Breaded Ravioli

     Friday was one of the cooler days last week which in turn allowed me to use my oven without sweating to death. I’ve made these breaded ravioli a few times and thought they would be nice to serve to the guests we had coming over. I had about 20 minutes before Christine’s sister and boyfriend would be over which gave me enough time to bread the ravioli, get them in the oven, and clean up the mess I made breading them. Since I was short on time and I had to make a double batch, I didn’t bread these individually like I normally do, I used the shake and bake method. Here’s the recipe before I go any further:

2 tablespoons whole milk

1 egg

3/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 25 ounce package frozen cheese or beef ravioli

1 16 ounce jar spaghetti sauce

     If you double this recipe it will yield about 40 ravioli or so. Start by combining the salt, parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs on a plate and set aside. I put this in a freezer bag so I could shake the ravioli in it to save time. Beat the egg and milk in a deep bowl and begin to coat the ravioli with this mixture. Coat about half of the ravioli(a quarter if you double the recipe) and put them in the bag with the dry ingredients. Seal the bag shut and shake until sufficiently covered. As you take them out of the bag, brush off excess coating. Place the ravioli on a large cooking sheet sprayed with butter flavored non stick spray. Continue coating and breading until all of the ravioli are done. Once arrange on the cooking sheet, lightly spray the ravioli with the butter spray; only spray enough to dampen the breading. Place the sheet into the oven at 400 degrees. Allow the ravioli to cook for about 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through. You’ll know they are done when they have a golden brown crust to them.

     You can serve them with the sauce directly over the ravioli or on the side. I chose to pour a quarter of the jar of sauce in each of the bowls and then pile the ravioli on one side. This allowed us to use as much or as little sauce as we liked. I used Wegmans Italian Classics Puttanesca Sauce which contained Kalamata olives, portabella mushrooms, artichoke hearts and capers which went well with beef ravioli. The ravioli should have a buttery crunch to them as if they were fried. The recipe originally called for oil to fry them but that can become messy and isn’t nearly as healthy for you. This is one of my go to quick meals when I want pasta but don’t want just sauce and noodles.

Rating: Yummy – A quick recipe that always turns out great.

Mom's Sauce & Baked Penne

     I have never made homemade tomato sauce before for a couple of reasons: 1) I’m not a huge red sauce fan despite having Italian in me 2) Everyone I know who makes sauce says it is a pain to make. We were having guests over so I decided to use my mom’s sauce recipe to make baked penne with. I’m not sure if my mom wants everyone in the world to have her recipe so I won’t post the exact measurements needed to duplicate it. It is very important that you do not use any metal utensils or pots when making this sauce as the acidity of the tomatoes in it will take on a metallic taste if you do. I used a wooden spoon to stir with and a plastic ladle to scoop the sauce out. I don’t have a Dutch oven so I substituted my large crock pot in its place.

     You need to render some of the fat from the sausage which is near impossible to do in a crock pot because it won’t get hot enough. Since there was no tomatoes used in this step, I sautéed the sausage with olive oil in a pan. Cook the sausage for about 10 minutes and then remove it from the pan. Since I was using a pan I had to modify the next step slightly, I added garlic to the drippings and sautéed that for a few minutes. Next, I added the drippings and garlic from the pan into the crock pot and mixed them with tomato paste. I had plugged the crock pot in and put it on high so it was hot enough to do the rest of the cooking needed. Once the mixture of drippings, garlic, and tomato paste turned a few shades darker, I added tomato puree, crushed tomatoes, and some water. I stirred everything up and dropped in the sausage links. The following seasonings are sprinkled on top: oregano, basil, parsley, salt, celery seed, and sugar. Stir the seasonings into the sauce until completely mixed with the tomatoes. If using a Dutch oven, turn the heat down to low and allow this to simmer for 3-4 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Since I was using the crock pot, I left it on high and just kept an eye on it.

