Shells with Shrimp, Artichoke Hearts and Sun-dried Tomatoes

Are you ready for something new to add to your favorite pasta dishes?  This will be it.  This is so satisfying, yet light, you'll dream about eating it every day.  Here's the thing...the sauce comes together really, really fast so have all of your ingredients lined up and ready to go.  Start cooking the pasta before you even start the sauce.  Bring it all together in the end for a perfect combination of seafood, pasta and flavor.  This is one of those dishes that you'll never tire of and you'll fall back on it time and time again.  Just like a good friend - it will come through for you every time.

Pasta Shells with Shrimp, Artichoke Hearts and Sun-dried Tomatoes

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

pinch of chili pepper flakes

1 pound of large, fresh shrimp, peeled & deveined (tails off)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. chopped sun-dried tomatoes

1 can of artichoke hearts (in water), drained and quartered

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup Italian parsley, chopped

1 pound of medium shell pasta

 Have all the ingredients ready to go. 

In a large pot of boiling salted water, add the pasta shells.    Bring back to a boil and stir frequently.

While pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large saute pan.  Add the chili pepper flakes and let sizzle for about 1 minute.  Add the shrimp and cook for about 2 minutes per side, until pink.  Add the garlic & sun-dried tomatoes and stir for 2 minutes.  Add the artichoke hearts and toss lightly.  Add the cooked pasta directly to the shrimp and artichoke hearts in the saute pan.  Sir in bread crumbs, salt, pepper and parsley.  Transfer pasta to large shallow serving dish. 

Serve immediately.

Penne with Sausage, Bacon and a Light Tomato Cream Sauce

On a chilly night, I highly recommend this most satisfying dinner of pasta and a salad.  Let's start with why, if you make this as written, you'll have one of those close-your-eyes-and-enjoy moments when you take those first few bites.  The difference in taking a pasta sauce from Okay to Oh My is not rushing as you layer the ingredients.  This whole dish doesn't even take that much time. But you are building the flavors along the way and it does require a certain amount of your attention and love. When sauteing the shallots, let them get nice and soft, over a medium-low heat.  When you add the bacon, let it cook, but don't let it it get crispy.  Same with the sausage.  Then the wine.  The tomatoes. Let it reduce!  Watch all of your ingredients closely and bring them together to make something, in the end, that's unforgettable. 


Penne with Sausage, Bacon & Tomato Cream Sauce
Serves 4-6 (or 2 if you and your sweetie are starving)

2 medium shallots, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes
2 slices of bacon, chopped in 1" dice
2 mild Italian sausages, casings removed and broken up
1/3 cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio
2 Roma or plum tomatoes, cut in 1" dice
1 28-oz. can imported Italian tomatoes, with their juice, put through a food mill to remove the seeds
1/2 cup half & half or cream
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Salt and pepper
1 pound penne pasta

Have your boiling water ready to go for the pasta.  Start cooking pasta about 15 minutes into making the sauce.  (Follow the package instruction to ensure your pasta is al dente!)

In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the shallots.  Cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes or until very soft.  Add the chopped garlic and chili pepper flakes and stir for another 2 minutes.  Add the diced bacon and stir until cooked, but not crispy.  Add the Italian sausage and brown for 3-4 minutes.  Increase the heat and add the white wine.  Let reduce until almost all the liquid is evaporated, about 2-3 minutes.  Add the diced tomatoes and the canned tomatoes and reduce the heat to medium-low.  Cook for about 10-15 minutes, until slightly thickened.  Add the half & half or cream and stir for a few minutes.  Stir in about a teaspoon of salt and some black pepper.  Add the cooked pasta to a shallow serving bowl and add all the sauce.  Stir in a good handful of freshly grated Parmigiano.  Now watch the closed eyes and the smiles.

