Asparagus Pasta

I was recently inspired by a friend who mentioned making an asparagus pasta sauce.  I don't actually know what his recipe was, but I decided that I wanted to make an asparagus pasta sauce!  I also recently ate pistachio pesto sauce, so while I was contemplating an asparagus cream sauce, I changed my mind and started thinking along the pesto lines.  I made an asparagus "pesto," tossed it with homemade rigatoni, and served it as a side to grilled sirloin steak.  Great date night.

Asparagus Pasta

• asparagus 
• parmesan or romano cheese (grated)
• pine nuts
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• lemon zest (optional)

1. Snap the woody ends off the asparagus 
2. Toss the asparagus with olive oil, salt and pepper, and lemon zest
3. Roast at 425 for 15-20 minutes
4. Slice off the asparagus tips and set aside
5. Combine asparagus stems, pine nuts, and cheese with olive oil and blend in the food processor (I just kind of threw it all in there and probably should have used less nuts and cheese than I did - although it was still pretty darn yummy.  If I did it again, though, I'd probably say the pine nuts and cheese should be in equal amounts, and then more asparagus)
6. Add more oil or water as needed to reach a paste consistency or thinner
7. Toss with hot pasta and asparagus tips
8. And yum.

Stroganoff...ish

I had 1lb of ground beef in my fridge, but nothing tomato-ey of any kind (so any sort of spaghetti sauce was out), nor beans, or cheese, or any good Tex-Mex-y additions.  I was about to settle on making meatloaf, but then, I remembered that I had mushrooms....and half of a container of sour cream.  AND my new pasta press was just begging to make some more noodles.

While I'm sure it would be way better with sliced sirloin, my Hamburger Helper style beef stroganoff turned into a pretty decent weekday dinner.

Also, I think it's really hard to make Stroganoff look appetizing.  But...here's the picture anyway:

Beef Stroganoff

I used this recipe for Beef Stroganoff as a starting point, because it was one of the simplest I'd seen, but after browsing through a few other recipes as well, here's what I used and did:

Beef Stroganoff (Hamburger Helper Style)

• Ground Beef - about 1lb
• Montreal Steak Seasoning
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Onion, diced (about 1/3 of a medium yellow onion)
• Garlic, chopped (2 cloves)
• Mushrooms, sliced (about 1/2lb)
• Rosemary
• Butter
• Salt and Pepper
• Sour Cream (about 1 cup)
• Dijon Mustard (a couple of teaspoons - to taste, really)
• Pasta Noodles - I used fresh-made Fusilli, but it's usually those big flat egg noodles, right?

1. I browned the ground beef and seasoned it while in the skillet with Montreal Steak Seasoning, salt and pepper, and little Worcestershire sauce, then set it aside when done.
2. I sautéed the onions and garlic in a little butter, then added that to the beef.
3. I sautéed the mushrooms in a little butter, and added some dried rosemary, salt and pepper.
4. I stirred all of this together with the sour cream, and a couple of spoonfuls of Dijon mustard.
5. I did thin mine down with just a little water because my sour cream was very thick.

It wasn't anything fancy but it certainly was easy and tasted good.

Creamy Chipotle Chicken Pasta

Check out my new toy.

Pasta Press Attachment for the Mixer.

Better than Play-doh.

Oh my goodness I'm so excited it's not even funny.  Only because I made Rigatoni, though.  If I'd made Fusilli it would be pretty hilarious.

Homemade Rigatoni

Creamy Chipotle Chicken Pasta

So this recipe made use of some leftover deeeelicious Chipotle chicken that Mark had grilled for us.

I just sautéed some onion, garlic, and sweet peppers, made a quick béchamel sauce, mixed it all together with the shredded chicken and pasta, and added a few bleu cheese crumbles on top.

Chipotle Marinade for the Chicken: (from "The Barbecue Bible"):
[This is great on chicken - Mark marinated and grilled tenders, which we most recently ate with rice, and it makes for amazing tacos as well.]

• 6 Canned chipotle chiles in Adobo sauce with 2T of their juices
• 5 Cloves Garlic
• 1 strip orange zest (2")
• 1 cup fresh sour orange juice (or 3/4 cup orange juice, 1/4 cup lime juice)
• 1 T tomato paste
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 T red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

1. Combine in a saucepan and bring to a boil
2. Allow to reduce by half (5-8 minutes)
3. Blend in a food processor to a smooth paste

Béchamel/White sauce:

• Butter
• Flour
• Milk
• Salt and Pepper

1. Melt a few tablespoons of Butter in a saucepan over medium heat
2. Add in a spoonful of flour, and whisk until it's a golden-brown, smooth paste
3. Add milk (or cream) and whisk till smooth
4. Let thicken if needed, or add more liquid if it gets too thick
5. Salt and Pepper to taste

Warm Sweet Potato Salad

Warm Sweet Potato Salad

This was gooooo-oood.  And it was destiny, I think, because when I found this recipe online I was able to say, "Oooh, got that...have that...yes...can make that, have that."