     About 30 minutes before adding the sauce to the pasta, I took all the sausage links out and chopped them down into small pieces and mixed it all back into the sauce. Thinking we were having 6 people total, I boiled 2 pounds of pasta in a large pot. Once the pasta was done, I ladled the sauce over it and mixed until it was all covered. As a final step I sprinkled mozzarella cheese over the pan of pasta and stuck it in the oven for about 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Once the cheese began to bubble and turn a golden brown in spots, I pulled it out and served it up.

     Everyone enjoyed the penne and I think the sauce had a lot to do with it. Like I said before, I’m not a huge fan of red sauce but it was good and I’m glad I took the time to make it from scratch. The sauce was very light and smooth which is nice for those of you who don’t like the chucky sauce most restaurants serve. Everyone had seconds so there was little left over and what was left was sent home with people and I’m having the last of it for lunch today.

Rating: Yummy - I know I'll make this again but it isn't a "must".

Beef Cutlets

    One of my favorite comfort foods is breaded beef cutlets. I picked up some cutlets cut from sirloin at Spera’s on Sunday night. I have said this before on my sandwich blog: Spera’s has the best meat around, whether it is cold cuts, beef, chicken, pork, or anything else they carry. The package I bought had a little over 6/10ths a pound which was perfect for the two of us. Six sand dollar sized pieces were cut to about a quarter of an inch in thickness. For the breading, I use Italian style bread crumbs which you can buy in any grocery store. If you just have regular bread crumbs like I did, just add some Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, and some extra parsley. Use one egg per pound of cutlets to moisten them enough for the bread crumbs to stick. I added a bit of milk to the egg instead of water when making the egg wash just as a personal preference. Heat up about three tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet and add the cutlets after breading them. Since the cutlets come so thin, I only cook them for about 3 minutes on each side at a medium high heat. Do NOT turn your attention away from them because they can burn very easily. Mine came out to the dark brown I was looking for.

     For sides I had pierogies and mixed vegetables. The mixed vegetables were the steam in bag type so I didn’t do anything extra to them. The pierogies were also frozen but I decided instead of baking them like I normally do, I would sauté them per suggestion of my co-workers. So like most of the stuff I make, I started by sautéing some minced garlic in olive oil and then added the pierogies. They cooked for about 12 minutes which heated them through but didn’t give them the crunch that I had hoped for. Since the cutlets were already out of the pan and onto the plates, I had to pull the pierogies before they could crisp up.

     The pierogies were soft but tasted fine and the garlic added some extra flavor. I don’t think I will sauté them again without adding more to the pan like onions. The beef cutlets came out just the way my mom makes them which is how I wanted them to come out. The meat was tender but cooked through to the point there was little to no pink in any of them. The breading stayed together for the most part; more oil would have ensured that. The simple breading mixture used in this dish can be used on any meat really but it is just the best on beef cutlets. No changes are need to these cutlets, just more practice in the act of making them.

Rating: Yummy - A quick and easy comfort food.

Broccoli Alfredo

     Next to corn, broccoli is by far my favorite vegetable. It is very versatile and it can be cooked in a variety of ways. When making broccoli Alfredo, the normal way of cooking the broccoli is to add it to the water with the pasta in the last 4 minutes of cooking. I decided to go a different route and sauté it instead. Before I started on the broccoli, I got a pot of boiling water going. A quick tip for those of you who cook a lot of pasta, add about a tablespoon of olive oil to the water before it begins to boil. This keeps the pasta from sticking together. I usually use fettuccini when making Alfredo but I decided to use the box of campanelle we picked up at the store. Campanelle is a corkscrew like pasta that I hadn’t seen before. I dumped in the whole box of pasta and got that cooking.

