This recipe for Squid Ink Seafood Pasta is the best way to really highlight a homemade squid ink fettuccine (or store-bought fresh squid ink pasta!)
This Squid Ink Seafood Pasta is bursting with flavor: briny pasta, a little heat from red pepper flakes, nice acidity from the white wine and lemon, smokiness from the salmon, and freshness from the basil.
This is a really impressive dish, but it can be made in about 30 minutes!
I am taking full advantage of the long weekend by making a recipe I’ve wanted to make for a while now: Homemade Squid Ink Fettuccine!
I’ve been inspired to finally try to make homemade pasta after Danny Freeman’s demo at Binding Agents a few months back. And on a recent stop at Ippolito’s, I noticed they had cuttlefish ink for sale and knew that homemade squid ink fettuccine was in my near future!
Homemade pasta is surprisingly easy to make, but it does take some time (the dough has to rest a few times) so just keep that in mind when planning to make it. I have a bunch of tools on hand that make pasta making even easier, so I’ll link to those throughout this post.
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1/2 tablespoon (1 1/2 teaspoons) cuttlefish ink
3oo grams (about 2 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
I love a classic mac and cheese. But I also love a spin on a classic, like this recipe for Cajun Mac and Cheese!
This Cajun Mac and Cheese recipe is made of elbow pasta with onions, bell peppers, celery, and andouille sausage, baked in a creamy, spiced cheese sauce.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon salt
1 (16 oz) box elbow pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 (12 oz – 16 oz) package Andouille sausage, chopped
Now that it’s fall, it is the perfect time for me to share one of my go-to quick weeknight dinners: Chicken Pesto Meatballs.
This recipe for Chicken Pesto Meatballs is equally easy, quick, and delicious – you’ll be amazed at how flavorful these meatballs are!
The below recipes serves the meatballs with a pesto pasta, but we have also enjoyed the chicken pesto meatballs on a bed of salad greens, with rice and vegetables, or on their own as an appetizer.
Ingredients:
Chicken Pesto Meatballs:
1/2 cup homemade or store-bought pesto (if buying store bought, I strongly suggest going to the prepared foods section of the supermarket to see if they have any freshly made pesto rather than jarred)
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 pound ground chicken
1/2 cup grated parmesan
Pesto Pasta:
16 oz pasta of your choice (my favorites are fusilli and orzo for this recipe)
Note: I was sent tins of Fishwife Smoked Rainbow Trout in order to write this Smoky Pantry Pasta post. Opinions are my own.
There are so many occasions when a pantry meal, like this recipe for Smoky Pantry Pasta, can be a real life saver.
I try to have a couple of pantry meals on hand for busy weeknights, the first meal back after a vacation, or, most recently, when we are in the process of moving to a new home. Preparing for the move meant that we were in cleaning out mode and doing our best to not have to go to the grocery store for any additional items.
Mid-move, I was sent the most beautifully packaged tinned fish from Fishwife – three tins of Smoked Rainbow Trout (affiliate link).
Fishwife is a female-founded and led food company aiming to make ethically sourced, premium, and delicious tinned seafood a staple in every cupboard. Founded in 2020, Fishwife sources from healthy fisheries and certified sustainable aquaculture farms to bring the vibrance of conservas culture to the North American table.
The Smoked Rainbow Trout is raised in an ASC-certified sustainable farm in the Denmark countryside and is slow-smoked in small batches over beechwood to give it that beautiful smoky flavor. The Fishwife website suggests enjoying their Smoked Rainbow Trout stirred into a lemony pasta, as smoked trout dip with potato chips, or in a savory sandwich.
source: eatfishwife.com
I adapted this Smoky Pantry Pasta recipe from a pantry pasta recipe on Fishwife’s website, making it only with items I already had on hand. Although the original recipe calls for anchovies, I thought the smokiness of the Smoked Rainbow Trout would enhance the recipe even more!
Ingredients:
1 (16 oz) box pasta (I used gemelli because that’s what I had on hand)
Note: This post for Lobster Pasta in a Caramelized Fennel Sauce is sponsored by Wildgrain. Opinions are mine alone.
It probably comes as no surprise that one of the ways I show my love for my husband, family, and friends is through cooking. When cooking for those I love, I try to use high-quality ingredients so that the food is the best it can be. In the winter, my recipes become more comfort food-like, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to skip on quality!
Wildgrain is here to help me out on my quest for high quality ingredients that can be used to make oh so comforting winter dishes, like this recipe for Lobster Pasta in a Caramelized Fennel Sauce, adapted from a recipe on Food52.
