How not to screw up your pasta (+ pasta salad dressing recipe)

by Guest Writer vlossy

1. Buy normal looking pasta. If you end up buying some multigrain kind of pasta and it tastes funny, then most likely, it's not your fault. Kudos for trying to be healthy, but just get the regular stuff.

2. Buy pasta you like. Don’t get angel hair if you don't like angel hair. Personally, I like food that I can chew, so I go with penne or linguini

The Pot

1. Make sure it's big enough (if you threw your pasta in there dry, and it fills up halfway, not a good sign. I’d say it should fill up less than a quarter of the pot, but ask Rachel and Tammy for more advice). Btw, it’s just water first.

2. Add water and make sure it's enough.

I never know how many actual cups of pasta I’m making, so I never know how many cups of water I need. I usually fill the pot a little more than halfway. If you don't have enough water, you can always add more later. If you have too much water, you can always take some out. The only problem is you'd have to keep watching your pot to make sure no disasters happen.

Water does not have to be filtered unless there's some real bad stuff in the water (as in, it's unregulated or something)

You’re not drinking the water, so it should be fine. Plus you're boiling it.

Tip: start with hot water from faucet. Makes heating it up faster bc there's already some kinetic energy in there!

3. Takes maybe 15 minutes at most to boil half a decent sized saucepan of water? Less if water starts hot. No need to turn on burner to full heat. You can start it there, then lower it as you get closer to boiling. Don’t cook your pasta at full heat bc chances are, your water’s gonna boil over. If it does boil over, immediately add cold water, then use a cup (preferably ceramic mug with a handle. Don’t use glass stuff) to pour some water out so it doesn’t overflow again, and turn the heat down so it’s not bubbling like crazy.

Adding pasta

1. If you're using long noodle pastas, I’d advise breaking it in half before sticking it in. It’s easier to manage (otherwise you end up trying to stuff it into the pot) and much easier to serve (you won't have to stand up out of your chair to see the end of your noodle). Just take a bunch (see step 2 for serving size), hold it with both your hands a few inches from the middle, and snap! (no need to judo chop, but you may use your knee for dramatic effect as long as you don't mind scattering pasta over your floor).

2. Serving size for long noodle pastas

Take a bunch of pasta, and make a ring with your thumb and index finger around it. If the diameter is about that of a quarter, it should be about 1.5 servings, I think. It’s about one serving for me, but I kind of eat a lot. I don't know what to tell you for short pasta... read the box?

If you're hungry and can eat pasta, make a bunch about the diameter of a 50 cent piece. If you have leftover, you can always store it in Ziploc bags for later. Makes for quick eating next time. And if you warm it up with your pasta sauce, you can hardly tell!

3. Snap the bundle in half over the pot (or do in smaller bundles if your total bundle is too thick to do this in one go). Toss pasta in, and make sure it's all completely submerged. Adding more uncooked pasta a few seconds to about a minute into cooking is ok.

4. STIR! Unless you like big clumps of chewy noodles stuck together, stir your pasta! It’s not hard, it's just kind of annoying, but it'll be better for it. If you forget to stir, you can kind of stir at the end of cooking and break apart some of the clumps, but be prepared for the possibility of chewy clumps (yumm)

5. Don’t leave your pasta unattended. You can read next to the kitchen or something if you need to. Give it 10 min max (from the time you throw pasta in) if you're going to risk leaving it alone. Anything longer than 10 minutes could be sucky.

I try to not leave my pasta for more than a few minutes at a time. Maybe 5 max. General rule, do not leave your cooking unattended. And if you’re scatterbrained like me, put an alarm on your phone or something.

6. Is it done? I use wood chopsticks bc they grab noodles best and you can control them better than a fork. Pick up a noodle from the batch while it’s still cooking. If you pick one up and it’s not bending around all the way, like it’s still stiff, put it back and keep cooking. Otherwise: Cool it off by blowing on it or run it under cold water (probably not a good idea if your water’s not dependable). Try it. Is the consistency alright? If it’s kind of hard in the middle, let it cook longer. If it’s really soft and mushy when you try it, you’ve overcooked it. Some people like their pasta overcooked, some like it undercooked. Figure out which you like better. And don’t undercook just because you’re impatient.

