Creamy Spaghetti and Beans

This is kind of a bonus recipe. It isn't out of the 365 No Repeats cook book. I was watching 30 Minute Meals, like I always do, and saw a recipe that sounded so good. Rachael said it was like a warm hug for your tummy. Kevin had been sick for a few days and not eating much. I thought a nice warm hug for his tummy was just what he needed.


I liked the sounds of this recipe because it is a sort of risotto made with spaghetti. It just sounded so interesting.. Plus I love white beans. Once she threw the word "creamy" in the mix I was already salivating!


It is a super simple recipe to make, not very many ingredients, it just takes time. You need to be on top of things and watch your pot so you can add the chicken stock when needed. 


I always have cannellini beans on hand so I substituted those for the Roman beans the recipe called for. I also left the carrots out. Since I am a huge bean fan I added 2 cans rather than the one can the recipe called for and it was a good thing because I kept nibbling on beans the whole time the meal was cooking!


Rachael really did hit the nail on the head by saying a bowl of this was a nice warm hug for your tummy. I know the weather is getting warmer so it may not seem like you need a "warm hug" but if it is cool or you just feel a bit under the weather, make this one. You won't be sorry you did!

Creamy Spaghetti and Beans

Ingredients

5 to 6 cups of chicken stock

2 tablespoons EVOO

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 pound pancetta chopped into small dice

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 pound spaghetti

i medium onion, chopped

2 carrots, cut into a small dice

1 fresh bay leaf

5 to 6 sprigs fresh thyme

1 (15 ounce) can Roman beans or small white beans (recommended: Goya brand)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup dry white wine, eyeball it

1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

a generous handful flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Place the stock in a sauce pot and warm it over medium heat then reduce to a simmer.

Heat EVOO and butter in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta to brown slightly. Next add the garlic and the spaghetti and toast noodles lightly, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onions and carrots, bay leaf, and thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Soften veggies a bit, 5 minutes. Add wine and allow it to be completely absorbed. Add beans and then a few ladles of stock and stir the pasta. Keep adding stock a few ladles at a time allowing liquid to be mostly absorbed before adding more, as if you were preparing a risotto. When liquids are absorbed and spaghetti is cooked to al-dente, 12 to 15 minutes, stir in cheese. Adjust salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and stir another minute. Remove the bay leaf and thyme stems. Serve in shallow bowls and garnish with lots of parsley.

Serves 4

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf Patties with Pan Gravy and Sour Cream Tomato Smashed Potatoes

First of all, let me wish all the Mom's a belated Happy Mother's Day. I hope you all had a wonderful day dedicated just to you. Mine was very nice. Kevin made breakfast. We had mimosas and we watched a couple of movies with the kids. Very quiet, relaxing day. 


But now I need to catch up with you on the latest recipe. It was recipe #332. When I went through the book looking to plan the next weeks meals I was still feeling a bit sick. Normally a process that leaves me feeling starved and ready to cook 5 meals at once was actually a chore. I kept reading recipe after recipe and nothing was sounding good. I finally ran across the last recipe and this one and felt they sounded fairly good. I am glad now that I picked them. I guess when you feel sick and aren't enthused about a recipe it has no where to go but up right? Seriously, these were both great recipes and everyone else agrees as well so it is not just me.


The pan gravy in this recipe is extra yummy. I would probably cook the onions a bit before adding them to the meatloaf mix, or just grate them to get the flavor but no "chunks". I like onion, but biting into a piece of raw onion is not tasty to me. I also used grape tomatoes, like I always do when it calls for raw tomatoes to be added to anything, and I cut them in half and sauted them in a small pan for a bit so they could get a bit of carmelization going.

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf Patties with Pan Gravy and Sour Cream Tomato Smashed Potatoes

Ingredients

2 pounds small red skinned potatoes, quartered

1 1/3 pound lean ground beef

1/4 cup plain bread crumbs

1/2 cup milk, plus a splash

1 egg

2 teaspoons McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning, or coarse salt and black pepper combined

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1 rounded teaspoon tomato paste

1 medium onion, finely chopped (reserve one fourth)

8 slices bacon

2 tablespoons EVOO

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 rounded tablespoons sour cream

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped (I used a carton of grape tomatoes cut in half)

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 to 1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 rounded teaspoon spicy brown mustard

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup fresh flat leave parsley leaves, chopped

Cover the potatoes in water in a medium sauce pan. Bring the water to a boil and cook the potatoes for 10 minutes, or until fork tender.

