Baked Pasta Casserole

A hearty pasta casserole that is made with three different types of cheese.  Ricotta cheese is made from the whey that is left over from making other types of cheeses. Ricotta is similar to cottage cheese but is drier,  finer in texture and has a slightly sweet taste.

• 8 ounces ziti, penne, or macaroni
  
• 1 cup low fat Ricotta cheese
• 1 large egg slightly beaten
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 tablespoon parsley flakes
• 1/2 jar spaghetti or tomato sauce (13 ounces)
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Bring a pot of water to the boil and cook pasta as directed on the package. Drain and set aside.

Place Ricotta, 1/4 cup Parmesan, 1/2 cup Mozzarella, egg, garlic powder, parsley flakes, celery salt and salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well.

Spread half of the tomato sauce in the bottom of a 2-quart oven proof casserole. Add cooked pasta, cover with the Ricotta mixture, then the rest of the tomato sauce. Add remaining Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese on the top. Put casserole on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until browned and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes. 

Cooked hamburger or sausage could be added to this recipe to make a main course dish.  

Pork and Jalapeno Frittata

A frittata is an open faced omelet with other ingredients added to it. The recipe for my Pork and Jalapeno frittata can be used as an example, as most anything can be used in a frittata. It's an excellent way to use up leftovers.

• 6 oz. raw pork, cut into cubes
• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 ripe red pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1 small jalapeno pepper cut into rings
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• salt and pepper 
• 3 eggs

I used raw pork in this frittata, so I used a little bit different method to cook it.

Put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a medium sized skillet (10-11 inches in diameter). Let oil heat thoroughly. Add pork, onions, red peppers, garlic and jalapeno, salt and pepper and fry until pork is done. Beat up the eggs in a bowl, slowly pour them over the mixture. Shake the pan to make sure the eggs spread evenly. Reduce the heat to medium and put on a lid to help the center of the frittata set, or you can put the pan in the oven (350 degrees) for a few minutes.  When the center is set and the frittata is golden brown on the bottom, turn it out onto a plate and enjoy!

A frittata can be made out of most anything you've got left over too. If the meat you're using is already cooked, you can add everything to the eggs before putting into the skillet, or add the eggs separately. Experiment with different ingredients and cooking methods. There's really no right or wrong way to do it, as long as the eggs get cooked and it tastes good!

Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan

Chicken Parmesan is usually pan fried, loaded with cheese and a thick coating of bread crumbs. Use this recipe and bake it in the oven and save on calories and fat!

• 4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
• Panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper
• 2 eggs
• tomato sauce 
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, grated
• 2 ounces parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Lay chicken breast on cutting board, cover with plastic wrap and pound the breast out until it is about 1/4 of an inch thick all the way around.

Combine Panko bread crumbs, Parmesan, and Italian seasoning on a large plate. Beat two eggs until they become smooth. Salt and pepper chicken breasts, put into the egg mixture and then into the bread crumbs. Press bread crumbs onto chicken breast to make sure they stick.  Place breaded breasts onto a large cookie sheet and put into preheated oven.  Bake for 15 minutes or until bread crumbs begin to brown. Add a spoonful of tomato sauce and 2 ounces of mozzarella to each breast and bake until cheese is nicely melted. Serve with a tossed salad and a side of Risotto.

The Perfect Home Made Pizza

By following just a few simple and basic rules of thumb, anyone can make delicious pizza at home.