7. it’s done! Great, it’s done. Get a colander/strainer out. Now, very carefully, pour out some water into the sink or strainer (try to avoid having glassware in the sink while you do this. Hot water + cold glass don’t mix well at all). Just pour out enough so that you can comfortably pour the rest into the strainer you have ready. Don’t go too fast, and try to position the strainer so you don’t have to be holding it while you’re pouring the hot water/pasta. Ok now rinse the pasta in the strainer with cold water. I don’t exactly know what this does other than cool it off, but a lot of ppl do it? Maybe it keeps the pasta from sticking? If your water’s really fishy, you could probably leave this step out. Set aside.

And then prepare whatever other fixings (like pasta sauce).

If you have salad like trader joe’s spring mix salad, this mix works really well.

Here’s what spring mix looks like:

http://www.markon.com/html/productsearch4.aspx?pageid=11&prodsubid=465&catid=3&subcatid=30&mem_id=3&submem_id=5

http://www.freshexpress.com/products/productdisplay.asp?cat=bb&salads=5

Take rinsed salad (rinse veggies in cold water unless you want your salad cooked) and mix it in with your pasta (I use linguini for this). Add red pepper (thinly sliced) and red onion (actually looks purple) into the salad

To make the dressing, mix all this stuff together:

1 Lime (just need to squeeze out however much juice you want)

2 Tablespoons, Balsamic Vinegar

4 Tablespoons, Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Salt

2 teaspoons sugar or honey power

I don’t know how feasible that is to make for you, Lien (as in, don’t know how easily accessible all these ingredients are), but you can try variations on the theme? Hope some of this helps.

Stir-fried Beef with Snow Peas

Here is something quick and easy to make.

1 pound of beef
3 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 pound snow peas
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup oyster sauce

1. Slice the beef against the grain as thinly as you can. If your meat was frozen and thawing, it's easier to slice the meat thinly when it's semi-frozen. Mix with corn starch (you could probably use flour too, but I've never tried it) and sesame oil. Refrigerate overnight. If you are in a hurry, maybe one hour is okay. Or use it immediately, tell me how it turns out.

2. Snap the end of each pea, pulling the strings off.

3. Smash garlic into large chunks against the blade of a knife. You could mince it if you wanted too...this is just what my mom insisted.


4. Heat oil in a pan, and cook the garlic on medium until it is browned.


5. Change your heat to high. Add your beef and stir-fry continuously until the beef is halfway cooked.


6. Add your oyster sauce and snow peas. If there doesn't seem to be enough oyster sauce, add some more. My mom kind of took over the cooking (she does that a lot) so I'm estimating the amount of oyster sauce she added. Mix often until the snow peas are cooked. The snow peas will darken in color.



And...devour! I love the veggies because they are still a little crunchy. My mom loves the bits of browned garlic.

Chicken with Mirepoix Ragout

Hello everybody! How are you? Good I hope. I just started this exercise routine and I hope that I will stick to it: I jog/walk for four miles M W F. It's been really good to jog, especially since I'm not in school anymore, where all of my exercise came from walking everywhere. I also took my NCLEX for the second time today. I didn't really feel good about it...the computer logged me off at 75 questions, and last time it was 77. I'm expecting to fail but I will keep my hopes up.

Anyway...you came here for the food! I made this dish because we have celery and carrots sitting in the fridge. I went to a cooking website using those ingredients as the search terms and came up with chicken with mirepoix ragout. (It's from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Braised-Chicken-Breasts-in-Tasty-Mirepoix-Ragout if you want to see the original recipe). It's chicken that has been floured, browned in a pan, and cooked with veggies and a wine sauce. I tried to use crumbs instead of flour and attempted to get rid of these Triscuits that I don' t want anymore. I figured it would be good because the crackers are flavorful and whole-grain. I also made mashed potatoes to go along with this.

Mashed potatoes

5 large potatoes
1/2 cup of milk
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Chicken with mirepoix ragout

1 chicken breast, sliced
15 Triscuit crackers, crushed
1/2 onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
2 large carrots, diced
1/2 cup white wine
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 sprigs thyme
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

For the mashed potatoes:

1. Cut your potatoes into uniform cubes. Throw them into a pot, cover with water, and boil. The potatoes are done when you can easily spear one with a fork (about 15 minutes maybe?)


