Category Archives: pasta

Running + Replacing Lost Energy with Healthy-ish Meals [Recipe!]

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Pasta with broccoli, peas, spinach, and arugla from Cake Is the Only Thing That MattersAt the start of 2013 I decided that my new year’s resolution would be to be better at life. While I’m still terrible about keeping my room organized, I have been good about making a conscious effort to be more healthy. I signed up for a gym membership and committed myself to going the easily achievable two days a week. A few weeks ago, I upped that to three days a week because I downloaded the Couch to 5K app, and it assumed a three-day workout week. I wasn’t originally planning to run a 5K, but after feeling like the elliptical wasn’t doing anything I wanted to try running, and a friend recommended that app as a good way to ease into it.

At the start of week three, when I was finding the app challenging yet doable, my false confidence propelled me to sign up for an actual 5K at the Bronx Zoo (you can donate to the elephants here). Naturally, at week four, after committing, the app took a turn for the HOLYOMGHOWAMIGOINGTODOTHIS. It turns out that running for 5 minute intervals is a lot harder than running for 3. Right now I’m just hoping it gets easier and that by race day I can actually run most of the race, but I’m very nervous!

In the meantime I am rewarding my post-run ravenous self with meals that are filling but not too unhealthy, like this veggie-packed pasta dish. Since the vegetables are the focus, this would be incredibly easy to make with your favorite gluten-free pasta (speaking of, what’s the best kind?).

Spring Greens Pasta

Ingredients
3 cups broccoli florets (I just use one package of Trader Joe’s organic florets)
2/3 cup frozen peas
4 to 6 handfuls of baby arugula
3 largeish garlic cloves, minced
1 package fresh spinach pasta, or 3/4 lb of your favorite gluten-free pasta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
olive oil
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes

Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to boil. While water is boiling, heat enough olive oil to comfortably cover the bottom of a large skillet over medium heat. Add broccoli and enough salt, pepper, and red pepper to a bit stronger than your tastes. Cook for 2 minutes, then add garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until broccoli is browned in places. You may need to add more olive oil as the broccoli absorbs it.

When water is boiling, add some giant pinches of salt, then pasta. Add peas one minute before pasta is done. Scoop out some of the pasta water (I use a juice glass), then drain pasta and peas and add them to the skillet with the broccoli. Add some large splashes of pasta water, the arugula, and half the cheese, and stir until all is combined and arugula is wilted. Taste for seasoning and add more if necessary. Divide into bowls and top with more olive oil and the rest of the cheese. Enjoy!

Now you tell me: what’s the best brand of gluten-free pasta?

Inadvertently Gluten-free, and Not-so-much (Weekend Deliciousness + a Recipe)

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I spent most of this past weekend eating, per usual. While out to brunch on Sunday at Egg in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, I ordered a gluten-free meal without even realizing I had!
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Cheddar omelette, broiled tomatoes, a hash brown, and sweet, delicious coffee (and yes, crayons on the table). Moments like this give me hope that the transition will be easier than I think it will be!

Then, of course, I went home and made turkey bolognese lasagna for dinner. Semolina flour, you will definitely be missed.
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Lighter Turkey Bolognese Lasagna (adapted from Cooking Light, March 2013)

Ingredients
1 container mirepoix (carrots/onion/celery, already chopped) (I get mine at Trader Joe’s)
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted tomato paste
1 ounce cubed pancetta
1 pound ground turkey (the original called for breast, but my supermarket only had a mix)
1/4 cup white wine
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (dial this down to 1/4 if you don’t like things a bit spicy)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus a bit extra
1 cup 1 percent low-fat milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, undrained
1 (15-ounce) container fat-free ricotta cheese (the original called for part-skim, which I bet would be better, because fat <3)
6 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided (about 1 1/2 cups)
4 tablespoons grated pecorino or parmesean cheese, divided
1 large egg, lightly beaten
8 no-boil lasagna noodles**

**you could make this gluten-free pretty easily by switching to GF noodles!

To make the lasagna:
Heat a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat, and let oil heat for a minute. Add tomato paste and pancetta and cook for 1 minute, stirring very regularly. Add turkey and cook for 5 minutes, stirring until crumbled. Add wine and cook for 3-4 minutes or until liquid evaporates (scrape around the pan if you have any browned bits). Add mirepoix, salt, red pepper, oregano, and black pepper to pan, and cook 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables have begun to soften. Add milk and basil and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425° as soon as you lower the heat on the sauce. While sauce is simmering, combine ricotta, 1 cup shredded mozzarella, a few grinds of black pepper, and 2 tablespoons pecorino cheese in a medium bowl.

When sauce is finished, take an 8×8 glass baking dish and spread enough sauce to comfortably coat the bottom (3/4 to 1 cup). Arrange 2 noodles on top, and spread 1/4 of cheese mixture to cover noodles (you’re going to need your fingers). Repeat layers until you have used all the noodles, ending with ricotta mixture. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and 2 tablespoons pecorino evenly over top. Bake at 425° for 35 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes, then serve.

