Pasta and Potatoes with Mint, Steak and Salad

Recipe for Pasta and Potatoes with herbs and pine nuts

1/2 pound peeled and cubed Idaho potatoes
1/2 pound pasta of a size similar to cubed potato (mezze rigatone, rotini, penne, farfalle)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 bunch of mint (approximately 40 large leaves or more)
1 bunch of parsley, leaves and only tender portion of stems
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 - 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

When cutting the potatoes, keep in mind that you will be cooking the cut potatoes in the salted boiling water as the pasta. So, try to cut potatoes to a size similar to that of the pasta. As a rule of thumb, 1 3/4 in x 3/4 cube of potato will cook approximately in the same amount of time as rigatoni. To be safe, you can boil the two starches separately in the same water, but pay attention to the time. Once you can match up the sizes and cooking times, you can cook the pasta and potatoes together and dump them together in colander.

Before anything, find time to toast your pine nuts. You can buy them already toasted, but I like to have complete control over how toasty I want them depending on the dish. Also, if you want to candy pine nuts and they are already toasted, it may be hard to candy them without them getting over-toasted. The process is simple. Spread pine nuts out on foil-lined baking tray and bake at 325 degrees. Keep and eye on them. After about 7 - 10 minutes they will start browning. Once they start browning, they only need another couple of minutes. Shake pan several times during the baking.

Alternatively, you could put pine nuts in an iron frying pan over medium high heat. Shake pan frequently until pine nuts are toasted. Approximately 5 - 10 minutes.

While pasta/potatoes are cooking, chop parsley leaves and mint. In the video, I coarsely chopped the herbs, but on second thought, I recommend you chop them finely, but not minced. Much more flavor that way. Set aside.

Next, steam green beans or microwave frozen French green beans from Trader Joe's on high for 4 minutes. Set aside.

After potatoes and pasta are finished, al dente please, toss immediately with olive oil.

Then toss with finely chopped herbs, green beans and toasted toasted pine nuts.

Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese on top and serve.


Recipe for Steak and Salad

Keep it simple. Buy locally raised, grass-fed (if possible) beef free of administered antibiotics or hormones. Liberally salt with coarse sea or kosher salt and black pepper. Pan sautee over medium high heat in a lightly oiled hot pan. For a one-inch thick delmonico, estimate 6 minutes a side for rare, 8 a side for medium rare and 10 for medium to well-done. But please, have mercy on such a fine cut of beef and keep it pink.

As for salad, keep it simple. Nice mixed greens dressed with fine olive oil with a sprinkling of coarse salt. Perhaps a splash of vinegar (your choice) or citrus (lime, lemon, orange). If you go with the lime or lemon, consider adding candied pine nuts to the salad. Toss with your bare hands gently until all the leaves are coated with dressing. Enjoy!

Classic Lasagna

Recipe

Ingredients
1 pound uncooked lasagna noodles (I used Ronzoni)
2 pounds ricotta
8 - 16 oz shredded mozzarella (not fresh)
1/2 cup pecorino romano grated cheese
1 qt homemade tomato sauce (see recipe under "Sauces, Stocks, Stews and Soup")
1 pound meatloaf mix - equal parts beef, veal and pork
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
Olive Oil
Salt
Black Pepper

1. Chop onions
2. Mince garlic

Sautee both in hot pan with 2 T of Olive Oil

3. after 1 minute, add ground meat, breaking it into smaller and smaller pieces with a wooden spoon as it fries.
4. While meat is cooking, combine ricotta and grated mozzarella in bowl. Stir together adding salt and black pepper to taste. (Some people add an egg at this step, but I don't like the consistency it creates.)
5. Boil lasagna noodles
6. Defrost tomato sauce if previously frozen
7. When lasagna pasta is finished, fish out of water carefully and lay flat over paper towels spread out over a counter. The paper towels will absorb excess moisture.
8. In a 9 in by 12 inch pyrex dish or the equivalent, place about 1/2 cup sauce in bottom.
9. Layer 3 noodles slightly overlapping, then 1/3 ricotta mixture, then 1/2 cup of sauce. Cover with another layer of 3 noodles. Add 1/2 the ground meat and another 1/2 cup of the sauce. Alternate these layers ending with a layer of noodles on the top. Spread remaining sauce on top of noodles and sprinkle 1/4 cup of grated cheese on top.
10. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.
11. Check progress at 30 minutes and if liquid at bottom and edges of the dish is not boiling, bake for another 10 minutes covered.
12. Uncover dish and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes making sure pasta on top doesn't get crunchy.