• Use a good pizza dough - some folks use the refrigerated dough that comes in a roll, some use Bisquick or some other powdered mix. But why not make your own?
• Use a pizza stone - This is essential. A good crust is half the battle in making a good pizza. There's no other way to make a great pizza crust in the home kitchen without using some sort of pizza stone.
• Use a simple sauce - If using a stone and a good crust are only half the battle, what else is there? The sauce. If you're using a plain tomato sauce, don't use too much. Too much sauce and even a pizza cooked on a stone can come out pretty sloppy and the crust gooey. A little canned tomato sauce can be used. I actually use tomato paste thinned with a little dry sherry for flavor. Add oregano, basil, garlic powder and onion powder to the sauce for that Italian flavor. But spread it on thin.
• Less is more - A great crust baked on a pizza stone with just the right amount of sauce on it can't cure a pizza that is overloaded. Stick to a few toppings. If you use pepperoni (the #1 pizza topping in the U.S.)remember that it has a lot of fat in it, and the fat will cook out and settle on your pizza. A little of this is great, too much of it and you've got a sloppy, greasy mess. Experiment with limiting yourself to no more than three toppings besides the cheese. Toppings can affect the time it takes to cook the pizza. Too many toppings and you may have to leave the pizza in the oven longer than usual and the crust will be burnt. Not a good thing! After you learn about how toppings and the amount of them affect the cooking time of the pizza, you'll be able to load the pizza up!
• Use REAL cheese - Mozzarella is the standard. A little parmesan, scamorza, even cheddar and swiss can be used. Again, experiment and see what works and what you like. But by all means use REAL cheese. The plasticized, artificial cheese 'product' that you can buy in the cheese section of the grocery store may look like cheese, even smell like cheese. But it sure doesn't cook and taste like real mozzarella!

So experiment! Don't worry if you make a few boo-boos along the way. They will most likely still be edible. And if you really want to celebrate pizza, make a simple pie with sauce, basil and mozzarella cheese. Red, green and white are the colors of the Italian flag! Buon appetito!

Italian Gnocchi

Gnocchi are small dumplings. They are a very old form of food, and there are examples of recipes for Gnocchi that go back to the 13th century. Gnocchi can be made with many different ingredients like squash, bread, semolina flour, even eggplant. But modern Italian Gnocchi is made with potatoes.

• 3 pounds of russet potatoes
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• Two dashes of salt

Be sure and use russet, or baking potatoes. Russet potatoes are high in starch and low in water content which will make the dumplings lighter in texture. Bake potatoes in the oven, microwave, or boil them until done. If potatoes are boiled, leave on the skins and remove after they are cooked. Too much moisture in the potatoes will cause excess absorption of flour, which will lead to a heavier dumpling. Run cooked potatoes through a food mill or ricer.

Put potatoes in a bowl and mix in the flour, egg and salt. Mix together until all ingredients are incorporated, and when loose dough begins to form take the dough into your hands and knead it gently for a few minutes until it forms a ball and dough becomes dry.

Roll dough into a long stick about ¾ to 1 inch in diameter. Cut into1 inch pieces. Use a fork and gently flick each piece with the fork to put small grooves in one side of the gnocchi. This will help hold the sauce.

Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil. Drop in gnocchi, being careful not to put too many into the pot at once, and let cook until they float, about one minute. Remove cooked gnocchi from hot water and place into ice water bath to stop the cooking process. Continue until all the gnocchi are cooked. Removed cooled gnocchi from ice water onto a towel to drain.

The gnocchi can now be used like any other kind of pasta. They are especially good with pesto sauce, but can be used with any other type of Italian pasta sauce. Cooked and cooled gnocchi can also be tossed with olive oil and kept in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Home Made Pasta

If you've got some time and are willing to put forth some effort, you can make your own home made pasta. The basic ingredients are:

• 3/4 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt

That's it. Some folks use a little (1/2 teaspoon) extra virgin olive oil in their pasta, but it is optional. This recipe makes pasta enough for 2 regular servings, so if you want more increase the amounts in the same proportions.

The classic way to make pasta is by putting the flour on a board, make a well in it, and put the egg and salt into the well. With a fork, gently mix the egg with the flour until a rough dough forms, then knead the dough with your hands until it becomes soft. But it can also be made in a bowl, a food processor or a mixer with a bread hook.

A few tips: If the dough is still too sticky, dust with a little flour and knead it some more. If the dough is too dry, sprinkle a little water on it and knead it in. The humidity in the air determines if a dough will be too sticky or dry with the basic recipe, so you'll need to act accordingly.

After the dough has been kneaded and is soft and elastic, wrap it in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 20 minutes. This will help 'relax' the gluten in the dough and make it easier to roll out.

Folks who make pasta regularly invest in a pasta machine. While this does make for more uniform noodles, you don't need one. Take the dough after it has rested and separate it into small portions if you've made more than the basic recipe. Dust a board with flour, put the dough on the board and roll it out. Try to get the dough thin enough so that you can almost see through it. If the dough sticks, dust with a little flour.

