Meal Planning: Fresh tortellini with asparagus, peas and mint

So, I've been thinking about this for a while, and I've finally implemented it.  I've started to plan my dinners two weeks at a time.  There are a few reasons for this.  I want to try new things and if I plan them out, then it's a little easier.  I can also plan more difficult things on days that I have off and easier things one days I work late.  If I close, I plan to have my husband cook.

For these first two weeks, it's been mostly new things and it's been fun.  I hope to post some of the new recipes I've tried over the next few days.  These recipes have allowed me to try new things as well.

Anyway.  Today is St. Patrick's day and while I was planning the dinners, I did not even think about this fact.  However, the meal that I planned for today did work out with the theme.  It was not corned beef and cabbage.  I'm not a big fan of cabbage, though one of this week's recipes did use a lot of cabbage.  Tonight's recipe came from the April/May 2012 issue of Fine Cooking.

Fresh Tortellini with Asparagus, Peas, and Mint

(This was the picture from the magazine... I don't have a fancy platter to make it look pretty)

Kosher salt
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1/8 tsp. cayenne
1 lb. fresh cheese tortellini
1 lb. asparagus, trimmed of tough, woody stems, and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces (leave the tips whole)
1 cup shelled fresh peas (or thawed frozen peas)
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint
2 oz. fresh goat cheese, softened
Freshly ground black pepper

 

 

In a 6-quart covered pot, bring 3 quarts well-salted water to a boil over high heat.
In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, cayenne, and 1/2 tsp. salt.
Cook the tortellini, asparagus, and peas in the boiling water until the tortellini is al dente, 2 to 3 minutes.

Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta and vegetables and toss with the garlic-oil mixture. Add  the pine nuts, mint, and  goat cheese and stir until the cheese melts into a sauce, adding cooking water as needed to moisten the pasta. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In addition to this, I sliced a chicken breast and cooked it with a little salt, pepper and cayenne.  This was fairly quick and easy to throw together.  

I did forget to save the cooking liquid though.  I guess there was enough left in the pot for the recipe when I realized I was dumping it all down the drain .

Before this recipe, I had never had pine nuts and I had never had goat cheese.  I enjoyed the dish.  It was different.  Here are my pictures.  It came out similar to the magazine picture.

Cream of Potato and Broccoli Soup

So, I have two copies/versions of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. One is an older version like my mom had and one is the updated version that the link points to.  My husband got me the updated version for Christmas two years ago.  That same year, my brother gifted me an immersion blender which I have mentioned in here once before.

The first thing that I made out of the cook book was cream of broccoli soup.  My husband and I thought that it came out really well.  It was yummy.

I had some potatoes to use up (in fact, I still have some to use up, but I have a lot less now), so I figured I'd make the potato version combined with the broccoli version.  I doubled the basic recipe and added to it.

Here is the basic recipe for the Cream of Vegetable of Your Choice Soup:

Desired Vegetables (variations listed include potato, cauliflower and broccoli)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth or vegetable stock
1 Tbsp butter or margerine
1 Tbsp all purpose flour
Seasoning
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper
1 cup milk, half and half, or light cream

Directions:
 In a large saucepan cook desired vegetables, covered, in a large amount of boiling water according to directions in each variation.  Drain well.  Reserve 1 cup cooked vegetables.

In a food processor bowl combine remaining cooked vegetables and 3/4 cup of broth.  Cover; process about 1 minute or until smooth.  Set aside.

In the same saucepan melt butter.  Stir in flour, seasoning, salt, and pepper.  Add milk all at once.  Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly.  Cook and stir for one minute more.

Stir in the reserved 1 cup cooked vegetables, blended vegetable mixture, and remaining 3/4 cup broth.  Cook and stir until heated through.  If necessary, stir in additional milk to reach desired consistency.  If desired, season to taste with additional salt and pepper.

For the potato variant it says to use 5 medium potatoes peeled and cubed and a 1/2 cup chopped onion.  It also suggests dill or basil for the seasoning.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Now that you have the starting point, here's what I did.

 Ingredients:

3-4 cups chopped potatoes (I probably used 14 small red potatoes and peeled half)

4 carrots

4 ribs celery

1 large onion

4 cloves of garlic

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups milk

2-4 cups of broccoli (I didn't really measure)

salt, pepper and dill to taste

butter and flour (approx 2 Tbsp each)

bay leaf

Directions:

I chopped the whole onion, 2 carrots, 2 ribs of celery, and peeled the cloves of garlic.  I didn't bother chopping the garlic at this point, but I did smash them a little with the side of my knife.  I sauteed all of these vegetables with some pepper in the dutch oven with a little bit of olive oil until they had softened somewhat.

