Baked Rigatoni with Zucchini

Baked Rigatoni with Zucchini is a delightful Italian pasta that is delicious to eat and fun to make too!
If you happen to have lots of zucchini on your hands this summer, invite family and friends over to help you make this recipe and enjoy this fabulous summer pasta made for sharing.

This recipe starts out with a quick saute of onion and then the zucchini, but what makes it fun is the addition of the tomatoes. You'll empty a 28oz can of whole San Marzano tomatoes into a large bowl, then stick your hand in (or invite the kids's to use their hands) and start squishing them! Yes it sounds weird and maybe creepy...but it's really fun! Crush up the whole can of tomatoes with your bare hand. Somehow this makes me feel like a kid again. Playing in the mud and getting messy...with no care in the world...except catching the ice cream truck...oh summertime fun...

You'll need a fair amount of fresh large leaf basil for this recipe, about a cup. If you read my last post you'll know how much I love fresh herbs, and I won't get on my soap box this time. Most grocery stores will carry a carton of fresh basil~ use this if you don't grow your own or have a handy dandy farmers market nearby. Oh how I love fresh basil! I love the way my fingers smell after picking off a few leaves. Mmmmm!

I found the use of Fontina and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses were a nice change from the usual Parmesan or Mozzarella cheese most think of when cooking Italian fare. They can be a bit difficult to find~ check the specialty cheese isle. If you can't find one or the other, substitute another Italian hard cheese. Just make sure you use two different kinds, it really helps to add depth of flavors to this dish.
I hope you enjoy it along with the special people in your life. That's true Italian cooking!

Baked Rigatoni with Zucchini

by The Goldilocks Kitchen

Prep Time: 35 mins

Cook Time: 20

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Ingredients (6 servings)

• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus 2 tablespoons for the pot of water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 lb medium zucchini, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 28oz can San Marzano tomatoes crushed by hand
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 lb rigatoni pasta
• 8 oz Fontina cheese, shredded
• 1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated

Instructions

1. Set your oven to heat to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to boil, adding the salt. In a 12" inch skillet with deep sides, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, or until softened and just starting to brown. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring frequently, for another 5 minutes or it begins to soften. in the meantime, pour the can of tomatoes into a mixing bowl and crush by hand. Save the can.

2. Add the 1/2 teaspoon of salt, the red pepper flakes to the skillet and stir for about 30 seconds then add the crushed tomatoes to the skillet, filling the empty can with water and pour into the skillet as well. Bring the sauce to boil, and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Don't let the zucchini over cook and fall apart.

3. While the sauce is cooking, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta and add to the skillet. The sauce should be about done at this point. It's okay if it needs to cook for one to two minutes more with the pasta in it to thicken. Remove from heat and stir in the basil.

4. Spray a 9 X 13 inch pan with cooking spray. Ladle one half of the contents of the skillet into the pan. Sprinkle 1/2 of the cheeses onto the top. Ladle the second half of the pasta and sauce into the pan and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until brown and bubbly.

5. Serve. Sprinkle individual servings with additional cheese if any is left over.

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Zuppa Toscana (Tuscan Soup) is one of the best recipes for soup that I've ever eaten. Ever. The ingredients are simple enough~ and there's nothing fancy about the way you cook them. But when they come together magic happens in your mouth. Even thinking about it now causes some cravings; I'm probably going to have to make up another batch after I write this post!

This recipe originated from 'The Olive Garden' restaurant. It was so popular people started to experiment at home to see if they could come close to cooking up a batch that tasted like the original. In doing research for this recipe, I came across a few variations. This one I'm sharing with you in my opinion, is the most accurate.

The ingredients for this soup are simple, yet lovely together. Italian sausage, bacon and minced onion are sauteed and combined with chicken stock, potato slices, coarsely chopped kale and cream (half and half). I will admit: I don't eat kale very often, but this is one recipe that it is perfect for. Don't leave it out! All these flavors combine to create a savory and flavorful soup that you just can't get enough of. Seriously.

A few tips: I have written the recipe instructions so that you slice the potato while the meat is cooking on the stove top. I noticed that if I did it before I started cooking, during recipe prep, that the potatoes had started to turn brown before I got them in the pot. Just remember while slicing the potato, to take some time to stir your sauteing meet around frequently, so it cooks evenly.

