Butcher's Pasta

This is absolutely delicious.  I hope you enjoy!!!

Butcher's Pasta
Serves 8
Adapted from October 2010 Food & Wine

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium carrot, diced
1 celery rib, diced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4 ozs of thick pancetta, diced
1 lb ground sirloin
5 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup fat free 1/2 & 1/2
1 cup Chardonnay
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 tsp salt & pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
16 ozs fusilli pasta
Fresh grated Parmesan for topping

Warm olive oil in dutch oven over medium high heat, add the red pepper flakes allowing it to infuse the oil for 1 minute.  Add the vegetables and garlic & allow them to soften for about 10 minutes.  Toss in pancetta and  ground sirloin, cook until beef has browned and broken up, season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to low and add the tomato paste. Toss everything well and cook for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally (everything will become a rich rust color).  Add the 1/2 & 1/2, wine and broth and allow sauce to thicken over low heat for about and hour & 1/2, stirring occasionally.  Cook pasta as directed & add to the sauce & mix well.  Serve with sprinkle of cheese & enjoy!

This would be perfect for a family gathering.  I am thinking the weekend after Thanksgiving or for a Tree Trimming dinner.  I will warn you that it is amazing cold too.

Pasta Bolognese

Pasta Bolognese
Serves 4

1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 carrots, coined
1 celery stalk, coined
2 tsp minced garlic
1 1/4 lbs ground round
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1 1/3 cup Cabernet
2 cups of low sodium chicken broth 
3 Bay leaves
8 fresh thyme sprigs, tied together with kitchen twine
Grey or Kosher salt, black pepper & red pepper flakes
1/2 pound of tagliarelle or spaghetti
last but not least about 4 hours


Add onions, carrots, celery, & garlic to the food processor, pulse until you have formed a paste.  In your dutch oven over medium high heat saute the veggies until brown (about 20 minutes) in a touch of olive oil or cooking spray and sprinkle of salt & from this point until you simmer you will be stirring frequently, incorporate the beef into the vegetables and allow it to brown (about 15 minutes).  Mix in the can of tomato paste & after 5 minutes add 1 cup of wine & after another 5 minutes add 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth.  Allow mixture to come to a light boil & then reduce to a simmer.  Add the bay leaves, thyme, pinch of salt, pepper & red pepper flakes.  Simmer for 1 hour stirring off and on, add 1/4 cup chicken broth. Simmer for another hour & add 1/3 cup of the red wine & 1/4 cup of stock.  Simmer for another hour.  Remove the bay leaves and thyme bundle. Taste & add any salt, pepper & red pepper if needed.  Prep salted water for the pasta.  Cook pasta according to directions & add 1/3 of a cup of the pasta water to the sauce.  Add cooked pasta to the sauce and mix well.   Serve directly from the Dutch over with a sprinkle of Parmesan.  Hope you enjoy!  The time is worth it.

Simmering Sauce

Simple Fettuccine Alfredo

I promise this will be my last pasta recipe for a while. I am sharing before I start our Thanksgiving dinner (which I will post tomorrow).  It is my husband's favorite dish and actually made for a simple weeknight meal on a rainy, dreary night.

Simple Fettuccine Alfredo
1 lb cooked fettuccine, keep warm
4 tablespoons butter, I use light Smart Balance with olive oil
1 cup 1/2 &1/2, I use fat free
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
Flat leaf Italian parsley, torn

Prepare pasta and keep warm.  Melt butter in large skillet, add 1/2 & 1/2, bring to a light simmer & remove from heat.  Add lemon juice, fresh black pepper, red pepper flakes, & whisk together.  Add pasta, cover with cheese & toss well.  Serve topped with a touch of cheese and parsley.

There are so many things you could add at this point, any type of meat, spinach, peas, tomatoes...

Seafood Casserole

This is my take on a traditional crab imperial as a pasta one pot supper. It is a very good casual entertaining dish.  I would serve it directly from the dutch oven on the dinner table.  Also please note - you need at least 2 hours to marinate the seafood.   

Lara's Seafood Casserole

1 lb shrimp, cooked & chopped
1/2 lb crab meat
1 onion, chopped
8 oz mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup sherry
3 green onions, sliced
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup 1/2 & 1/2
4 tbs butter
1 cup cheddar cheese
Salt & pepper
Red pepper flakes
1 lb fettuccine
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon of  Lemon juice

Combine shrimp and crab meat, add lemon juice & 2 tablespoons of sherry, toss and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  Cook fettuccine and keep warm. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a dutch oven, saute onion and mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of butter under tender. Add remaining sherry, butter & 1/2 &1/2, allow butter to melt, add seafood & mix.  Take off the heat, mix in fettuccine, sour cream, parmesean, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese.  Bake uncovered for 30 - 40 minutes (until bubbly), remove from oven, top with the other 1/2 cup cheddar, & bake another 10 minutes or until cheese has completely melted.  Remove, top with green onions, cover and let sit about 10 minutes.  Serve with a crusty bread and nice chardonnay. Makes wonderful leftover!!!

Cipriani Pasta with White Truffle Butter

This is the kind of dish you make for a very special occasion - Valentine's Day, your love's birthday, Christmas Eve.  You are done in 30 minutes and your results will be amazing. It is so wonderful that I am really not even going to suggest substitutes.  If you can not find the pasta or the white truffle butter I will come up with a different dish for you  (By the way if you can't find them at your market you can order both through amazon).  Sounds like a lot of trouble, but it is completely worth it. 

Cipriani Pasta with White Truffle Butter, serves 2
adapted from Barefoot Contessa's recipe
1 package Cipriani Pasta, pappardelle or tagliarelle
3 oz white truffle butter
1/2 cup of fat free Half & Half
Mediterranean Sea salt, fresh pepper & red pepper flakes
2 -3 oz of Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped chives

While you are bringing a large pot of salted water to a boil bring the half and half to a simmer in a large pan.  Turn the heat down to low and add butter, crank of sea salt, pepper and tiny pinch of red pepper flakes. Let butter melt and keep warm on very low heat. Cipriani pasta only takes 3 minutes to cook, watch closely, drain and add to the butter mixture & toss together.  Serve immediately garnished with the Parmesan cheese and fresh chives.

Enjoy - we do!!!
Some notes here - I find both of these items at my local Fresh Market, the pasta runs around $7.99 and the white truffle butter was 5.99.  As a testament to the amazingness of the white truffle butter - even those that can not stand mushrooms adore it!  My husband will not go near any type of mushroom, not at all.  The first time I made this I didn't disclose the truffle angle.  After he devoured his bowl and was so pitifully disappointed that there was no more to have I told him. He didn't even flinch.  Actually I was going to surprise him with this dish for Sunday Supper tonight, but when he stumbled across the pasta and the butter he caught on and I switched it to Saturday Night Dinner.
Also - go ahead and be sinful - add regular 1/2 & 1/2 or heavy cream.  The fat free variety is what I keep stocked for coffee and use in my cooking too.  If it was Christmas Eve or Valentine's I think I would go with the real thing!  I watched the movie The Holiday last Sunday & was craving this dish after listening to Kate Winslet talk about Christmas fettuccine.