Before and while these were cooking, I peeled half of my potatoes and chopped them into small pieces.  Once the mirepoix (which is the fancy cooking term for the "aromatics" that are onions, celery and carrots) had softened, I added the peeled and chopped potatoes, the bay leaf and the 4 cups of chicken stock.  I let this cook for about 10 minutes, then I tossed in about half of the frozen broccoli I was going to use.

Once I made sure that the broccoli had softened and the potatoes were thoroughly cooked, I took the pot off the heat and blended everything with my immersion blender until it was smooth.  You can see the consistency in the second picture.

I returned the pot to the stove and added the seasoning and the remaining vegetables except the broccoli (2 chopped carrots, 2 ribs of celery, chopped, remaining potatoes, chopped with skin left on).  I let this mixture cook on a medium heat, stirring often, until the potatoes were cooked through and adding the broccoli with just enough time for it to heat through.

In a small saucepan, melt your butter, then add the same amount of flour to make your roux (another fancy cooking term which usually refers to a fat and flour used to thicken something).  Once the butter and flour are mixed thoroughly, let them cook for about a minute.  You want to cook off the raw flour taste.  

Next, add all of your milk to the roux.  I used 1 cup of whole milk and 1 cup of skim milk for mine.  Whisk your milk and roux together, eliminating lumps.  Heat until your milk starts to thicken, but not boil.  You don't want to burn the milk. 

Add the milk to the soup mixture and stir to combine.

We served ours with some grilled cheese sandwiches made with the wheat bread I posted previously and sprinkled with a little shredded cheese on top.

When I was making this, my husband asked me if there was any meat in the soup.  It's not really a soup that needs meat in my opinion, and the nice thing is that most of the thickness is from blended vegetables, so it's pretty healthy.

Try it and tell me what you think.

Thanks and happy eating!

Lasagna "Cupcakes"

I was wandering around the internet one day.  I don't even remember what I was looking for.  But I came across Lasagna Cupcakes and I immediately shared the link on my Facebook page so that I didn't lose it.  I knew I wanted to make them.

I would like to try them again with a few adjustments.  But for the first time, I made them pretty much according to the recipe (though I can never really stick to a recipe unless it's baked goods).

Ingredients

• 1 cup marinara sauce
• 3/4 pound ground beef
• 12 wonton wrappers
• 8 ounces shredded mozzarella
• 3 ounces Parmesan cheese
• 4 ounces Ricotta cheese
• (optional) basil for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.
2. Brown beef and season with salt and pepper. Drain.
3. Cut wonton wrappers into circle shapes using a biscuit cutter or using the top of a drinking glass. You can cut several at a time.
4. Reserve 6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and 6 tablespoon mozzarella for the top of you cupcakes. Start layering your lasagna cupcakes. Begin with a wonton wrapper and press it into the bottom of each muffin tin. Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese, Ricotta cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Top with a little meat and marinara sauce. Use around 1-2 teaspoons of all the ingredients depending on your personal preference.
5. Repeat layers ending with marinara sauce. Top with reserved Parmesan and mozzarella cheese.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until edges are brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. To remove use a knife to loosen the edges then pop each lasagna out.
7. Garnish with basil and serve.

 I followed this for the most part.  I decided I was going to make my own fire roasted tomato sauce for this though.  I had some shallots to use up and I always have garlic in the house.  so I diced those up and sauteed them until they got soft.  I added some pepper and some Italian herbs, then added the tomatoes.  I used canned tomato products that I had on hand as well.  I believe I used 1 can fire roasted tomatoes and one can tomato sauce.  I let it all cook together, low and slow for a while.  I probably cooked it for two hours or so.  Once i felt like the flavors had enough time together, I pulled out my immersion blender (I love my kitchen toys) and blended it all together.

Here's how the sauce came out:

Looks like tomato sauce.  It tasted pretty good too.  I remember thinking I could probably just eat that and be happy.

I also used a zesty Italian sausage instead of ground beef and an Italian 5 cheese blend instead of Mozzarella and Parmesan.  The recipe makes 6, but I made 12 regular cupcake sized mini lasagna.

I layered everything in and here's the before baking picture:

 I baked them until they smelled done and the edges were crispy.  (As you can see, I also didn't follow the "Cut wontons into circles" instructions.... have you noticed that I'm bad at following directions?)

And the finished product:

They were yummy.  I actually took leftovers to work with me and used the dreaded microwave there to eat the rest (for those that know me, know this was a huge step ... I have what I like to call food paranoia... that mostly centers around other people and a lack of trust there).

The next time I make them, I would like to make my own pasta sheets (another of my kitchen toys... a pasta roller attachment for my KitchenAid Mixer).  That's really the only thing that I would really change (other than my improvised changes that I used this time).

Try them... you'll like them.

Thanks (and I need to do more of these... work schedule has been random lately and I haven't had much time to sit at the computer... I still need to put cake pictures on the computer so I can do that entry... and I have another installment of Linda's Herb and Spice World Tour with an herb that I like quite a bit) ... and happy eating!