Place the meat in a large mixing bowl and create a well in the center. Fill the well with the bread crumbs and dampen them with a splash of milk. Add the egg, grill seasoning, allspice, tomato paste, and three quarters of the onions to the bowl. Combine the mixture and for into 4 large oval patties (about 3/4 inch thick). Arrange 2 slices of bacon in an X on a cutting board, repeat with the other 6 slices of bacon so that you have a total of 4 X's. Place a meatloaf patty on the center of each X. Fold the bacon around each patty. Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat with the EVOO. Transfer the bacon wrapped patties, bacon seam side down, to the hot skillet. Fry the meatloaf patties for 7 minutes on each side under a loose aluminum foil tent. The tent will reflect heat and allow steam to escape the pan.

Check on the potatoes. When they are tender, turn the heat off, drain the potatoes and return the to the hot pot and warm stove top to dry them out. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter, sour cream, and the 1/2 cup of milk and smash to desired consistency. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper, then fold in the chopped tomatoes. Cover the potatoes to keep warm until ready to serve.

Remove the meatloaf patties to a platter and return the pan to heat. reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining tablespoon of butter and the remaining onions to the skillet. Cook the onions for 2 minutes and sprinkle the pan with the flour. Cook the flour for 1 minute, then whisk in 1 cup of chicken stock. Bring the broth to a bubble. If the gravy is too thick, thin with additional stock. Stir in the mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and parsley and taste to see if the sauce needs salt and pepper.

Drizzle the bacon wrapped meatloaf patties with the gravy. Pile smashed potatoes alongside and make a well in the center for extra sour cream or gravy.

Serves 4

Meatloaf



Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf

Super Mashers with Steak and Pepper Hash

I really liked the sound of this recipe. I mean it has peppers in it and I LOVE peppers! Any heat in a recipe is just a huge plus for me, actually for most in this house not just me. If you add mashed potatoes to the mix you will please the whole family. My Dad has been know to, on numerous occasions, make a meal out of just mashed potatoes! 


I know it seems that I am obsessed with peppers, but for some reason later in my life I have developed a love for them. Maybe part of it is that I read the spicier the food, the more calories your body burns. So bring on the heat as far as I am concerned! This week was a hot one since I made this recipe along with one of my own for my personal recipe blog, Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen. You can check that one out if you like spicy chicken tacos. A great Cinco De Mayo meal!


I was a little nervous because, as I have mentioned before, Kevin is VERY picky when it comes to red meat. If it isn't rib eye he doesn't want it...PERIOD! But I have been breaking him in slowly with the main reason being that who can afford to cook rib eye for every steak meal you make? This one calls for thinly sliced sirloin. When I was at the grocery store I saw a package of thinly sliced beef and it said "great for stir fry" on it. I asked the butcher if it was comparable to the sliced sirloin my recipe called for and she told me yes. So I grabbed three packages (the recipe calls for 1 1/3 pounds but I just grabbed a little over 1 1/2 pounds). I grabbed all my yummy peppers and away I went.


Now I get ready to cook and as I am reading down the recipe I realize that, once again, my ADD obviously kicked in and I somehow overlooked 2 items on the ingredient list! ARG!! I am going to have to and read the ingredient lists three times each just to make sure I don't do this anymore. So I am sorry that the recipe isn't just as it was supposed to be.


To be honest I was worried about the meat being tough. While you are cooking the recipe instructs you to slide the beef off to one side of the pan and cook the veggies on the other side. I stole a bit of the meat to take a taste and it was really chewy. I was so bummed. I knew that would get a less than favorable review. But I went back to the business of cooking the whole meal  before I passed judgement.


After the veggies cook a bit it calls for you to mix the meat and veggies and cook for a few more minutes "like a stir fry". Evidently the amount of cooking that took place between sliding the meat to the side and stir frying was the perfect amount. The meat was just right! I was so happy, and relieved.


I missed the scallions and the lime on the recipe so I used a little bit of lemon juice to add some citrus flavor and just had to do without the scallions. I will say the potatoes were good and I think the scallions would have made them even better. I couldn't taste the lemon juice, but again I agree it would have been better with the lime. All that aside, this really was a good meal. The mix of peppers gave it a sweet/spicy thing going on, and eating it with potatoes in the same bite really just set everything off. I of course reserved my opinion until I heard from the other diners. Kevin immediately said he really liked it. Color me shocked!! My response to that was "Really?". I was just completely prepared for him to hate it he really caught me off guard. Ok, not I am waiting for Miss Picky to weigh in. She of course didn't eat the peppers, but the steak still had the pepper flavor, and there is a bit of Franks Red Hot in it to boot. She said SHE loved it. WOW what I pleasant surprise. It went from a recipe, in my mind, that no one would want a repeat of, to one that can get marked down as a keeper. Nice!!


Oh, a small side note, I went ahead and mixed the cheese in with the mashed potatoes rather than sprinkling it on top. Just a personal preference for me. Also, the recipe calls for 10 ounces of shredded cheddar. Well, it come in 8 ounce bags so I only used the 8 ounces and it tasted just fine.

