Showing posts with label Pasta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pasta. Show all posts

Wednesday, 11 May 2016

Cajun Shrimp Cauliflower Alfredo Linguini

Cajun Shrimp Cauliflower Alfredo Linguini
Today I have a tasty cajun style blackened shrimp cauliflower alfredo linguini dish for you! This is basically an alfredo pasta dish with the alfredo sauce made lighter by using cauliflower rather than cream and it's just as nice and creamy and good! Some cajun seasoning is added to the sauce to add the cajun flavours and the shrimp is also seasoned with it before it is quickly blackened, by cooking it in a heavy bottom pan/skillet at a fairly high temperature, and added to the pasta and the creamy cauliflower alfredo sauce. Even with the extra step of steaming the cauliflower, this cajun shrimp cauliflower alfredo linguini comes together in no time making it a nice and quick and easy meal that is perfect for busy week nights and it's also impressive enough to serve to guests!

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Wednesday, 13 April 2016

Avgolemono Soup (aka Greek Lemon Chicken Soup)

Avgolemono Soup (aka Greek Lemon Chicken Soup)
I can't believe that we just had snow a few days ago when we are well into April! Well, that means that it's time for some soup and a bright, longing for spring, soup, an avgolemono soup! Avgolemono soup is a Greek style lemon chicken soup with rice that is thickened with eggs. The recipe could not be easier where you pretty much just cook the rice in a bunch of chicken broth before adding the chicken and lemon along with the egg thickener. The egg is added after tempering it first by slowly whisking some hot broth into the eggs and then whisking the mixture back into the soup. The eggs are added this way so that they do not 'cook', turn white and stringy, like an egg drop soup, when added to the broth. Given how simple this soup is, I like to use quality ingredients including a tasty homemade chicken broth or chicken stock but store bought also works. Here's hoping for some warmer spring weather and until it arrives I will be enjoying some of this avgolemono Greek style lemon chicken soup!

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Thursday, 11 February 2016

Creamy Brie Mushroom Sauce

Creamy Brie Mushroom Sauce
This creamy brie mushroom sauce from the mushroom and peppercorn crusted steak in a creamy brie mushroom sauce was so good that I felt that I had to break it off into it's own recipe. I mean this mushroom sauce is amazing all by itself on the afore mentioned steak, pork chops, simply tossed with pasta or smothering vegetables like cauliflower, mashed potatoes, green beans etc. In addition to being addictively good, this sauce only takes about 30 minutes to make so if you are serving it on pasta, steak, pork chops, etc. it's done in time to make for a nice quick 30 minute meal! The brie in this mushroom sauce makes it so nice and creamy and it lets you cut back on the amount of heavy/whipping cream at the same time. I like to add a bit of white miso paste to add some extra umami but it's completely optional. Once you try this creamy brie mushroom sauce you'll be using it on everything, that is when you can stop yourself from just eating a bowl full all by itself!

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Monday, 25 January 2016

Creamy Parmesan Sundried Tomato and Spinach Tortellini Cauliflower Soup

Creamy Parmesan Sundried Tomato and Spinach Tortellini Cauliflower Soup
It's time for another comforting soup recipe to stave off the chill weather and this time is a creamy parmesan sundried tomato and spinach tortellini cauliflower soup! When I hear the word creamy in a soup I immediately think of copious amounts of heavy/whipping cream but in this soup I get the creaminess by using pureed cauliflower which gets things nice and creamy while keeping it light and healthy! Up next is the sundried tomatoes and I use a jar of oil packed sundried tomatoes where I puree half of them to infuse the soup with their flavour and I slice the remaining tomatoes so that you gets hits of their intense flavour when chewing on them! Of course there is plenty of freshly grated parmesan melted into the soup along with wilted spinach and fresh basil to finish it off. Whether you are looking for a comforting of soup to shake off the chill of a cold day or a soul warming bowl to curl up in your favourite chair with at the end of a long day this creamy parmesan sundried tomato and spinach tortellini cauliflower soup is just what you are looking for!