2. Strain and put your potatoes back in the pot. Mash your potatoes...I usually use the back of a rice paddle, because that's the best tool I have. Then, add your milk (or you could do cream), and add your seasonings (butter would be great too).

Don't do what I tried. I thought I could save time by blending the potatoes. I've never tried this before, and I will never do it again, because it results in gooey stuff. Turns out the blades are turning too fast, it releases the starches in the potato cells and ruins it. Poo.


For the chicken and ragout:

1. Optional: Place your crushed crackers, or flour in a dish. Slice your chicken and dip in the crumbs/flour until fully coated. Heat some oil in a pan, and cook the chicken over high or medium-high heat. After a few minutes, check to see if the bottoms of the meat is browned. Go for a dark golden brown. Flip and cook for a few more minutes.

So, I say that this part is optional because while the chicken was crispy and tasted good, it didn't stay crispy after you make the ragout. Next time, I'd just cook the chicken as it is.


2. Remove the chicken from the pan. Add your onions (and more oil if you need it) and cook until nicely browned. This will take about 2 minutes, and you should stir every so often.

3. Add the celery and carrots. Cook for a few minutes.


4. Add the wine, chicken stock, and seasonings. Simmer the sauce until it was reduced to half. This didn't make a lot of sauce...so if you want a lot, add more stock and wine. I only used 3/4 cup of stock because that's what I had on hand.


Done! I liked the sauce a lot, thought the breading was unnecessary, and cried at my mashed potatoes. I'd make it again with some more adjustments.

Vietnamese-style Mussels with Basil

My mom taught me how to make Vietnamese-style mussels. Lien, I don't remember if you eat seafood, but I figure since you live in the Caribbean, you'd have access to lots of yummy, fresh seafood. This meal was very cheap for us...we bought the mussels frozen, and bought the basil from a Viet market...so the dinner came to $15 total and it fed five people. It was a bit too much though, because all we ate was rice and a ton mussels. We made a double-batch of the recipe for five people, but I think that one recipe could feed around 6 people if you have side dishes.

Vietnamese-style Mussels with Basil

2 pounds of mussels, frozen and in the half-shell
1 large bunch of Vietnamese basil (other types of basil would probably be fine)
1/2 head of garlic
3 chilies
3 tablespoons of oil
1 1/2 tablespoons of oyster sauce



1. Pluck leaves off the stems on your basil, then wash.

2. Give your frozen mussels a quick rinse. The instructions on the box said that you can cook mussels when they are still frozen.


3. Roughly chop your garlic and slice your chili thinly.


4. Heat your oil in a large wok. When the oil is hot, add your garlic.

5. Dump the mussels in all at once and immediately stir-fry for 1 minute. You have to be careful of any remaining water clashing with the hot oil. (I tried to take pictures of this step but they were all blurry and steamy).

6. Cover your wok with a lid and let your mussels cook for another minute.

7. Add your basil, chili, and oyster sauce. Stir-fry until the basil is wilted.


All done! Sorry, we were too busy eating to take a picture of the final result...

Carnita's Pizza (idea from Todo un Poco)

So for those of you know me pretty well you know that I used to work at this place called Todo Un Poco which is this really great restaurant in Elk Grove that serves Italian and Mexican food. Seriously they make amazing Mexican food, and the Pizzas are super creative, the Italian is better catered by Marie (the owner) for some reason though. Anyways, she makes this one pizza that has beans, carnitas, onions, salsa, Jalapenos, Cilantro and as the menu says "it is the only pizza that comes with the side of lemon."

Doesn't that sound amazing?!

Now I have decided that I want to try and perfect it. It is rather hard to do so far. The best I've come up with is this recipe, I used different ingredients in mine here since I was shopping at Trader Joe's before I made this, but this recipe has the one I like the best and it makes a difference too so don't say I am crazy!

