Tag: parmesan

Categories
Main Dish

A fresh veggie-based pasta sauce will keep them ‘aspara’guessing

It sounds weird at first, but making a pasta sauce from asparagus is not only easy, it’s a delicious way to enjoy the fresh greens.
It sounds weird at first, but making a pasta sauce from asparagus is not only easy, it’s a delicious way to enjoy the fresh greens.

According to the website “The Kitchen Project,” asparagus is a very old vegetable.

Historical records show it was grown in ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt.

It takes a few years to get a plant going, but once you have an asparagus plant established, the growing season will last about three months, and a healthy plant can grow six inches every day.

With my gardening skills, I don’t think I could get a plant to live long enough to get to that point, but I’m always willing to enjoy the fruits of others’ labor when it comes to fresh vegetables.

With asparagus harvesting season just around the corner, I wanted to share a unique way to use the veggie for those who start getting tired of just roasting stalks.

This comes from “Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street.” You can find the original recipe on their YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/pLjflANPvNk?si=tSQSwkFV5PW35UTV. I replaced the shallots with onions, increased the garlic and figured out the amounts for several of the ingredients in my version below.

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Asparagus Pasta Sauce

It sounds weird at first, but making a pasta sauce from asparagus is not only easy, it’s a delicious way to enjoy the fresh greens.
Course Main Course
Keyword asparagus, fresh garlic, garden fresh, grated parmesan cheese, heavy cream, lemon juice, linguine, onion, parmesan, pasta sauce, vegetarian

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds fresh asparagus
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 small onion diced
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt plus more, to taste
  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic minced
  • pepper to taste
  • 16 ounces fettuccine pasta
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese freshly grated
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

  • Trim ends off asparagus and then cut the stalks into one-inch pieces.
  • Put the pieces into a food processor, and process until it is finely chopped.
  • Save out about one cup of the asparagus mixture and set it aside.
  • Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and melt the butter in it.
  • When the butter is melted, add the onion and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and saute until the onion is soft.
  • Add in the garlic and saute for about one minute. Add in the remaining asparagus from the food processor and stir to combine the ingredients. Let it saute for four to five minutes, stirring regularly.
  • While the asparagus sautes, begin cooking your pasta, according to the package instructions. When it’s done, be sure to reserve at least one cup of the pasta water when you drain it.
  • Once the asparagus is just starting to brown a bit, add in the heavy cream. Once it comes to a low simmer, add in the reserved asparagus, and stir.
  • Continue stirring regularly, letting the cream reduce a bit until dragging a spatula across the bottom of the pan leaves an empty trail for a few seconds before the sauce runs back into it.
  • Turn the heat to low and stir in the parmesan.
  • Add your drained pasta to the skillet. Add a touch of the pasta water, and toss the pasta with the sauce. If you want the sauce a little looser, add more pasta water until it’s at a consistency you like. Stir in the lemon juice and more salt and pepper, to taste. Serve with a little more fresh parmesan on top.

We ate our pasta with some meatballs, but it would also pair really well with chicken.

It was fresh and pretty, and it tasted like, well, asparagus, but with the addition of the parmesan, it had almost Alfredo qualities, and it was just a really nice sauce for dinner.

I’m looking forward to some locally grown asparagus popping up around the area so that I can make this again, and now that I know the ancient Italians were also eating asparagus, I guess the pasta combination just makes sense. Buon appetito!

This piece first appeared in print May 1, 2025.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Soup

There’s ‘snow’ excuse for waiting to try this great soup

Creamy parmesan sausage ditalini soup is hearty and full of flavors that stick to your bones. From the sausage to the parmesan, this soup is sure to warm you up on a cold day.
Creamy parmesan sausage ditalini soup is hearty and full of flavors that stick to your bones. From the sausage to the parmesan, this soup is sure to warm you up on a cold day.

As soon as the weather forecast called for snow this past week, I immediately began reviewing soup recipes I saved over the past year.

It was time.

Joey and I prepared our “get ready to be snowed in” list for the grocery store, and I was thoroughly ready to make some awesome, hearty meals while we were stuck inside.

The soup I’m sharing with you this week absolutely fit the bill for a cold day.

This recipe comes from the website “Belaya.” You can find the original post at https://belaya.info/creamy-parmesan-italian-sausage-ditalini-soup.html. I added extra garlic and pasta in my version below. It ended up creating a much thicker heartier soup/pasta dish, so if you like your soups a little looser, I’d recommend halving the amount of pasta or doubling the liquid listed below.

