Breaded Baked Zucchini

This was actually really fast to throw together and let bake while I made the spaghetti, and was a tasty side dish that was a change from my usual, steamed broccoli. For the dipping sauce since I was already serving spaghetti I just reserved some of the sauce before adding it to the beef to dip into.

1 egg

3/4 c. milk

1 garlic clove, crushed and minced

2 medium zucchini

3/4 c. Italian seasoned bread crumbs

3/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Dash Salt & Black Pepper

1/4 - 1/2 tsp granulated garlic

Marinara Sauce for Dipping

Pre-heat your oven to 400

Combine the egg, milk, and minced garlic. Cover and let sit in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

Slice the zucchini about 1/8 of an inch thick and set aside.

In a separate container combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and garlic. 

Dip the sliced zucchini in the egg mixture and then the crumb mixture, pressing slightly to help the crumbs stick. 

Spray a baking sheet really well. Place the zucchini in a single layer on the pan and spray with cooking spray. 

Bake at 400 for 18 - 22 minutes. Flip the zucchini over and bake an additional 7 - 10 minutes, until browned. 

Homemade Ravioli

Homemade ravioli can be a lot of fun as long as you know a few tricks to make the process go a lot easier. I work with a hand crank and a Norpro ravioli press.

My pasta dough recipe:

3 1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp salt

6 eggs

2 Tbsp water

About 3 cups of your desired filling* 

(This is a great place to use leftover cooked meats)

Mix all in medium speed with the paddle, the whisk wont be able to handle it. Let rest, covered, 30 minutes. 

When ready to use split the dough into balls smaller than a baseball but bigger than a golf ball. Make sure the pasta you aren't working with at the time is covered with a damp paper towel to keep the pasta from drying out. Flour the dough on all sides and run through the hand crank on the "1" setting, re flour and then run through again on the "4" setting. Four was the thinnest I could make the dough without it being too thin to hold the filling. Spray the metal part of the ravioli press with no-stick cooking spray (this is really important or you wont be able to get the pasta off the press without ripping the pockets open) 

Press the off-white plate into the dough to create indents in the dough. Fill the pockets with your fully cooked filling. Make sure to not over fill and keeping all the filling in the middle so the edges can seal properly. 

Take a second sheet of pasta and slightly moisten on one side. Place the moistened side down on top of the ravioli press. Roll a rolling pin over the top to cut and seal the ravioli. Remove the excess from the side, flip over and push gently on a couple of the ravioli on one end to release. They should come right out. 

Place on a baking sheet while you finish the rest of the pasta. This recipe made about 8 dozen for me.

To make Toasted Ravioli:

 3/4 c. Italian bread crumbs

1/4 c. flour

1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
Salt to taste

2 eggs

1/2 c. milk

1/4 c. sour cream

Combine the bread crumbs, flour, and cheese. Taste for salt,
You want it a little saltier than you think, the eggs wash doesn't have any seasoning
and the pasta has very little salt, usually you add salt to the water. Set aside.

In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, milk, and sour cream.

Dip the ravioli in the egg mix and then the bread crumbs. 

Lay flat on a baking tray, spray really well with butter spray,
and bake at 375 for 12 - 17 minutes or until golden. 

Serve with marinara sauce

*For my filling I sauteed 1 medium onion, chopped very finely, in butter until tender. I then added 2 - 3 cups of cooked, finely chopped, pot roast, about 2 tsp. dried basil, 1/2 tsp granulated garlic, 1 cup of water and a beef bouillon cube. I simmered that for a while then drained off most of the liquid and added about 3 Tbsp italian bread crumbs (to soak up the rest of the liquid) 3 oz. of grated Monterrey cheese (it was all I had, I would have preferred mozzarella or even Asiago) and 3 Tbsp of Parmesan cheese. 

Other fillings I like are chicken, cream cheese and herbs or ricotta and spinach

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Freezer Ravioli

To freeze: Lay flat on a baking sheet and freeze until solid. When solid drop in a freeze safe bag. 

To serve: Drop the frozen ravioli into boiling water and cook until they float to the top. Drain and serve with your favorite sauce. 

Presto Pasta Night is being hosted by its founder 

at "Once Upon a Feast"

Pizza (for the freezer)

Since I'm on a frozen food kick right now I thought I would mention, 

and give instructions for, homemade frozen pizza.

I make a Sams run before I start and pick up their 

10 lb bag of shredded mozzarella cheese and 5 lb bag of pepperoni. 

It's also a great place to get a huge can of tomato sauce if that isnt a pantry staple. 

I make a huge batch of dough, enough for 10 pizzas. I use the dollar stores non disposable round pizza pans. I roll the dough out and bake it until it is just cooked, but still not golden or crisp. I remove, let it cool, and then top with sauce, cheese and pepperoni. 

I freeze it until it is solid, about 4 hours, then remove it from the freezer, lift it off the baking pan,  and wrap it really well in plastic wrap. Return to the freezer where it sits until you are ready to eat it. 

The huge bag of pepperoni is enough for about 20 pizza so feel free to pick up two bags of cheese or freeze the leftover pepperoni until next time.

Bake the pizzas from frozen at 350 for 20 - 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden. 

My Pizza Recipe is here

Lasagna. That takes all day.

I had a little bit of sauce and ricotta leftover so I made a small individual size lasagna to eat while waiting for dinner :)  If my pan was deeper I would have added more layers. I cheated and used bottled sauce, make sure you like it as sauce though or you wont like it as lasagna either. I used Paul Newmans brand  (I think the garden) and it's decent. If you make your sauce from scratch feel free to use it here, just make sure it isnt too thin, you will need about 3 - 4 cups of sauce.

