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

Halibut Soup or just call it Epic Yumminess in a bowl!!

Kevin and I got back from Vegas on Friday but I didn't cook until last night. It seems we are much older than we obviously thought we were and we required a rest from our vacation. Seriously it was bed, hot tub, and TV for this girl all weekend long!


Monday comes along and I realize that I have taken a week off from my duties and I dove right back into the book trying to find some goodies for us this week. I was sooooo excited to find this recipe! Halibut is one of my all time faves PLUS it was on sale (thank goodness) this week, so my pound and a half didn't cost me an arm and a leg.


Yesterday morning I had to take Jessi to have a lump removed from her left thumb so that took up much of the morning. I left there at 10:15 with a guarantee from the nurse that Jessi would not be ready to be picked up from her surgery for at least 2 to 3 hours. I rushed home to make my shopping list and hit the road hoping to get my shopping done before I had to pick up my girl. No such luck, I got the call as I was getting some gas on the way to the grocery store. I told them I would be right there. Once I got there and got Jessi loaded up in the car I asked her if she felt up to going shopping with me or if she felt too woozy and just wanted to go home. The trooper that she is said she would be fine. Once we got to the store she asked me if she could drive one of the little carts. I don't know what possessed me to think it would be safer for a person coming off of anesthesia to drive something rather than walking, but at the time it sounded right. An hour later and several bruises on the back of  my legs I began to question my logic. But at  least the only thing she ran over was me. The reason I am telling you all of this is to attempt an excuse for again not having everything I needed for the recipe.....did it work?


Yes I really think I am somehow a bit recipe challenged, but I thought I would point out how crazy my morning was to show that my little scattered brain was much more scattered than usual. When I got settled down and ready to cook I realized I somehow completely overlooked the fact that the recipe clearly called for 1 medium zucchini and the juice of one lime *sigh* I thought "Here we go again"!


Luckily for me this is an AMAZING recipe. Do I think the zucchini and lime juice would have made it better? Sure, but don't worry, even without them this one is so yummy you won't care.


Last night was recipe #55 Halibut Soup. I again fell short of my duties by forgetting to take a picture. I could smack myself because it looked so good in the pot and in the bowl. But I had Seth and Melissa over and they both got their bowls and were going on and on about how good it was that I just flat forgot what I was doing and jumped right in to get my bowl too. 


Minus the missing pieces of the recipe, this is how it went. I did use double what it called for in garlic, but my cloves were so small I felt it needed more. I also cooked my veggies for about double the time it called for and covered the pot to help sweat them down. I wanted to make sure the veggies were good and soft. I pretty much just poached the fish in the hot soup broth, I never brought it back up to a simmer after I put the fish in. I left it on low (#2 on my stove dial) and put the lid back on it for the 5 minutes. The good thing about cooking it this way is that the fish won't over cook. Kevin was doing yard work and I wanted the soup to be ready for him as soon as he got in but not over done. It was perfect. Even little Miss Picky said the fish was cooked perfectly. Oh and she said to say she gave the recipe 1 1/2 thumbs up since the bandage kept her from using her thumb. She is a nut!


I used andouille sausage instead of the chorizo and I didn't remove the casings. Why you ask? Well the darn things just wouldn't come off! I also thought that the andouille would add a bit more spice and I was right. With the andouille and the poblano pepper it was at a nice spice level but not too spicy. I added about 2 cups more chicken stock and I used both the parsley and the cilantro. Plus I used a bit of lemon juice in place of the lime. Like I said, it wasn't perfect, at least in my mind, since I didn't have all of the ingredients. But everyone else said they loved it just the way it was. We all agreed this one is a keeper, and you can bet next time I will remember to pick up ALL of the ingredients!


Oh, make sure and get some nice crusty bread to mop up all that yummy broth!!




Halibut Soup


Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons EVOO
• 1/2 pound chorizo or andouille sausage
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, then sliced into half moons
• 1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves, chopped
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup dry white wine (3 or 4 glugs)
• 1 quart chicken stock (I used a quart and a half))
• 1 15 ounce can of hominy (I used the white hominy)
• 1 1/2 pounds fresh halibut, cut into two inch chunks
• 1 medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise, then sliced into half moons
• 1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley leave (a generous handful), chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves (optional)
• juice of 1 lime

Directions


Preheat a large soup pot over medium-high heat with the EVOO (twice around the pan). Remove the sausage casings and slice the sausage thinly. Add the sliced sausage to the pot and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Add the onions, carrots, poblano, and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook, sirring frequently for 5 minutes. Add the white wine and cook for another 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock, bring up to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes. You want the soup to be at a gentle simmer when you add the fish so, if necessary, turn the heat down a bit. Add the hominy, the halibut, and the zucchini. Gently simmer for 5 minutes. Finish the soup with the parsley, cilantro (if using), and the lime juice.


