Ziti Therapy

There are weeks in one's life that you just want to go away.  I am unfortunately having one of those.  So of course when life delivers me a real stresser I always turn to cooking to try to minimize my stress level, and in turn alleviate my heartburn, headaches, and just the overall crap that goes along with feeling like you head is going to explode. 

Cooking to me is like an old friend that is always there when you need them and gives you that escape, if just for a moment, from the complications of life.  Sorry to get too philosophical, so I'll get to the point of the post.  When I need a good pick me up, something to make me smile a bit and forget my troubles I like to cook things that remind me of better days.  For me that is usually something involving pasta, since I am pretty much always in the mood for it and it has always been a staple at my family's table.  In fact some form of pasta was always served during my family's trips and get together's, it is kind of our family mascot.....if food could be one.  So for this cooking therapy session I decided to do a baked ziti, since it is usually something that is somewhat involved, but not overly complicated, and therefore will diverge my thoughts away from the list of crap I am dealing with, but not drain my brain anymore than it already is.  In preparing this dish I decided to do a two day therapy session, preparing the sauce the night before, and assembling and baking it the next night.  So what did my two day ziti therapy give me you might ask?  Firstly, it gave me a very happy tummy, and secondly it gave me that break from life I definitely needed, and in the end the hope that things will get better.......who needs Prozac when there's ziti.


Baked Ziti With
Zucchini, Olives, and Sausage

Estimated Cook Time: 2 hours

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1lb spicy Italian sausage
1 yellow onion diced
1 carrot diced
2 cups diced zucchini (about 4 small)
2/3 cup diced olives (I like Kalamata olives
but choose what you like)
4 garlic cloves minced
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup fresh basil chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
8oz fresh mozzarella diced
1 cup cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a medium saucepan heat the olive oil over medium high heat.  Place the sausages in the pan and brown on both sides, about 3 minutes on each side.  Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook the sausages until they are cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Remove the sausages from the pan, cut into bite sized pieces, and set aside.  Pour off the excess grease and add the onion, carrot, zucchini, and garlic to the hot pan.  Cook the vegetables on medium heat until tender, about 10 minutes.  Once the vegetables are tender add the olives and diced sausage and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Add the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, salt, sugar, and pepper and simmer the sauce on medium low heat until thickened and reduced.  About 45 minutes.  After the sauce has thickened add half of the fresh basil and the butter and cook an additional 10 minutes.  As I said before, you can make the sauce the night before, and assemble the ziti the next day, which is what I did and it worked out great.

For the pasta, heat a large stockpot filled with water on medium high heat until the water comes to a full boil.  While the water is heating preheat oven to 350 degrees.  When the water reaches a full boil salt the water and add the pasta.  Cook the pasta until it is just a bit firmer than al dente, about 8 minutes.  Drain pasta and pour hot pasta into a large mixing bowl.

Add to the pasta the sauce, the mozzarella, the ricotta, half of the Parmesan, and the remaining half of the basil.  Loosely toss the ingredients together and pour into a greased 9x13 inch baking dish.  Top with the remaining Parmesan cheese and bake until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese is melted, about 35 minutes.

Eggplant Loves Pesto

Stacks of Parmesan rinds
left over from pesto, ready for soup!

Once again the ladies at work and I found ourselves sitting around our lunch table talking about food, and for some reason the topic of pesto came up.  Now we were on a roll, taking about all sorts of pesto, and how we loved to use them, and what recipes were our favorites when my lovely British co-worker started to complain about how she can't find Aubergine pesto here in the states (at least here in the Pacific Northwest).  Now feeling like a very stupid American I had to ask her what in the hell is Aubergine pesto, thinking instantly of the color, and stupidly wondering what purple thing you could possibly make pesto out of.  So a little translation was required, and once again I was shown that there is a distinct difference between American and British English, and in conclusion, after much discussion, here in the states Aubergine is called eggplant and well in the UK (and originally France) I now know that eggplant is obviously called Aubergine (don't even get me started on zucchini versus courgettes or coriander versus cilantro.....these differences give me a culinary brain fart sometimes).  This situation also pointed out that I really needed to get out more......but that's a separate issue.  So a couple of weeks later we just so happened to drop by our little weekly farmers market and wouldn't you know it, destiny slapped me in the face, told me not to be such a linguistically challenged girl, and presented me with beautiful eggplants just begging to be turned into pesto.  Now I know that this post may be seasonally inappropriate since the time for local basil has long gone, but I am still finding very good basil at the market (even if it is not local), and since at least here, eggplants are available most of the year, I figured I could still share this recipe and be somewhat of a foodie....well, a little bit of a foodie anyway.  So I took my little purple beasts home and tried to conjure up a pesto recipe, in the hopes that it would come somewhat close to the variety my lovely British friend gets at home.  So I roasted and chopped and processed and took it to work the next day, fearing the worst........that it would not even be close.  Thankfully after seeing the expression on her face I think that it was a pretty good match, and judging from how quickly it disappeared I would say that it was delicious.  So at any rate I think I achieved my goal, and did a pretty good job of turning a linguistic embarrassment into another recipe that I can share and most importantly, hopefully, while rather small in measure, this little pesto gave my dear friend a taste of home.