Bucatini all'Amatriciana (Spicy Bacon Sauce for Pasta)

This is a recipe from my dear school.  A school that focused on the classic, as well as the new and modern, and even the recipes of ancient Italy.  We were taught dishes that focused on the seasons, the regions of the country and we were instilled with the importance of caring about the quality of the ingredients.  Along the way, I will try to bring you every dish and technique I was taught.  But for now, I want to teach you this pasta.  This basic pasta dish of Italy sings of the many virtues of authentic Italian food.  It was for food like this that I journeyed over to Florence,  hoping to taste for myself the joys and the wonder.  Please make this when you can.  Make it when you have the best of the ingredients listed.  Its reward will come in intense flavor and satisfaction.  This pasta dish just nails it, every single time.

Bucatini all'Amatriciana (Spicy Bacon Sauce for Pasta)

10 oz. bucatini or spaghetti
5 oz. good quality slab bacon (or if possible, ask for the cheek of the pig, guanciale)
4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 lb. ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced into 1/2" dice
1 medium red onion, sliced
Chili pepper flakes to taste
2 Tbsp. Pecorino Romano cheese
1 Tbsp. chopped Italian parsley

Serves 4

In a large saucepan, bring several quarts of water to boiling.  Add the bucatini and a handful of kosher salt.

Cut the bacon in julienne strips.  Heat the oil in a saucepan with the chili pepper flakes.  When it starts to sizzle, add the bacon.  Cook until almost crispy.  Remove from the saucepan and keep it to the side.  Add the onion to the oil in the pan.  Cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes, until soft.  Add the diced tomatoes and cook, on very high heat, for about 2-3 minutes.  Add the bacon back to the pan.  Drain the al dente pasta and immediately add it to the sauce  Add the grated Pecorino Romano and parsley and toss to combine.  Serve right away.  Pasta waits for no one!!

Walnut Sauce for Pasta (Salsa di Noci)

Happiness is....this pasta.  Insanely easy.  It comes together so fast, you should have your pasta cooking as soon as you start the sauce.  The secret to making this dish absolute heaven is toasting the walnuts for exactly the right amount of time in the buter and garlic.  The other key is to reduce the cream sauce only a bit so that it will coat the pasta evenly and it won't be too dry.  There is a mellowness and smoothness to this dish that is divine.  A simple mixed-greens salad with a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice would round out the meal nicely. 
 

Salsa di Noci

(Walnut Sauce for Pasta)

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

4 Tbsp. butter

20 walnuts, toasted & chopped into about 1/4" pieces

1 cup half & half

salt to taste

white pepper

Freshly grated parmesan

1 pound of farfalle or penne pasta

In a medium size saute pan, heat the butter and add the garlic.  Cook for 1 minute and add the chopped walnuts.  Cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat, until lightly toasted, then add the cream and let it thicken over medium-low heat for 5 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Cook the pasta (short shaped pasta is better) al dente and dress it with the sauce.  Serve hot with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Orzo with Chicken, Broccoli, Lemon and Mascarpone

If I wrote a cookbook (and I might), this could be the first recipe on the first page.  It's a dish that covers so many bases and takes care of so many needs.  You may end up adopting it as one of your all-time favorite recipes.  I don't say these things lightly.  This is DELICIOUS!  Look at what's going on here.  Orzo (the easiest pasta in the world to keep on your fork), chicken breasts, broccoli, creamy mascarpone, lemon - you see what's going on don't you?  This is food that sings!!!  Our main goal!  I came up with this recipe for my husband and I when I thought there really wasn't anything in the house.  I was this close to ordering sushi.  But I looked at the few ingredients I had and this is what I made.  I've made it about three thousand times since.  Give or take.