     In a small sauce pan I emptied a jar of four-cheese Alfredo sauce by Classico. I didn’t have the time to make my own sauce, nor did I feel like spending the money to do so. Alfredo sauce like all cheese based sauces costs quite a bit to make and comes out better in larger batches. Since I was only cooking for two, going with a jar is easier and less expensive. I turned the heat on low just to heat up the sauce and stirred every few minutes to keep the sauce from burning.

     For the broccoli I used two heads worth and broke them down into bite sized pieces. In a large skillet, I heated up olive oil and some minced garlic. After thoroughly washing the broccoli, I added it to the pan. It took about 10 to 15 minutes until the broccoli was cooked through. I cut up a tomato and threw it in with the broccoli; unfortunately it fell apart because the broccoli took longer than I expected to be done. A dash of salt and pepper along with a few sprinkles of parmesan cheese finished it off. Once I drained the pasta, I added the Alfredo sauce and mixed until all the pasta was covered. I spooned out a base of pasta on each plated and topped with the broccoli and tomato.

     The pasta came out well and the sauce was as good as a jar of sauce can taste. With more time I will make my own sauce next time. The broccoli with the tomato had a cheesy-garlic taste and was melt in your mouth soft. With homemade sauce this would have been a great dish but taking short cuts only made it a good dish.

Rating: Yummy - Homemade sauce is needed.

Meatballs

     I have made meatballs from scratch a number of times but they never come out the way I want them to. Last night however I think I got on the right track. Many of the recipes I find call for eggs and bread crumbs but with those you are making meatloaf. Yes meatloaf and meatballs are kind of the same thing but not quite. I decided to wing it and just start adding ingredients into the bowl. Here is the recipe for those of you who would like to try it:

1 lb. Ground Beef 80/20

¼ cup Bread Crumbs

3 tbs. Parmesan Cheese

¼ tsp. Garlic Salt

¼ tsp. Onion Powder

¼ tsp. Parsley Flakes

¼ tsp. Crushed Red Pepper

     I was able to get 11, one inch meatballs with the ingredients above. While I got the water coming to a boil, I put about 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan on medium high heat. Once the oil started to spread across the pan I added the meatballs. Only cook the meatballs enough to give the edges a bit if a crunch. Do not over cook them because you will let them simmer in sauce for about 15 minutes. This second round of cooking will get them cooked all the way through. I decided to add a whole jar of Wegmans Classics brand portabella mushroom sauce to the meatballs. Let the sauce and meatballs simmer until your pasta is done. I had a box of ziti in the pantry so I went with that instead of spaghetti like I had planned.

     The meatballs definitely had a kick to them, which I liked, but I agreed they were a bit on the spicy side like Christine said. They were cooked pretty close to where I wanted them but I think I left them in the pan too long during the first step. Next time I will have to make them bigger so I can get the crunch on the outside without cooking them all the way through. As for the spices, I think they need a little adjusting but these are definitely worth making a second time.

Rating: Yummy - A work in progress that will get better

Chicken Scampi

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     I love Italian food and dishes that are quick to make and this recipe for chicken scampi was the perfect fit early last week before the late nights that were to come later last week. Many of you have probably heard of shrimp scampi and this is essentially the same thing only using chicken instead. I liked that I could cook everything in one pan.
     I used about half as much butter as this recipe calls for just to make it a bit healthier. I did however use almost double the amount of olive oil because I like the sweet taste it gives food when you sauté things in it. Other than those two changes, I followed the rest of the recipe as written. Using fresh herbs would kick this dish up to the next level but I only had dried, so I used those. Some users suggested using a half of a cup of white wine before letting the chicken simmer. Once the chicken is done simmering, I tossed it in some cooked angel hair pasta. As a final touch I added diced Roma tomatoes and Parmesan cheese.
     Christine and I both liked this but agreed that it was missing something. We would eat it again without making any changes, but what is the fun in that? I think adding the wine and using fresh herbs would be a great way to make this dish when I make it again.
Rating: Yummy - I may tweak this recipe a bit but I will make this again.