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Creamy Parmesan Sausage Ditalini Soup

Creamy parmesan sausage ditalini soup is hearty and full of flavors that stick to your bones. From the sausage to the parmesan, this soup is sure to warm you up on a cold day.
Course Main Course, Soup
Keyword 30-minute meal, chicken broth, chicken stock, diced tomatoes, ditalini pasta, fresh garlic, fresh spinach, grated parmesan cheese, hearty soup, heavy cream, hot Italian sausage, Italian sausage, minced garlic, onion, parmesan, red chili flakes, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 pound Italian sausage I used hot Italian
  • 1 small onion diced (I used yellow)
  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 14.5 ounces diced tomatoes drained
  • 16 ounces ditalini or other small pasta
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese plus more for serving
  • 2 cups fresh spinach roughly chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes optional
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large pot or Dutch oven. When it’s hot, add the sausage and onions, breaking the sausage apart as it sautes.
  • When the sausage is cooked through and the onions are soft, add the garlic, sauteing for another couple of minutes or until it is lightly browned and fragrant.
  • Pour in the chicken broth and drained tomatoes, and stir to combine. Raise the heat to bring the mixture to a low boil, and add the pasta, stirring regularly to keep it from sticking to the bottom. Boil the pasta for the amount of time recommended on the box or until it’s cooked to your liking.
  • Turn the heat down to medium-low, and stir in the cream. Then stir in the parmesan. Once the soup thickens and returns to a simmer, stir in the spinach, letting it cook for a couple minutes until it’s wilted. Finally, add red chili flakes (if desired) and salt and pepper, to taste.
  • Serve the soup with more parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.
  • For the leftovers, you may need to add more broth (or a little water) to get it back to the same consistency. It will likely thicken more in the refrigerator.

Ours was definitely thicker than the original recipe intended, but I just couldn’t see having half a box of pasta sitting in my pantry for who knows how long, so I figured there was no reason to skimp on the carbs.

This was warm, creamy and tasty. I really liked the bit of heat from the hot Italian sausage and chili flakes, too, but I also love that you can leave all that spiciness out and still have an amazing meal.

And it gave us another meal of tasty leftovers for later in the week, once the daily grind resumed. Work day or not, soup days and snow days are best combined.

This piece first appeared in print Jan. 9, 2025.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

The delicious smell of this dish will ‘bacon’ everyone to your kitchen

This buttery bacon and peas pasta is a great summer meal, with tons of flavor without feeling super heavy. Serve it alongside some summer veggies, and it’s a delicious dish to put on the table for a hot day.
This buttery bacon and peas pasta is a great summer meal, with tons of flavor without feeling super heavy. Serve it alongside some summer veggies, and it’s a delicious dish to put on the table for a hot day.

“Lindsey, you don’t have to cook. I would have DoorDashed something for lunch,” our young, Gen Z houseguest told me as I fired up my stove this week.

I mean, yeah, I guess I could have let him do that, but where’s the fun in eating lukewarm fast food in your own home when you have a new person to try a recipe out on?

I assured him that not only did I not mind cooking, but he was about to become one in a long line of my guinea pigs for new recipes. He didn’t argue with me too much.

As I flipped through my possible meal choices, I knew I wanted to stick to something that was filling without feeling overly heavy and definitely something that avoided preheating my oven, if I could help it.

I landed on a pasta dish that, while certainly not light by calorie or flavor standards, really fit the bill for lunch on a hot day, and it even sported just a little bit of green veggies so we could pretend we weren’t eating copious amounts of delicious butter and bacon sauce.

This recipe comes from the blog “Serving Dumplings” by Anna Chwistek. You can find her original post at https://www.servingdumplings.com/recipe/orecchiette-with-crispy-pancetta-and-peas/. I added extra seasoning in my version below, along with changing up some of the amounts of other ingredients.

