Pasta Recipes Archives | finding time for cooking

Melty Cheesy Zucchini Baked Pasta

September 7, 2020

This zucchini baked pasta is the perfect recipe for those lazy hot days of summer as they start to slide into fall. Not too heavy, packed with bright and silky garlicky zucchini and light ricotta, but oozing with a comforting amount of gooey mozzarella.

The recipe is also super flexible and adaptable, and I did make a couple changes.

I cut back on the fresh mozzarella by a third…partly because I forgot to buy enough, but I ended up finding what I had was MORE THAN plenty. I threw in a small handful of shredded (bagged) mozzarella in the main mixture for good measure and to help bind everything together.

I also used a ton of zucchini—three medium and one ginormous. In case you’re wondering, I made my own pesto (love that fresh basil taste!) but I’m sure a jarred would work fine.

I just needed something indulgent but not *too* unhealthy, and this zucchini ziti fit the bill perfectly.

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Garlicky Spinach & Chicken Pasta with Goat Cheese

August 31, 2013

I’ll preface this one by admitting that it’s a tad rich for my blood. Which probably puts it right in most people’s wheelhouse since I have a low tolerance for that kind of thing. But the pasta combination of flavorful rotisserie chicken, garlicky spinach, and creamy goat cheese really packs a wallop.

This is another of my infamous “kitchen sink” pastas, which have a pretty doggone good track record over the years. There seem to be some really odd but delicious combinations of random pasta-friendly ingredients sitting around my house when I’m hungry.

This one, while not my favorite ever, was warm and comforting—it would have been a great winter dish. And for someone with a taste for these things, a dash of spice (like red pepper flakes or something along those lines) would add an interesting bite to the creamy richness.READ THE POST

Cavatappi with Goat Cheese, Tomatoes, Kale, & Grilled Zucchini

August 18, 2013

I’ve got another “kitchen sink” pasta coming your way, and BOY is this one a goodie!

It was borne of necessity, and in the weirdest way imaginable. As I mentioned a few posts ago, I had surgery towards the end of July, and it actually happened quite fast. Typically it takes about 6-8 weeks to get a spot on the surgery list, but they had a cancellation two weeks out that I was able to grab.

But that meant I had to get a million things done in a really short amount of time—calling insurance companies, booking hotels (the surgery was out of state), figuring out what equipment I’d need for recovery, etc.

I also had to get into my regular doctor for a pre-surgery check-up. I got in, they did some bloodwork and such, and then the next day got a call that my blood clotting was the teensiest, tiniest bit below normal. Not a surprise to me, I bleed like a stuck pig, but she wanted to re-do the bloodwork after the weekend and if it wasn’t normal possibly have me see a hematologist.

So naturally, I’m freaking out, because I don’t have time for complications, and I really needed the surgery to go on as scheduled.

What does that have to do with pasta, you ask? Well, as I said, I was freaking out a little (okay, a fair amount), so I did a bunch of research on foods that help your blood clot, and foods that prevent blood clots.

Unfortunately, I learned that ALL THE GOOD FOODS keep your blood from clotting—wine, coffee, balsamic vinegar, soy, strawberries, tomatoes, basically every spice. And only a few thicken the blood. I avoided coffee and wine (yes, it was a sad weekend) and wracked my brain for what I could make for dinner Sunday night before the bloodwork Monday morning.

Veggies high in vitamin K were the first place to start, like kale, brussels sprouts, and okra, so I totally loaded up on those. I put kale and zucchini in the pasta, roasted some okra, and also had steak, goat cheese, and anything else I could find that was higher in saturated fat. I did go ahead and throw some tomatoes into the pasta, but largely avoided them when I ate it that night, just in case.

The good news is that it worked—my blood clotting came out in the normal range and the surgery went on as scheduled. It was a weekend full of worrying, but at least I was able to find a solution. And I got a delicious, super easy pasta recipe out of the bargain. So without further ado…READ THE POST

Pasta with Easy No-Cook Sauce

May 29, 2013

You know those days when you just don’t feel like cooking, or going through a million steps to get a meal on the table? A.k.a. every day? Or it’s just too hot to cook things for too long? That’s where this recipe comes in—a simple pasta with no-cook sauce.

You have the amazing summer flavors of fresh tomatoes and basil, the bite of the garlic, and that’s about it. Simple, basic. And super delish.

Add in a tiny bit of cheese and some hot pasta, and you have a winner, and all in the time it takes to boil the pasta.

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Pasta With Roasted Peppers, Sausage, & Goat Cheese

May 13, 2013

I make up a LOT of pasta dishes. Like…a lot. But it’s only once in a blue moon I create one that becomes a life staple. This recipe is one of the all-timers, a hearty and indulgent pasta with roasted peppers and red onion, crisp chicken sausage, and a creamy goat cheese sauce. It’s my dreams in pasta form.