Pasta With Marinated Tomatoes

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Live near a greenmarket or a good supermarket? Go there right now. Seriously, what are you doing on the Internet? The market is not going to have such a great selection of so many vegetables until this time next year. More importantly, soon tomatoes will be tasteless until next July. Go. Now.
You’re back? Bought more vegetables than you possibly know what to do with? Great. Now you should make this.
Don’t tell me you’re too busy. Remember all those other times I claimed recipes took no time at all? This one really takes no time. You don’t even have to know how to cook. Can you chop stuff and throw it in a bowl? You’re all set! Seriously, that’s it.
This is really the perfect recipe for a busy day, because the oil tastes better the longer you let it sit. Toss your ingredients together, go run your errands, see a movie, do whatever–let this baby sit on your counter for hours and hours. And no, germaphobes, it will not grow anything, or go bad. It will go GOOOOD. Just make sure you’re using fresh tomatoes, and using them as soon as you buy them. The marinating enhances the flavor of good tomatoes, so if you use tasteless, mealy ones, you will have an extra tasteless and mealy meal. Now you see why I hurried you out of the house to go buy tomatoes!

Pasta With Marinated Tomatoes
1/3 cup olive oil
4 to 5 medium/large tomatoes, preferably heirloom
3 garlic gloves, sliced as thinly as possible
1/4 cup finely sliced fresh basil, or 1 teaspoon dried basil*
pinch red pepper flakes
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 large ball or 1 small ball fresh mozzarella, diced
3/4 pound pasta, preferably fresh

Pour olive oil into a large, nonreactive bowl and add garlic and basil, stirring to combine. If you like a bit of a spicy kick, add your red pepper flakes now. Let sit on your counter (feel free to cover it) as many hours as you like and up to all day, but at least one hour.

Two hours before serving, dice tomatoes and add to the bowl of oil, stirring to ensure all tomatoes get coated. It will not look like there is enough oil in the bowl, but as tomatoes marinate they’ll release more liquid. Let sit on the counter, stirring every half hour or so. After two hours, cook your pasta and dice the mozzarella. Drain pasta, return to pot, and pour in the tomato mixture, stirring well to combine. Divide into bowls, top with mozzarella, and serve.

*Please, please try to use fresh basil if you can. Dried basil is fine if, for example, you accidentally put your fresh basil in the weird part of your fridge that freezes things.

Chunky Tomato Sauce

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There are a few recipes that everyone should just know how to make without an actual recipe. Some sort of chicken dish, macaroni and cheese, and your favorite cookies are some of the things that come to mind. And, of course, tomato sauce. I feel like a lot of people get scared away from making sauce because it seems so complicated, and the jarred stuff is so easy.
But simple, fresh tomato sauce is arguably one of the easiest things you can make (and trick people into thinking was hard). If you know how to chop things (even roughly), turn on a stove, and stir, then you can make sauce.

Bonus: it takes less than an hour to make from start to finish. This, plus the sweet, clean flavor that comes from fresh tomatoes means that you’ll have trouble touching the jarred stuff ever again. This is also a great dish to make if you are trying to be a real, sophisticated-seeming adult who does things like avoid over-processed foods.
I like to stir my slightly al dente pasta into the sauce, as I think it flavors the pasta better, but feel free to just ladle the finished sauce on top of pasta (or bread, or your face). Try to time the pasta and the sauce. If you’re using fresh pasta (and I think that you should), put the pasta in when you add the cheese to the sauce. If you’re using dried pasta and the timing is a bit harder, you can add a little unfinished sauce to your pasta to coat it until the sauce is finished.

Chunky Tomato Sauce (serves 3-4, depending on how much sauce you like)
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced medium-small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon or so tomato paste (I just eyeball this, so you may need more or less)
6 large tomatoes, diced into bite-sized pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
large pinch or two red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons grated parmesean cheese (optional)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil or a handful of fresh basil leaves, cut into slivers
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or a teaspoon of fresh oregano leaves, chopped
olive oil

Heat enough olive oil over medium heat to comfortably coat the bottom of a large pan with a lid. When oil is hot, add diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have softened, about 7 to 8 minutes. This is usually the perfect amount of time for me to chop my tomatoes, but will vary for you depending on how fast you can slice. When the smallest pieces of onions are just starting to turn oh-so-slightly brown, add garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add tomato paste and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, until paste is well distributed. Add tomatoes, salt, and pepper and stir well to combine.

Place lid on pan and cook, stirring every 5 minutes or so, for about 15 minutes, turning heat down to medium-low once sauce starts to bubble. At this point, the tomatoes should have broken down considerably and your sauce should be quite liquid-y. Arrange lid so that there is a slight opening for steam to escape, but so pan is mostly covered, and cook for another 10 minutes. Sauce should be a bit thicker. Remove lid completely and cook, stirring often, until sauce has thickened considerably but is still has enough thinness to coat pasta. The time this takes will depend on the water content of your tomatoes–sometimes it will take 10 more minutes, other times closer to 20 (you my need to turn the heat up a bit). When it looks just about done, stir in cheese (if using) and herbs until well combined. Kiss your jarred sauce goodbye.