When you have the dough as thin as you like, dust it with a little flour and roll it up like a jelly roll. With a very sharp knife, cut the roll into very thin slices. Unroll the pasta and let it dry for 20 minutes or so on the board, or drape it over a broom handle covered with plastic wrap that has been suspended between two chairs.
After drying, the pasta can be cooked or refrigerated for use within the next 2 or 3 days. Fresh pasta does not take as long to cook as fully dried pasta, only about 4 to 5 minutes, even less if the noodles are small and thin. You want to cook it al dente (to the tooth, a little firm in the middle, so watch fresh pasta closely as it cooks!

This basic recipe can be varied in many ways. Substitute whole wheat flour for the unbleached white flour for whole wheat pasta. Whole wheat pasta dough will have a little different 'feel' to it. Or you can make spinach pasta. Cook 5 ounces of frozen spinach as directed, drain and let it cool. Squeeze as much water as you can out of the spinach. The spinach should be about the size of a large egg when you're done. Mix it in with the egg before adding to the flour.

Pastas can be flavored with most anything. Add a little garlic, use a little tomato juice, let your imagination run free and experiment! Making home made pasta is easy. Add it to some home made sauce, and you've got a great meal.

Basic Pizza Dough

This dough uses olive oil and two packets of rapid rise yeast to create a basic pizza dough.

6 cups (approximately) white flour
1/4 cup corn meal
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups warm water
2 packages rapid rise yeast

This dough can be made in any kind of electric mixer that is heavy duty enough for dough making. Use a dough hook in the mixer. It can also be done by hand with a wooden spoon, but expect a real workout doing it that way.

Put warm water in a large bowl. Add yeast and mix thoroughly. Add sugar and olive oil. Mix thoroughly. Add 2 cups of the flour and corn meal. Mix until a smooth batter forms. Add flour one cup at a time, mix thoroughly before adding the next cup, until 3 cups have been added. Add half of the remaining cup of flour, mix and turn out onto a floured board to knead. Knead dough, adding flour as needed, until the dough is smooth and not real sticky. The amount of flour you'll use depends on the humidity and temperature, so the flour amount is not exact. Roll dough into a ball. Oil the inside of a a large bowl. Put dough in the bowl, then turn over. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to rise.

Because of the two packets of rapid rise yeast used, the dough should double in size in about 30 minutes. Punch the dough down, and let rise again. Punch down dough, and it is ready to use. This versatile dough can be used for pizza, Italian bread, stromboli, calzone, or focaccia.
Substitute 1-2 cups of whole wheat flour for the white flour to get a slightly heavier and tasty dough.

Home Made Pizza Sauce

There's a huge variety of pre-made pizza sauces available. But if you make your own, you can make it as you like it. The basic ingredient in the pizza sauce I make is tomato paste. It is thick enough that you can add many different things to it.

Basic Pizza Sauce

1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic,minced
1/2 small onion, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon marjoram

Empty tomato paste into a glass bowl. Fill tomato paste can half full of water and stir. Pour 1/2 can of water into paste. Add the rest of the ingredients. Blend well, and let sit for at least 20 minutes for flavors to combine.

This recipe makes a thick, tomatoey sauce. There are many variations you can try, using garlic powder and onion powder instead of fresh. If you prefer a thinner sauce or a milder tomato flavor, use more liquid in it.
A really great variation on this sauce is to use roasted garlic instead of fresh or powder. To roast your own garlic, take an entire head of garlic and remove any loose outer skin. Cut just enough off the top of the head so that each individual clove is exposed. Place head in tinfoil, pour two teaspoons of olive oil over top of garlic. Seal up and place in a 400-degree oven for 30-40 minutes. Roasted garlic is much milder than raw and after roasting the cloves become very soft, almost like a paste. To use for pizza sauce, use one or two cloves mixed into the rest of the sauce instead of fresh garlic or garlic powder. Roasted garlic can also be mixed with olive oil, oregano and a little salt for a tasty dip for crusty Italian bread.

Basic Tomato Sauce For Pasta

A basic recipe that is good just as is, or add an endless variety of ingredients to suit your taste!