Also a word about olive oil: In this recipe the olive oil called for is not Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or EVOO). It is the less refined plain old 'olive oil' as stated below. There is a difference. When a recipe calls for olive oil and you're not sure which one to use, check to see if it's going to be cooked. You don't want to heat EVOO. Yep Rachel Ray, I said it. EVOO is extra extra refined (hence the name) and is made to be served at room temperature. Because it's so refined, it burns at a much lower temperature that regular olive oil.  If you'd like to use olive oil to saute your meets or veggies~ that's great. Just make sure you have a bottle of 'olive oil' on hand to use. The smoking point is higher (the point at which it's the correct temperature to add your ingredients to saute) and it's made for cooking. EVOO is best in vinaigrette, salad, bread dipping, or drizzled over your Italian entree just before serving for an extra dimension of flavor.
Whew. I'll get of my soap box now :0) 

If I could jump out of the screen and tell you to try this soup today, I would! I love it and it's my new favorite. I truly hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Give it a try!

Zuppa Toscana Soup

by The Goldilocks Kitchen

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Keywords: saute soup/stew Italian

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Ingredients (6 to 8 servings)

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 pound Italian sausage, hot or mild
• 4 oz bacon, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 small onion, minced
• 5 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 2 medium russet potatoes, skins washed
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• salt and fresh ground pepper
• 2 1/2 cups half and half
• 1 cup packed kale chopped into bite size pieces
• 1 cup finely shredded Romano cheese for serving

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Crumble sausage (remove casings) and cook, breaking large clumps apart, until sausage is fully cooked and browned. Remove with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel lined plate or bowl. Remove all but 1 teaspoon fat from the pan. Add diced bacon and saute for about 5 minutes. Add onion and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Saute until the bacon is cooked through (not crunchy) and onions are soft, about 5 minutes more.

2. While the sausage and bacon cook, slice the potatoes lengthwise, and slice each half lengthwise again. Slice each portion crosswise into thin slices approximately 1/8 inch thick.

3. Add the chicken broth, water, sliced potatoes, sausage, kale, sugar, salt and pepper to the bacon/onion mixture. Bring soup just to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are very tender. Remove excess fat from the surface with a large spoon or ladle. Stir in the half and half. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of cheese over individual servings. Garnish with seasoned croutons if desired. Serve.

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Baked Gnocchi with Basil Tomato Sauce

Here it is, my favorite recipe for gnocchi!

The gnocchi is baked in a tomato and fresh basil sauce made from scratch, topped with a heaping portion of shredded Mozzarella (the good kind, not that low-moisture skim stuff). If you've never heard of gnocchi, see my last post on Easy Fresh Gnocchi.

This is so fast and easy to make, you'll love that it can be cooked up any week night you feel like comfort food. It goes from the cupboard to the dinner plate in less than 30 minutes!

You can use store bought or your own home made gnocchi. If using my recipe for gnocchi and you've frozen it, boil it first before making this recipe. Keep in mind this will add about 10 extra minutes of prep time to your schedule. If you are using store bought, you can proceed immediately with the recipe. Partially cooked packaged gnocchi can be found in most supermarkets in the pasta isle.

For this recipe, the gnocchi is sauteed in olive oil in a NON STICK SKILLET (please make sure you use a nonstick skillet, ask me how I know) until lightly browned and crunchy on the exterior, (Which is absolutely fabulous on it's own; think fried potatoes.) A simple fresh tomato sauce is then made with minced onion, garlic, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, a can of crushed tomato and lots of freshly chopped basil. The fried gnocchi are tossed in this sauce, and topped off with shredded mozzarella. The the whole shebang is popped into the oven just long enough to melt the cheese.

