When I was a kid I was a pretty picky eater (go figure). Not a problem now, but when my parents took us out to dinner I would often order noodles with butter and cheese. Even though my palate is now much more mature, I still love this comforting childhood dish (especially on a night like tonight during which I’m not very inspired to do any heavy cooking). 

Tonight this favorite kids recipe grew up with a few simple touches— I used whole grain penne pasta instead of macaroni, and I added broccoli, garlic, and some fresh parsley on top. It was cozy night perfection…

My cousin recently gifted me the most beautiful, perfect pasta dishes:

These 3 dishes (we can invite one other person over to enjoy pasta with us!) are handcrafted in Italy about 15 years ago. I love them!

A rainy night like tonight makes me want to cuddle inside with some serious comfort food. And what is most comforting to me is definitely pasta with warm melty cheese. Using up the best of summer produce, I made my own veggie-licious version of Baked Ziti a few weeks ago. I don’t have precise measurements and used a bunch of what I had on hand, like eggplant, mushrooms, and tomatoes, but click here for a Ratatouille recipe from Epicurious.

I started off by picking up some really nice sharp provolone cheese from DiBruno Bros. Along with some creamy ricotta, and I mixed together some mozarella and parmesan, too.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Boil 1 lb. of ziti noodles until just al dente, drain and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, begin making your version of ratatouille. Mine went something like this— dice and roast eggplant in the oven for 15 minutes. At the same time, heat some olive oil over medium heat in a saute pan.  Add 1 diced onion and 1/2 diced bell pepper to the pan, allowing to soften, 5 minutes. Add 4-5 cloves minced garlic, the eggplant, and mushrooms to the pan. Chop ~4 tomatoes and add to the pan with a tbsp of tomato paste. Season sauce with salt and pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.

3. In a 9x13 pan begin to layer sauce, cheeses, and noodles, starting with sauce and ending with noodles, mozarella/parmesan mixture, and fresh basil.

4. Bake for 30 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and the top browns. The crispy top and crunchy noodles are my favorite part!

Top with some more parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Oh wow, this was sooooo good. Take a lot of time on your “ratatouille” and make it until it just tastes perfect to you. Then throw on the cheese and enjoy! Comfort food season is officially upon us…

So many amazing, sweet, juicy little sungold tomatoes…

Makes for a big bowl of angel hair pasta with tomatoes and basil.

Last week Slip made this pasta dinner, a variation on this recipe. I highly recommend it. We used multicolored ratiadori instead of tortellini, garlic and parmesan chicken sausage instead of Italian sausage, and salt free vegetable stock. I loved this pasta dish because it was creamy but light, but most of all for the fennel flavor throughout. With fennel bulb, fronds, and even fennel seeds, this pasta was radiating with fennel flavor. It was fresh and different and, most of all, super yummy. 

One of my favorite cousins (C.A.) sent me some photos of a gorgeous dinner she prepared the other night, with beautiful fresh tomatoes and basil from Eli’s in NYC. This couldn’t be simpler dish is angel hair pasta with olive oil, garlic, crushed red peppers, tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper, and Parmesan cheese— delish! I recreated it for myself tonight with whole wheat thin spaghetti and I loved it. Yum!

We’ve been getting a lot kale in our CSA shares so I’ve been cooking with it a ton, as have a lot of my friends. This recipe is requested by Amy, and something I made recently that I absolutely loved. I brought in some leftovers to work for lunch the following day and everyone went nuts over the fragrant aroma of this dish. Just as delicious as it smells, it is hearty and really satisfying.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2 small white onions, diced (including green parts)
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup diced carrots
• 1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 large bunch kale, ripped into 1 inch pieces
• 1-2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup unsalted vegetable broth
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Whole wheat pasta, cooked al dente
• Parmesan cheese (optional)

If you don’t have fresh white onions, I totally recommend finding them because they are delish. Otherwise, use your typical yellow onions!

1. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat. Add the diced onions and carrots, and cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook a minute more, until fragrant. 

