Baked Rigatoni with Roasted Cauliflower

Baked pasta sounded good, sort of like lasagna but slightly easier. I'll admit it, lasagna looks a lot prettier when it's plated. The rigatoni looks like heart valves, which isn't exactly appetizing. If you can get past that, you'll find this pasta dish actually tastes pretty good. I really like the cauliflower and had a hard time stopping myself from eating all of it before it went into the dish.

Baked Rigatoni with Roasted Cauliflower
from Cooking Club
click to print

4 c cauliflower florets (1 inch) (1 medium head)
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb. rigatoni (tube-shaped pasta)
4 c slightly packed spinach, coarsely chopped
1 lb. bulk Italian sausage
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 (28-oz.) cans diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 c shredded Romano cheese (4 oz.)
2 c finely shredded mozzarella cheese (8 oz.)

Heat oven to 425ºF.

Toss cauliflower and oil in large bowl to coat; place on large rimmed baking sheet.


Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven; reduce oven temperature to 350ºF.

This cauliflower is delicious - make extra to snack on.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain; cool under running water. Drain well. Place in large bowl; toss with spinach.
 
Tossing the drained pasta with the spinach just meant the heavy pasta tended to settle to the bottom of the bowl while the fluffy spinach gradually migrated to the top.

Heat large deep skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Crumble sausage into skillet; cook 6 to 8 minutes or until browned, stirring frequently. Add rosemary and garlic; cook over medium heat 30 seconds or until fragrant, stirring constantly.

After 5 minutes, the sausage is nearly completely browned.

Stir in tomatoes, salt and pepper.


Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cook 12 to 15 minutes or until sauce is slightly thickened, stirring occasionally and adjusting heat as necessary.

My sauce was only slightly reduced after 30 minutes; I made the mistake of reducing the heat to a simmer once it reached boiling.

Coat 13x9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon in enough of the tomato sauce mixture to lightly coat bottom of dish.


Layer with half each of the pasta, cauliflower, tomato sauce and Romano cheese.


Sprinkle with generous 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese.


Repeat layers, ending with remaining mozzarella cheese. (Rigatoni can be made to this point 12 hours ahead; cover and refrigerate. Uncover; adding an extra 5 to 10 minutes to baking time.)


Bake at 350ºF. 40 to 45 minutes or until browned and bubbly. Remove from oven; cover loosely with foil. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.



Having forgotten that the spinach would leak moisture as the dish baked, I really wish I'd reduced my sauce further. You can see in the plated image that it was watery. If you try this, be sure to boil the sauce for 15 minutes and avoid the tendency to to reduce the heat once it reached a boil like I did. With all that extra moisture, the rigatoni on the bottom of the dish was quite flaccid. The texture of the rigatoni on top was certainly the opposite; some of them poking out of the sauce and cheese were crunchy. I kind of liked it.

I'm not sure what the point is of combining the rigatoni and spinach in a bowl. As said above, the heavy rigatoni sort of rolled to the bottom of the bowl while the fluffy spinach floated to the top. Otherwise, prep made sense, the dish came out to be tasty; the cauliflower alone is reason to do it again. For all the time and cost though, you may as well do lasagna!

Cost:

• cauliflower: $4.83
• extra-virgin olive oil: $0.09
• rigatoni: $2
• spinach: $1.69
• Italian sausage: $3.99
• fresh rosemary: $1
• garlic: $0.15
• diced tomatoes: $1.92
• Romano cheese: $3.59
• mozzarella cheese: $2

Total: $21.26 or about $2.66 for each of 8 servings.

Roasted Beet Medley with Balsamic Glaze

I don't know what happened. I lost 1517 photos; the chunk between 11/9-11/18 is missing. My heart aches, particularly since I'm unable to share with you my larva story. I could, but without photos it's not fun. Here we pick up where the pics resume. Above includes the crazy looking beets from this recipe as well as the squash with the cranberry relish and walnuts and pork medallions I lost the photos of.

Because beets are delicious and balsamic anything I've tried so far has been awesome, I opted for this recipe.

Roasted Beet Medley with Balsamic Glaze
from Cooking Club, Fall 2011
click to print

5 small red, golden, white and/or Chioggia beets (2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter)
1/3 c balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp packed brown sugar
1/8 tsp coarse sea salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs, such as basil, dill, thyme, tarragon or chives

Heat oven to 400°F. Trim greens and roots from beets, leaving 1 inch of the stems and roots intact. Reserve greens for another use.

