Easy Baked Tomato Pasta

This is a staple dinner at our house. I've served it to guests who hate tomatoes and had them ask for the recipe. It's ridiculously good and incredibly flexible. 

Trying to write it up as a recipe was a bit tricky because it's very much a 'by feel' and 'how much you have on hand' sort of dish. You can make it meaty or vegetarian, rich or light, for one or for a crowd. It's a great trick to have up your sleeve. 

Please take the amounts with a grain of salt. In the end, you're halving tomatoes, topping them with fresh bread crumbs, cheese and oil and baking them until thick, flavorful and reduced. Then you stir, add pasta and pasta water and eat.

Easy as falling down stairs.

I made this for the boys for lunch and they were pretty much ready to erect a statue in my honor. And did you catch that... I made it for lunch. It's that simple.

Pasta with Baked Tomato Sauce

Serves 4 (or as many people as you want from 1-12 with adjustments)

extra-virgin olive oil (about 1/4 of a cup) or melted butter

Roma tomatoes, halved (I use 2-4 lbs) Cherry tomatoes work great too.

1/3 lb (hot) italian sausage (or 1/2 lb, or none)

A few slices of bread or 1/3 cup plain dry FRESH breadcrumbs (please don't use bought. Gross!)

1/4 cup (or more) freshly grated Parmigiano (or Romano, Asiago etc)

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (if you like garlic. We do.)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 pound dried pasta:  rotini or spaghetti are great

1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, torn

* Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut off the ends of a french loaf or grab a few slices of bread and throw them in the oven while you preheat. I had artisan bread so I tore it into chunks to toast faster.

Once they've dried out a bit, whir them up in a food processor 

with a chunk of cheese 

(you might end up with a few larger pieces of cheese. No one's ever complained to me about getting extra cheese so I wouldn't worry about it. But if it bugs you, break them up with your fingers.

Add a little salt (1/2 tsp). Garlic salt is fine.

Brush a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with oil or butter. Crumble little pieces of uncooked italian sausage all over the bottom of the pan. If you're crowd is hungry add up to 1/2 pound of italian sausage, if they're vegetarian, omit sausage altogether. Works fine both ways.

* Place the tomatoes cut side up in the dish on top of the sausage. For cherry tomatoes just cut them in half. For Romas, I like to get rid of the hard core in the center and some of the seeds. It's personal preference though. The recipe works just fine if you just cut them in half and hull them. 

*  Sprinkle the bread-crumb mixture over the tomatoes, making sure that each cut side is well covered with the crumb mixture. I tossed in a little minced garlic as well. 

Drizzle with olive oil. Melted butter is delicious in place of the oil but makes it taste a lot richer. 

* Sprinkle with pepper.

*  Bake until the tomatoes are cooked through and starting to brown on top, about 20 minutes for cherry tomatoes and up to 40 minutes for romas.

Oops. My back acted up and I got my non-cooking kid to keep an eye on the tomatoes. They're a little overcooked... but it's no big deal, they'll only taste better. I'll add more pasta water.

You know the tomatoes are ready when you press on them with a fork and they collapse.

*Boil one pound of pasta in salted water.

Meanwhile... this step is completely optional but it's must in our house. I flip the tomatoes over, press them down with a fork and the skin pops right off. Then I slide the tines of the fork under the skin and lift it off. This step makes the sauce a lot smoother. Tomato skins are creepy to us.

Removing them only took a minute. Doggy wanted to help :-)

*Stir. You'll end up with a porridge looking pan of mush. It's delicious. 

*Chop up some herbs. I love LOTS of basil but didn't have more then a few leaves so I chopped up some parsley too.

*Before draining pasta, save some pasta water.  This is a really large glass, since my tomatoes were overcooked I knew I'd be needing a lot of water to make the sauce.

* Add herbs and some pasta water. About half... ish. Add more water as needed. I've been known to add water before second helpings if it gets dry.

*Stir it together. Saucy!

*Drain your pasta in a colander for no more then ten seconds. You want it on the wet side. 

Dump it in the pan of sauce and toss.

* Season with more salt and pepper if needed (we rarely need it) and generously top with fresh grated parmesan.

Serve with crusty bread, right out of the pan, and encourage people to sop up the juices and burnt bits right out of the pan with their bread.

P.S. Here is an old picture from a batch last summer that wasn't so overcooked. Looks delicious!

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Whipperberry

Pizza Rolls

I saw a recipe for Pizza 'cinnamon buns' at Savory Notes and I knew I had to take a crack at them, immediately. But, since I have a lot of favorite ways of doing things, I copied the idea but not the recipe. 

These were a major hit at our house and the twelve Cinnabon-sized rolls fed my family for a whole weekend. My bottomless-pit of a fifteen year old could only eat one. Crazy!