I rolled my pasta really thin, so I ended up only using about half of it. You can cut the recipe in half, make thicker noodles, or save what you have leftover for another meal. Homemade noodles freeze well.

Meat sauce

1 lb (90% lean) ground beef
1/2 lb Italian sausage
1 bottle spaghetti sauce

2 (15 oz) cans tomato sauce
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 low sodium beef bouillon cube

Cook the meat in separate pans until cooked through. Combine the causes and beef cube, reserving 3/4 cup of the sauce without meat in it. Combine the sauces, tomatoes, and meat; blend the sauce to crumble the meat really fine and crush the tomatoes. I used my immersion blender, if using a high powered blended, such as a vitamix, be really careful or you will end up with meat paste. I know this for a fact. Set aside. 

Cheese Layer
15 oz. Whole milk ricotta cheese
4 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour

2 c. half-an-half, at room temp

Salt to taste, I used 1/2 tsp
1 (8 oz) bag shredded Italian five cheese

Melt the butter in a saucepan until bubbly. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring until bubbly. Whisk in the milk and simmer until slightly thick, if the milk is cold when you add it to the roux it will seize up and be lumpy. Remove from the heat and stir in half the bag of cheese. Keep stirring until melted and really thick and stringy. Mix in the ricotta and salt to taste.

Pasta

3 1/2 c. flour

6 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp water

Combine the salt and the flour, I did this with my hands to also remove and clumps in the flour. Whisk together the eggs and water. Add the eggs to the flour and mix until a dough forms, adding more water if needed. On a heavily floured surface, knead the dough until smooth. Cover with plastic and let rest for 30 minutes. I used my grandmothers hand crank pasta maker to roll it out pretty thin.

In the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish add enough tomato sauce to cover the bottom. Add noodles, sauce, noodles, ricotta, noodles, sauce, alternating layers until the pan is full. Make sure with the tomato sauce layer you add lots, more than you think you will want, it disappears when baking. Pour reserved tomato sauce over the top and sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese. Pre-heat oven to 375. Cover with tin foil and bake for 20 minutes; turn the oven off and leave the door shut for 40 minutes. Turn the oven back on and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the tin foil and bake until the cheese is golden.

Let rest 15 minutes before slicing.

Creme Brulee

When you heat a liquid, usually a dairy, and then mix it into eggs it is called tempering. At that point in this recipe you pour it into the ramekins and bake it, but you can return it to the pan and continue cooking until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon to create custard.

If you go the custard route stir in some chocolate and whipped cream to make silk.

For such a great dessert this was not only super easy to make, but would be great for entertaining. You can make it the day before and just take them out of the fridge before dinner. Then when you are done eating just sprinkle with sugar and torch the top.

1 1/2 c. heavy cream
2 c. half-an-half
6 egg yolks
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
12 Tbsp Turbinado sugar

Heat the cream, half-an-half, and vanilla until the liquid is really hot, but don't let it boil or it will curdle.

Meanwhile beat the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture looks light and fluffy and is pale in color.

When the cream is hot and the yolks are pale slowly whisk the hot cream into the egg yolks, a little at a time, until completely incorporated.

Pour into ramekins and place on a tray, pour water halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 30 minutes.

Chill overnight. Remove from the fridge and top each with 1 Tbsp sugar, using a kitchen blow torch, run the flame across the top until the sugar is melted. Let sit for 30 minutes before serving.

I use the lowest setting on my torch. I found that the highest setting burns the top of the sugar before it melts the bottom, the lowest setting melted it throughout and the browned the top nicely.

Eggplant Pasta

This can be so many things. I first tried it as soup. Then I used it as a pizza sauce. Next it was a casserole and lastly it was just tossed with some pasta for lunch. All were loved. Don't let the really basic looking appearance of the pasta in the picture fool you. It's amazing stuff.

And since it's amazing, I'm sending it to the amazing Presto Pasta Nights being hosted over at Briciole

1 egg plant, quartered lengthwise
2 roma tomatoes, quartered
2 cloves garlic
1 small onion, quartered
olive oil
Salt

Brush vegetables with oil and lightly sprinkle with salt.
Roast at 400 for 40 minutes.

In a pot combine and simmer 10 minutes
2 c. chicken broth
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1 tsp. lemon juice

Scrape eggplant from purple skin. Add eggplant, onion, tomatoes, and garlic to broth.
Simmer 30 minutes until vegetables really are tender. Puree until smooth and add
1/4 c. cream
let sit for 15 minutes.

Roasting the vegetables, I used more than the onion shown, I had just already started throwing it in the pot before I remembered to take a picture. They will be a dark brown on the bottom, you want that.

Thats what it looked like in the pot simmering, not so very tasty looking, admittedly

Ok, so thats the basics of it. Here are the Variations:

Soup:
Use 6 cups of chicken broth and a half a cup of cream

Pizza Sauce:
Use as is instead of your regular tomato sauce on pizza, top with cheese, bake and enjoy

Casserole:
Toss cooked pasta, the sauce, chunks of cooked chicken and/or Italian sausage, and some small cubes of mozzarella cheese. Cover and bake at 350 until the cheese starts to melt

Pasta Dish:
Much like the casserole, just toss the sauce with cooked pasta and enjoy. You can add sliced chicken and top with Parmesan cheese is you want.