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Buttery Bacon and Peas Pasta

This buttery bacon and peas pasta is a great summer meal, with tons of flavor without feeling super heavy. Serve it alongside some summer veggies, and it’s a delicious dish to put on the table for a hot day.
Course Main Course
Keyword bacon, bread crumbs, butter, frozen peas, garlic, minced garlic, orecchiette, pancetta, panko, parmesan, parmesan cheese, parsley, peas, red pepper flakes, summer lunch, summer pasta, thick-cut bacon, thick-sliced bacon

Ingredients

Pasta Ingredients

  • 16 ounces orecchiette pasta or another small pasta shape
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 12 ounces thick-sliced bacon or pancetta diced
  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 12 ounces frozen peas
  • 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup parmesan freshly grated

Topping Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/4 cup panko
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 3-4 tablespoons parmesan freshly grated
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Cook the pasta according to package instructions, saving about 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid when you drain it.
  • While the pasta cooks, prepare the topping. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, stir in the panko, and stir continuously, sauteing for several minutes until the panko is golden brown.
  • Transfer the panko to a bowl and stir in the parsley, parmesan, salt and pepper. Set it aside.
  • In the same large skillet, begin preparing the pasta part of the dish by heating the olive oil and butter over medium heat.
  • Add the diced bacon and saute until it’s cooked through. Add the garlic and saute for another minute and then add in the frozen peas, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stir occasionally, letting the peas thaw and everything meld for about three or four minutes.
  • Add in the cooked orecchiette, parmesan and about half of the reserved cooking water. Stir until everything is well coated and the cheese is melted. If you need a little more liquid, use the rest of the water. This will not be a thick, creamy sauce. Instead, you’ll have a light, delicious coating.
  • Serve the pasta hot, with a nice sprinkling of the panko mixture on top.

Like I said, this is decidedly not a healthy recipe (you’ll notice that none of the bacon fat is drained off, for instance), but it was really, really good, and our teenage visitor even went back for seconds.

The flavor of the bacon and butter, alongside the brightness from the peas was a great summer lunch. I also paired it with a simple side of sauteed zucchini and summer squash to try to get a few vitamins into our lives.

It is a little on the drier side when you reheat this, but I didn’t mind it. If that’s not really your cup of tea, you could always melt a little more butter to stir into it when you eat it for leftovers.

I would say making a from-scratch meal is certainly not as easy as firing up Door Dash, but I don’t think any of us would have gotten a meal like that from an app.

This piece first appeared in print on July 4, 2024.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Side Dish

There will be no ‘crisp’appointment at dinner with these potatoes

Parmesan encrusted potatoes take baked potatoes to a new level with crispy parmesan, garlic and some salt and pepper. This simple side dish packs a big wow factor.
Parmesan encrusted potatoes take baked potatoes to a new level with crispy parmesan, garlic and some salt and pepper. This simple side dish packs a big wow factor.

When it comes to the holidays and cooking, it’s so often about all of the traditional recipes.

We have Thanksgiving down to a science at our house, making sure we have everyone’s favorite dishes on the table.

And at Christmas, it’s all about the snack table for me. Dinner was always kind of a rotating menu, but the snack table was the old favorite.

That being said, I think trying out a new recipe at the holidays is fun. It’s a way to share a new experience with family and friends and change things up a bit. After some looking around, I think I found my holiday experiment for the year: parmesan encrusted potatoes.

This recipe takes baked potatoes to a whole new level, and they are perfect for the holidays, when most of us aren’t too worried about counting calories.

This comes from the blog “Audrey’s Apron.” You can find the original post at https://audreysapron.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/parmesan-upside-down-baked-potatoes/. I added extra cheese and seasonings to my version.

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Parmesan Encrusted Potatoes

Parmesan encrusted potatoes take baked potatoes to a new level with crispy parmesan, garlic and some salt and pepper. This simple side dish packs a big wow factor.
Course Side Dish
Keyword baked potatoes, easy side, garlic powder, parmesan, potatoes, red potatoes, yellow potatoes

Ingredients

  • about 6 medium-sized yellow or red potatoes
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
  • garlic powder to taste
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Place the butter in a nine-by-13-inch baking dish and place it in the oven while it preheats. Preheat to 400 degrees.
  • While the oven preheats, halve the potatoes, lengthwise.
  • When the oven is hot, carefully remove the baking dish and tilt it to coat the entire bottom as evenly as possible with the melted butter.
  • Evenly sprinkle the parmesan, garlic powder, salt and pepper over top of the melted butter. (Use just a touch more of each of the seasonings than you think you might want.)
  • Place the potatoes, cut-side down, onto the parmesan mixture, pressing them down just slightly.
  • Bake, uncovered, for 40 to 45 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
  • Serve the potatoes immediately, using a spatula to cut the crispy parmesan between each potato before scooping them out of the dish.

