Penne with Roasted Butternut Squash, Spinach, and Turkey Bacon

The trouble with photographing a lot of "autumn dishes" is that they have a tendency to look very dull. And, in the case of this particular recipe, using whole grain penne didn't help much.


Please don't let the photo make your decision, read the description: hearty penne pasta mixed with sweet, roasted butternut squash, smoky turkey bacon, and steamed spinach; cloaked in a light, yet creamy, sauce spiked with smoked gouda and fresh sage.


It takes a while to put together, but well worth the effort (like, for example, with a lasagna!). And if you make it for only 4 or 6 people, there will be leftovers. :)




* Exported from MasterCook *


Penne with Roasted Butternut Squash, Spinach, and Turkey Bacon

Recipe By : Vicci
Servings : 10


Ingredients

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 3/4 pounds butternut squash -- (approximately 36 ounces after peeling and removing seeds)

16 ounces whole wheat pasta

10 slices turkey bacon
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 3/4 cups sweet onion -- (thinly sliced)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
8 ounces spinach -- coarsely chopped

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups skim milk
14 ounces low-sodium chicken broth

5 ounces smoked Gouda cheese -- shredded
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons fresh sage -- (minced)
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper -- or hot pepper sauce

2 ounces Parmesan cheese -- grated


Preheat oven to 425F. Coat a large baking dish (about 5 quart capacity) with cooking spray and set aside.


Peel and seed squash, chop into 3/4" pieces. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray and add squash; sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake for about 30 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven and set adise, but do not turn the oven off.


Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the penne until al dente. When done, drain, toss with a little olive oil to prevent sticking, and set aside.


While squash bakes and pasta cooks, fry turkey bacon in a large nonstick skillet until crisp. Drain on paper towels, chop, and set aside.


In the same skillet, drizzle about 1 teaspoon olive oil and saute onions over medium heat until golden and soft, about 8 minutes. Add garlic, stir, add spinach, and stir for a minute or two, until the spinach wilts. Remove from heat and set aside.


Place flour in a large saucepot. Slowly add the milk to the flour, whisking vigorously to prevent lumps. Place over medium-high heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil for one minute, whisking constantly. Slowly add the chicken broth, still whisking constantly, and keep it up until your arm falls off or the mixture returns to a boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the smoked gouda, salt, pepper, sage, and chipotle pepper (or hot sauce).


Depending on the size of the skillet or saucepot, or using a very large bowl if necessary, mix together the cooked penne, cheese sauce, and spinach mixture until combined. Gently fold in the roasted squash, and pour the mixture into the large baking pan. Spray the surface of the penne mixture with cooking spray and cover with foil.


Bake at 425F for about 15 minutes, remove foil, and continue to bake for another 10 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.



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Per serving: 391 Calories (kcal); 11g Total Fat; (24% calories from fat); 21g Protein; 57g Carbohydrate; 33mg Cholesterol; 642mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 3 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates

Linguine with Creamy White Clam Sauce

Gold and red leaves are falling from the trees in our yard in droves, it's cool and rainy, and I am suddenly craving warming, hearty meals.


I had a recipe for linguine with white clam sauce that I have made for a couple of years, but it uses cream of mushroom soup and is a little heavy and pasty for my taste, so I wanted to find another. I posted a request on the Cuisine at Home website and now have two recipes to try! The first I made tonight for dinner and it was very, very good.


Linguine with white clam sauce can be high in fat and calories because of the amount of butter and cheese usually added. This really isn't necessary because using a good olive oil and being judicious with the cheese can still make a quite delicious dish, as this recipe proves.


The original recipe made enough for 4 servings, so I needed to cut the ingredients in half. Easy enough, but since Jack refuses to believe that a "serving" of pasta is a mere 2 ounces, so I needed to adjust the recipe a little to accommodate more than half of the amount of pasta. This was done with a simple addition of lowfat half and half and a little cornstarch to thicken it.


As always when I post a recipe using lowfat (or fat-free) half and half, I have to warn that if you boil this it will separate and the result will be little clumps of congealed white stuff in the sauce. Not at all pretty, but it doesn't affect the flavor. I know. I've forgotten my own warning and done this several times!


Anyway, a meal couldn't be quicker to pull together. Add a salad and some good wine and you have an easy, absolutely delicious meal which is perfect for a cool fall evening.






* Exported from MasterCook *


Linguine with Creamy White Clam Sauce


Servings: 2 Preparation Time :0:25



Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------

6 ounces whole wheat linguine
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
6 1/2 ounces chopped clams -- do not drain
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons lowfat half & half (can also use milk, if doing so increase cornstarch to 1tsp)
3/4 teaspoon cornstarch


Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil, add salt, then the pasta and stir. Cook until al dente, and drain.


