Chicken & Mini Farfalle Pasta Salad
This chicken and pasta salad would be a nice pasta salad to make use of whatever leftover chicken you’ve got in the fridge. Having said that though, I actually didn’t use leftover chicken here but I just want you to know that you could easily use leftovers. And this is just a different version of the other pasta salads I’ve made before. I just added chicken here and used raspberry vinaigrette instead of Italian dressing. And of course, different pasta.
Mini Rotelle Cold Pasta Salad W/ Cheese & Sunflower Seeds
Summer means a lot of things. One of them is making cold pasta salads. I suppose it’s ok to make them during winter too but it is usually during the Summer that I get to indulge in whipping up different kinds of cold pasta salads. They’d go with any grilled meat entrees, including kebabs, satays, burgers, just to name a couple. Pasta salads prefect to serve as side dishes during the summer parties in the backyard or as lunch for the family on regular days. This Mini Rotelle Cold Pasta Salad W/ Cheese & Sunflower Seeds is basically another version of Pasta & Broccoli Salad W/ Golden Raisins and Sunflower Seeds but without the golden raisins and chopped fresh broccoli. I added chopped eggs instead.
Cod Fish & Penne W/ Asparagus
My fish and pasta combo experiments like salmon & penne alfredo, and the Catfish Spaghetti W/ Garlic-Tomato-Scallions Sauce have been very good so I decided to try this cod fish and penne with asparagus dish too. Like the 2 former fish & pasta combo dishes, this one is also a hit. After my husband and I had seconds , I had to put away the rest before getting the crazy idea of having a third serving each. Seriously!
Catfish Spaghetti W/ Garlic-Tomato-Scallions Sauce
Yes, another catfish dish. A dish that was surprisingly good. And definitely a seafood dish that’s perfect for people who are skipping meat this Holy Week. But catfish and spaghetti? Really? I KNOW, I was really surprised how good this is. My children loved it too. So let me show you how I made it.
Shrimp Scampi W/ Fettuccini
What exactly is a Scampi? According to Seaffod Experts website;
Scampi is a type of lobster and is one of the world’s finest delicacies. There are, however, other species frequently referred to as scampi. For example, in the Midwest region of the US freshwater shrimp (Macrobrachium Rosenbergii) are referred to as scampi. So again, what exactly is scampi?
Is scampi a crawfish? Is scampi a crayfish? No, scampi are small clawed lobsters that unfortunately look a little bit like a crawfish. But they definitely shouldn’t be confused with the freshwater crawfish, which is primarily from the Gulf of Mexico and China. Crayfish is another name used for spiny lobster, and if that’s not confusing enough, in the southern US crawfish is called crayfish!.
“Scampi” is actually the tail of the “Nephrops Norvegicus” which is more commonly known as the Norway Lobster, Dublin Bay Prawn (although its not a prawn!) or langoustine. According to Wikipedia, the Nephrops Norvegicus is an orange pink lobster that grows up to 25cm in length and is typically found in the North East Atlantic, the North Sea and parts of the Med.
In short, Scampi is not how the dish is cooked, it’s actually a small clawed lobster that looks like a crayfish. But I bet you when you hear the word scampi you’d think of shrimps cooked in butter, white wine, lemon juice, with some sort of pasta, either spaghetti, linguine, or fettuccini noodles. Now that you know what a Scampi really is coz it certainly doesn’t hurt to know food trivia sometimes, let’s cook shrimp scampi with fettuccini coz that’s what we’re familiar with.
Salmon & Penne Alfredo
This Salmon & Penne Alfredo was inspired by the seafood with pesto cream penne alfredo from Ragazzi’s Italian Restaurant. The seafood with pesto cream involves basil with walnut pesto blended into penne alfredo sauce with sauteed shrimp and fresh salmon. It’s $14.99 a plate which I’m telling you is sooooo worth it coz it’s soooo good and you get so much of it. I can only eaT half of the plate then save my leftovers for lunch the following day. Delicious creamy pesto with alfredo sauce, and large pieces of shrimp and chunks of salmon. If I could somehow name a kid from this dish, I would.
My own version of course is very much simplified. It doesn’t have the creamy pesto sauce coz I didn’t have the stuff to make it(basil, walnuts) and I also omitted the shrimp coz we just had shrimp last Sunday. It was delicious nonetheless. I just love creating my own version of restaurant dishes that I love even though I don’t create the exact same thing all the time. I just have fun working in my kitchen with a particular dish to copy in mind.
Next time I’ll make it the Ragazzi’s way, but for now, here’s my simplified version.