Basically this is what you do:

Need a bit more? Thought so.

First I made bread dough. I think bread was prefect as it's a lot fluffier then pizza dough. This recipe makes three large loaves so if you don't have a need for a massive amount of pizza rolls, mix this up and bake a loaf or two of bread alongside the pizza. Then you can have fresh french toast in the morning too. Yum!

Nicole's Best Bread in the Whole World

(nobody said I was humble)

2 pkgs of yeast (1TBL = 1 packet)

¼ C warm water

2 C warm milk

¾ C sugar

½ C softened butter

1 ½ tsp salt

2 eggs

7-8 C flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, sugar, butter, salt, cardamom, eggs, and 3 C of flour. 

Beat until smooth

Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough

Knead 6-8 minutes

Place in greased bowl.  Cover. Allow to rise until doubled (one hour)

Punch down. Divide into three and form loaves.

Cover and rise until doubled (about 45 minutes

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brush top with butter as soon as it comes out of the oven for a nice buttery soft top.

Note: for Finn Bread or cinnamon rolls, add 3/4 tsp of cardamon when you add the salt. This recipe makes great rolls, sandwich bread and braids beautifully.

For pizza rolls

After kneading allow bread to rise until doubled, about one hour.

Spray your counter with cooking spray (Pam) so the dough doesn't stick when rolling it out.

Punch down and roll out the amount of dough you would like to use (all of it, 1/3 or 2/3s) onto your counter in a rectangle. It doesn't have to be perfect. I do this by squishing it out with my hand but use a roller if that's your thing.

Rub butter or margarine over the dough and sprinkle with garlic powder.

Spread a thin, even layer of spaghetti sauce (or homemade marinara) on top of the garlic butter layer.

Now you can top it with whatever you like. This is what we did:

Fresh grated parmesan, pepperoni, sage sausage, crumbled bacon, red pepper flakes, pizza seasoning.

Sprinkle a little bit of mozzarella over toppings. Remember, you're rolling this up like a cinnamon bun so don't go crazy.

Everything I know about rolling cinnamon buns came from watching Amish women from Pennsylvania do it. They're masters! The trick isn't to just roll it up like a towel; you need to roll and tuck, roll and tuck. Your fingers should be doing a little dance all the way up and down the roll turning and tucking as you go. It takes a bit longer but it works great. 

Now you should have a giant weird looking roll. Tuck the ends under if you're so inclined and cut it in half (short distance, not long) so it's easier to manage. Wrap each roll in Saran wrap and refrigerate for at least a half hour. This will help it all stick together and make cutting easier. When mine came out of the fridge a few hours later (I made this early afternoon and baked it for dinner) the Saran Wrap was TIGHT because it had risen so much. Don't be alarmed.

Unwrap and cut into slices. I made ours about two to three inches thick which produced HUGE pizza rolls. Cut them smaller if you want to make them more reasonably-sized. Use a sharp knife. Forget about the dental floss cutting trick because you're going through pepperoni. It just won't work.

Now you should have these.

Put them in a greased (cooking spray) 9x13 pan(s), cover and allow to rise for about 45 minutes.

Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes. Sprinkle the top with some cheese for the last five minutes, broil if needed to melt the cheese.

I served them with bowls of marinara for dipping but two of my guys ate them 'dry', one loved the sauce and one dipped his in Ranch - all seemed like good options. 

These are delicious and microwave like a dream. I hope you try them.

Romantic Date Night: Roasted Shrimp with Feta

You might want to grab a cuppa and sit awhile. This post is packed with pictures. 

Friday was our 16th anniversary and due to circumstances out of our control we weren't able to go out to our favorite restaurant as planned. I decided to go over-the-top romantic and make a really nice dinner and romantic environment at home. I didn't want to skimp, or break the bank, and you'd be amazed at how special you can make things with a few luxe details and what you have on hand.

 My first priority was to make the area look different from everyday. I didn't want him glancing over at the sink and remembering it needs to be re-caulked. YKWIM? So I cordoned off the area with a tulle tent - sorta - enough at least to imply separation from everyday.

All I did was tie long pieces of tulle to an embroidery hoop and thumb-tack it to the ceiling. You can buy tulle spools that hold 50-100 meters of tulle. Mine cost about seven bucks and it had a huge amount of impact. Here's a not so great pic of how to do it. I promise, once the candles are lit, the scene is set and the dishes are done it looks fab.

To help it stay spread out, I ran a safety pin through the back side of the table cloth, grabbing the lengths of tulle and affixing them to the table corners. Then I took the ends and tied a big bow. With a little fluffing they looked fantastic and provided a nice nod to weddings.