Pasta Primavera a la Blaise

Another flexible recipe for my loyal viewers. I grilled carrots, fennel and green beans and then tossed them with penne pasta, cubed sharp provolone, 3/4 cup olive oil, salt, pepper and whole basil leaves. As you will see in the video, I was a little disappointed. I make suggestions for improvements in video, but I will add some more here.



First, use plenty of vegetables, almost rendering the pasta to a supporting role in the dish. Make sure you get the veggies nice and grilled. I grilled mine just fine, I just wanted to reinforce that. Make sure you use plenty of salt in pasta water and also sprinkled over veggies prior to grilling. Adding garlic raw or sauteed, as I say in the video, will help it. Just avoid overdoing it. The last time I made this dish I think I used 2# of green beans and 3 # of carrots. This time I used less and for that I am going to send myself to my room with no supper! That's a nod to a great UK movie review whose podcast is available at the following address: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/kermode/rss.xml



Anyway, I digress. As you all know, I love making meals with whatever I can find in my fridge and this pasta primavera is perfect for that approach. You just need quantity and selection. I think I had enough variation in ingredients, just not enough of them. Just be careful, though. Don't use mushy veggies like eggplant or tomatoes. Though they add lots of flavor, once grilled they will fall apart when tossed with the pasta. This will create a sort of sauce that will change the whole idea of this dish from light and refreshing to heavy and de-freshing???

Penne Pasta tossed with Beets, Beet Greens and Mint topped with Prosciutto

Recipe

Ingredients
1/4# sliced prosciutto
1/2 cup olive oil (extra virgin preferred. More if you prefer, up to 1 cup.
1 bunch beets with greens still attached
1 bunch mint
1/2 cup Parmesan or Parmesan/Romano mix
1# penne pasta (whole wheat adds nice flavor to this dish)
3T salt

1. Cut beets from beet greens.
2. Place beets in Pyrex dish and bake at 400 degrees until soft.
3. Allow beets to cool then peel skin from beets.
4. Cut beets into sticks the size of your pinky finger. Set aside.
5. Wash beet greens and chop coarsely.
6. Cut away all the fat (white) from the sliced prosciutto
7. Chop prosciutto meat (red) into thin ribbons. Set aside.
8. Chop and discard stems from mint then coarsely chop mint leaves.

9. Bring 4 qts of water to a boil. Add 3 T of salt with 1 pound of penne pasta. Stir until pot returns to a boil and then replace lid offset by a couple of inches to avoid overflow of starchy, boiling water. Should cook in approx. 10 - 12 minutes. Before draining pasta, reserve 2 cup of cooking liquid. Pour 1.5 cups of the boiling water into your serving dish. The remainder can be used if the final tossed pasta needs a little more creaminess.

10. While pasta is cooking, heat 1/4 c of oil over medium heat.
11. Add prosciutto fat until translucent then remove from the pan with slotted spoon. Set aside.
12. Add remaining oil and bring heat to medium high.
13. Add beet greens and stir in pan for a couple of minutes. Reduce heat to low and cover for 5 - 10 minutes.
14. Once greens are completely wilted and soft, add beets and stir in pan to mix and heat through.
15. Off heat, add chopped mint leaves and stir until wilted.
16. Dump hot water from serving dish.
17. Toss sauce with penne and grated cheese in warmed serving dish.
18. If pasta looks dry, toss pasta with some of the reserved cooking liquid.
19. Add 1/2 of prosciutto and toss gently with pasta. (I did not do this step in video)
20. Sprinkle remaining prosciutto across top of dish and serve.

Ham and Olive Pasta Sauce

Duck Ragu, Endive Salad and Chocolate Blini