If you have a large oven safe nonstick skillet, you can pop the whole thing into the oven. If not, simply transfer the tossed gnocchi and sauce into a dish that is oven safe. The cheese is melted into bubbly gooiness in the oven, really putting this dish over the top! Italian cooking at it's finest. A meal you'd probably spend $18 bucks on at some fancy restaurant, and you can enjoy it at home for about $2 a serving! Great cooking at home comes with practice, but a great recipe will give you a tremendous head start :0)

Baked Gnocchi with Basil Tomato Sauce

by The Goldilocks Kitchen

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 8 to 10 minutes

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Ingredients (4 servings)

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 pound vacuum packed gnocchi or homemade
• 1/2 onion minced
• 6 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 (15 oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to upper middle and set oven to heat to 475 degrees.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large nonstick skillet (If you have one that is oven safe, use it.) over medium heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the gnocchi and saute until golden brown and crispy on the outside, transfer to a dish.

3. Increase the heat to medium high and add the remaining olive oil and the onion. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and beginning to brown. Stir in garlic and pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds. stir in the crushed tomato and water and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

4. Add the basil and browned gnocchi to pan. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, until the gnocchi is heated through about 5 minutes. Transfer the mixture to an oven safe dish and sprinkle with the mozzarella, or if using an oven safe dish, sprinkle the cheese over the pan, and slide into the oven. Bake the gnocchi for about 8 minutes, or until the cheese is melted, bubbling and browned in some spots. Serve.

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Fresh Easy Gnocchi

Guh...Juh... what's that you say? Pinocchio? No, it's Gnocchi! If you've never heard of it don't worry, its not exactly a standard household staple just yet. (Not in the US anyway.) Gnocchi (pronounced 'Nyo-kee') is an Italian potato pasta that is quickly gaining popularity for it's delicious flavor and unusual shape. It can be sauteed, baked or added to soup. Basically anything you can do with pasta you can do with gnocchi!

Fresh pasta always starts out as a dough and gnocchi is no different. Gnocchi dough is made by kneading mashed potato with egg, olive oil, salt and flour. The finished dough should not be sticky but very silky and smooth. I use instant mashed potatoes made from potato pearls, as they the perfect consistency. I save myself the work of mashing, and I don't have a ricer to make super smooth mashed potatoes. The traditionalist would boil a couple russets until super soft, and peel then mash while still hot. The mashed potato needs to be very warm/hot to help absorb the flour and other ingredients.

Then comes the fun! It's play dough time. The little kid deep down inside gets to come out as you roll the dough into long 'snakes' and then cut it into small pieces.

Here's a fun fact about pasta: It's different shapes are mean to 'hold' different types of sauces. For example, long thin strand pasta like spaghetti or fettuccine is for silky, thin sauces with small bits of food. Tubular or shelled pastas are shaped to hold chunkier, thicker sauces.

Gnocchi have 'ribs' or 'grooves' pressed into them so that they too can hold pasta sauce. They are very versatile and can be used for thin or thick sauce (ragu).  If you find you really like to make gnocchi at home, you can be super authentic and get a gnocchi board (a small hand-held wooden board with grooves that run the length). I'm all about saving money and prefer to use something we all have in the kitchen: a dinner fork.

Something I really love about making gnocchi at home is that I can make a huge batch and freeze them for

later. After rolling ridges into the gnocchi, skip the boiling step and simply lay them out in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Pop then in the freezer for about an hour. Scoop them into freezer bags by the handful and you've got a great versatile pasta ready to become a fast weeknight meal! When you're ready to use them, plop them strait into a boiling pot of water, or even spread them out on a baking sheet and cook them in a 350 degree oven for about 8 to 10 minutes for a crispy exterior (which is my favorite way to eat them). I hope you have fun creating these cuties at home. I'll be sharing my favorite recipe for baked gnocchi in my next post, so make sure you follow my blog so you don't miss it :0)

Homemade Gnocchi

by The Goldilocks Kitchen

Prep Time: 45 minuts

Cook Time: 5 minutes

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Ingredients (2 servings)

• 2 cups prepared instant mashed potatoes
• 1/2 cup to 1 cup flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt

Instructions

1.Place the very warm mashed potato on a heavily floured surface. Sprinkle 1/2 cup flour around the edges of the mashed potato. Add the egg yolk, salt and oil in a small depression or 'well' in the center of the mashed potato and begin to incorporate with a fork. When thoroughly mixed, begin incorporating flour into the potato mixture by hand.