These potatoes were almost magical. They were delicious. The combination of the fluffiness of the potatoes with the crispiness of the cheese, the flavor pop of seasoning and the saltiness—it was so, so good.

We tried this recipe out with some delicious smoked chicken Joey made, and it felt like we were having a mini feast at our dining room table. We both agreed that this was a recipe to make for Christmas this year.

The other nice thing is it’s easy to expand or contract, depending on how many folks you’re serving. Really, if you can fit more potatoes in your baking dish, you don’t even need a whole lot more of the other ingredients. Just squeeze ’em in.

I will say that while these do reheat OK, they’re not the greatest leftovers. The cheese gets a little soggy, and trust me, the crispy cheese is the best part. They’re still good as leftovers but not nearly as awesome as the first serving.

As Christmas approaches, I’ll be mixing up my annual double batch of peppernuts and probably coating something in almond bark, but I’m also looking forward to sharing a new dish with my family. For me, that’s what the holidays are all about.

This piece first appeared in print on Dec. 15, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Side Dish

Don’t fritter away dinner this week; try a new side dish

Chickpea fritters are really easy to make, using a base of canned garbanzo beans, along with plenty of herbs and spices. They are a fantastic side dish to add to your next dinner.
Chickpea fritters are really easy to make, using a base of canned garbanzo beans, along with plenty of herbs and spices. They are a fantastic side dish to add to your next dinner.

I’m going to need all of you to mentally prepare yourself for the mood I found myself in recently: pantry clean out mode.

Once or twice a year, I find myself staring into the abyss that is my pantry and wondering where all of these random food items came from.

Because I love to try new recipes, I often fall victim to clearance items that look “interesting” or just having loads of extra ingredients leftover from whatever my last experiment happened to be.

This week, I found myself staring down a can of chickpeas that has been taking up space at the back of a shelf for longer than I care to even guess.

I bought a few cans for a recipe experiment that went terribly, and I never ended up using the last one. I kept assuming we’d make a batch of hummus or they would end up in a curry or soup sometime, but they’ve just become a permanent resident instead.

But not any more, thanks to this week’s successful experiment: chickpea fritters.

This comes from Yumna Jawad of the “Feel Good Foodie” blog. You can find her original post at https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/chickpea-fritters/. I added extra seasoning in my version.

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Chickpea Fritters

Chickpea fritters are really easy to make, using a base of canned garbanzo beans, along with plenty of herbs and spices. They are a fantastic side dish to add to your next dinner.
Course Side Dish
Keyword chickpeas, cumin, garbanzo beans, garlic powder, parmesan, parsley

Ingredients

  • 15 ounces canned chickpeas drained and rinsed
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil

Instructions

  • In a medium-sized bowl, mash the chickpeas until they’re nice and crumbly. Add in the flour, parmesan, parsley, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper and water, and stir until the mixture starts to come together.
  • Preheat a large skillet over medium-low to medium heat, and add the canola oil.
  • While the oil heats, form six patties—about one-half-inch thick—out of the chickpea mixture, making sure to compact them with your hands so they stay together.
  • When the oil is hot, carefully add the patties and cook for one to two minutes on each side or until they are golden brown.
  • Serve hot as a side to your favorite Mediterranean, Indian or Middle Eastern dish, or just eat them by themselves with a good dipping sauce. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.

I recommend eating these with something—maybe as a side to a curry, along with a gyro or at least with a good sauce—because the are a bit dry on their own.

That being said, they have great flavor, and I really liked these. Plus, they were super easy if you’re looking for a quick side dish.

I know that removing a single can from my pantry is nowhere near the triumph I’m trying to pretend it is (and you would definitely be saying that if you saw the mess I’ve gotten myself into), but as they say, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

I suppose the cleanup of a thousand ingredients starts with a lone can of chickpeas.

This piece first appeared in print on Sept. 29, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

Make a ‘rigaton’ of food with this sausage pasta bake

Sausage and cheese rigatoni is a delicious baked pasta with deep Italian flavors from marinara, roasted red peppers and plenty of cheese.
Sausage and cheese rigatoni is a delicious baked pasta with deep Italian flavors from marinara, roasted red peppers and plenty of cheese.

We decided to have a few friends over for dinner this past week, and I decided it was finally time for me to try this amazing-looking recipe for a baked Italian dish.