While the pasta is cooking, heat a nonstick skillet over a medium flame and add olive oil. Swirl to distribute the oil then add the garlic. Saute for 30 seconds, then add crushed red pepper flakes. Cook for another minute, add the entire can of clams (undrained) and cook for 3 minutes.


Add half of the Parmesan and half of the parsley. Mix the lowfat half and half and cornstarch and stir into the clam sauce. Stirring constantly, bring to almost a boil (when lowfat or fat-free half and half boils, it will separate). Turn the heat off and add the cooked, drained linguine.


Divide between 2 plates, sprinkle with remaining Parmesan and parsley, and serve.



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Per serving: 491 Calories (kcal); 10g Total Fat (2g Saturated); (17% calories from fat); 37g Protein; 69g Carbohydrate; 68mg Cholesterol; 512mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 3 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates




We have a lot of different varieties of trees in our yard, and this
combo looks so nice in the fall- a silver maple in the background
with a purple flowering plum in front of it.

The small wooden building is an old corn crib.

Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Bucatini

Now that I am feeling more like being outside and working in the garden, flower beds, etc. I have found myself, a few times this week, totally surprised when Jack will suddenly appear beside me and say “it’s six o’clock, when’s dinner?”. To which I think “what’s for dinner?” but, attempting to appear as though I can do it all, I will reply that we will eat in an hour. He goes back to his office, apparently satisfied with the answer, and I start to rack my brain for really quick meal ideas as I try to straighten up and walk normally.

Of course, pasta is always an option. Cuisine at Home’s recipe, Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Bucatini, is one of our favorites and a welcome step up from the usual spaghetti with red sauce. I had a leek, a bag of spinach, and grape tomatoes on hand, so this was an easy choice for dinner that evening.

The finished dish is topped with garlic bread crumbs, which does add a very nice finishing touch, but sometimes I am in too much of a hurry to bother. This time I did make it because I had bought a French baguette the other day while in the Strip District. I also bought, at the huge Italian grocery store, a bag of bucatini. I had always made this recipe with spaghetti before, and this time I was able to prepare it with that specialty pasta. Bucatini is a very thick, hollow spaghetti, and I subsequently found it to be a little difficult to “twirl” on a fork, but that may have been because I am used to the thin or regular-thickness spaghetti. It also did not come in a whole wheat version (surprise, surprise), and Jack was pleased to get “real pasta” at this meal.

Anyway, the bread crumbs are made first and set aside. Once the ingredients are prepped, this takes only a few minutes to put together.

I used turkey bacon. I found a wonderful brand, Kutztown, at Sam’s Club. It is thick-sliced and has a good smoky taste; other turkey bacon seems to be very thinly sliced and I find that it burns quickly.

(Note: as of early 2010, this same bacon is now being sold under Sam's Club "Member's Mark" brand. Same great turkey bacon, it reminds me somewhat of Canadian bacon).

The bacon is cooked and chopped and set aside, the tomatoes and leeks are sautéed, wine and broth added, then the last step is adding spinach (not lettuce!), fresh thyme, and the bucatini. Now, the tricky part in this is having the pasta done just as the rest of the dish is cooked, and transfer the pasta directly from the pot to the sauce without draining. This allows some of the pasta water to be transferred along with the pasta itself, adding needed moisture and a little starch to build the sauce up a bit.

I find that putting the water on to boil before you even make the crumbs is the best way to ensure that the pasta is ready when you need it to be (if it comes to a rolling boil and you aren’t ready to put the pasta in it yet, turn it down to a simmer and partially cover. It will then take about 30 seconds to come back to a boil when you need it). Bucatini takes about 10 minutes to cook, so if you put the pasta in the water just before you add the leeks to the tomatoes, it should be ready when needed.

Jack is always surprised that there is no cheese grated on top, but then always mentions that the dish is so flavorful that it doesn’t need the cheese. And I agree.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Bucatini

Recipe By : Cuisine At Home

Servings : 2

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

-------- ------------ --------------------------------

3 teaspoons olive oil -- divided

1 medium garlic clove

1 ounce French baguette slice

2 pieces turkey bacon

1 cup grape tomatoes -- halved

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup leeks -- white and light green parts thinly sliced

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

4 ounces spaghetti -- (bucatini)

1 cup baby spinach leaves

1/4 teaspoon minced fresh thyme

Set a large pot of water on to boil.

Mince the garlic in a food processor, add the cubed bread, and process until coarse. Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, add crumbs and toast, stirring often, until golden. Remove crumbs to a plate, season with salt and pepper, and set as1de.

