Pasta with Spinach, Chicken, and White Bean Ragu

While I thought this recipe would be a bit more like a pasta-stew (don’t you think stew when you hear the word ragu?) it wasn’t at all disappointing! In fact, we’ve eaten it for 3 meals straight (read: it makes a lot) and are still raving about it.

We added the leftovers from a grocery store roasted chicken we bought on Friday. We were all cooked-out after Valentine’s day, but all the restaurants were jam packed because hey! it’s the Friday after Valentine’s day! Go figure! So we just ran to the store and bought a roasted chicken. Which was great because we spent a whole $6.50 (ok… $13.50 if you count the two boxes of girl scout cookies) on dinner when we could have easily spent $40 at the restaurant, so we weren’t complaining! Anyway, we just cubed the leftover meat and added it to the mixture.

Stew or not… it’s a keeper!

Pasta with Spinach, Chicken, and White Bean Ragu

Makes 6 servings.
Recipe from Global Gourmet

INGREDIENTS
4 tbsp olive oil, divided
1/4 cup pancetta or bacon minced
1 onion, finely chopped
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 (16-oz) can white (navy/cannellini) beans, rinsed and drained well
1/4 to 1 cup white wine
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
Salt and Pepper
1 lb pasta
5 cloves garlic chopped
1 lb spinach, stems removed, leaves chopped or 1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
4 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/2 roasted chicken, cubed (optional)
2 tbsp butter
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
In a large saucepan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté pancetta in olive oil until lightly golden brown. Add onion and red pepper flakes and continue to sauté until onion is golden brown. Gently add beans, and stir. Add wine and parsley and simmer about 15 minutes or until thickened. If mixture gets too dry keep adding white wine. Add chicken and toss until just heated through. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water until al dente; drain.

Heat remaining olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook until lightly browned. Add spinach and sauté until wilted. Add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes begin to simmer. Add butter and toss until melted. Season with salt and pepper.

Return drained pasta to pot. Add bean ragu and spinach mixture and combine very well. Add Parmesan cheese, toss to coat and serve immediately.

Quinoa Cakes with Eggplant-Tomato Ragu and Goat Cheese

Oh goat cheese, how I love thee.

Since I stopped eating dairy almost a year ago, I have managed to adapt pretty well. I don’t miss much, not the ice cream (the soy stuff is surprisingly good), nor the milk chocolate (give me dark any day), or even creamy pasta sauces (hey, it’s much healthier without them). I do eat Parmesan on occasion, or, actually, quite often on pasta, but it’s aged and I don’t eat enough to do any harm.

But the one thing that I really miss, that I constantly crave, that sets my mouth a’droolin’… well, that thing is goat cheese.

And sometimes, when I find a recipe like this, that just screams for the addition of goat cheese, I’m willing to suffer the consequences. You see, the recipe originally called for smoked mozzarella. Yes, I loved mozzarella… but not enough to deal with the painful after-effects. But substitute goat cheese instead… yup. I’ll eat me some of that. And I’ll like it, no matter how I feel afterword.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t that bad. I’ve heard that goat’s milk is easier to digest than cow’s milk, and it just might be true. In that case, you might be seeing more of it in our everyday recipes.

When I first found this recipe, Taylor gave me one of those looks… the look that says, “oh please don’t make me eat that cardboard hippie crap… unless I can add italian sausage.” And quinoa does have that stereotype. However, when we sat down and took the first bite of these crispy cakes, even I was surprised. There was flavor there that I never expected. And it was good. Worth the trouble of struggling to flip a fragile paddy of quinoa good.

Especially with the addition of the goat cheese. :)

Quinoa Cakes with Eggplant-Tomato Ragu and Goat Cheese

Makes 2 servings. Recipe from Epicurious.

INGREDIENTS
For quinoa cakes
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup quinoa
1 large egg, lightly beaten
4 to 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided

For topping
1 1/2 lb eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup drained bottled roasted red peppers, rinsed and chopped
3/4 cup water or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

DIRECTIONS
Make quinoa cakes:
Bring water and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan.