Super Masher with Steak and Pepper Hash

Ingredients

4 large starchy potatoes, such as Idaho

coarse salt

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tables spoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

4 garlic cloves, chopped

4 scallions, chopped

1 1/3 pound 1 inch thick beef sirloin, trimmed and thinly sliced

coarse black pepper

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced

2 Anaheim or poblano chilies (Anaheim are a bit hotter), seeded and thinly sliced

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced

2 to 3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped

several drops of hot sauce, such as Franks Red Hot, to taste (I add a couple of tablespoons!)

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 to 1/2 cup milk depending on how soft you like your mashers.

10 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Peel the taters and cut them into small chunks. Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Cover the pot and bring it to a boil over high heat. Uncover, add salt to season, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.

In a small pot over medium low heat, add about 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil. Add the butter. When the butter melts into the oil, add the garlic. Saute the garlic for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the scallions and remove the pan from the heat. Reserve.

Heat a large non stick skillet over high heat. Season the sliced steak with salt and pepper, then heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil. The oil will smoke--don't freak out, just add the meat and start searing it up. Brown the strip on all sides, hit with some Worcestershire sauce, then push it off to one side of the pan and add the remaining tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the peppers, chilies, and onions, season with salt and pepper, then toss them around, searing all the edges, for another minute or two before combining all the meat and veggies together. Add the thyme and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, keeping everything moving around like a stir-fry. Turn off the heat and drizzle some hot sauce and the lime juice over the steak and veggies. Adjust the seasoning.

Drain the potatoes, then return them to the hot pot to evaporate some of the water content. Add the reserved garlic and scallion mixture to the potatoes along with the sour cream and start smashing away with a masher. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk if needed. Season the super mashers with salt and pepper.

Pile up one fourth of the potatoes on each plate. Top with a generous handful of cheddar cheese. Pile up meat and veggies on top of the super mashers and serve. The heat of the meat and veggies will melt the cheese.

Serves 4

Mashed Potatoes



Pepper Sirloin Steak

Turkey Noodle Casserole

Before we even get started, I know some of you are groaning at just the mention of a turkey noodle casserole. I was kind of "iffy" on this one myself. The word casserole just brings back memories of tons of noodles smothered in cream of mushroom soup with some meat to go with it, usually canned tuna in my house. YIKES! Not a good image. I know that is how things were done in those days, and people didn't realize how bad canned soups were for you. But WOW those are things I just don't want to eat ever again! This recipe, thank goodness, removed those images from my head and made me gain faith in casseroles. 


I wasn't the only one that showed a lack of enthusiasm for the idea of casseroles. Pretty much everyone here felt the same way. The dialog went kind of like this, "Mom, what's for dinner?" "Turkey noodle casserole"....long pause..."Oh".....longer pause...."Really?" "Yes, why?"..pause.."Oh, just wondering". I know what they were wondering was, can I eat something else before dinner without Mom finding out and then say I am not that hungry. 


Luckily we were all pleasantly surprised. Everyone liked it, including my Dad, but I felt like the sauce could be a bit thicker. Probably a throw back to the old cream of mushroom soup days, but the sauce is more of a broth really. I might try to make a roux next time and thicken it up that way. I don't want to change the flavor, just the consistency.


This one is a keeper to me though. Fairly simple and flavorful and something I think anyone would eat, so picky eaters would be happy as well.

Turkey Noodle Casserole

Ingredients

coarse salt

1/2 pound extra wide egg noodles

1 tablespoon EVOO

3 slices bacon or turkey  bacon, chopped

1 package (about 1 1/2 pounds) ground turkey breast

1 pound white mushrooms, wiped, trimmed, and sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons ground thyme or poultry seasoning

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 cups Gruyère cheese, grated

1 cup plain bread crumbs

2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley leaves

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the egg noodles. When it boils, salt the water and cook the noodles al dente. Drain well and return to the pot.

Preheat a  large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the EVOO and the bacon. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the fat is rendered and the bacon begins to crisp at the edges. Add the turkey and brown it, crumbling with a wooden spoon. Move the meat over to one side of the pan and add the mushrooms and onions to the opposite side. Cook the mushrooms and onions for 3 to 5 minutes, then stir the meat and veggies together. Season the mixture liberally with salt and pepper, and sprinkle in the ground thyme or poultry seasoning. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, using the wooden spoon to scrape up the pan drippings and browned bits. Stir in the stock and bring to a bubble, then stir in the cream and reduce the heat to low. Add nutmeg and stir. taste to adjust seasonings if necessary.

Preheat the broiler to high. Combine the noodles with the turkey and sauce. Grease a casserole dish with a little softened butter. Transfer the turkey-noodle mixture to the dish and top with Gruyère cheese and then bread crumbs. Place the casserole 8 to 10 inches from the broiler and brown for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the crumbs are brown. Garnish the casserole with parsley.

Serve with a green tossed salad.

Serves 4

Ground Turkey Noodle Casserole