Pumpkin Pasta

I just spent 4 days in Washington, DC gorging myself on all of the yummy food the city had to offer (um, Teaism's salty oat cookies are ah-mazing, and I was very happy with their muesli for breakfast after a 5 mile run!). I thought I would throw this recipe up in time for Thanksgiving as a fun twist on the traditional baked mac n cheese. I love this recipe. It's everything good about thanksgiving: pumpkin and sage and carbs and cheese! Honestly, I will cut up some turkey and mix it into pumpkin sauce if I have some leftover from Thanksgiving so that it really is the perfect Thanksgiving mac n cheese.


Pumpkin Baked Penne

serves about 4. Adapted from How Sweet Eats

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup cream cheese

2/3 cup milk

1/2 pound whole wheat penne

1/4 cup freshly grated mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves, chopped, plust more for garnish

crumbed bacon, if desired

Prepare water for pasta and cook according to directions.

While pasta is cooking, heat a medium saucepan over medium heat and add butter and onion. Whisk continuously until the butter browns and small brown bits appear in the pan. Immediately whisk in flour and chopped sage leaves and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add milk, cream cheese, and pumpkin, then mix until until combined. I chose to keep my “sauce” in a thicker state, but if you’d like it thinned out a bit more, add additional milk. At this point, taste and see if you’d like any additional salt or spices – this will most likely depend on how seasoned your squash was. I added another small pinch of salt.

Add pasta to an 8 or 9-inch baking dish. Pour sauce over top, then use a spoon to fold the sauce into the penne, coating it completely. Top with shredded cheeses. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until cheese is golden and bubbly. Garnish with crumbled bacon and sage leaves if desired.

Buffalo Chicken Mac N Cheese

I refuse to eat any more fast food for the rest of my life. Well, kind of.

If it weren't so impossible to avoid (especially when driving 13.5 hours from KY to FL), I would totally stick to that declaration. At any rate, I did not eat much fast food before, but after working in fast food for a mere 3 months, just for the summer, I am definitely no more inclined to become one of the millions of Americans who regularly consume pounds of deep fried potatoes and gallons of soda pop.

Ok, sorry to rant. The reason I brought fast food up is because the above picture is of the leftovers of buffalo chicken mac n cheese that I ate for lunch at work instead of eating the $7 worth of free fast food that is made available to me.

Green beans are a great side for this, by the way =).

Buffalo Chicken Mac N Cheese

Adapted from How Sweet Eats

serves 4-6

1 pound pasta (I used shell pasta from a local pasta company)

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into chunks

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

11/2 cups milk

1/2 cup grated monterey jack cheese (half of an 8oz brick) + more for topping

1/3 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese (a third of an 8oz brick) + more for topping

2/3 cup buffalo wing sauce

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

for garnish: ¾ cup chopped green onions, ½ cup fresh cilantro, ½ cup gorgonzola cheese, additional buffalo wing sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Prepare water for pasta and cook according to directions.

While pasta is cooking, heat a medium or large saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter, and once it’s melted and bubbly add the flour. Whisk together to create a roux and cook for 1-2 minutes until mixture gets a bit golden in color. Add milk, stir and turn down heat to low. Continue stirring until milk thickens. Add in grated cheeses and continue to stir until mixture is smooth. Stir in buffalo wing sauce. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.

Grease a baking dish (9 x 13 is fine, ir even a 4-inch deep dish). Add pasta and chicken to the cheese sauce over and mix throughly until everything is coated. Spoon or pour into baking dish. Sprinkle with additional grated cheese and bread crumbs. Bake for 25 minutes or until cheese is golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately top with gorgonzola, green onions and/or cilantro. Drizzle with extra buffalo wing sauce, if desired.

First Real Meal in the new place

The past weekend was spent in a rush of family arriving, further unpacking of the house, graduation stuff, and yummy food (including a bit of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail). It was good to see my family and get my house organized, though it was a bit stressful to have people over, unpack, try to do normal household chores, and go to graduation events. Ah well, it was awesome and I can't complain one bit due to the graduation present I received from my parents: a new mac book pro! My old computer could not even support Skype, but this new one is crazy! It's so fast and sleek. Not really sure how to use it yet though.

Before my family left Kentucky, I made them my take on Giada's Chicken Carbonara. It went over very well. We were all tired from doing a bit of the Bourbon Trail and visiting some vineyards, but this meal came together easily and fairly quickly.