Specifically, I recommend sticking with yellow and orange bell (or sweet) peppers for this, because they have a mildness to them that really complements the tangy goat cheese. And similarly, the bite of red onion is definitely a winner over yellow or white. Then give them that delicious caramelization from roasting, and it’s sublime.

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Creamy Chicken Mushroom Pasta

April 27, 2013

I’ve been trying to break out of my pasta rut a little bit lately. Don’t get me wrong, my rut is quite delicious—homemade pesto or sauteed/roasted veggies and sausage with some kind of cheese in the sauce, you can’t go wrong. But pasta can be so many things, and I really under-utilize its potential sometimes.

I found this recipe in my Cooking Light magazine and pulled it out quite a while ago. It’s been sitting on my couch since then, largely because I had to remember to buy mascarpone at Trader Joe’s. You can also find it at certain grocery stores, though not all the time. But good ol’ TJ’s always has it.

The flavor was mild and yet really interesting. While I’m not a huge fan of mushrooms, they were great in this dish.READ THE POST

Giovanna’s Pasta con Pesto

April 20, 2013

I’ve long said that if I *had* to choose one scent and be able to smell only that for the rest of my life (who’s making me choose? why? don’t think about it that hard), I think it might be fresh basil. Fresh basil is one of the BEST smells in the world!

As I mentioned back in my tiramisu post a few months ago, I studied in Italy during college on a language immersion program, and I lived with this awesome couple named Pietro and Giovanna. Giovanna was an amazing cook and made us three- and four-course dinners every night, and also imparted a few of her family’s recipes to me. This authentic Ligurian pesto pasta recipe and the tiramisu are the two that have become a permanent part of my recipe book.

I make this every week or two during the summer when fresh basil is plentiful and high-quality. It’s my #1 go-to recipe because it literally takes 15 minutes from start to finish and is AMAZEBALLS. Basically, as long as it takes to boil pasta, that’s how long this dish takes.

As you’ll notice in the pictures below, I’m actually showing you pictures from two different times I made this dish (don’t be confused!), because there are two ways you can do it—the real way, and a slightly modified way with fewer ingredients. Both are really easy, it just depends on if you want to go to the trouble of buying two extra things.

First, I’m going to show you the weird secret to the best pasta con pesto.READ THE POST

Pasta with Gorgonzola, Chicken, Brussels Sprouts & Caramelized Onions

April 7, 2013

As everyone knows, I love a good pasta dish. And I love brussels sprouts. And Gorgonzola. So this recipe is very nearly perfect—that is, after I made a few changes.

I originally found this recipe through Pinterest, a pin from Kraft’s website, but decided to tweak it a little. It called for asparagus, which isn’t really my thing, and was quite expensive this time of year. And I found a really fun kind of pasta, something a little fancier than penne.
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Rosemary Chicken Lasagna

March 10, 2013

When my mom was here a couple months ago, we got quite ambitious with dinner one night. We started with this rosemary chicken lasagna, which I’d been wanting to make for forever, and finished with white chocolate lemon lava cakes. And despite the work, we weren’t sorry—we WERE stuffed!

The flavor on this lasagna was so interesting! The rosemary added a nice depth to the bechamel, the chicken and mushrooms provide good protein, and the lemon zest was such a lovely counterpoint to the richness of the cheese and sauce.

It was nice to have the second set of hands when assembling everything and making the bechamel, but it’s a fairly easy recipe—just make sure to give yourself enough time so you’re not frantic trying to put it together. For me, being frantic takes the fun out of cooking.

This is definitely the most interesting chicken lasagna recipe I’ve seen, and I will definitely be making it again!

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Traditional Tuscan Pasta With Walnut Sauce & Arugula (Version 1)

November 10, 2012

So, as I’ve mentioned a time or two (or seven), I recently was blessed to be able to spend a couple weeks in Italy and Croatia experiencing the culture, history, and food. Lots of food. Food all the time. As anyone who has ever traveled with me can attest, I pretty much need fed constantly when I’m traveling. And then my next thought is what we’ll eat next. I take it very seriously. I may have a problem.

At the hotel we stayed at for several days in Grosseto, Italy, the menus were set for every meal since we were such a large group. Most of them were adequate, but there were a couple dishes I absolutely loved and decided I had to try and recreate as authentically as possible when I got home. One was this pasta with walnut sauce and rocket (basically like arugula).

So I’ve been Googling all sorts of recipes for an authentic Tuscan walnut sauce, and found a few. I decided to try two of them out and see if either came close to the one I ate in Italy. So behold my first try.

This one (we’ll call it version one) was quite tasty. Not quite the same exactly as I had in Italy, but still a pretty great flavor. The walnuts gave it an interesting grainy texture that my pasta sauces don’t normally have, so that was a nice difference. Because it had nuts, it was quite filling too!READ THE POST