Bow Tie Pasta with Bacon, Onion, and Tomato

Since I've found my way back to our blog after all these months (years???), I've been a little surprised to come across several blog posts that never got to see the light of day for one reason or another.  Of course, at this point, I have no idea what those reasons might have been, but I thought I'd post them for you to enjoy. I decided to start with this one because the recipe is one of the first ones that I ever made back in the late 90s when I was just a fledgling cook who had no clue about how do a meal that more than one dish with a side salad...lol. 

Let me present the post that I started almost two years ago......

In order to use some of that bacon that we had left over, I dusted off one of the first recipes that I ever tried from epicurious.com for Bow Ties with Bacon, Onion, and Tomato. When I first started cooking, I made a lot of pasta with a can of diced tomatoes, garlic, and white wine for the sauce.  I really liked this recipe because the bacon made it taste different.  Over the years, I've made a few changes to the original recipe, and here's what I've come up.  I hope that you enjoy it!

Bow Tie Pasta with Bacon, Onion, and Tomato

Ingredients

• 6 slices of bacon, chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 pound large bow tie pasta
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes, or to taste
• 1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

Cook pasta in salted water and cook pasta per directions on package until the al dente.

In a deep skillet cook the bacon over moderate heat, stirring, until it is crisp and transfer it with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the skillet, add the oil, and cook the onion over moderate heat, stirring, until it is golden brown. Add the tomatos into the onion mixture with the 1/4 cup white wine, the red pepper flakes, and salt to taste, simmer the sauce, stirring, for 5 minutes, and stir in the parsley, basil, and the bacon. Drain the pasta well, add it to the sauce, and toss. Add the Parmesan and toss the pasta again.

Enjoy!

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!

Bay scallops and linguine in a wine sauce

Tonight, I did something that I haven't done in a long time:  I just threw something together and hoped for the best.  Harris Teeter had bay scallops on sale, and I was inspired by the mussel dish that I had a Sette last Friday night to make a wine sauce.  I dug out some of the crab stock that I had in the freezer to use (you can substitute clam juice if you don't have any stock handy).  Last night, Rick had wanted us to cook something, but honestly, I wasn't in the mood.  I was tired and cranky, but it's amazing what a difference a day can make!  I was totally in the mood to cook tonight and actually be somewhat creative.  I warned Rick that I was pulling it out of you-know-where, but luckily, it was a winner!  We enjoyed it with some Texas Toast which was perfect for dipping in the sauce and also topped it with some shaved Parmesan cheese.  YUM!!!!


Here's what I did...



Scallops with a Wine Sauce
Ingredients
1/2 box of whole wheat linguine
1 pound bay scallops
1/3 cup basil, chopped
1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can of diced tomatoes (no salt added type, do not drain)
2 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup crab stock
1 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt and pepper

Directions

Cook pasta per directions on the box.

Heat olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and scallops to the skillet, season with salt and pepper, and saute for 3 minutes.  Remove scallops with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl.  Cover with aluminum foil to keep it warm.  Add onions, basil, and tomatoes to the skillet.  Season with red crushed pepper as desired.  Increase heat to medium-high and simmer for about 10 minutes until it starts to thicken.  Add stock, wine, and butter, and season with additional salt (I used about 1-2 teaspoons of salt) and pepper.  Simmer for an additional 5 minutes.  

Plate linguine and top with seafood sauce.  (It should serve 4).

Enjoy!

Pasta with a Corn Pesto

I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I'm taking my desire to try all kinds of cool things with corn a little too far.  Up until now, things have turned out pretty dern, yummy, but this week, I've hit a so-so dish.  I'm not sure what I could do to make it better (maybe less pine nuts?), but we weren't thrilled with this dish.  Really makes you wonder why I'm sharing it, huh?  I guess the need to blog or something.  It wasn't that bad, but then again, it wasn't great either.  I think that the work-of-making-your-own-pesto to results ratio is just not in this dish's favor.  Oh well!  We did serve it with grilled chicken that I coated with dijon mustard which turned out pretty good (minus the small piece that I overcooked).  Anyway, here's the recipe from epicurious.com, and here's what I did!

Pasta with a Corn Pesto

Ingredients

8 oz whole grain pasta (we used linguine)

4 cups corn (either fresh or canned...I used 2 cans of no salt added sweet corn)

5 slices of low sodium bacon

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3/4 cup fresh basil, coarsely torn

1/3 extra virgin olive oil

1/3 toasted pine nuts

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 sweet onion, chopped

Directions

Cool bacon in a non-stick skillet.  Place on a plate covered with a paper towel to drain grease.  Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease and saute the onions in it.  Remove the onions and add them to the plate with the bacon.   