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion finely chopped
1 stalk celery finely chopped
1 small carrot finely chopped
2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 28 ounce can crushed or diced tomatoes
1/2 of 6 ounce can tomato paste
3 tablespoons dry sherry or 1/2 cup red wine
small pinch red pepper flakes or powder
4 tablespoons olive oil
ground black pepper to taste
salt to taste

Cook onions, carrot and celery in olive oil over low heat for a minute or two. Add garlic and cook until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes or so. Be careful not to burn the garlic! Garlic is usually added after the onions and celery cook for a few minutes because garlic will burn faster. Burnt garlic turns bitter!
Add parsley, basil, oregano and pepper. Increase heat to medium and add tomatoes, tomato paste and sherry. Cook for a few minutes while stirring. Add pepper flakes, cover and reduce heat to low simmer and cook for 30 minutes.

And that's all there is to it. You can make the sauce thinner by adding a little tomato juice or water to it. This sauce is an excellent base that you can add many things to. Add meat, sliced mushrooms, zucchini, artichoke hearts, green peppers, you name it! If you're going to add meat, cook the meat first, and add before the tomatoes. Any vegetables can be cut up and added just before the tomatoes.

2 pounds of fresh peeled and seeded tomatoes may be used instead of canned. If fresh tomatoes are used, more salt may be needed and the sauce may need to cook a little longer. The flavors in this sauce get even better if it is frozen or kept in the refrigerator for a day or two

Types of Cheese For Pizza

Without a doubt the most popular cheese to use for pizza is mozzarella. This cheese originated in the Naples region of Italy and was first made from water buffalo milk. Original mozzarella was of very high moisture content, and had a short shelf life. It The texture of original mozzarella did not lend to grating at all, and the cheese was usually cut into slices to be used.

Modern mozzarella is now made from cows milk, and is of a lower moisture content to help make it easier to work with and extend the shelf life. Mozzarella is available in a variety of moisture and butterfat content. A little experimenting to find which you like better will be needed, for different mozzarellas have different ways in which they melt and brown.

There is a fresh mozzarella sold that comes as balls of cheese packed in water. This cheese has a different texture and taste than regular mozzarella and can also be used on pizza. It does not grate as it is too soft, and it must be used fairly soon as it turns sour within a few days. This fresh mozzarella is sometimes called scamorze. But mozzarella isn't the only cheese you can use for pizza. Consider trying some of these others for different flavors.

Provolone - Non-smoked provolone has a nutty flavor, creamy texture, and is easy to grate and use. Smoked provolone has a more robust, smoky taste. Provolone can be used by itself, or in a combination with mozzarella.

Cheddar - From white to orange, from mild to sharp, cheddar is a good cheese for pizza. Cheddar melts well, but does not 'stretch', so it is always used in combination with mozzarella or provolone. The more cheddar you use in the blend, the milder it should be. The sharp varieties can dominate the flavor of the pizza, so use them sparingly.

Romano & Parmesan - These cheeses are most often used dried and grated over pasta dishes. They can be used on pizza for added flavor. Their flavor can be quite robust, especially the dried and grated kinds, so use accordingly. Parmesan is also available as fresh, and can be sliced or grated. Fresh parmesan has a better all-around flavor for pizza than the dried.

Feta - Feta cheese is a cheese that is cured in brine, and many times sold in small tubs of brine. It is an excellent cheese to use in combination or all by itself for pizza. Its salty, earth flavor holds up well after baking.

Swiss - Swiss is a very flavorful, salty cheese that not everyone likes used on pizza. It can add a great accent to a pizza, but as it is such a strong flavor should be used in a mixture of no more than 10% Swiss. Swiss can get rubbery after melting, another good reason to use it only sparingly and in a mixture of other cheeses.

Monterey Jack - This cheese is a good one for pizza, best used as a mixture of no more than 30% with other cheeses. Good quality Monterey Jack cheese has many small holes in it.

Muenster - A semi-soft cheese with a great flavor that can be used as an accent on pizza. Grates with difficulty. It can be sliced thinly and put on the pizza.

These are but a few of the alternatives to just plain old mozzarella cheese for pizza. Try other kinds, and see what combinations you can come up with that you like the best. When using other varieties of cheese, remember that as a rule of thumb it is best to blend them with mozzarella or provolone to see what they will taste like. Buon appetito!