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Monday, 11 January 2016

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
With the colder weather I have been thinking about soups more and I thought that I would start out with this nice and hearty, light and bright lemon chicken orzo soup. This soup is essentially a take on a chicken noodle soup using orzo as the 'noodle' and it emphasizes brightness by the use of lemon juice and zest along with plenty of fresh parsley. In addition, I like to add a touch of thyme for some earthiness and a bit of tarragon which perfectly complements the bright flavours of the soup and adds a hint of the exotic with its anise-y and vanilla-y undertones! This soup is pure comfort food that is absolutely amazing on a cold winter day, it's hot, filling and it adds a bit of summery sunshine to your day! What's even better is that it takes less than 30 minutes to make and it will fit into your New Year's diet resolutions!
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Wednesday, 11 November 2015

Marinara Sauce

Marinara Sauce
Marinara sauce is one of those pantry staples that I always want to have on hand and it turns out that it is super easy to make your own! I always want to have a good marinara sauce on around because it can be used in so many different recipes (see below for some ideas) and this homemade version is simply the best! This marinara sauce starts out with a combination of olive oil and butter and it is seasoned with garlic, red pepper flakes and oregano before adding the tomatoes along with onion wedges and fresh basil. The sauce is simmered for a bit to reduce and thicken before removing the basil and onion and adding salt and pepper to taste. This marinara sauce is great fresh and it keeps in the fridge for a couple of days, in the freezer for months and if you use proper canning you can store jars of it in your pantry so that you have it on hand when you need it!

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Monday, 9 November 2015

Chicken Fajita Pasta

Chicken Fajita Pasta
Chicken fajitas are one of my favourite meals and I often like to use the same flavours in a hearty and tasty chicken fajita pasta. This pasta starts out with some chicken that is tossed in taco seasoning (I like homemade for tons of flavour) followed by plenty of onions and peppers! Once the chicken and veggies are ready there is some broth to form the base of the sauce along with some diced tomatoes (fire roasted are great here) and I like to add some sour cream to things nice and creamy. All that's left is to mix in the pasta and serve topped with your favourite chicken fajita fillings like cheese and sour cream!

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Monday, 31 August 2015

Avocado BLT Pasta Salad

Avocado BLT Pasta Salad
I can't believe that summer is going by so quickly! This weekend is the last long weekend of the summer and it's a great opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy the warm weather while it lasts! If you are planning on having a picnic, throwing a party of having a get together do I ever have a tasty dish for you, an avocado BLT pasta salad! This pasta salad is inspired by the BLT, a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, which only gets better with avocado so this pasta salad contains all of those ingredients along with pasta. Instead of going with regular lettuce I decided to go with baby spinach but otherwise the ingredients are the standard bacon, tomato and avocado. I don't think that you can ever have too much avocado so I went with my favourite creamy guacamole dressing which is a guacamole themed dressing with buttermilk that is so creamy and good! No matter what you're doing this weekend, this quick and easy avocado BLT pasta salad would be a perfect addition to your day!

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Wednesday, 5 August 2015

Pesto Zucchini Noodles with Roasted Tomatoes and Grilled Chicken

Pesto Zucchini Noodles with Roasted Tomatoes and Grilled Chicken
It's time for another summery zucchini recipe and this time it's fresh pesto zucchini noodles with roasted tomatoes and grilled chicken! Ever since I came across the idea of zucchini noodles I have been a little obsessed with them! I mean what's not to like about them? They behave just like spaghetti noodles and they are lighter and healthier! This recipe could not be easier, you simply roast the tomatoes, grill the chicken, slice the zucchini into noodles and then toss it all in a fresh homemade basil pesto! In addition to being nice and light and healthy, this dish is pure summer in a bowl with the juicy roasted tomatoes bursting in your mouth balancing off the creamy pesto. The zucchini noodles can be served cool making this dish perfect for hot summer days!

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Friday, 22 March 2013

Roasted Brussels Sprout Carbonara

Roasted Brussels Sprout Carbonara
The other day I noticed some brussels sprouts looking rather lonely in the grocery store and that made me realize that with winter coming to an end they would be disappearing soon. Brussels sprouts have to be one of my favourite winter vegetables and despite the fact that I really had not done much with them this winter I always have plenty of ideas with how to enjoy them including this carbonara pasta. Carbonara pasta is an Italian pasta dish that consists of egg yolk, cheese, bacon and plenty of fresh cracked black pepper and I always enjoy throwing a seasonal vegetable like brussels sprouts in the mix to keep things new and interesting and to make it a bit healthier. Although you could steam the brussels sprouts, I prefer to roast them to bring out their flavour and they go perfectly well with the bacon in the creamy egg yolk and cheese carabonara sauce! On of the great things about this pasta is how quick and easy it is to make, taking only as long as it takes to roast the brussels sprouts to pull together making it a great light meal for a weeknight.