1 Boboli pizza crust
1 can of refried beans. I haven't found the perfect ones yet so your choice. Trader Joe's were pretty good.
1 package of Trader Joe's carnitas. I will post a recipe here though once I learn to make my own!
1 cup Mozzarella cheese
1 sauteed onion
Jalapenos (pickled preferably) so how ever many you want.
1 handful of cilantro leaves
fresh salsa of your choice (I have yet to make my own salsa, so for now I like La Victoria medium taco sauce the best)
1 lemon sliced in 8ths

Pretty much you just preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Then you warm up the beans (on the stove over medium, stir occationally so they don't burn!) and carnitas (Trader Joe's has instructions on the package it is just like 2-3 minutes in the microwave and then you shred it). Saute your onion after you slice it up. Look at some of the past recipes for how to saute. You just stick it in the pan with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and then stir them around until they start to get limp. Then you pile everything on the pizza in the order I listed it. Just stop once you get to the cilantro because from the cilantro on you put it on after you bake the pizza.

So then pop it in the oven and let it cook for about 10 minutes, till the crust is starting to brown a little bit and you can start to lift up the side without the whole middle just sagging.

Take it out and sprinkle the cilantro on. Then slice ti and let everyone put on their own salsa and lemon. Yum Yum.

Here are some pictures Chris was kind enough to take :)

Browned butter pasta

I think you guys are going to say, jeez Tammy! So many posts! What can I say? This blog is fun. =)

Yesterday I made pasta with mushrooms, broccoli and browned butter. Browned butter gives the pasta a nutty flavor. This pasta is versatile...choose whatever kind of pasta you want. This time, I used linguini. You can use whatever meat and vegetables you'd like.

Ingredients:

1 head of broccoli
1 pint of mushrooms, sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced
10 ounces pasta of your choice
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
salt and pepper


1. Cut your broccoli into smaller pieces. Here are step by step pictures for you, Lien:








I also try to use some of the stems to reduce waste. Slice the stem very thinly and discard the thicker trunk of the broccoli.

2. Cook the broccoli. I cooked them by microwaving in a covered container for 1 minute. You know when the broccoli is cooked because it will turn a darker, deeper green. Or you can just eat a piece...that's what I do.

3. Wash your mushrooms. I do this my wash each one by running it under water while I scrub it. Then I place the clean one in a strainer, or something to drain excess water.

4. Cut off the tip of the mushrooms stem and discard it. Turn the mushroom on its side and slice.


5. When are you almost done slicing the mushrooms, heat a pot with some olive oil on medium-high heat.

6. When the oil is heated, cook a little bit of the mushrooms at a time. Make sure that each mushroom has contact with the bottom of the pot. If you cook too many mushrooms at once, a lot of water is going to come out, and the mushrooms won't brown.



7. When your batch of mushrooms have brown, place them aside (you can add them with the broccoli). Continue to cook the mushrooms in batches until browned.



8. I used the same pot to boil water for my pasta. Remember to add some salt into the water to flavor the pasta. Then, cook your pasta for around 8 minutes.

9. While you are waiting for the water to boil, mince your garlic. Here is one way to mince garlic. Make slices into the garlic clove that are parallel to the board. Don't slice all the way through the garlic clove.


10. Then make slices into the clove perpendicular to the board, again not slicing all the way through.


11. Run your knife through the clove and taa-daa! it's minced.


12. Take your butter and cut into cubes to speed up the melting. Heat on medium heat until melted.


13. When it is fully melted, add your garlic.


14. Heat until the butter is nutty and browned. You may need to stir occasionally.


15. After you drain your pasta, mix everything together in the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Yummo (and sorry the final picture is blurry)!

Flan

I attempted to make flan the same day that I made lasagna. Cindy wanted flan, so I made some. I tried out a new recipe, but in the end, the texture was too dense. The original recipe I'm posting is the original one that I used, but it needs tweaking.

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream (this was in the original recipe, but maybe 1/2 cup milk and 1 1/2 cups heavy cream will make a better flan)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 - 1/2 cup caramel, depending on how much caramel you like

1. Take out four or five ramekins (I took out six because I wasn't sure how many I would need). You could also use a pan instead of ramekins. Or mugs, I suppose. Place them in a baking dish and pour caramel on the ramekins.