Serves 4

Halibut Soup

A few stumbles but all ended well

Yes, yes, yes, oh sorry for the rant but I love love LOVE how this recipe came out last night. I made the Smoky Turkey Shepherd's Pie that I talked about in yesterday's blog. The one that the Beef Goulash recipe was based on. All I can say is yummmmm. I can't take all of the credit, of course it mostly goes to Rachael Ray for her recipe (DUH), but my fabulously wonderful sous chef, AKA my boyfriend Kevin, helped by chopping most of the veggies for me. And believe me there are a LOT of veggies! But that is one of the things I love about this recipe. The veggies cook in the bacon and turkey for a long time. Then the smoked paprika joins the party and WOOHOOO look out, yummy in the tummy folks!


Now of course a recipe couldn't be cooked by me without a few missteps and tweaks. I promise you I do try to keep the recipes by the book, but sometimes after tasting you just...well I will get to that in a minute. Ok so back on track here. Today's lesson is, make SURE you have everything for the recipe. Hmm didn't I have that problem with the first recipe? Well obviously I don't learn from my own mistakes, but maybe YOU can.


It calls for three large Idaho potatoes, these are a VERY important part of the recipe. I casually look in my pantry and see I have a bag of russets so I am happy with that and check that off of my list of things to buy at the market. However, when I get down and dirty and ready to roll with this recipe, OOPS, the potatoes are not that good. They are small and most of them weren't in any shape to be used for anything but a trash can filler. ARG!! 


I salvaged what I could, but it was no where near the amount I should have had, and grumbled at myself under my breath. I began stressing as soon as I saw that I had a problem with the very first ingredient in the recipe. This is about the time Kevin donned his Super Hero cape and swooped in to rescue me. Have I mentioned how much I love this man? Anyway, we got to work and as I pulled everything out and got it lined up in order, he began chopping. I got the bacon done and added the turkey (side note, I would leave quite a bit of the bacon fat in the pan if you want it to really flavor your veggies). Then we added the spices and dropped all those gorgeous veggies in the pot. Oh, it called for a small red bell pepper but we used a pretty good sized one.


From that point on it is just a matter of mashing your potatoes, (heads up don't forget to save a ladle of the cooking liquid to temper your egg, I did, but I heated up some chicken stock in it's place. Gotta work on the fly in my kitchen!), finishing up the pot with the flour, stock, and sour cream, and simmering away. Since I had used fewer potatoes than it called for, and didn't think to reduce the liquid going in, I needed to cook my mashed potatoes over low heat for awhile to try to thicken them up. But that is ok because the more you simmer, the better this stuff gets! My tweak, I added two palmfuls total (aprox 2 tablespoons) of smoked paprika, we like it extra smoky. Just taste it as it is simmering and as you adjust your pepper and salt you can figure out your level of smokiness.


So the reviews, well, Kevin LOVED it and not only had two or three helpings but laid claim to the leftovers as well. My Dad said he enjoyed it, and I was quite happily full with a smile on my face. All in all a very successful night. 

Smoky Turkey Shepherd's Pie



Ingredients

• 3 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and cubed
• Coarse salt
• 2 tablespoons EVOO - extra-virgin olive oil - 2 turns of the pan
• 1/4 pound smoky bacon or turkey bacon, chopped
• 1 1/3 pound ground turkey breast
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika, available in small cans on spice aisle of market
• (You may substitute 1 1/2 teaspoons each sweet paprika and cumin combined)
• Coarse black pepper
• 2 tablespoons, 5 or 6 sprigs, fresh thyme leaves
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 ribs celery from the heart, chopped
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 10 to 12 blades fresh chives, chopped or snipped

Directions

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil, salt it, and cook the potatoes until tender, 12 to 15 minutes.

Heat a deep, large skillet over medium-high heat. Add EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, to the skillet. Add bacon and brown it up, then add ground turkey to the pan and break it up. Season the turkey with smoked paprika, salt and pepper, and thyme. When turkey browns up, add: onions, carrots, celery. Season the veggies with salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes, then add red pepper and peas cook another 2 minutes. Stir in flour and cook flour 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and combine. Add 1/2 cup of sour cream and combine.Simmer mixture over low heat.

Preheat your broiler to high.

When potatoes are tender, add a ladle of cooking water to the egg.Drain potatoes and return to the warm pot to dry them out a little. Add remaining 1/2 cup sour cream, butter, half of the chives, and salt and pepper. Smash and mash the potatoes, mashing in the beaten, tempered egg. If the potatoes are too tight, mix in a splash of milk.

Pour turkey mixture into a medium casserole dish. Top turkey with an even layer of smashed potatoes and place casserole 5 inches from hot broiler. Broil the potatoes until golden at edges and remove the casserole from the oven. Garnish the casserole with the remaining chives and a sprinkle of smoked paprika.

4 servings