Baked Penne
If you search the archives, you’ll find recipes for baked spaghetti with mushrooms, easy baked macaroni, and baked spaghetti alfredo w/ mushrooms & capers. The same idea, same concept, and same steps, different kind of pasta and sauce for variety’s sake. I’m adding baked penne in the archives. The end result is the same delicious pasta dinner that the whole family loves.
| Baked Penne |
- 1 box of penne pasta, cooked al dente
- 1-2 pounds of groundbeef
- 1 jar of spaghetti sauce
- a sprinkle of Italian seasoning (or dried oregano and basil)
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 3/4 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
- Cook the pasta according to its box. Al dente is good.
- While the pasta cooks, brown the ground beef in a pan. Drain the oil. Add the spaghetti sauce, 2 tbsp of sugar and sprinkle of Italian seasoning. Stir everything together. Cover and simmer, opening it occasionally to stir. Let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes or so.
- Preheat the oven to 365°.
- Transfer the cooked penne(sans the water) into the pasta sauce pan. Stir, then add 3/4 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese. Incorporate the cheese by stirring it again. Transfer the whole thing into a baking pan. Top it with the remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese, evenly.
- Stick it in the oven and bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
- Let it sit in the counter for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- Serve with green salad and cheesy garlic bread on the side.
Creamy Beef Linguine W/ Black Olives
Here’s something creamy and easy to make beef linguine with black olives pasta dish. I had some leftover Chardonnay from the Nathanson Creek bottle so I figured I’d pour a little bit of it in the sauce too. Generously sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and serve with cheesy-garlic bread(use shredded mozzarella cheese for a change) on the side for one delicious pasta meal.
| Creamy Beef Linguini W/ Black Olives |
- 1 box of linguine, cook according to the box(al dente)
- 1 pc of thin steak, slice in strips
- 1 sm onion, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 tbsp of oil
- 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
- 1 can of water(use cream of mushroom can)
- 1/2 cup of white wine
- 1 sm can of sliced black olives, drained
- a handful of capers
- sprinkle of dried basil
- sprinkle of dried oregano
- sprinkle of salt and pepper
- Parmesan cheese for garnish
- Cook the linguine according to the box. Make it al dente.
- Heat up oil in a pan, saute’ chopped onions and garlic. Add the strips of beef. cook until tender, about 5-8 minutes or so. Add the cream of mushroom soup, fill the empty can with water then add that in the pan. Add the white wine and a handful of capers too. Season with dried basil, dried oregano, salt and pepper. Stir everything around, cover the pan and simmer until it boils.
- Stir in the black olives then add the cooked pasta into the pan. Stir everything together gently.
- Serve in a plate with cheesy-garlic bread.
- Generously sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Entry for Food Friday. 
Chicken & Penne Alfredo
I was actually craving for chicken fettuccini alfredo when I made this chicken & penne alfredo dish but realized that I didn’t have enough fettuccini in the box. I had a full box of penne though so I used that instead. AND, I didn’t have boneless chicken breasts either so I decided to just cut up chicken leg quarters and cook ‘em in big pieces like that. I guess I could’ve deboned the chicken but I was lazy so big pieces it is. to make it a little fancy, I added a splash of Pinot Grigio. White wine in pasta never hurt anyone. In fact, it makes me very happy, Haha!
| Chicken & Penne Alfredo |
- 1 box of penne,cooked according to the box (al dente;)
- 2 leg quarters, cut each in half(or use 6 chicken thighs or legs)
- 1 jar of Alfredo sauce
- 1/2 cup of Pinoy Grigio (use whatever white wine you have)
- 1/2 cup of water
- a handful of capers
- sprinkle of garlic powder
- sprinkle of Italian Seasoning
- sprinkle of salt and pepper
- roughly chopped parsley for garnish
- a little bit of oil
- Cook the penne, according to the box.
- In a pot, heat up oil. Add the chicken pieces, skin side down. Brown each side for 3-5 minutes. Transfer the browned chicken into a platter. Drain the grease into a bowl.
- Pour the Alfredo sauce into the pot. Add water, white wine, capers, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Whisk everything together. Place the chicken pieces back and the juices into the pot. Stir a couple of times. Cover the pot and let it simmer. Stir occasionally.This pot should be simmer while cooking the pasta in another burner.
- Stir in the cooked penne into the pot of chicken and Alfredo sauce. Stir everything then transfer into a serving bowl/platter. Sprinkle with chopped parsley for garnish.
- Serve in a plate and generously sprinkle grated parmesan cheese.
Corabella Tortelloni & Turkey Sausage In Alfredo Sauce
My son said this is the best dinner he’s had this week but that was on Tuesday and we had pizza last night so I’m guessing this is his 2nd best dinner this week. This pasta dish was actually pretty delicious. I really don’t think you can go wrong with any kind of pasta swimming marvelously in Alfredo sauce. I mean, carbs who? Serve me up a second plate, please. But let me show you how to make this Corabella Tortelloni & Turkey Sausage In Alfredo Sauce dish first then decide if you want seconds or thirds.