Here's the rundown:
Salad:

• sweet potatoes, roasted with cumin, ginger, and rosemary
• toasted pumpkin seeds
• dried cranberries
• roasted peppers
• scallions (or just thinly sliced onions)

Dressing:

• balsamic vinegar
• mango chutney
• dijon mustard
• garlic
• honey
• olive oil

Here's the link: Warm Sweet Potato Salad
I did a couple of things differently - but not too much:

• I used dried rosemary instead of fresh, so I only used about 1.5 tablespoons.
• I didn't have roasted red pepper, but I did have some of those little sweet peppers, so I just sliced a few and threw those on one end of the pan in which I roasted the potatoes (but took them out earlier than the potatoes, of course).
• I didn't have mango chutney, but I did have mangoes, so I briefly sautéed those with some onions, butter, a little brown sugar, lime juice (my mango needed more tang), and a pinch of salt....viola!...chutney.
• And I didn't have scallions, so my plan was to thinly slice some onions, but my chutney turned out plenty onion-y, so I didn't add any more.
• And the green stuff on top is fresh parsley...just for prettiness.

Chef E

Check out what my nephew learned today at Culinary Camp at the Clinton Center in Little Rock, AR.  Sweet.

Mahi Mahi Tacos

Tonight we made Grilled Mahi Mahi tacos with Baja Cabbage Slaw.  Dinner was gooood tonight.

The recipe for both the Tacos and the Slaw were from those included with our co-op produce bag last week.  We were not disappointed!

Grilled Mahi Mahi Tacos

Marinated Mahi Mahi Tacos

I didn't have cilantro or jalapeños for the fish marinade, so I adapted the recipe by using dried parsley and about a Tablespoon of siracha sauce.  It doesn't say it in the recipe, but I assumed that you mixed the onion/vinegar mixture and the oil/spices mixture together for the marinade.  We grilled the fish instead of cooking it in the pan.

Grilled Mahi Mahi Tacos

Baja Cabbage Slaw

We topped the tacos with the Baja slaw.  I used at least twice as much Tabasco than called for, and I made my own quick mayonnaise with the help of the magic bullet blender (it worked great!).

Pinterest.

Oh hey, look!  A blog!  Hmmm...I should probably cross out "daily" from my header, huh?

Pinterest.  My favorite thing to use it for is food pictures, of course, which I pin to a board with the claims that I will make these things.  Amazingly, I did make a few pinned recipes, so I thought I'd share them all in one spot.

Bean and Kale Soup

This was really good!  I could eat this every day.

Here's the pinned recipe: Tuscan Style Bean and Kale Soup

I didn't have fresh tomatoes, so I used a can of tomatoes w/ green chiles (Rotel), which gave a Mexican flair to the Italian-ish dish.  I also used chicken stock instead of vegetable.

Yummy for the Tummy.

Sweet Potato Skewers with Cilantro Sauce

This recipe made me realize that I do NOT have the patience it takes to make one's own mayonnaise.  I am a mustard girl, so I don't usually keep mayo or miracle whip or anything of the sort in my fridge, so when this recipe for a jalapeño/cilantro aioli caught my eye, I decided it must be done with homemade mayonnaise.  I was so almost there, but after dripping 90% of the oil into the egg mixture drop by drop, I got a little impatient and rushed it....and promptly ruined it.  Ooooh colloids, why must you be so difficult?  So, after momentarily losing my will to cook (and a few choice cuss words), I decided to wing it and create a yogurt sauce instead.  It was good, but thinner than I would have liked.

Here's the recipe I pinned: Roasted Sweet Potato Skewers with Jalapeño-Cilantro Aioli

Mac & Cheese-style Cauliflower

Cauliflower = Potentially Boring OR a way to make me eat too much ranch dressing.

Homestyle Mac and Cheese Style Cauliflower = solution to the above.  

Cause eating too much cheese is so much better than ranch dressing.

I used a local Chipotle Cheddar Cheese for this.  It really was pretty good, but yes, it is still Cauliflower.  But it's Cauliflower covered with CHEESE.

Here's the original: Mac & Cheese Style Cauliflower