Category: Make Ahead

Creamy Baked Penne and Chicken with Artichokes, Tarragon and Lemon

I have no idea why the concept of a food swap stresses me out so much. But trying to find a recipe for this month was so difficult! I finally found this recipe from a blog called The Bad Girl’s Kitchen; she has a whole section of freezer-friendly meals.
Ingredients (I was making 10 servings):
Salt
2 pounds penne
8 tablespoons olive oil
6 cans of artichoke hearts, rinsed and chopped
1 medium onion, minced
8 medium garlic cloves, minced  (about 8 teaspoons)
Zest from 1 lemon
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups heavy cream
2 pounds chicken thighs
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
16 ounces shredded Italian cheese blend (about 2 cups)
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Ground black pepper
3 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon leaves
that’s quite a few ingredients

To cook the pasta, boil water in a pasta pot over high heat. Add a tablespoon of salt and the pasta and cook for 5 minutes (it will be very al dente– they will cook fully in the oven later). Drain pasta in a colander and toss with two tablespoons olive oil. Set aside.
Prep your artichokes, onion, and garlic.
In a large pot, heat 6 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the artichokes, onion, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook until the artichokes are lightly browned (about 10 minutes).
Add the garlic and lemon zest and cook for about 30 seconds. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the broth, wine, and cream.
Add the chicken and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken registers 160 degrees.
Remove from heat and discard the bay leaves. Remove chicken and set aside to cool. When cooled, shred into bite-sized pieces. Stir the chicken back into the sauce, adding the pasta, peas, 2 cups cheese and lemon juice. Stir until combined and season with salt and pepper.
I transferred these into tupperware dishes. I included a freezer bag of cheese and put them in the freezer.
To cook, thaw the meal in the refrigerator (about 24 hours). Add to a casserole dish and top with the cheese.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cover with aluminum foil sprayed with vegetable spray. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.
Remove foil and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle with tarragon and serve.
Whew. I heated up a tiny portion of this, just to make sure it was edible. Well, it was more than edible, it was really quite good! I was impressed with how much flavor was in the dish. Thanks for such a great recipe Bad Girl’s Kitchen!

Berry Sangria

I have a bunch of fruit left over from my Berries with Lemon Mint Syrup. It’s a lovely warm weekend in Philadelphia which immediately made me think of sangria. What a perfect way to use more of these berries!

Ingredients:

  • A bowl full of mixed berries (strawberries, hulled, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries)
  • 1 1/2 cups of triple sec
  • 1 1/2 cups cranberry juice (I used cran-raspberry juice)
  • 1/2 cup simple syrup (left over from my Mojitos)
  • 1 bottle of white wine
  • 1-2 cups ginger ale or club soda, to taste
  • Ice cubes
  • Mint, optional

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Chocolate Mint Pudding

Chocolate Mint Pudding. Need I say more? This recipe is actually really easy, and it tastes amazing. I made a few changes to the original recipe depending on what I had on hand.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups fat-free milk
  • 1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 3 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

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Tomato Sauce

My mom and aunts make mean tomato sauce. But sadly, they have not signed on to making sure my freezer is sufficiently filled with their delicious sauce. So I’ve finally broken down and attempted my own. Tomato sauce is quite adaptable, you can really throw in whatever you wish.  Here’s my attempt at making a tomato sauce my Italian relatives would be proud of…

Ingredients:
2 cans of crushed tomatoes
1 can of pureed tomatoes
1/3 cup of red wine (whatever you already have opened will do)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons each of parsley, oregano, basil, and thyme
1 bay leaf
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil

Begin by preparing the garlic and shallots. I happened to have shallots on hand, so that’s why I used them instead of an onion. Shallots kind of taste like sweet onions with a bit of garlic to them, so I thought that would work well in the sauce.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and shallots and saute for 1 minute.

Add the cans of tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, spices, wine, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir and bring to a boil. (Be careful, the tomato sauce pops up). Feel free to add more spices or sub in whatever you’d like.
see?
Lower the heat and cover. Simmer for 1 hour. If the sauce seems too thin, add a teaspoon of tomato paste to the sauce. Be sure to remove the bay leaf.
Tomato sauce always tastes better after its been frozen and has had time to meld all the flavors, so I still don’t know how well it turned out. I did have a bit with some spaghetti right after it finished cooking and so far, so good. I can already tell it doesn’t stack up to my family’s sauce, but hey, not to shabby for a girl with freckles if I do say so myself 🙂  I wish I had thought ahead and made meatballs with the sauce too. Meatballs add a nice earthiness to the sauce that really enhance the sauce. Next time…

Parsley Hummus with Toasted Pine Nuts & Pita

Hummus is really easy to make and can be customized to whatever suits your tastes. I am still working through my parsley, so I decided to try a parsley hummus on Epicurious with a few adjustments.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of parsley leaves
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 can of chickpeas, rinsed
the juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons tahini
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
pita bread
cooking spray
salt, to taste

Preheat the over to 450 degrees. Cut the pita into triangles and arrange on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray.