Wildgrain is a bake-from-frozen membership that has two different box choices: Mixed Wildgrain and Bakery. The Mixed Wildgrain comes with an assortment of sourdough bread, hand-cut pasta, and artisanal pastries. The Bakery Box comes with an assortment of sourdough bread, breakfast baked goods, and artisanal pastries. All products are ready-to-bake from frozen, no prep required!
source: wildgrain.com
Everything included in the box is made with clean ingredients with no preservatives. The items are vegetarian, non-GMO, and contain no artificial colors.
Wildgrain has provided an exclusive code for I Can Cook That readers! You can receive $10 off your first box by using discount code ICANCOOKTHAT so you can try out Wilgrain for yourself!
I received a box chock full of awesome products, including two pastas, breads, croissants, and cookie dough. The pasta and bread in my box inspired me to make a pasta dish with plenty of sauce to sop up with bread! The addition of lobster makes this dish perfect for date night, or for a dinner party. The sauce can also be made ahead of time so that when you’re ready to cook, it takes no time at all!
Ingredients:
7 oz lobster meat, thawed if frozen
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 fennel bulbs, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup heavy cream
the juice of one lemon
12 oz container fettuccine, or other pasta of your choice
I originally started this blog as a way to learn to cook and to catalog recipes I enjoyed. So, recently, I have been revisiting recipes from early in my blogging journey and remaking them, like this recipe for Salmon with Lemon Parsley Pesto, served with orzo.
If you follow my posts somewhat regularly, you know that pasta is a very important part of my life. In fact, it gets its own day each week. Every Sunday is pasta night in my house!
I tend to make big batches of Meatballs in Tomato Sauce so we always have some on hand in the freezer, but there are many a Sunday where I open my freezer only to realize I am completely sauce-less. So this recipe for Rigatoni Sausage Arrabbiata is perfect for the nights I want to whip up a quick pasta dinner in no time without sacrificing flavor!
I started making this recipe when I came across Wilmington-based Rockford Catering‘s Tomato Sauce, made by owner and Chef John Wigton. John grew up in Northern Delaware and received his Culinary Arts Degree from Delaware Technical Community College. He has worked in the hospitality business for 20+ years and established Rockford Catering in 2017. And his sauce is legit!
The chunky tomato sauce is flavored with onions, garlic, and basil, and is really great on its own heated up over pasta.
Rockford Catering also (obviously) provides catering services, like this tasty Valentine’s Day menu currently available. Even better, they deliver! The tomato sauce can be delivered (at no additional cost) anywhere within the state of Delaware and within a 45-minute radius of Wilmington or Rehoboth Beach. Order online here.
Rockford Catering’s sauce is vegetarian (they also sell a vegan version), so I decided to add in some hot Italian sausage from my local butcher to enhance the flavor. The result is this super easy Rigatoni Sausage Arrabbiata recipe!
Ingredients:
1 (16 oz) box rigatoni
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 lb hot Italian sausage, removed from its casing (I love that Primal Supply sells it already out of the casing!)
My husband absolutely loves Pasta in Vodka Sauce. I don’t make it terribly often, but it is a really simple and delicious dish to make at home, so I figured it was time to share my recipe for Rigatoni Alla Vodka!
“Traditional” vodka sauce includes tomatoes, herbs, and vodka, although every one I’ve ever come across also has a cream element to it as well.
The history of this sauce doesn’t go terribly far back — it was invented in the 70’s either in New York or Italy, depending on who you ask.
This version adds a bit of smokiness from pancetta and some heat from red pepper flakes to the luxurious tomato vodka cream sauce to make a truly wonderful pasta dish!
I’m guessing that I’m not the only one that has been having fewer dinners out at restaurants, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been making fun meals at home!
This recipe for Creamy Pappardelle with Smoked Salmon and Caviar is fancy enough for an at home date night, but is also so simple to make and comes together in just 20 minutes!
After receiving an affiliate box from Sitka Salmon Shares, I enjoyed their seafood so much that I signed up for a Premium Seafood Subscription Box. One of the boxes had smoked salmon in it, so I went to their recipes page to try and find a different way to use it.
A few years ago, I realized that the concept of what I know as Classic Shrimp Scampi is kind of an American one. To Americans, Shrimp Scampi is shrimp cooked in butter and typically served over pasta. But scampi is actually its own type of crustacean. So it appears that when Italian immigrants came to the US, they adapted the recipe to substitute in shrimp and then kept both names.
Now that you’ve had a history lesson on Shrimp Scampi, let me get to the actual making of the dish. This version is relatively classic, where you cook the shrimp in a butter white wine sauce with a little bit of crushed red pepper and then finish it off with fresh parsley and some lemon juice. To soak up the yummy sauce, serve with pasta or crusty bread.
Note: I was sent coupons from Nasoya in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.
Despite working from home for nearly a year now, I feel like I have less time to cook! I have a feeling I’m not alone, so I wanted to share a healthy, quick, and comforting recipe for a yummy Crunchy Noodle Salad that you can get on the dinner table in ~40 minutes.