2. Knead dough, adding more and more flour until the dough is no longer sticky and very smooth and soft. Pull a small handful of dough away and roll it into a long skinny 'snake' on your work surface approximately 1/2 inch in diameter. With a sharp knife or a bench scraper, cut the dough into 3/4 to 1 inch-sized pieces. Repeat with all the remaining dough.

3. Set a large pot of generously salted water on the stove to boil. With a fork, press and roll dough pieces along the tines (starting at the top and rolling downward) to create ridges all around each piece of pasta. At this point some prefer to let them sit out for an hour to dry and firm up a bit. But they are just fine to cook immediately too. Place the gnocchi into salted boiling water (in batches if needed, so as not to crowd the pot). When they float to the top they are done, so scoop them out with a slotted spoon. Place them in another bowl with ice water.

4. When all the gnocchi have been cooked and placed in the ice water, drain the water and drizzle olive oil over the gnocchi or a large spoonful of your sauce and toss to coat. This prevents the pasta from sticking together. Store in the fridge covered with a plate, not plastic wrap, for up to 3 days. When ready to serve, make or heat your sauce, add the gnocchi and warm on the stove top or oven. Serve.

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Italian roast chicken

This recipe is a perfect example of how beautiful and simple Italian cooking can be. You will be able to work with fresh rosemary, personally my favorite herb. I love the beautiful, clean, vibrant fragrance. If you've never cooked with fresh herbs, this is a great beginner's recipe. If you don't have a rosemary bush growing in your yard, no worries! Most supermarkets now sell prepackaged fresh herbs in the produce section. Cooking with fresh herbs really takes your food to the next level. I now always try to use fresh herbs instead of dried, unless dried is specified in the recipe. One teaspoon of dried herbs = one tablespoon of fresh. Simple and easy enough to remember, right?!

I love black olives, don't you? If you're my dad, don't answer that question :0) My dad hates olives. Only person I know. However, my mom loves them and she would bring home the occasional can. I was the kid who put the pitted olives over the end of all five fingers, happily waving them around and eating them off one at a time. Is it just me or did everyone do this as a kid? Whenever I see veggie trays with olives, I load up. If there is a bowl of olives passed around the Thanksgiving table, I load up. When I serve myself a helping of this recipe I pick out a few extra olives for my plate. Terrible, I know. Well, it's out there now so don't judge me :0)
A few words about the recipe:
Did you know that fruit sometimes is given a thin wax coating? I always wash my lemons in hot water to melt away any wax, and to make sure the zest is clean for eating.
I don't know how I managed to get through life without an instant-read food thermometer! I feel it's an essential piece of equipment for any home chef. While practiced chefs can often judge the doneness of meats by sight and touch, I think it's so much safer (and easier!) to use a thermometer. No guesswork!
Also don't skimp on the extra-virgin olive oil and buy cheap stuff. Some generic brands can taste downright awful. I use Colavita brand. It's a great taste and doesn't break the pocket book. Plus it's been a proven favorite of taste testers :0)

Italian Roast Chicken

by The Goldilocks Kitchen

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

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Ingredients (10 servings)

• 10 to 12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 large lemon
• 1/2 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves peeled and sliced
• 1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 bunch of fresh rosemary
• 2 and 1/2 pounds of potatoes, peeled and cut into about 1 inch pieces
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 can large pitted black olives

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Trim the fat off the chicken thighs and place them in a shallow dish large enough to hold them in a single layer. Zest the lemon and sprinkle half the zest over the chicken. Save the rest. Cut the lemon and squeeze the juice over the chicken, toss to coat well and let it marinate for 10 minutes.

Transfer the chicken to a large roasting pan. Add the rest of the lemon zest, the sliced onion and garlic, and half the rosemary sprigs. Drizzle the olive oil over and toss gently. Now let it marinate for about 20 minutes.

In the mean time, place the potatoes in a large pot and cover them with water; 1 inch above the top of the potatoes. Lightly sprinkle with salt and bring to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes, then drain well and add to the chicken. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper.

Roast the chicken in the preheated oven for 50 minutes, turning frequently or basting, or until the chicken is cooked. (175 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.) Just before the end of cooking time, discard the cooked rosemary, and replace with fresh sprigs. Add the olives and stir. Serve immediately with steamed vegetables. (I recommend carrots and zucchini.)

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