Joey was gracious enough to help me out by manning the saute pan. He was busy cooking the sausage and onion and asked, “When do I add the garlic?”

I looked at the recipe and paused.

“Well…um…you don’t,” I said.

“The garlic? What do you mean?”

“I mean, there is no garlic in the recipe.”

He looked at me, appalled, and I laughed and pointed to the large jar of minced garlic I already pulled from the refrigerator.

“Yeah, there’s no garlic in the recipe, but we’re totally adding some in anyway,” I said.

“No garlic. That’s just dumb,” he said.

You have to give the people what they want.

In this case, we ended up with a hearty, cheesy and delicious baked pasta, and it made so much that not only was I not sure it was going to actually fit in my casserole dish, but it barely looked like we even made a dent after enjoying big helpings at dinner.

This recipe comes from the blog “Foodie Crush.” You can find the original post at https://www.foodiecrush.com/baked-sausage-rigatoni/. I added garlic and some other herbs and spices to my version.

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Sausage and Cheese Rigatoni

Sausage and cheese rigatoni is a delicious baked pasta with deep Italian flavors from marinara, roasted red peppers and plenty of cheese.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword basil, fennel seeds, garlic, Italian parsley, marinara, oregano, paprika, parmesan cheese, provolone, ricotta cheese, rigatoni pasta, roasted red peppers, sweet Italian sausage, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 1 pound sweet Italian sausage ground or removed from casings
  • 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
  • 1 small yellow onion diced
  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 12 ounces roasted red bell peppers drained and diced
  • 25 ounces marinara sauce
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon basil
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 16 ounces rigatoni pasta
  • 15 ounces ricotta cheese
  • 8 ounces grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley chopped
  • 6 to 8 slices provolone cheese

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and prepare a three-quart baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray, and set it aside.
  • Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, fennel and onion and saute until the sausage is cooked through and the onions are soft. Add in the garlic and saute for another two minutes or so.
  • Dump in the diced red peppers, marinara sauce, oregano, basil and paprika to the pan and stir to combine.
  • While the sauce is warming through, bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the rigatoni for just five minutes. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce, stirring to coat it.
  • In another bowl, combine the ricotta, parmesan and parsley. (At first, you’ll wonder how it’s going to come together with all that parmesan, but just keep stirring. It will.)
  • Pour half of the pasta/sauce mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top it with half of the ricotta, and then place a single layer of three to four slices of provolone on top.
  • Finish it off with the rest of the sauce, the rest of the ricotta, and another layer of provolone.
  • Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes or until the top is brown and bubbly. Let the bake sit for five minutes before serving with some garlic bread.

Holy moly, you guys, this was delicious. It had great flavor, made a ton of food, and it was almost even better as leftovers the next day. It was also really easy to put together, which was nice for feeding a group. It also reminded me how underrated fennel seeds are as an ingredient. I can’t remember the last time I used fennel in a dish; I’ll have to make sure to do it more often.

I’m still not sure why it didn’t make the cut in the original recipe, but garlic was an excellent addition to the final product. And that was a good thing, considering I’m pretty sure I would have had to tackle Joey to keep him from adding it to the pan.

This piece first appeared in print on March 3, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Crockpot Main Dish

There are ‘polenta’ of options for this pork dish

Slow-cooked pork ragu is served over a creamy polenta to create a delicious, warm dinner with tons of flavor.
Slow-cooked pork ragu is served over a creamy polenta to create a delicious, warm dinner with tons of flavor.

It’s amazing how much variety we have at our fingertips at our local grocery stores.

There are so many options and ingredients that you’d think no one could ever miss out on finding something they wanted, but as is sometimes the case, I hit a brick wall with this week’s recipe.

I’ve been eyeing this recipe for a pork ragu served over creamy polenta, but when I looked at our grocery store, the only polenta I could get was the pre-made kind that definitely isn’t creamy.

So I turned to the Internet to find a solution. Surely there had to be a locally available ingredient I could use to make creamy polenta.

Of course, someone had the solution: coarse grind cornmeal. And I figured out that Bob’s Red Mill makes just such a product, and it was available right here! The website I found claimed that you just used coarse grind cornmeal the same way you use polenta, so I immediately bought a bag. 