Cook for 4-5 minutes and set aside. Place the chickpeas in a colander and rinse with water.

Roughly chop the garlic.

Put the parsley and the garlic in a food processor and process until thoroughly mixed, about 1 minute.

Add the chickpeas and process for another minute.
Add in the lemon juice, lemon zest, tahini, olive oil, cumin, cayenne pepper, and salt (to taste). Process until smooth.
Place the pine nuts in a saute pan over medium heat. Shake the pan frequently to keep them from burning. When fragrant and browned, remove from heat.
Take 3/4 of the pine nuts and finely chop.
Add the chopped pine nuts to the hummus and mix in with a spoon. Top the hummus with the remaining whole pine nuts.
The spices add great flavor but there isn’t enough in it to give heat. The pine nuts give the hummus some crunch. And for some reason, it makes me super happy that this hummus is such a pretty green color. If you’re not in the mood for toasted pita, tomatoes or sliced cucumber would be quite tasty with this.

Shish Kabobs with Rice

This weekend I was given quite the culinary challenge: make a meal for ten people without breaking the bank. I would be feeding everyone at the beach, so my mind immediately went to Shish Kabobs with Rice (I want summer and barbecues to be here so badly!). This is a great option for vegetarians as well, always a plus.

Living in the city does not mean you can’t enjoy this recipe. If you have a little indoor grill, that will work just fine. Due to the poor weather we had this weekend, we actually ended up broiling the shish kabobs in the oven, which worked just fine.

Ingredients (serves 10):

  • 3 pints cherry tomatoes
  • 1 bag of pearl onions, peeled (quick tip below)
  • 2 green bell peppers
  • 1 yellow pepper
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 orange pepper
  • 2 8 oz packages of whole mushrooms (I used cremini)
  • 1 large zucchini
  • 2 large summer squash
  • 5 lbs top sirloin steak, cut into cubes
  • 10 cups chicken stock (ideally, use vegetable stock to keep veggies truly vegetarian)
  • 5 cups rice

Ingredients for marinade:

  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 heaping tablespoon of the following dried spices: thyme, basil, oregano, marjoram
  • 2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
  • 3/4 cup oil
  • 3/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 2/3 cup red wine (an inexpensive table wine is fine)
  • 5 bay leaves
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 6-8 drops tabasco sauce

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Lasagna

Lasagna. It seems like such a simple dish that will result in many freezable meals (9 to be exact). Always looking for a way to have already-prepared lunch or dinner options, I decided this weekend was the time to conquer the classic Italian food. I mean, how much work can layering different ingredients be?
Three hours later, I ended up with this:
Not too shabby. Just a long process!
Ingredients for Lasagna: 
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons for the lasagna 
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk at room temperature 
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce (recipe below) 
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound ground chuck beef
1 1/2 pounds ricotta cheese 
3 large eggs
1 pound lasagna sheets, cooked al dente 
1 package (16 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
4 cups shredded mozzarella 
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Ingredients for Tomato Sauce:
Olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can pureed tomatoes
Salt and pepper
2 dried bay leaves
1 tablespoon each of dried: thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary and parsley

The tomato sauce takes a good hour itself, so start this before anything else. While making the sauce, leave the milk on the counter so it can reach room temperature. Also leave out the frozen spinach to thaw.
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add cans of tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and the rest of the spices (bay leaves through parsley). Simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Remove bay leaves and remove pot from heat.
Feel free to use just some store-bought sauce. I personally can’t do it. Who told all the sauce companies that sugar should be a main ingredient?  Gross. So yeah, the 25% of me that is Italian absolutely cannot handle sauce out of a jar. I digress…

Next, to make the béchamel sauce, melt 5 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in another pot. When the butter is melted, add the flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes.

