Tag: Rachel Ray

The Cooking Chronicles: Pizzagna

Trying to make the most of leftover dried pasta and asiago cheese left over from our mac & cheese and focaccia pizza creations, respectively, I found a fairly simple recipe in Rachel Ray’s Pizzagna. Sounding appealing enough, it combined elements of pizza and lasagna in an easy assemble-and-bake style dish.

Though we omitted the onions (more because I forgot to get them at the supermarket than anything else), red pepper flakes, and parsley, and substituted asiago for parmesan, and button for crimini mushrooms, we followed the rest of the directions fairly closely. I’m finding I really like baked pastas and casseroles, as they do have a make-ahead option available.

The final product was delicious – the ricotta and pepperoni really made the dish unique. Next time, I’d probably try to include more vegetables – zucchini and tomatoes would complement the sauce nicely.

Pizzagna: definitely a keeper!

Pizzagna

The Cooking Chronicles: More-Peas-if-You-Please Penne

Slowly edging up the solid food chain, I decided to satisfy my pasta craving with Rachel Ray’s More-Peas-if-You-Please Penne. Eye-rolling recipe name aside, I know I give Ray quite a bit of flack for her grating on-screen personality, but I must say, she does have a knack for creating quick and easy weekday supper savers, of which this is a prime example. I’ve also been on the lookout for pasta recipes that don’t use the more run-of-the-mill bottled marinara or alfredo sauces (though don’t get me wrong – I know I’d always have a few stored in my pantry, just in case).

Save omitting the basil, I followed the directions as written. The result was a satisfying, semi-creamy pasta dish celebrating the versatility of peas – in both the “sauce” and as a vegetable additive (I had really forgotten how good peas are). Next time, I’d hold off on some of the ricotta in favor of even more peas, and have the foresight not to discard all of the pasta water (oops…).
This recipe is definitely worth a try if you’re out of dinner ideas!
More-Peas-if-You-Please Penne

The Cooking Chronicles: Banana Fritters

Mack was insistent that we make spring rolls to bring to Megan’s potluck on Friday. As it turns out, my Mum was kind enough to “lend” us her stash of ready-made rolls to simply fry up and go, so I thought it would be a good time to try out a recipe for Banana Fritters (as we could make use of the already-heated oil).

The genesis for my excitement was the similar dish I had at Pradera Cafe a few weeks ago – crispy, sweet, perfectly fried banana morsels that didn’t seem too difficult to duplicate. The recipe was straightforward enough – the batter was easy to whip together, and once the bananas had been peeled and sliced, all that was left was to coat and fry them (my Mum taught us a neat little trick of how to test if the oil was hot enough: place a chopstick in the oil and watch for the volume of bubbles arising from the tip). We found that the smaller pieces were easier to coat, but were labor-intensive in terms of increasing the quantity we needed to fry. And we weren’t sure if it was a result of a thin batter, but the fritters didn’t end up being very crispy in the end. Though not the most appetizing-looking product (my Dad asked if what we gave him to eat was a Chicken McNugget, haha), once tossed in a cinnamon-sugar mixture and served with ice cream, it didn’t seem to matter, and most people seemed to like them just as well.

So with the slight mishap of Mack burning himself with the hot oil (chalked up to a sacrifice for the culinary arts anyway), the experiment was a success.

Banana Fritters (not plated, boo)