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Sunday, 3 March 2013

Pepperoni Pizza Casserole

Pepperoni Pizza Casserole
When I know that I am going to have a busy week coming up I like to try to make one or two big meals on the weekend that are guaranteed to leave enough leftovers for a second quick meal during the week and casseroles are a great way to accomplish this. One of my favourite casseroles is a pizza casserole, I mean you really cannot go wrong with an ooey gooey melted cheesy casserole with all of the flavours of a pizza! This pizza casserole is a pasta based casserole with pizza sauce or marinara sauce, a cheese mixture of mozzarella, ricotta and parmesan along with your favourite pizza toppings. I often like a nice simple pepperoni, sausage and olive topping in my pizza casserole but you could use any pizza topping combination that you can think of and don't be afraid to change the pizza sauce up with a different kind of pizza sauce. No matter how you top it, this pizza casserole is going to be tasty!

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Saturday, 9 February 2013

Dan Dan Mian (Noodles in Spicy Chinese Peanut Pork Sauce)

Dan Dan Mian

The bang bang chicken that I made a few days ago reminded me of another one of my favourite Sichuan dishes, dan dan mian and that is not too surprising given how similar they are. Dan dan mian or dandan noodles is a Chinese Sichuan dish consisting of pork and preserved vegetables in a spicy chili oil based sauce with Sichuan peppercorns that is served over noodles. There are many different variations on dan dan noodles and one common one is to add sesame paste which makes the sauce very similar to the bang bang chicken sauce.
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Tuesday, 22 January 2013

Pad Thai Soup

Pad Thai Soup
I am a totally addicted to Pad Thai, a super tasty stir-fried noodle dish, so when I came across the idea of a pad Thai soup on Domestic Fits I just had to make my own! At its base pad Thai contains rice, noodles that are stir-fried with an egg, meat commonly shrimp and/or chicken and bean sprouts and it is garnished with cilantro, peanuts, green onions and lime juice. Pad Thai gets it flavour from a tasty sauce that is made with tamarind, fish sauce, sugar and chilies creating an amazing balance of sour, salty, sweet and spicy! With these things in mind I started the soup off with chicken broth that I simmered with the shrimps shells to impart their flavour to it. I then added all of the ingredients from the pad Thai sauce, the tamarind, fish sauce, sugar and chilies, to form a tasty broth for the soup. Next up I added some shiitake mushrooms which are also good in pad Thai along with the noodles and bean sprouts to fill out the soup. That left the egg which is great in fried rice or fried noodle dishes like pad Thai and since I love the texture that an egg adds to egg drop soup I decided to add the egg in that fashion. With the soup done, all that was left was to garnish it with cilantro, peanuts, chilies, lime juice and optionally some fried shallots and enjoy it!

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Thursday, 18 October 2012

Beer Mac n Cheese Soup

Beer Mac n Cheese Soup
With the weather getting cooler soups have been on my mind more often and with it being October I have been thinking about recipes that use beer for an Oktoberfest inspired menu. With that in mind it seemed like the perfect opportunity to make a beer mac n cheese soup! I had been planning on making a mac n cheese inspired soup for a while but when I last made the ale and cheddar soup I figured that a beer mac n cheese soup would be even better! This recipe is actually pretty similar to the ale and cheddar soup recipe with the primary difference being the addition of elbow macaroni and some extra cheese so that it tastes like a really creamy bowl of mac n cheese! I completed my mac n cheese soup meal off with some soft and chewy pretzel rolls, complimenting the Oktoberfest theme.

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Thursday, 27 September 2012

Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Alfredo Pasta

Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Alfredo Pasta
Another thing that I really like about this time of year is all of the red peppers that are around. Not only are they plentiful but they are also cheap and every year at this time I head down to the farmers market and pick up a large basket full of them. By far my favourite thing to do with red peppers is to roast them and luckily roasted red peppers keep well in the freezer so I roast most of the basket and freeze them for use throughout the year. Since I was roasting up a bunch of red peppers anyways it seemed only natural to use some of them right away and I was thinking that a creamy roasted red pepper and goat cheese pasta was a great way to go!

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