2. Add in red pepper flakes and half of kale, allowing it to wilt. Add in the rest of kale, tomatoes, and vegetable broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover, cooking about 15 minutes.

3. Add the green parts of the onions. Add the drained rinsed beans and cook until they are heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Toss cooked pasta with veggies, top with Parmesan cheese, and enjoy!

Hope you had a good Meatless Monday!

A few weeks ago I got of TON of fragrant and beautiful fresh oregano in my CSA share, so I decided I must make homemade tomato sauce. It was incredibly easy and incredibly delicious. I liked (loved) it so much that I decided to use more of my produce the next day to reinvent the sauce, sauteing some kale and mushrooms to toss in the sauce on top of some rotini. I’ve never used fresh oregano before but if you see if in your produce aisle (or farmers market, even better) I definitely recommend picking some up.

Tomato Sauce with Fresh Oregano

• 1-2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 sweet onion, diced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large can whole peeled tomatoes
• 3-4 tbsp. fresh oregano
• 1 tsp. crushed red peppers
• 1-2 tbsp. heavy cream (optional)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Heat olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Add entire can of tomatoes, including the juice, and bring to a simmer. Season with chopped fresh oregano, crushed red peppers, salt and pepper. Allow to simmer 5-10 minutes. Add heavy cream, if desired. Another option to increase creaminess is goat cheese, or grated Parmesan cheese.
3. Remove saucepan from heat and allow to cool slightly. Using an immersion blender, blend sauce until desired consistency (I like to leave some of the tomato chunks in there). If you don’t have an immersion blender, allow sauce to cool and process in a regular blender, or you could try a potato masher. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
4. Cook pasta according to package directions, until al dente. Serve pasta with fresh sauce and top with fresh ground pepper and Parmesan cheese.

I loved this sauce so much that the next day I used more of my fresh CSA produce— kale and shitake mushrooms— and added them to the sauce.

Friday night led me to a quick stopover in NYC which included a trek to Eataly, Mario Batali’s famed restaurant/marketplace, which attracts not only tourists but New Yorkers as well. To create a dining experience which even pushes actual New Yorkers to brave tourists really says something about Eataly.

Eataly is not quite a restaurant, but a gourmet shopping and dining experience. Wandering through the gigantic Italian paradise, one can browse Alessi dining utensils, or a range of fresh gourmet mushrooms, while stopping a moment to order and munch on some cannoli. The mixture of marketplace and restaurant is brilliant, and the variety of Italian delicacies abounds. The market is also a bright idea because you are unlikely to dine at Eataly without somewhat of a wait— so while you wait, shop!

It appeared to me that a lot of the fresh produce had reasonable prices, even for New York standards. Some of the imported Italian goods were pricier, as expected. I learned from Jessie that should you purchase some produce at Eataly, you can have it prepared to your liking while you dine. “Can I have these zucchini julienned?” “Oh, Bella, of course!” Perfection.

The dining areas are divided by cuisine type— you can eat at the likes of Verdura, Pesce, Gelateria, or Pizza and Pasta, and that’s exactly what you get.

For dinner we ate at Pizza and Pasta. I shared some Pinot Grigio and anitpasto with friends, to start. We also devoured a classic Margherita pizza— the crust was thin, perfectly crisp, and just the tiniest bit sweet. 

For dinner we all ordered pasta. If you can have a love affair with food, this is what I did. I ordered what is probably the simplest thing on the menu, and a staple of Italian cooking, Spaghettone Cacio e Pepe. 

This literally translates to spaghetti with cheese and black pepper. I had seen Batali prepare this once on a cooking show and decided to keep it simple— after all, the most basic food, when cooked perfectly, is the best. This was DIVINE. It is something I might dare to make at a home, but may only savor in fine Italian restaurants. I ate it slowly, bite after bite, savoring each one. Cacio e pepe— you made my dining experience at Eataly heavenly!

My suggestion— if you are in NYC and near Eataly territory, at least walk around and check it out. I bet you’ll find something delicioso!

I love when Slip makes dinner :)