This Crunchy Noodle Salad is made with glass noodles, sugar snap peas, shredded carrots, bell peppers, and crispy tofu tossed in a yummy peanut dressing, and can be served at room temperature or cold, so it makes for a great dinner-plus-leftovers option.
Don’t let the whole vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free part of this recipe throw you, it will fill you up! I this recipe uses Nasoya’s Organic Super Firm Tofu that delivers 15g of protein per serving to keep you full. Nasoya’s Organic Super Firm Tofu is also pre-pressed and drained so it’s perfect for quick dinners. Plus Nasoya’s Organic Super Firm Tofu is non-GMO project verified, USDA organic, cholesterol free, gluten free, and made with no preservatives. Nasoya is widely available in most grocery stores; I stopped into my local Shop Rite (it’s also available locally in Philly at Walmart Supercenters, Giant and Giant Heirloom Markets, The Fresh Grocer, and Wegmans), plus you can use their store locator to find which local grocers near you carry it.
Ingredients (serves 4):
6 oz glass noodles
8 oz sugar snap peas
1 package Nasoya Organic Super Firm Tofu, cubed
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup carrots, shredded
1 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
2 scallions, sliced
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup tamari (or low sodium soy sauce if you don’t need this recipe to be gluten-free)
1 1/2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon roasted white sesame seeds, plus more for garnish
Some traditional dishes eaten on New Year’s Day have less to do with the new year and more to do with a country’s history. So this year, I’m sharing my adaptation of an Independence Stew from Haiti. Celebrated every January 1, Haiti proclaimed independence from French colonials on New Year’s Day 1804 following a 13 year revolution. Soup Joumou, a comforting stew traditionally made with beef, pumpkin, pasta, and a bunch of veggies and spices, has become a New Year’s Day dish to commemorate Haiti’s independence.
I adapted this recipe from Epicurious, scaling it down quite a bit and swapping butternut squash for the pumpkin because I couldn’t find any pumpkin that wasn’t already pureed.
Ingredients:
Marinade:
1/2 small onion, coarsely chopped
1 bell pepper (any color), coarsely chopped
1 scallion, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup parsley leaves
1 basil leaf
the juice of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
Remaining Ingredients:
1/2 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon distilled white vinegar, divided
1 pound stew beef cubes
7 cups chicken or beef broth, divided
2 beef bones
1 pound butternut squash, cut into cubes
2 medium russet potatoes (about 1 pound), finely chopped
1 large carrot, sliced
1/4 small green cabbage (about 1/2 pound), very thinly sliced
1/2 small onion, sliced
1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
1 leek, white and pale-green parts only, finely chopped
1 small turnip, finely chopped
1 teaspoon habanero chile hot sauce, or to taste
1 cup uncooked rigatoni
3 whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 parsley sprig (optional)
1 thyme sprig (optional)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (omit to make dairy free)
I think fall cooking might be my favorite kind of cooking. I love comfort food meals that make the whole house smell good! And anything I can put over pasta is guaranteed to be a winning recipe in my house. So this Pressure Cooker Puttanesca Pork Ragu is right up my alley.
I came across a recipe for a puttanesca-style ragu and knew I had to try out my own version! Puttanesca sauces typically have a bunch of brine-y ingredients in them — capers, olives, anchovies — in a tomato sauce that may have a little heat to it as well. I honestly don’t make many puttanesca-inspired dishes because, well, I don’t love olives. But my husband does, so I figured it was worth a try!
This recipe uses a pressure cooker to get that cooking all day flavor in much less time. You’re still looking at a just under 2-hour recipe though, so plan ahead!
I am very much on the pressure cooker bandwagon. It’s awesome for tough cuts of meat, cooking beans, and other processes that can take forever, but my favorite use is speeding up recipes just enough to make them weeknight friendly!
We don’t actively follow the Mediterranean Diet, but following it can help reduce inflammation, avoid disease, and lose weight, making it popular for anyone looking to live a healthier lifestyle. The Everything Mediterranean Instant Pot Cookbook shows you how to recreate classic Mediterranean meals in under an hour using the much-loved multi-cooker, the Instant Pot. With more than 300 recipes for delicious meals, snacks, and even desserts, you’ll have everything you need to create healthy, fresh, and fast meals every day of the week!
As I mentioned, I’ve already made a few recipes in here, but I wanted to share this recipe for Lemon Orzo with Crab and Herbs, which I’ve slightly adapted from the original in the cookbook.
Ingredients (serves 2):
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium shallot, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 fresh parsley, chopped, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped, plus more for garnish
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
2 cups water (or chicken broth for more flavor)
8 oz orzo
8 oz jumbo lump crab meat
the juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for garnish