And it worked…sort of. If you can’t find actual polenta like I couldn’t, here’s my advice: buy the coarse grind cornmeal, but double the amount of it rather than substituting it one-to-one with the polenta.

I was so ready to eat when I took the lid off my pot of polenta and realized it was more in the “soupy” category than the “creamy” one. So, if you decide to make the swap, I highly encourage you to use three cups coarse cornmeal so you can get dinner on the table on time.

This comes from the blog “White Plate, Blank Slate.” You can find the original at http://whiteplateblankslate.com/pork-ragu-with-creamy-polenta. I modified the recipe by changing up the spices a bit and by using a crockpot instead of the stovetop for the bulk of the cook time.

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Pork Ragu over Creamy Polenta

Slow-cooked pork ragu is served over a creamy polenta to create a delicious, warm dinner with tons of flavor.
Course Main Course
Keyword asparagus, bay leaves, creamy polenta, crockpot, crushed tomatoes, garlic, parmesan, pork butt, pork shoulder, rosemary, thyme

Ingredients

Ragu Ingredients

  • 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 yellow onion diced
  • 6-8 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup red wine I used a Cabernet-savignon
  • 28 ounces whole peeled tomatoes
  • 3 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
  • 2 bay leaves

Creamy Polenta Ingredients

  • 2 cups milk I used skim
  • 4 cups chicken stock or broth
  • 1 1/2 cups coarse polenta or 3 cups coarse grind cornmeal
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup parmesan grated, plus more for serving
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Cut any excess fat off of the pork shoulder and then cut it into three large pieces. Season them with salt and pepper.
  • Heat the canola oil over medium heat in a stock pot or Dutch oven and saute, turning each piece to evenly brown each side.
  • Remove the pork from the pot and place in a large crockpot and drain off any accumulated fat.
  • Add the onions to the pot and saute until they are soft. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste and saute for about five minutes. Pour in the wine and scrape the bottom of the pot to deglaze it. Cook for another five minutes and then add the tomatoes, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves, smashing the tomatoes as you stir.
  • Add the mixture, along with two cups of water, to the pork in the crockpot. Cook for two and one-half to three hours on high or five to six hours on low.
  • When the pork is done, shred it with two forks, and stir it back into the sauce, adding salt and pepper to taste and removing the bay leaves.
  • For the polenta, add the milk and chicken stock to a stock pot or Dutch oven and bring to a very low boil. Add the polenta or corn meal, whisking constantly as you add it. Once the polenta is well-combined, place a lid on the pot and remove it from heat. Don’t open it again until 20 minutes have elapsed.
  • Remove the lid and add the butter and parmesan cheese, whisking until everything is well combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Serve the ragu over top of the polenta in bowls, topping with a bit more parmesan.

This was so, so good, and it made a ton of food. We’ve been enjoying lots of leftovers over the past week, and the ragu would be great as a freezer meal, as well.

I’m sure plenty of polenta purists would say that I didn’t really come up with a worthy substitute, but I’d say that being able to swipe my credit card locally instead of online made it worth it. Plus, it was darn delicious, so polenta or not, this recipe earned an A-plus in my book.

This piece first appeared in print on Oct. 21, 2021.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Side Dish

Want to be a French chef? You can d’ouille’ it!

Ratatouille is a vegetarian dish with lots of color, deep flavors and makes for a hearty meal or side dish.
Ratatouille is a vegetarian dish with lots of color, deep flavors and makes for a hearty meal or side dish.

In an online article, author Ossiana Tepfenhart explains that there are lots of foods we now consider “fancy” that were once “poor man’s food.”

Dishes that fit the bill include lobster, oysters and even caviar. 

Another dish that she could have included? Ratatouille. 

The summer stew, native to Nice, France, was once considered a humble dish for humble folks, but now (probably thanks, in part, to the animated movie with the same name), it’s a meal that sounds luxurious and expensive.

I’m here to tell you that it’s definitely not expensive (or it shouldn’t be), and it’s actually deceptively easy to make, as long as you’re ready to do a lot of vegetable chopping.

It’s also a great dinner if you have a vegetarian eating at your table and can also suit vegans, as long as you substitute vegan parmesan into the recipe.

And I know this is technically a summer dish, but I can tell you there were still enough veggies hanging around at my local grocery store to accomplish this one, and as a hearty, warm meal, it suits these early fall days perfectly.

