The Cookbook

Mik

With a knife. Cut ends off then slice them lengthwise. I think they cook better and it brings out the natural sweetness. Don’t think they cook evenly whole.

Mik

Tonight's repast, found and requested by My Favorite Redhead. Will use less sausage - that's a LOT for half a pound of pasta. Our servings will be about 1/4 of this recipe, two oz of pasta.

https://www.saltandlavender.com/wprm_print/41612

Orecchiette with Sausage and Spinach

Ingredients

8 ounces uncooked orecchiette pasta
16 ounces Italian sausages see note
1/2 medium onion chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 cups (packed) fresh baby spinach
2 tablespoons fresh basil optional
Salt & pepper to taste
For serving: freshly grated parmesan cheese optional, to taste

Instructions

Cook the pasta al dente according to package directions.

Meanwhile, crumble the sausage meat into a skillet (take it out of casings if using whole sausages). Add the onion to the skillet as well, and sauté over medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes or until it's cooked through and nicely browned. If there's more than about 1-2 tablespoons of fat left in the skillet, spoon out the excess, but be sure to leave some since we're not adding any extra butter or oil.

Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the garlic and Dijon mustard (cook for about 30 seconds).

Pour in the wine and cook until reduced by half (about 1-2 minutes).

Add in the spinach and basil. Toss (using tongs or two large spoons) until the spinach has wilted, then add in the drained pasta and toss again.

Season with salt & pepper as needed. Serve immediately with freshly grated parmesan cheese over top.

Notes

There is quite a lot of sausage in the sauce, so you could definitely get away with using a bit less than the full pound. Here in Canada, Johnsonville sausages come in a 500g pack (that's just over a pound, and I find it easiest to just use the whole thing). Whatever brand you like best will work just fine, and you can either take the sausage meat out of the casings or just use ground sausage meat.

Mik

Pretty tasty!

Aqua Letifer

@Mik said in The Cookbook:

Pretty tasty!

Would you mind telling me what that kind of pasta is called? I know the story behind it but couldn't find it in the store, and I sounded like a crazy person trying to explain it.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@Aqua-Letifer said in The Cookbook:

Would you mind telling me what that kind of pasta is called?

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=orecchiette&crid=101W1OT5U5X8S&sprefix=orecchiette%2Caps%2C126&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

But none of them look like what's in @Mik's picture.

Mik

It's a new pasta, not Italian, called Cascatelli. Interesting story, like below. Right now it's only available from Sfoglini and pretty pricey.

https://www.eater.com/2021/3/22/22344801/dan-pashman-creates-new-pasta-cascatelli-with-sfoglini

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@Mik said in The Cookbook:

https://www.eater.com/2021/3/22/22344801/dan-pashman-creates-new-pasta-cascatelli-with-sfoglini

OK, so being the philistine I am, is there really a difference in pastas beside the shape?

I mean, I understand how one might want a specific shape to grab and hold whatever sauce you're making with it.

But, spaghetti, linguine, fettuccine....they're all the same, right?

Philistine...

Mik

They're pretty much all made out of the same stuff, yeah. I think the variations are in the bite and mouthfeel. I personally don't care much for fettucine, preferring bucatini which is essentially fat spaghetti.

Me, I'm not all that fond of cascatelli, but had to buy some to find out.

Mik

MFR again requested a recipe she found. Since I made her eat grilled trout last night, I guess I will make it for her. It does sound good. Using pork tenderloin that has been in freezer for like 3 years. Vacuum sealed so should be fine. Will be substituting agave and maple syrup for some of the honey.

https://www.thereciperebel.com/honey-garlic-pork-tenderloin-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-28473

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Mik

This was very, very good. Would make again.

By the way, the Recipe Rebel site l linked above has some really great, fast delicious looking dinners. One more I ordered the stuff for is one George would like. Pierogies and smoked sausage.

https://www.thereciperebel.com/perogies-and-sausage-skillet/

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@Mik thanks for that link.

Lots of good stuff there, some of which Mrs. George might like. She doesn't like "saucy" things.

I know, I know, Cicero girl....

Mik

Thought you might like it. I see a lot of the food blogs, but not many that I think are pretty great.

89th

As requested in this thread: https://nodebb.the-new-coffee-room.club/post/183097

Our pizza process:

Ingredients:

Dough - Buy from Trader Joes, looks like this. It can can keep in fridge for a few days, otherwise put in freezer. I have found keeping it in fridge right before rolling it out makes it easiest to work with. For years I would let it come to room temperature first.
Sauce - We use this sauce. Used to buy it in-store but haven't found it in Minnesota, so we just buy it in 6 packs on Amazon.
Flour - Used when rolling out the dough
Cornmeal - Used to keep pizza from sticking to pizza peel
Cheese - We use normal shredded mozz, but you can mix it up
Olive oil - Brush on crust to make it crispier
Other toppings - Such as spinach, pepperoni, red pepper flakes, sliced pepper, ok that's a lot of pepper... onion, etc. You know what you like.

Tools

Rolling pin
Pizza peel (like this)
Pizza stone (like this)

Process

Preheat oven to 500, place pizza stone in the oven
Roll out dough using flour, flip once or twice as needed until desired width
Place light coating of cornmeal on pizza peel (this will keep dough from sticking and will make sliding it onto the hot pizza stone easy)
Manually transfer dough onto pizza peel
Add sauce, then cheese, then toppings, then a little cheese on top. Whatever you want.
Brush olive oil on crust
Reduce oven to 460 (no need to wait for it to get there)
TIP: Do a few practice "slide/shake" of the pizza on the peel to make sure it slides enough to be able to transfer onto the stone. Suggest doing this over the sink since cornmeal will fall off a bit
Transfer pizza by sliding it onto the hot pizza stone while it's in the oven.
Usually about 11-13 minutes should do the trick

TL;DR Version

Preheat to 500
Roll out dough from Trader Joes
Transfer to pizza peel
Add toppings
Reduce oven to 460
Slide pizza from peel to stone
Bake for 11-13 min

Final note. The temperature and time are not exact. I have done everything from 425 to keeping it at 500. Sometimes it takes 11 minutes, sometimes 15.

Mik

Made the Pierogi sausage thing last night. Very good.

jon-nyc

That's what she said.

Mik

Anybody like cole slaw? This is an excellent easy dressing recipe. Takes like two minutes and the lemon juice makes it really fresh. I used cider vinegar.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/240784/easy-coleslaw-dressing/

89th

@Mik said in The Cookbook:

Anybody like cole slaw? This is an excellent easy dressing recipe. Takes like two minutes and the lemon juice makes it really fresh. I used cider vinegar.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/240784/easy-coleslaw-dressing/

Oh I used to make that often. Man it really was very good. I should start doing it again.

Mik

I made it for pork belly tacos, but think I like it better just by itself. Tacos turned out great.

89th

@Mik said in The Cookbook:

I made it for pork belly tacos, but think I like it better just by itself. Tacos turned out great.

Mmm that looks good.

Mik

It's fall, so comfort food rules. I'm making my beloved mother in law's equally beloved Chicken Casserole. The recipe is in here somewhere. I'll just post it again, in her handwriting.

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