Add corn, garlic, salt, and  pepper to drippings in skillet. Sauté over medium-high heat until corn is just tender but not brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer 1 1/2 cups corn kernels to small bowl and reserve. Scrape remaining corn mixture into processor. Add 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup fresh basil and pine nuts.  Add olive oil and blend until pesto is almost smooth. Set pesto aside.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 1/2 cups pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot. Toss pasta mixture over medium heat until warmed through, adding reserved pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to thin to desired consistency (I used about 1/2 cup).  Mix in onions, bacon and remaining basil and corn.  Season pasta to taste with salt and pepper. 

Enjoy!

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 1/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

8 ounces tagliatelle or fettuccine

3/4 cup coarsely torn fresh basil leaves, divided

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tagliatelle-with-Fresh-Corn-Pesto-360209#ixzz0vZEvRD73

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 1/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

8 ounces tagliatelle or fettuccine

3/4 cup coarsely torn fresh basil leaves, divided

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tagliatelle-with-Fresh-Corn-Pesto-360209#ixzz0vZEvRD73

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!

Quick and Easy Spaghetti

Yesterday, I sent a recipe for fish tacos that I found on myrecipes.com via email to Rick.  Mahi was on sale at Publix, and I thought that they sounded pretty good.  Rick, of course, was not as enthusiastic about them I was which sent me back to culinary drawing board for something to do for dinner.  Luckily, the new issue of Cooking Light was waiting in the mail box.  On the cover was a quite yummy looking pasta dish with sausage.  After a call to Rick, we decided that we would give it a try. 

The recipe was really, really easy and quick.  It was definitely a perfect dish to make on a week night when you are short on time (and in my case last night I didn't want to miss any of the Tar Heels' game in the NIT).  I had never broiled sausage before, and it was definitely a quick and easy way to do it...seems to be a recurrent motif with this meal...quick and easy!  I didn't make a lot of changes to ithe original recipe.  I did (as usual) increase the amount of garlic, and the canned tomatoes that I used were peeled.

Here's what we did.


Spaghetti with Sausage and Tomato Sauce

Ingredients
8 ounces hot Italian turkey sausage links

8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
1 (28-ounce) can peeled whole tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup torn fresh basil
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Directions
Preheat broiler.

Cook pasta according to package directions and then drain.


While pasta is cooking, arrange sausage on a small baking sheet. Broil sausage 5 minutes on each side or until done. Remove pan from oven (do not turn broiler off). Cut sausage into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange slices in a single layer on baking sheet. Broil sausage slices 2 minutes or until browned.

Place tomatoes in a food processor; process until almost smooth. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add crushed red pepper and minced garlic; sauté 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes, sugar, and salt; cook 4 minutes or until slightly thick. Add sausage and cooked pasta to pan; toss well. Top with fresh basil and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Enjoy!

Sauteed Scallops in a Mustard-Dill Sauce: A mistake that turned out pretty awesome

Once upon a time, I was planning a meal for Rick and I. It was early on in our relationship, and I wanted to make him another delicious dish. I knew that I wanted to do something with scallops, and I accidentally had two different recipes in mind when I was gathering my ingredients at Publix that day. When I got home, I realized what I had done, but I decided to go out on my own and made this. In the end, it turned out to be one of Rick's favorites.

You can serve it over pasta or alone. Chicken can also be used instead of scallops if you don't like them, but of course, cooking time for it will be different.

Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh dill (chopped) + 2 sprigs for garnish
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 large garlic clove (minced)
1 large shallot (minced)
3/4 cup white wine
1 lbs sea scallops (dried off, remove tough muscle if necessary, salt and pepper to taste)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Instructions
-Heat the oil on med-high (don't smoke the oil) in a large skillet
-Saute scallops until golden brown on both sides. Remove scallops and place on a plate and loosely cover with aluminum foil to keep warm
-Reduce heat to med-low and add garlic and shallot to the skillet. Saute for around 1 minute.
-Add 1/2 cup of wine and reduce by half
-Add lemon juice, rest of wine, mustard, and dill. Stir together and reduce a little bit more. Be sure not to bring it to a rapid boil.
-Combine scallops and sauce either on plates or over pasta of your choice.

