Shortcut Pasta alle Vongole (with Clams)

Credit: Jean Allsop
I’ve been trolling the internet for low-cholesterol recipes and recently discovered that clams are heart-healthy, especially if you’re not restricting your sodium.  The following is a quick recipe that hits the spot when you don’t have $20 to drop on a restaurant dish.  It could be improved with a splash of white wine and fresh [...]

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Julius & Rachel’s Fennel Sausage Pasta

I’ll be the first to admit: this is not the most photogenic dish to ever appear on Culinspiration. But although it’s not much to look at, this sauce is so good it had me pestering my friends Rachel and Julius for the recipe for weeks. Weeks! I couldn’t get the perfect melding of flavors out of [...]

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Cheesy Baked Greek Pastitsio

If you like lasagna, beef bolognese, or even Cincinnati chili, you’ll love this dish hailing from Greece.  Pastitsio is a layered casserole of tubular pasta tossed with hard cheese and topped off with meat sauce (spiced with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and oregano) and lightly browned bechamel sauce.  With so many delicious ingredients, how could it not [...]

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To Try: Greek Chicken Kapama

Ever since I saw a mouth-watering photograph of pastitsio, I’ve been more than a little preoccupied with Greek cooking.  I was trolling Recipezaar for ideas and stumbled across this incredible recipe for chicken pieces marianted in lemon juice and braised in a rich tomato sauce with white wine, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves.  

Credit: John Carrington/Savannah Daily News

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Not Quite Carbonara

Cooking for one is sometimes an (unexciting) necessity.  To me, it’s much more fun to cook imagining someone else groaning in pleasure after taking a bite.  (Hey, a girl can dream, right? )  But anyway, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to cook up a big pot of soup or whole roast when there’s just one mouth to [...]

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Vicky’s Vodka Penne

My dear friend, Vicky, lives in Michigan, and every so often, I cajole her into visiting me in D.C.  She’s great company and a good cook, too!  One of the highlights of her last visit was this rich vodka penne.  (I swear, I don’t eat pasta all the time, despite my recent posts.)  Vicky sent in her [...]

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To Try: Adult Macaroni & Cheese

I think I’m in love:

Credit: jamieoliver.com
Kudos to Jamie Oliver’s food stylist/photographer.
Doesn’t this look scrumptious?  I don’t often use that word, but I’m pretty sure it fits this Tagliatelle with Spinach, Mascarpone, and Parmesan.
Check out the list of ingredients:
-455 g/1lb. tagliatelle or spaghetti
-olive oil
-2 tsp. butter
-2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
-a few pinches of nutmeg
-400 [...]

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Penne with Roasted Tomatoes, Feta & Kalamatas

If you haven’t guessed, I’m a food blog junkie, so it’s no surprise this recipe started with one from a charming blogger, The Wednesday Chef.  Chopped, sauteed zucchini might also be nice.
-1/2 c. olive oil, divided
-1 lb. good canned plum tomatoes (or whole, peeled plum tomatoes), halved lengthwise, seeded
-1 tsp. dried oregano, 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
-scant [...]

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To Try: Mozzarella-Stuffed Meatballs

My good friend, Chris, recently made these for her husband’s birthday.  He loved them so much, he uttered that treacherous phrase for an Italian boy, “Better than mama’s!”
I haven’t had the chance to make them yet, but isn’t his reaction inspiring?
The recipe essentially follows one by Giada de Laurentiis, except substitutes regular for smoked mozzarella.
-1 small [...]

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Best Bolognese Sauce

This is the real deal: beef ragu with tomatoes (not tomato sauce that happens to have a little beef in it). Delicious, and one of my favorite recipes to cook AND eat.
-1T olive oil
-3T butter
-1/2 c. finely diced onion
-2/3 c. finely diced celery
-2/3 c. finely diced carrot
-3/4 lb. ground meat–meatloaf blend (beef+pork+veal). Omit veal if [...]

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