Drizzle 1 teaspoon of the oil into the pan and add the bacon. Cook until crisp, pat off excess fat on paper towels, chop, and set aside.

Drizzle the final teaspoon of oil into the skillet, place over medium heat, and caramelize the tomatoes and sugar until the tomatoes begin to brown (about 4 minutes). * Add the leeks and sauté for another 4 minutes until the leeks are wilted.

*As you add the leeks to the tomatoes, also put the bucatini into the boiling water to start to cook.

Deglaze the tomato mixture with the wine, and simmer until it is nearly evaporated. Add the broth, vinegar, and pepper flakes and simmer until reduced by 1/3, about 5 minutes. Add the spinach and thyme, stir, then add the bacon pieces and transfer the cooked pasta from the water directly into the pan. Toss to coat, season with salt and pepper, and divide between 2 plates. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and serve.

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Per serving: 411 Calories (kcal); 12g Total Fat (3g Saturated); (26% calories from fat); 15g Protein; 60g Carbohydrate; 12mg Cholesterol; 310mg Sodium

Food Exchanges: 3 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates

Wild Mushroom Agnolotti with Caramelized Shallots, Thyme, and Mushroom Broth

About 4 weeks ago, a package arrived via Fed Ex. After looking at the return label I knew what was inside, but was surprised at how large (16” square) this box was. I opened it and saw that it was lined with an inch of Styrofoam on each side, then some crumpled brown paper, then a couple of ice packs, then… voilá! A 4” x 8” package of Buitoni Wild Mushroom Agnolotti!

Being Earth Week, and being the kind of reuse/recycle person I am, I couldn’t help but wonder why such a large box was used for a small package of pasta. But, also because I am a reuse/recycle person, you may be assured that I will be reusing and recycling the various parts of this box to within an inch of their little recyclable lives.

Because I had a nasty cold when the pasta arrived, I placed it in the refrigerator to await another day.

Unfortunately, if you’ve been reading my bog regularly, you will know that this cold proceeded to get worse, then it turned into a severe asthma attack necessitating two trips to the doctor’s office for breathing treatments (one on my birthday! *whine*), then a few weeks of recovery. During this time I cooked very little, both because I was tired and coughing and wheezing, but also because food tasted weird to me. Probably due to the medication, and I give Jack lots of credit for eating the simple, quick meals which I made without a single complaint.

As I started to feel better I became preoccupied with a backlog of stuff that had been tossed aside awaiting my recovery. Occasionally I would see the agnolotti in the refrigerator and think that I just had to figure out a really wonderful way to make this pasta, but my creativity was fairly nonexistent. Yes, I could have simply tossed the pasta with some olive oil, garlic, and Parmesan but that seemed rather unexciting. Then, as the asparagus in the garden started to grow, I was considering a sauce based on that since mushrooms and asparagus taste so heavenly together. But, as I said, I just didn’t feel like doing it.

Then I saw a recipe on the Foodbuzz site posted by Chefectomy (Marc) for Wild Mushroom Agnolotti with Caramelized Shallots, Thyme, and Mushroom Broth. This caught my eye because I actually had shallots on hand, and a mushroom-and-wine broth was used rather than a heavier, cream-based sauce.

This really was a quick recipe and so very, very delicious. Both Jack and I swooned. The mushroom broth was a perfect compliment to the agnolotti filling, and the cremini mushrooms, caramelized onions and thyme brought it all together into a wonderful blend of flavors.

I had some fat asparagus spears which I had just picked that afternoon in the garden. Seeing that this meal needed a vegetable, I steamed them, tossed with some fresh lemon juice, and served the asparagus in the same bowl as the pasta. Excellent. On the side, a few slices of the Olive Oil-Rosemary Boulé which I had baked a few days earlier (seriously, even though I was too wiped to cook, I’d have to be dead not to bake bread. Hey, I rhymed!). :p

On a scale of one to ten, Marc’s recipe rates a twelve! And, even though I have never bought fresh stuffed pasta before (I try to convinice myself that it's really not so difficult to make it...), I will certainly be purchasing this again. In fact, I'm not even going to try to get creative with the wild mushroom agnolotti, when this recipe is such a perfect way to prepare it.

And I really believe that it was this particular recipe which started my culinary recovery. The evening after I made this, we had the primavera with seared seafood (previous post), and I now have a backlog of some pretty incredible recipes to get typed into the computer and posted here. So stay tuned, I’m back!

Oh, and for those who asked, I’m running again as of last Saturday (exactly one month since I last went out). A wimpy 2 miles, but I did it and was breathing rather normally. And breathing is good! :)