BIZZY BAKES

This week, I made Broccoli Soup with Beans and Pasta.  This is the easiest recipe, the perfect one to make when you come home from work, with little impetus to fuss, in the kitchen.  It has few ingredients and is from the book, "Thirty Minute Pasta" by Giuliano Hazan.  This is my contribution to our group of cooking ladies who weekly attempt to make a recipe from this book.  The recipes are generally easy, yet delicious. Check out the blogs of these ladies  Kayte , Margaret , Peggy , Glennis  to see what they have made this week.

Each week, I skim through the pages and each week, there is a recipe that I stop for, this Spaghetti with a Savory Onion Sauce.  Then I continue, to check the ingredients and keep on turning pages.  The reason is that this calls for anchovies and I don't want to use anchovies and it seems to me that would be a major ingredient with all the flavor it brings to a dish.  In trying to be true to this recipe and others that call for anchovies, I have lost the opportunity to enjoy them, I looked online for a similar recipe by Hazan an d I found it here.   This makes a larger quantity and does NOT have anchovies.  Otherwise with minor exceptions, the recipes are almost the same.  Since the ingredients are the same, I decided to make the one from the book without the anchovies. There are differences in the steps to the final dish, the reason most likely being the thirty- minute guideline.  The one on Food.com has the onions sauteing for almost 45 minute...

Campanelle  al Salmone I made this dish, this week, to eat after the fast last Sunday. I did not have enough tomatoes and yet, it formed a light coating on the pasta (I used a different shape than suggested) and salmon. This is a fabulous dish which I enjoyed immensely. This is the kind of recipe which keeps you busy step following step. That does not mean it is difficult. It simply is a steady stream of small moves. The ingredients are simple and the only thing, I did not have in the house was the cream. Tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes, salmon, pasta, cream and basil make up this dish that magically goes together. This is for our group who is cooking from Thirty Minute Pasta by Giuliano Hazan. To see what the other ladies made check out Kayte , Margaret , Peggy , Glennis .     Treasure Box Tuesda y    H earth and Soul Hop       Tuesday’s Table                  Fat...

Another week of cooking from,Thirty Minute Pasta, by Giuliano Hazan means another way of cooking pasta.  Noodle soup is hardly new to us but sharing the limelight with the peas is new to me.  Also, I was thinking of pasta in a more traditional way (meatballs and spaghetti, lasagna, mac and cheese) and I am happy to  be making soups and salads as well as casseroles. It turned out to be a comforting dish which is based on Rice and Peas and adapted into this delicious Noodles and Pea Soup.  Hazan made this into a real shortcut soup by using a bouillion cube added to water to make the soup.  If you have a good vegetable broth or frozen chicken soup or beef broth, I recommend using it to make an even better tasting soup.   I was not disappointed with the bouillion and I guess I chose one that had good flavor but that was simply luck. Hazan suggested cutting the noodles into smaller pieces but I saw no real purpose in doing that.  I prefer the full ...

Last night, I decided to try one of Hazan's meat dishes.  Why not start with his simple meat sauce?  There was a good reason not to.  It is much too simple, basically throwing together meat and onions and tomatoes.  Certainly, I have made better sauces, myself. I wanted to make something from Hazan, though, in keeping with the group's theme.  I looked up recipes from Hazan online and found this classic bolognese meat sauce which adds milk to the sauce.  Since, I can't use dairy milk, I subbed in Rice milk and made a sauce with some taste to it with added carrots, celery and onions, a little nutmeg and it used canned tomatoes instead of the fresh, he uses in this thirty minute book.  I ended up using both fresh and canned so I would have enough. This is the recipe, I adapted.  It won't link up.  Computers or Blogger can can stubborn. http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/bolognese_sauce.html Ingredients      ...

I simple love being part of this group, Thirty Minute Thursdays .  I, for sure, have the opportunity to make pasta, weekly.  No wimping out.  No complaining.  No desires to make something else. Who am I kidding?  I love pasta.  This is my excuse to make it.  I had just bought some fresh mozzarella which is quite a treat.  It is richer and creamier than the packaged kind, I usually buy.  That is why, I picked this recipe which is simply pasta,oregano,  tomatoes and mozzarella.  A little salt and pepper, if you want.  Frankly, I think it needs the salt. I don't know why I share my ignorance with you but I did not know which pasta was fusilli.  I found a picture and it looks like spirals.  Since, I make pasta, gluten-free, I am limited anyway so I can't get hung up, looking for the right pasta. Cutting the cheese in small pieces was more effective than shredding it.  It spread throughout the pasta more evenly...

I am kosher which means we do not eat milk products and meat at the same meal.  When, I selected this recipe, I knew, I would have to choose if I was going to make the soup with the cheese or with the meat.  We have been eating little meat so I decided, a hearty soup with sausage would go a long way. Browning the onions and sausage gave a rich flavor to this soup and there was a contrast in textures between the noodles and sausage.  The vegetables, zucchini, tomato, onion, carrot and peas were just the right taste sensations for a soup filled with flavor.  This one should be seen on our table, quite often. This is only the third recipe I have made from Thirty Minute Pasta and I can say, they all have been delicious.  Each one has been easy to make and fulfilled the required 30 minutes.  It is a pleasure, to come home from work and have a delicious filling meal, on the table in such a short time.  I bet you would like to join in the fun and co...