um. “smooth”? yeah, I don’t know what happened
Gradually add in milk, whisking constantly to prevent any lumps. Continue to simmer and whisk over medium heat. Make sure the heat isn’t up too high; you don’t want the milk to burn! Stir until thick and creamy, about 10 minutes.
it should coat the back of a wooden spoon, like this
Remove from heat and add to tomato sauce. Stir until well combined. Set aside and allow to cool completely.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
While the sauce is cooling, cook the lasagna according to the package directions.  Lay lasagna pieces out individually on a tin foil so that they don’t stick together.
In a sauté pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When almost smoking, add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Break up large clumps to make sure all parts of the meat are browned, until there is no more pink meat. Remove from heat and drain any excess fat. Set aside and allow to cool completely.
In a medium sized bowl, mix the ricotta and eggs. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
To assemble (in a lasagna pan):
line bottom with lasagna sheets
add 1/3 of bechamel sauce
add all of the ricotta mixture
add all of the spinach
another layer of pasta sheets
add all of the meat
add half of the mozzarella cheese (1 bag)
add another 1/3 of the bechamel sauce
one last layer of pasta sheets
add the last of the bechamel sauce
top with remaining mozzarella cheese
add Parmesan cheese and thin slices of 2 tbsp of butter
To cook, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the lasagna pan on top, cover with tin foil and place on the middle rack of the oven. Bake until the top is bubbling, about 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for another 15 minutes.
woo! finally done!
Allow to cool if you plan on putting into individual containers (as I did). I find it hard to believe that something with this much cheese, pasta, and sauce could honestly taste bad. But seeing how much not-so-good-for-you things went into this, I think I’d sub in some “less” bad ingredients next time (skim milk, partially skim cheese, low fat ricotta, ground turkey).

Although this was quite the task, I think it was totally worth it. I’ve already had this for lunch one day this week and have plenty more stored away in my freezer for future meals. Yum.

so. many. meals.

Barbuzzo’s Salted Caramel Budino

Tasting Table posted an adapted recipe of Marcie Turney’s Salted Caramel Budino. If you’ve never been to Barbuzzo in Philadelphia, your taste buds are missing out on one fantastic dessert. So, if my attempt at this adapted recipe is even half as good as the original salted caramel budino, I will consider this a win.
Barbuzzo’s version is described as “dark chocolate crust, vanilla bean caramel, sea salt.” The Salted Caramel Budino version below omits the crust, but maintains the vanilla bean salted caramel poured over a maple flavored custard.
Ingredients
  • Salted Caramel:
    • ¼ cup granulated sugar
    • 1 tablespoons light corn syrup
    • 3 tablespoons water
    • ¼ cup heavy cream
    • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
    • 1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, plus more for garnish
    • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Pudding:
    • 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
    • ½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
    • ¼ cup water
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 2½ cups half-and-half
    • 1 large egg plus 2 large egg yolks
    • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
    • Whipped cream, for serving

Continue reading Barbuzzo’s Salted Caramel Budino

Guinness Cupcakes with Baileys Frosting

With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, I wanted to test out my recipe for Guinness Cupcakes with Baileys Frosting before the big day to make sure it didn’t need any tweaking.

Guinness cupcakes are chocolate cupcakes that use a dark stout to enhance the flavor.

To keep with the theme, I decided to also make Bailey’s frosting.

Ingredients (makes 24 cupcakes)

Guinness Cupcakes:

  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 12 oz bottle of Guinness (or any other dark stout) – if your bottle is more than this, just measure out 12 oz
  • 1 (4 oz) stick of butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup sour cream

Baileys Frosting:

  • 2 (4 oz) sticks of butter, softened
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 8 cups powdered (confectioners) sugar

Continue reading Guinness Cupcakes with Baileys Frosting

Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

VisitPhilly.com’s Philly Homegrown section recently posted fall recipes from local eateries in Philadelphia. All of them sounded amazing and I hope to try them all in the coming weeks, but my pumpkin obsession took priority. Metropolitan Bakery’s Pumpkin Walnut Muffins were calling me. I’ve adjusted the recipe a bit, but the general idea is still very much there.

The recipe made two dozen large muffins, or 4 dozen cupcake-sized muffins. Your friends and coworkers will like you a whole lot after you make this recipe!


Ingredients:

  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
  • 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 6 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 1/4 cups pumpkin puree, canned
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 2 cups chopped walnuts

Continue reading Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

Moroccan Butternut Squash Soup

I love pumpkin… the word “obsessed” has been used many times to describe my affinity for this delicious gourd. Sadly, I had to choose a rather seasonal (unless its from a can) product, so I’ve really been trying to get my fix of pumpkin over the past few months. A good substitute for pumpkin in most dishes is butternut squash, which is a little easier to come by. Tonight for dinner, I decided to try to make a Moroccan Butternut Squash (or you can use pumpkin) soup. As with most of my base recipes, I went to myrecipes.com to see where to start. I tend to switch the recipes based on what I happen to have in my house already.

Ingredients:

  • 3 1/2 cups cubed peeled fresh pumpkin or butternut squash
  • 2 cups organic vegetable broth (I had chicken broth on hand)
  • 1 3/4 cups diced yellow onion (I used two medium sized onions)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout (this is a mixture of a bunch of other spices that I mixed together, I’ll add that recipe below)
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/2 cup whole milk (I had heavy cream, so I changed it to a little more than a splash)
  • 1 tablespoon butter

Continue reading Moroccan Butternut Squash Soup

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