Orzo Pasta with Chicken, Broccoli, Lemon and Mascarpone

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, fully cooked, then diced into 2" pieces (Only cook the chicken until it's done.  Be careful not to overcook, as it gets dry and tough)
1 or 2 bunches of broccoli, cut into 1" size florets, (about 2 cups), steamed for 2-3 minutes (max!)
1/4-1/3 cup cup extra virgin olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon and juice of 1/2 a lemon
3/4 cup mascarpone (An Italian cream cheese.  One of my favorite ingredients.  Usually available in the nicer cheese section of the grocery store.)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Salt & Pepper
1 lb. orzo

In a large bowl, put the diced chicken, cooked broccoli florets, mascarpone and parmesan.  In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the orzo according to the package instructions.  Drain the pasta and immediately put it in the bowl with the chicken, broccoli and cheeses.  Pour olive oil over and add the lemon zest and juice.  Season with salt and pepper.  (Do not under-season or over-season.  Taste it.  Make sure you are getting all the flavors.)  Stir or fold gently several times until the mascarpone has completely melted and fully coats the orzo.

Now sit down and do nothing for about an hour.  Take your time with your food.  Breathe between bites and just love every mouthful.  A nice, chilled & crispy Sauvignon Blanc will help add to the magic.

We Call It Linguine With Clam Sauce, The Italians Call It...

Spaghetti Allo Scoglio.  I don't know about you, but that makes me want it even more.

Yes.  Linguine with Clam Sauce.  So classic. So everywhere. So...bad.  Allow me to be a little judgmental here.  You know that heaping pile of linguine dripping with chopped canned clams that shows up at all of the *best* Italian restaurants?  (You know there's a red and white checked tablecloth in there to help with the authenticity.)  Serve it with a loaf of garlic bread (made with garlic powder) and a Diet Coke and you've got yourself some dinner.  You know the meal.  You've ordered it.  In another life, I ordered it.  But now it's time to think about it.  Chopped can clams. Why?!  For heaven's sake! Why?!  Stick with me on this.  If you're already at the grocery store, in the chopped clams aisle, why not make a beeline for the fresh fish section?  You're already there!  Get the good stuff.  It's real. Say it with me.  Slowly now.  It's REAL.  REAL FOOD.  Say it often.  Say it out loud.  Now - let's cook with it.  (And if you do happen to have a can of chopped clams in your pantry and are ready to toss it.  Don't!  Do you know a little kitty that's been good?  Give it to them. Such a nice way to say "I love you kitty".)

Spaghetti Allo Sgoglio (Pasta with Clam Sauce)

3 lbs. fresh clams (the smallest you can find, Littleneck are perfect)
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup water
4 cloves garlic, chopped fine or crushed through a garlic press
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes (or to taste if you're feeling spicy!)
Salt and pepper
1 pound spaghetti or linguine
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. parsley, chopped
Optional:
Fresh lemon juice and freshly grated parmesan cheese

Soak the clams in cold, salted water for at least 30 minutes.  Rinse & scrub under cold water.  (The salt helps draw the dirt out of the clams.  That's kind of awesome, yes?)  In a heavy, large pot, put the clams, 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup of the wine.  Cover and cook them over medium-high heat until the clams open.  Using a slotted spoon, immediately remove them from the hot liquid and put them in a large bowl.  Remove the clams from their shells.  Discard any clams that do not open up.  Strain the water/wine mixture using a paper towel into a medium-sized bowl and set both the clams and the liquid aside.

Have a large pot of salted, boiling water ready to go.  Put your pasta in the boiling water, stir, then start to make the sauce.  Cook the pasta to al dente. (Read the instructions on the pasta package for the right cooking time.  Please never over cook the pasta.)

In a large sauce pan, heat the olive oil to medium.  Add the garlic and chili pepper flakes.  When the garlic just begins to sizzle, add the clams and the remaining 1/4 cup of wine.  Cook over medium heat for one minute.  Season with salt and pepper.  Reduce the heat to very low. 

Transfer the al dente pasta to the sauce.  Add the reserved water/wine mixture and the 1 Tbsp of butter.  Finish the cooking process over a medium-low heat, always stirring, until the pasta is beautifully coated.  And though it's not traditional, if you'd like, finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a handful of parmesan cheese.  (Go ahead. I won't tell.)  Sprinkle with parsley on top.  And then?  Oh my goodness.  Pour yourself something delicious that once began as a grape.  Make a salad.  And have a fabulous dinner.