional grated Parmesan

Preparation

Melt butter with 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, basil and fennel and sauté 1 minute. Add shrimp and scallops and sauté until both are just opaque, about 4 minutes.
Place linguine in bowl. Toss with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Pour sauce over linguine and toss. Add 1/3 cup Parmesan and toss again. Pass additional Parmesan separately.

Changes that I made:

• used 1 pound of small shrimp
• used 2 tablespoons of fresh basil instead of dried
• added a chopped shallot
  
• added 1/2 cup white wine
• cooked in pepper oil
• added butter to pan at the end
• subbed 1/2 cup of 3 cheese blend instead of grated Parmesan