Eggplant Pesto

1 large eggplant peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt (I prefer kosher)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cloves garlic roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups basil leaves

6 sun dried tomato halves packed in oil

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Additional salt to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.   Place the cubed eggplant in a large bowl and toss with 3/4 cup of the olive oil and the salt and pepper.  If the eggplant seems a little dry you can add a little more oil but it does soak it up like a sponge and then releases a fair bit after it has roasted.  Place the eggplant on a cookie sheet and roast until the eggplant is tender, about 30-45 minutes.  Once the eggplant is tender, remove from the oven and allow it to cool completely.  While the eggplant is cooling place the basil and garlic in a food processor and process until finely chopped.  Add the sun dried tomatoes and chop again. 

Once the eggplant is cool add to the basil mixture along with the Parmesan.  Turn the processor on and while it is running drizzle the remaining olive oil in.  You can add more or less olive oil depending on the consistency you are looking for.  Salt the pesto to taste. 

So let it be known that I did leave out one of the key ingredients to pesto, pine nuts.  This happened purely by accident......and well, this pesto was soooo good without them that I decided not to include them, but you can add them if you feel disturbed making pesto without pine nuts.  I have spread this pesto over some good bread with a little Mascarpone, I have tossed it with warm spaghetti, and I have used it as a spread for sandwiches, it's just that good!  This unfortunately or fortunately means that I have a year's supply of this stuff in my freezer!

Pasta By Any Other Name.......Isn't Pasta

OK, so I read somewhere that if one is trying to cut carbs that spaghetti squash is a perfect substitution for pasta.  Firstly, why anyone would want to cut carbs is beyond me, hence why I am starting to look more like Jaba the Hut every day.  And secondly as an Italian, I have a real problem with the notion of substituting perfectly delicious spaghetti for......not spaghetti.  So therefore, in my universe there is no "substitution" for pasta.  Pasta is pasta and spaghetti squash is, well, a vegetable.  But, this ridiculousness did inspire this post, and I do so happen to have a s*!@ load of spaghetti squash from my own little urban garden (garden is an over statement, but I felt like feeding my ego). 

And let's face it, spaghetti squash may not be pasta, but it is delicious in its own right!  So, to give spaghetti squash its due love, here's a quick little recipe involving this tasty goody.  Oh, and a shout out to all you vegetarians, I don't do it much, but here's one for ya!

Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes and Basil

1 large spaghetti squash halved and seeds removed

1 large sweet onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 tablespoons butter (yummm)

1 28oz can diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon mascarpone or heavy cream

3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped

1 teaspoon salt (I prefer kosher)

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place squash rind side up in a glass baking dish and add a small amount of water to the pan.  Place the squash in the oven and bake until tender, about 30 minutes.  Meanwhile in a heavy skillet on medium high heat add the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter.  Melt the butter and add the chopped onion and garlic.  Cook the onion and garlic until tender, about 5 minutes, then add the diced tomatoes.  Cook the tomatoes, onion and garlic until the sauce starts to thicken, about 3-5 minutes.  Add the mascarpone, and fresh herbs, cook for about an additional 3 minutes.  Add the salt and pepper and set aside.  Once the squash is tender scrape the flesh out of the rind into a colander.  Now, I found that the squash does release a fair bit of liquid after being cooked, which you don't want to ruin your perfectly delicious sauce with all that water, so allowing it to drain for about 5 minutes will prevent this devastating event from occurring!  After allowing the squash to drain, put it into a serving bowl and toss with the remaining tablespoon butter and salt and pepper to taste.  Poor the reserved sauce over the squash and top with a little freshly grated parmesan cheese and dinner is served. 

Now I know, I have once again, presented a recipe dripping in butter and mascarpone, but the reality is that tomatoes and butter were meant for each other, and separating them is really a form of cruel and unusual punishment.  So, I will try in the future to think of something that lacks butter (why would I do this?) so my health conscience readers will be satisfied (who am I kidding, no one is reading this f*#$%&*@ blog anyway).  Anyway, it might do me some good, I am expanding in my chair as I write this thing..............