This recipe is inspired by a recipe from Bianca Zapatka. You can find it on her blog at https://biancazapatka.com/en/best-ratatouille-recipe/. I mostly used a video by the blog “One Dollar Kitchen” you can find on Pinterest. I added extra garlic in my version and replaced fresh herbs with dried.

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Ratatouille

Ratatouille is a vegetarian dish with lots of color, deep flavors and makes for a hearty meal or side dish.
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine French
Keyword basil, bell pepper, crushed tomatoes, eggplant, garlic, parmesan, rosemary, thyme, vegan, vegetarian, yellow onion, yellow squash

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
  • 1 yellow onion diced
  • 1 red pepper diced
  • 1 yellow pepper diced
  • 6-8 cloves garlic minced
  • 28 ounce crushed tomatoes
  • 4 teaspoons dried basil
  • 1 small eggplant sliced
  • 2 small yellow squash sliced
  • 2 small zucchini sliced
  • 6 roma tomatoes sliced
  • 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
  • 2 teaspoons dried thyme
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • grated parmesan for serving

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
  • Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a large, oven-proof skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and bell peppers and saute until they’re soft. Add the garlic and saute until it’s fragrant.
  • Add in the crushed tomatoes, basil, and salt and pepper, and cook for a couple minutes.
  • Arrange the eggplant, squash, zucchini and tomatoes in a spiral in the skillet, starting around the outside edge and working your way in. (Stand the slices up on their ends, rather than laying them flat, and arrange them tightly.)
  • Mix the remaining olive oil with the rosemary and thyme in a small bowl, and spoon or brush the mixture as evenly as possible over the top of the vegetables. Top with more salt and pepper.
  • Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for one hour.
  • Serve alone, with pasta or as a side dish and sprinkle servings with grated parmesan.

This has great depth of flavor, and we had an absolute ton of leftovers after making this for just two of us, so I would caution you to plan accordingly.

And after you make ratatouille at home, you can officially say you’ve practiced your French cooking. You don’t have to tell anyone its origins. After all, considering the prices nowadays of lobster, oysters or caviar, I think it’s safe to say things can change.

This piece first appeared in print on Oct. 14, 2021.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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Main Dish

This Greek pasta dish ‘itsio’ good, you have to try it

Pastitsio is a pasta dish that incorporates two different kinds of meat in a tomato sauce with warm spices and a delicious bechamel sauce on top.
Pastitsio is a pasta dish that incorporates two different kinds of meat in a tomato sauce with warm spices and a delicious bechamel sauce on top.

It’s not often I can stump Joey with a recipe.

He’s the king of the spice cabinet and my go to when I know a recipe needs “something,” but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

So when I managed to completely confuse him this week, I was a little proud of myself. Well, I was actually proud of TV chef Ina Garten, but who’s counting?

The dish I put in front of my husband? A delicious, tomato-y pasta. The secret ingredient? Cinnamon.

Now, I know that sounds insane, but trust me when I say it gave this dish a deep, fall-like flavor profile that made it tough not to want seconds, and it is definitely worth a try, although I will warn you this is not a quick recipe. Be ready to have a couple hours to blow on creating this amazing dish.

While this week’s recipe is Garten’s creation, I found it on the blog “Vodka and Biscuits.” You can find the original post at http://www.vodkaandbiscuits.com/2016/10/07/ina-gartens-pastitsio/. I added extra garlic, oregano and thyme and used pork in my version.

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Pastitsio

Pastitsio is a pasta dish that incorporates two different kinds of meat in a tomato sauce with warm spices and a delicious bechamel sauce on top.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Greek
Keyword cinnamon, dry red wine, garlic, ground beef, ground pork, oregano, parmesan, thyme, tomatoes, yellow onion

Ingredients

Meat Sauce Ingredients

  • 1 large yellow onion diced
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 pound pork
  • 1/2 cup dry red wine I used pinot noir
  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons oregano
  • 2 teaspoons thyme
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 28- ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 teaspoons pepper

Bechamel Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 2 1/2 cups milk I used skim
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups grated parmesan divided
  • 5.3- ounce container plain fat-free Greek yogurt
  • 3/4 pound tubular pasta I used penne