Group beets by color on separate large pieces of foil. Wrap tightly in foil; place on large rimmed baking sheet.


Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until tender. Let stand until cool enough to handle.


Meanwhile, bring vinegar, brown sugar, salt and pepper to a gentle boil in small saucepan over medium heat.


Simmer 5 minutes or until slightly thickened and reduced to 3 to 4 tablespoons, reducing heat to medium-low if necessary; cool. (If cooled glaze is too thick to drizzle, microwave in small microwave-safe bowl until slightly warm and of desired consistency.)


Remove beet skins; trim and discard roots. Holding beets by stems, cut into thin slices; discard stems. Arrange slices on platter.


Drizzle with balsamic glaze; sprinkle with herbs.



The beets were good and the balsamic glaze was good but I didn't like the two combined. They looked horrible and really? Beets don't need a glaze, they don't need jazz. I think they're jazzy undressed. Tell me I'm wrong.

Cost:

• red, golden, white and/or Chioggia beets: $4.66
• balsamic vinegar: $0.89
• brown sugar: $0.02
• chopped fresh herbs, such as basil, dill, thyme, tarragon or chives: $0.50

Total: $6.07 or about $1.52 for each of 4 servings

Charred Autumn Squash Mash with Bacon

A few years ago I made twice-baked butternut squash potatoes. I adapted a recipe and it didn't turn out great. Looking back on it, I can see that I did things by choice I wouldn't do the same way today. Then sometimes I just get excited and go astray by accident because I didn't read the ingredients list thoroughly and it's still good.

Originally written for a buttercup squash, I used a butternut in this recipe. And honestly, I didn't realize that until right now. I didn't know that if a squash name started with "b" it'd be anything but a butternut. Did you? Not only was I supposed to use a buttercup, but the squash wasn't supposed to be peeled. I just looked at how long that squash line was on the ingredients list and assumed "peeled" was in there.

Charred Autumn Squash Mash with Bacon
adapted from Cooking Club, Fall 2013
click to print

6 slices apple-wood smoked bacon, coarsely chopped
3 (6-inch) sprigs fresh thyme
3 (6-inch) sprigs fresh sage
3 lb. buttercup squash, halved lengthwise, seeded, cut into wedges (2-2.5")
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 c sliced shallots
3/4 - 1 c hot whole milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Heat oven to 400°F.

Cook bacon in large nonstick skillet over medium heat 4 to 5 minutes or until brown and slightly crisp; drain on paper towels. Reserve bacon drippings in skillet.


Line large rimmed baking sheet with foil, lightly coat foil with cooking spray. Arrange thyme and sage on baking sheet. Lightly brush cut edges of squash with 1-2 tablespoons of the reserved bacon drippings; place cut-side-down over herbs.

The hot bacon grease cooled quickly when brushed onto the squash pieces. The solidified grease made the squash look like candles.

Bake 20 minutes; turn squash. Bake until browned and tender, 10-40 minutes.

The second baking time was supposed to be 10-15 minutes according to the original recipe.

Transfer squash to large bowl; reserve herb sprigs. Using potato masher, mash squash until smooth.


Discard all but 1 tablespoon bacon drippings in skillet. Add butter to skillet and heat over medium until hot.


Add shallots; cook 1 minute or until softened, stirring frequently.


Reduce heat to low; stir in mashed squash.


Slowly stir in 3/4 cup milk, adding additional milk to desired consistency.


Crumble roasted herb leaves over squash, discarding stems.


Reserve 2 tablespoons bacon for garnish; stir in remaining bacon, salt and pepper.


Cook 3 to 5 minutes or until hot, stirring constantly. Serve garnished with reserved 2 tablespoons bacon.


As I said above, the recipe turned out well even though I didn't follow the directions to a T. I thought the milk in the squash mash would be weird, but nope, not at all. The roasted herbs looked crazy since they were so dark and crispy but what a pleasant little trick! With the bacon there was nice variation in texture and little flavor explosions. Yep, this was a good one.

When I do this next time, I'll plan for 60 minutes of roasting time and will flip the squash after 30 minutes.

Cost:

• apple-wood smoked bacon: $1.56
• fresh thyme: $1
• fresh sage: $0.56
• butternut squash: $2.76
• unsalted butter: $0.05
• shallots: $0.72
• whole milk: $0.25

Total: $6.90 or about $1.15 for each of six servings.