See, pretty :-)

For the table, I bought red votives at an after Christmas sale - 12 for seventy-five cents. I knew with Valentine's Day etc. they would come in handy. Always check to make sure your candles are unscented if you plan on using them on your table. Scented ones compete with the smells and flavor of your meal.

All we have for fancy linens is these gold and purple ones from years ago. It really wasn't the color scheme I wanted to go with so I decided to lay them down as a base layer and add more interesting pink, red and white items to distract from their PURPLE! and GOLD! -ness.

Cinnamon hearts were a great "camouflage" , they were inexpensive, breath-freshening and had a confetti-meets-candy vibe that was also unabashedly romantic. We loved them and I loved the effect.

Texture and touchable elements add WOW to a table scape, so I filled in a lot of the space with gathered crepe streamers. I used most of a whole roll, $1.25, and it was well-worth the time it took. The technique is identical to the gathering steps of Crepe Paper Ornaments, although I stitched it directly off the roll and left the edges straight.

I added some inexpensive flowers in pink, white and mauve (trying to work with that purple). Cheaper flowers tend to look best clustered in low arrangements. I cut the stems short and crowded them into low glasses. The impact was greatly improved and we didn't have to crane our necks to see around taller displays. 

The candelabra was from the head table at our wedding and the glass candle holders were a treasured wedding gift. I wanted to have the table be filled with memories from that time in our life so I printed out a photo booth picture we took a week or so before the wedding. It made the place settings a lot more personal and inspired lots of reminiscing.

Dinner required crusty bread for sopping up all the tomatoes and vegetables so I continued my theme with heart-shaped bread. To do this, make a long skinny baguette and form it into a heart. Use water to attach the ends and let it rise. When baked, the center of the heart fills in and you keep the shape. 

Here's a quick video I made, candles lit, house tidy. Hope it captured the mood.



For dinner I made roasted shrimp and feta, the recipe is from Ina Garten's How Easy is That? cookbook. It's a marvelous resource and we can't wait to try everything in it.  She's my cooking hero. The shrimp was the best we've eaten and had a real five star restaurant feel to it. I loved having the pan on the table so we could dip our bread in the sauce. Very casual and fancy at the same time.

ROASTED SHRIMP WITH FETA

Serves 4 (we thought it serves 6)

Good olive oil
1 1/2 cups diced fennel (1 bulb)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon Pernod (I used Ouzo and it worked perfectly)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/4 pounds (16 to 18) shrimp, peeled and deveined with the tails left on
3-5 ounces feta cheese, preferably Greek or French, coarsely crumbled
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (see note)
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 lemons


1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in 10- or 12-inch heavy ovenproof skillet over medium-low heat. Add the fennel and garlic and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes, until tender. Add the wine and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits clinging to the bottom of the skillet, and cook until the liquid is reduced by half, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, Pernod, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper to the skillet. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes.

4. Arrange the shrimp artfully in one layer over the tomato mixture in the skillet.

Scatter feta evenly over the shrimp.

In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs, parsley, and lemon zest with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle evenly over the shrimp.

5. Bake the shrimp for about 15 minutes, until the shrimp are cooked through and the bread crumbs are golden brown. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over the shrimp. Serve hot with wedges of lemon.

NOTE: To make 1 cup of fresh bread crumbs, remove the crusts from 3 to 4 slices white bread and place in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until the bread is in crumbs.

Assemble the shrimp right in a 10- to 12-inch stainless-steel sauté pan, and then put the pan in the oven for 15 minutes before serving. This was a lifesaver for me as I could have everything ready and then pop it in the oven once Chris was home.

It was delicious!

For Dessert We had Saltine Toffee, Chris's favorite (mine too!)

Saltine Toffee

40-ish Saltine crackers, plus 1/2 cup crushed Saltines for garnish (about a sleeve and 1/2)
2 sticks butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350
Line your baking sheet (jelly roll pan) with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.
Arrange your crackers snugly on baking sheet.
Over medium high heat melt butter and sugar together.
When mixture comes to a rolling boil let boil for 2 minutes, stirring.
Pour mixture over crackers.

Bake in oven for about 10 minutes.  Toffee will be bubbling.
Let cool for 1 minute and then sprinkle chocolate chips on top.

Let sit for 2 minutes and then spread the melted chips with an off-set spatula.
Sprinkle with reserved crushed crackers.
Refrigerate pan for approx 30 minutes so chocolate and toffee sets.
Break or cut into pieces.
Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

With the mood set, all I need to add was a pretty dress, nice lingerie, high heels and some music. 

Thanks so much for sticking it out through this very long post. Hope there are a few ideas that you can adapt to your situation.

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Tags: date romance dinner frugal