Spaghetti Pie

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     When a recipe gets over 253 reviews equating to a 4 and 1/2 star rating on Allrecipes.com it is usually a pretty safe bet that it is going to come out well. I've had some recipes in the past with even more reviews and a higher rating come out poorly though. This recipe however fell in between the two. Christine and Matt thought it was good and that is as high as I would consider rating this recipe. After reading a good amount of the reviews, I made a few changes to tryand make this dish better.

     I only used 3/4 of a pound of spaghetti since there were only three of us eating and I thought a pound would be too much. While the pasta cooked I sauted a chopped onion and a few cloves of garlic in a tablespoon of butter. Once the onions cooked to a nice golden brown I added the ground beef, added the salt and pepper but omitted the garlic powder since I used fresh garlic. We don't really care for green pepper so we decided to skip that as well. Once the beef was cooked through I added a 24oz jar of Wegmans Select sundried tomato pasta sauce and let that simmer for about 20 minutes. While that simmered and the pasta was near completion I started on the most intriguing part of the dish. A white creamy sauce made up of sour cream, cream cheese, and green onions was to be spread over the pasta and underneath the meat and sauce. I had a taste of the white creamy mixture and thought it would be a great base for a dip. I tossed the pasta with some butter and parmesan cheese to keep it from drying out in the oven. The pasta then went in a pan that had been sprayed with olive oil non-stick spray. The white creamy mix was spread over the pasta and the meat sauce was poured on top of that. Finally, I sprinkled a good amount of mozzarella instead of the cheedar cheese that the recipe called for only because of personal preference. Baked the whole thing in an oven at 350 uncovered until the cheese had melted.

     When I pulled this out and started portioning it onto our plates I was really looking forward to eating it. As a finishing touch I sprinkled some parsley on for presentation. I'm not going to say this was a bad recipe because I had seconds but it tasted like spaghetti with sour cream on it. It wasn't a bad taste but it wasn't anything special either. When I got a second helping I decided to mix the layers all together and that for some reason gave it a better taste. I think this was because I wasn't able to get a taste of just the sour cream, cream cheese, and green onion mixture. Even though Christine and Matt liked it, I may or may not make this again.

Rating: Fair - This recipe needed some help to be good and it'll need more help to be great

White Cheese Chicken Lasagna with Spinach

     ***My first recipe review is from All Recipes as will most of the recipes that I will review. Some will come from cookbooks but for the most part I stick to that website since there are so many to pick from and the layout is great. You can create a profile for free and have a recipe box to save the recipes that you like.***

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     I was having my brother over for dinner a few Sundays ago and when I have guests over I like to make a casserole or a baked pasta so I'm not huddled over the stove making a mess everywhere instead of talking with my guests. I've never made lasagna before but I know from others that it's a pain in the butt because of both the layering and sauce making process. Since I wasn't making a big vat of red sauce it made this recipe a bit easier to make. The white sauce was easy to make in a large skillet but it must be atleast 13 inches in diameter otherwise I would suggest using a medium size pot. I followed the recipe for the sauce exactly as printed but when it came to the layering process I ran into a problem. I had forgotten to buy ricotta cheese and it is a staple in most lasagna recipes. I'm not a huge ricotta fan and was certainly not going to go back out to buy it. I needed something to keep the noodles moist so I remembered from a previous recipe that sour cream will work just as well. I followed the directions and began to layer the noodles and sauce while substituting sour cream where the ricotta would normally go. With fingers crossed, I put the lasagna into the oven hoping that all would turn out well. The result couldn't have been better, the noodles were nice and moist and it turned out so creamy. A side salad would have been a nice start to the meal but we decided to forgo that and just had the lasagna which was very filling. One thing I forgot to mention was that I used no boil lasagna noodles which probably made the layering process easier because they are rigid unlike regular noodles which are "floppy" once boiled.
Rating: Yummy - I almost prefered this to a traditional lasagna with red sauce.