Instructions

  • In a large pot or deep skillet, cook the onion, ground beef and pork (crumbling the meat as you go) until the meat is cooked through and the onions are soft. Drain any excess fat from the pan.
  • Stir in the wine and saute until it is absorbed into the mixture. Add the garlic, cinnamon, oregano, thyme and cayenne and saute another two minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juices, along with the salt and pepper. Simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring regularly and squishing the tomatoes so that they break down into a sauce.
  • After the sauce has been simmering around 15 minutes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • For the bechamel, start by melting the butter over medium heat in a sauce pan. Once it is melted, stir in the flour and cook for about two minutes. Whisk in the milk and continue stirring constantly, raising the heat to bring the mixture to a low simmer (just below boiling).
  • Continue stirring until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Stir in the nutmeg, salt, pepper and 3/4 cup of the grated parmesan. Once the cheese melts, remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the Greek yogurt.
  • While your bechamel comes together, boil your pasta according to package directions to al dente. After draining, mix it into the tomato sauce.
  • Now it’s time for assembly. In a deep nine-by-13-inch pan, spread the tomato/pasta mixture evenly. Drizzle the bechamel over the top, and then finish off with the rest of the grated parmesan. Bake for about 40 to 45 minutes or until the top is browned and the mixture is bubbly.
  • Serve with some crusty bread.

This does take quite awhile to come together, but it makes plenty for a big family meal, and it got rave reviews at our table. It also reheated great for leftovers. 

It may have a few surprising ingredients, but it was still a home run for dinner at our house.

Plus, if you have a spices expert, it might be fun to play your own version of “stump the chump.” Even if they lose, they’ll still win with a great meal.

This piece first appeared in print on Sept. 9, 2021.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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Main Dish

A one-pot meal won’t take up ‘mushroom’ in the kitchen

This one-pot recipe for creamy mushroom pasta is a great dinner for the whole family.
This one-pot recipe for creamy mushroom pasta is a great dinner for the whole family.

Joey and I have completely different styles when it comes to cooking.

I’m a measurements person. He’s an “add it until it tastes right” person.

I subscribe to the “clean as you go” philosophy. He waits until the meal is over.

I search cookbooks and online for ingredients that meld well. He goes with his gut.

So, it was a little out of character for me when he walked into the kitchen to me scrutinizing a video on my phone while furiously scribbling down notes.

I watched a video of a person with the online handle of “Everything Delish” make what appeared to be an amazing creamy mushroom pasta, but after a long search, I realized that if I wanted to recreate the recipe, I was going to have to figure it out for myself.

I found her through her Pinterest page, if you’re interested in watching the video as well, and she has a website at everything-delish.com, although I couldn’t find this particular recipe on it. So, for the most part, the following is my interpretation.

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One Pot Creamy Mushroom Pasta

This one-pot recipe for creamy mushroom pasta is a great dinner for the whole family.
Course Main Course
Keyword chicken, creamy, garlic, linguine, mushrooms, parmesan-reggiano, pasta, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 chicken breasts cut into two-inch cubes
  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 16 ounces mushrooms sliced (I used baby bellas)
  • 4 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon basil
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup milk or cream
  • 12 ounces linguine pasta dry
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 cup parmesan-reggiano cheese grated
  • 6 ounces parmesan shredded
  • 2 cups fresh spinach leaves

Instructions

  • Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or a large pan with a lid over medium heat.
  • Add the chicken and brown on all sides. Don’t worry about cooking it all the way through. Add in the garlic, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, basil, onion powder, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper. Cook for several minutes, letting the garlic brown slightly.
  • Add in the chicken broth and milk. Raise the heat to a low boil.
  • Add in the dry pasta. Stir to incorporate it. A bit, then lower the heat to a simmer and place the lid on the pan. Let the pasta cook for about eight minutes or until it is al dente.
  • Remove the lid and stir. Stir in the flour, then add the cheeses and continue stirring regularly for five to 10 minutes, making sure to scrape the bottom to keep the cheese from sticking. Once the sauce reduces into a thicker, creamier consistency, stir in the fresh spinach. Let the pasta continue to heat through until the spinach is wilted, and serve.

This was so, so good. I was really nervous at first that the sauce wasn’t going to thicken, but after being patient, it finally got to a great consistency.

It also reheated really well out of the fridge, and Joey and I got several meals out of it.

When Joey figured out I was winging a recipe, he seemed a bit proud of me. I think maybe after a decade of marriage, he might finally be rubbing off on me.

Except for the whole kitchen cleaning thing. I’m not quite there yet.

This piece first appeared in print on June 3, 2021.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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