Chicken Carbonara

Adapted from Giada
5 servings

2 teaspoons olive oil3 ounces thinly sliced pancetta, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 cup freshly grated parmesan
6 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon dried basil
Salt
2/3 pound spaghetti
3 cups coarsely shredded chicken (from 1 roasted chicken)
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
2 teaspoons lemon zest

Heat the oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium heat. Add the pancetta and garlic and saute until it is brown and crisp, about 8 minutes. Cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cream, cheese, yolks, and basil.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the spaghetti and cook until it is just tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Drain.

Add the chicken to the pan with the pancetta and stir to combine. Next, add the spaghetti and the cream mixture and toss over medium-low heat until the chicken is heated through and the sauce coats the spaghetti thickly, about 4 minutes (do not boil or you might end up scrambling the eggs). Season the pasta, to taste, with pepper and salt if needed (the pancetta will likely add all the salt you need). Transfer the pasta to a large wide serving bowl. Sprinkle the walnuts and lemon zest over, and serve.

Mac N Cheese

The last few days have been ones of change: packing up my belongings, starting a new job, and beginning a 3-week period of couch surfing. Overall, the new job has been surprisingly pleasant and couch surfing isn't all that bad with an air mattress and some good friends.

Because I am staying in other people's houses, my culinary adventures are going to be fairly limited over the next few weeks, but I am going to do my best to eat more than just scrambled eggs and peanut butter sandwiches. This week, the Tuesday night get-together was a potluck, so I decided to make the classic potluck entrée, mac n cheese. I bought all of the ingredients on the way there, showed up an hour early, and made the dish at my friends' house. Let's just say that there was none left at the end of the night =).

Baked Mac n' Cheese

Adapted from Southern Living

1 pound uncooked pasta -I used penne, the original recipe calls for cellentani

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1 (12-oz.) can evaporated milk

2 cups (8 oz.) shredded smoked Gouda cheese

1 (3-oz.) package cream cheese, softened

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper, divided

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 (8-oz.) package chopped cooked, smoked ham

2 cups cornflakes cereal, crushed

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare cellentani pasta according to package directions. Transfer hot pasta to a large bowl.

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Gradually whisk in flour until smooth; cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk and evaporated milk; cook, whisking constantly, 3 to 5 minutes or until thickened. Whisk in Gouda, cream cheese, salt, and 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper, and nutmeg until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in chopped ham.

Combine pasta and Gouda cheese mixture, and pour into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Stir together 2 cups crushed cereal, 2 Tbsp. melted butter, and remaining 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper; sprinkle over pasta mixture.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Tastes Like a Restaurant

Leaving Florida and it's delicious seafood is always hard, so I decided to make my own seafood dish. The original recipe for this, by Ina Garten, is supposed to feed 6 people, but I doubled the shrimp and still feel like it only feeds 4. Maybe that's just the seafood-lover in me.

This recipe comes together so quickly (20-25 minutes), is super yummy, and would totally be a legit dish to serve to guests. After getting home from the gym last night, I only had 45 minutes to eat and get dressed up for a party. I was able to make this, eat, and still have a full 12 minutes to get dressed and put on make-up. Definitely a winning recipe to me.

I boiled the water for the pasta while putting together the butter and defrosting the shrimp. By the time I finished the butter and prepping the shrimp, I put the pasta in the boiling water at the same time I put the shrimp dish in the oven. With about 4 minutes left on the pasta, I tossed in some frozen green beans into the pasta and boiling water. As a result, the shrimp, pasta, and green beans were all ready at the same time.

This dish went perfectly with the homemade carrot cupcakes and mascarpone icing that I had made earlier in the day (http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/carrot-cupcakes-with-mascarpone-icing.html)

Shrimp Scampi, adapted from Ina Garten

Serves 4

Ingredients

40 jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined (I used frozen, pre-cooked, so I just defrosted them)

3 tablespoons good olive oil (really, why would you buy anything but GOOD olive oil?)

2 tablespoons dry white wine

salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon wet garlic

1/4 cup minced shallots

1 1/2 teaspoons parsley

1/4 teaspoon crushed rosemary

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 large egg yolk

2/3 cup bread crumbs

fresh green beans and linguini, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Place the shrimp in a mixing bowl and toss gently with the olive oil, wine, salt, and pepper to taste. Allow to sit at room temperature while you make the butter and garlic mixture.

In a small bowl, mash the softened butter with the garlic, shallots, parsley, rosemary, lemon zest, lemon juice, egg yolk, and bread crumbs until combined.

Starting from the outer edge of a 14-inch oval gratin dish, arrange the shrimp in a single layer. Pour the remaining marinade over the shrimp. Spread the butter mixture evenly over the shrimp. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until hot and bubbly. If you like the top browned, place under a broiler for 1 minute. Serve with fresh, blanched green beans and whole grain linguine for a delicious, fairly nutritious meal.