2. Preheat your oven to 325. Boil 5 cups of water in a kettle.

3. Place heavy cream in a small pot. Heat on medium until it barely starts to bubble, then remove from heat.

4. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until mixed. Add the sugar and whisk until the sugar is fully incorporated.


5. Use a ladle to slowly add the hot cream into the egg mixture. Make sure to keep whisking, otherwise the eggs will start cooking and scrambling. When the bowl feels warm, it's okay to dump the rest of the hot cream into the mixing bowl. Then, add the vanilla.



6. Ladle the mixture through a strainer. Pour slowly to minimize bubbles. I try to pop any bubbles that I see.


7. Pour the hot water into the baking dish, around the ramekins. This is the water bath to help cook this evenly.


8. Bake in the oven at 325 for about 45 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a knife halfway between the center and the edge of the circle. If the knife comes out clean, it is done.


9. Let the flan cool completely before chilling in the refrigerator.

10. To plate the flan, run a knife around the edges (my sister doesn't do this, so that makes this optional).


11. Turn a plate upside down, then put the upside down plate on top of the ramekin. Flip the ramekin over so that the flan ends up on the plate.


It tasted good, but the texture was off. It was way too dense, which is why I'll try it with some milk next time to thin out the mixture.

Lasagna

Hey, it's Tammy! I made this lasagna a few days ago with Lionel and my sisters. It's a lasagna with meat sauce and spinach-ricotta layers. This lasagna takes a while, but you have a lot helpers, the prep work takes about 30 minutes.

Ingredients:
9 - 12 lasagna noodles (depending on how many layers you want)
8 ounces shredded mozzarella

Spinach-ricotta mixture:
2 eggs
2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 ounces of frozen, chopped spinach that has been thawed
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Meat sauce:
3/4 - 1 pound ground beef or turkey
32 ounces canned tomato sauce (or puree)
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon chili flake (optional)
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

To make the meat sauce:

1. Chop the onion. Here are some step by step photos on one way to chop an onion:






2. Heat a pot on high or medium heat. Add olive oil. When you can feel the heat with the back of your hand, add in the onions. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to spread the onions evenly. Stir the onions around every minute or so, until it browns.
3. Add your meat. In this case, turkey. Once the meat is in, break it up into smaller pieces. Every minute or so, stir the meat around until browned.


4. Add your tomato sauce or puree. Stir to combine everything, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to incorporate any yummy browned stuff into the sauce.

5. Season the sauce. If you don't have all of those spices on hand, it would probably still taste good with just salt, pepper, and sugar.

6. Let the sauce simmer for 15 minutes to let all of the flavors mix. Keep a lid on the pot, but tilt it slightly so that steam can escape. There's your meat sauce! You could also use this to have plain spaghetti, or dip with bread.

7. At this time, you can shred the mozzarella if you bought block cheese.


8. Start a pot of water for the lasagna noodles. I grab a large pot, fill it 2/3 of the way, and add salt. The pasta will absorb the salt while it is cooking, which enhances the flavor. I keep the lid on until the water is rapidly boiling, then I add in the lasagna noodles. Since these are long noodles, you have to stir it for a while until all of the noodles are submerged. Then, leave the lid off and cook for about 10 minutes. Test the noodle too see if it is nearly cooked. It will cook the rest of the way in the oven. (Sorry to hear you don't have an oven Lien!)
Preheat to 350 sometime around here.

To make the spinach-ricotta mixture:

1. Squeeze excess water from the thawed spinach.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk the two eggs.

3. Add the remaining ingredients.


Assembly:

1. Place a small amount of sauce at the bottom of your baking dish to keep the noodles from sticking.
2. Add your first layer of lasagna noodles.
3. My next layer was the spinach cheese. I added all of the spinach in this layer, but it's probably better if you split it in half. Add some mozzarella cheese.



4. Add more lasagna noodles, then half of your sauce, then some mozzarella cheese. Continue to layer your lasagna, alternating between meat sauce and spinach-ricotta.


5. Top the lasagna with the rest of the mozzarella cheese. Lionel seasoned the top with black pepper and salt.

6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until it bubbles. Then, change your oven to broil and brown the top for 5-8 minutes.


All done! This makes for a great meal by itself. All that you're missing is a piece of fruit to balance the meal (that's the nurse in me, haha).