Baked Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes, and Cheese

In an effort to eat better, I've been checking out the Cooking Light recipes at myrecipes.com.  I became a fan of that site because it has recipes from some of my favorite magazines such as Cooking Light, Southern Living, and Real Simple.  For dinner last night, I decided to fix us something that originally appeared in the November 2003 Cooking Light magazine.  Rick wasn't too enthusiastic when I revealed that we were going to be eating turkey sausage, but he was pleasantly surprised when he had his first bite.  I probably could've gotten away with not admitting that it wasn't "real" sausage.  This recipe is extremely easy, and I did alter it a little bit.  Based on some of the reviews on the website, I decided to up the amount of basil used and added an extra can of diced tomatoes.  I also added a little bit of Italian seasoning.  For the tomatoes, I didn't use petite cut, but I did   Here is the original recipe.  Enjoy!!

Baked Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes, and Cheese

Ingredients

• 3/4 of  a pound package of uncooked ziti
• 1 pound turkey Italian sausage links
• 1 chopped sweet onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1  tablespoon  tomato paste
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 3  (14.5-ounce) cans petite-diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/2 cup  chopped fresh basil
• 1  cup  (4 ounces) shredded fresh mozzarella cheese
• 1  cup  (4 ounces) 6 cheese blend

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain the pasta, and set aside.

Remove casings from sausage. Cook sausage, onion, and garlic in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Add the tomato paste, salt, pepper, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine cooked pasta, sausage mixture, and basil. Place half of the pasta mixture in a 4-quart casserole dish. Top with half of mozzarella and half of Parmesan. Repeat layers. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Another Katie Classic: Spicy Shrimp Pasta

This recipe is one of the first ones that came into my cooking repertoire. The first time that I ever made it was back in 1998. I found it in the Southern Living 1997 Annual Recipes Cookbook, and it is super easy which was perfect for me back then. I've made a couple of changes from the original recipe, but I still love it to this day. I've made it for quite a few people and shared it with several of them. I also like it because it provides two nice size servings. I hope that you enjoy it, too!


Spicy Shrimp Pasta
Ingredients
8 oz of linguine
3/4 pound peeled, deveined shrimp
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup cooking wine with lemon
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (sometimes, I sub the Parmesan-Romano blend)
2 teaspoons dried crushed red pepper
5 teaspoons dried parsley

Directions
Cook linguine per box directions in water that has been salted and seasoned with garlic powder. Drain, return to pot, and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and add green onions and garlic. Saute until tender. Add Cajun seasoning and stir for one minute

Stir in shrimp and whipping cream. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring often. Stir in wine and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add sauce, Parmesan cheese, and red pepper to the pot with linguine and heat over low heat, stirring gently. Stir in parsley and serve immediately.

Greek Style Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp

A friend of mine from high school also has a food blog, and today, she had a posted a recipe for Greek Shrimp Scampi.  Before I even read the recipe, just seeing the words "Greek" and "shrimp" made me think of one of my favorite recipes from epicurious.com called Greek-Style Pasta with Shrimp.  Prior to my moving to SC, I lived in the Triangle and worked part time at this Greek restaurant in Durham called Spartacus. It was my first restaurant job, and I loved working there!  It is a family-owned business, and they have wonderful food!  When I first moved, I missed it a lot.  For all of the wonderful cuisine around here, Mount Pleasant is seriously lacking in the Greek area.  I have to go all the way to West Ashley to find any that is decent!  Anyway, I stumbled across the epicurious.com recipe about a year or so after I moved here, and it really hit the spot.  The recipe is quick and easy, and since I use canned, diced tomatoes, I usually have everything that I need in my pantry (well, and freezer if you include the shrimp)!  Now, if I could just figure out how to make amazing tzatziki sauce like Spartacus has, I'd be all set!  Hmmm, I feel an experiment coming on...

Here is my adaptation.  It is excellent served with pita bread brushed with olive oil and Italian seasoning, wrapped in aluminum foil, and heated in the oven at 250 while making the sauce.



Greek-Style Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp


Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can artichoke hearts, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
4 tablespoons crab stock (white wine can be subbed)
Feta cheese

8 oz cooked Angel Hair Pasta
Salt and pepper to taste



Directions
Cook angel hair pasta according to directions on box seasoned with garlic powder and salt (if desired).  Set aside.



Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add garlic and onion and saute for 30 seconds.  Add artichokes, tomatoes (and juice), crab stock, lemon, basil, oregano, and parsley. Saute for 5 minutes or until thickened a little bit. Add shrimp and saute until shrimp is cooked. Salt and pepper to taste.


Divide pasta into individual servings.  Top with sauce and feta cheese and serve.


Enjoy!!

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 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