Meanwhile, wash quinoa in 3 changes of water in a bowl, then drain well in a fine-mesh sieve.

Stir quinoa into boiling water and return to a boil, then simmer, covered, until quinoa is dry and water is absorbed, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes, then stir in egg.

Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap and lightly brush with oil. Lightly oil a 1-cup dry-ingredient measure. Pack enough quinoa into measure with a rubber spatula to fill it two-thirds full. (If spatula becomes sticky, dip in water.) Unmold onto baking sheet and gently pat quinoa into a 4-inch-wide patty with spatula. Make 3 more quinoa cakes, brushing measure with oil each time. Chill cakes, uncovered, at least 15 minutes.

Toss eggplant with 1 teaspoon salt in a colander and drain 30 minutes. Squeeze handfuls of eggplant to extract liquid, then pat dry.

Cook eggplant, onion, garlic, oregano, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, roasted peppers, and water or broth and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until eggplant is very tender and mixture is thick (if dry, thin with a little water), about 10 minutes.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Carefully add quinoa cakes and cook, turning once carefully and adding remaining 2 to 3 tablespoons oil, until crisp and golden, about 3-5 minutes per side (pat cakes to reshape with cleaned rubber spatula while cooking if necessary). Transfer to plates.

To serve, spoon ragù over quinoa cakes, then sprinkle with chopped parsley and crumbled goat cheese.

TIP: Really pack in the quinoa when forming the cakes. The firmer they are to begin with, the easier they are to cook. I’d also recommend making smaller cakes than described, maybe 1/3 cup full rather than 2/3. The smaller cakes, I found, were much easier to flip once in the pan. And hey, even if they crumble a bit, let them keep cooking. Even a badly mutilated cake will still be crispy and delicious!

Pappardelle with Chicken and Mushroom Ragu

If you hadn’t noticed, I haven’t been posting quite as much as I did during the summer. The reason? Light. When it’s completely dark by the time we’re done cooking dinner, I have much less of a desire to photograph anything. I really just want to sit down and eat. Nothing beats natural light, and that lack of natural light cannot be replicated with the off-hued lights in our kitchen. Just felt like I needed to explain myself, just a little bit.

Surprisingly, though, I do have a few back-logged meals that I did manage to photograph. Unfortunately, back-logged means the memory of those meals is also back-logged in my brain. Take this meal. I managed to find the recipe, luckily, but gosh darnit I couldn’t tell you what it tasted like. I think it was good, I know I’d remember it if it was either fabulous or horrible, so it must have been somewhere in between. And it was probably a night that we really didn’t feel like spending much time cooking, because if we had been in that kind of mood, we would have broke out the pasta maker and made homemade Pappardelle (wide noodles) that I’m sure would have been outstanding in this dish. However, it appears (and again, I can’t remember), that we wanted dinner done and our bellies full as quick as possible, so we threw in a box of penne instead. Hey, in a pinch, it works. Just fine.

So there. A post for you. And a promise from me – that I’m going to make the most of limited light and try to get more photos, and be better about actually posting them while I can still remember what they tasted like.

Pappardelle with Chicken and Mushroom Ragu

Makes 4 servings. Recipe from Gourmet.

INGREDIENTS
6 ounces cremini mushrooms
3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/4 pounds skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 small onion, chopped
3/4 teaspoon chopped rosemary
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice
1/2 pound dried pappardelle (or penne is just fine too)
5 ounces baby arugula (about 8 cups)
Accompaniment: Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

DIRECTIONS
Pulse mushrooms and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped.

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Season chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until just golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl.

Reduce heat to medium and cook onion, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes.

Add mushroom mixture, rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring constantly, until beginning to brown, about 4 minutes.

Add vinegar and cook until evaporated. Add chicken and tomatoes (with juice), then simmer, breaking up tomatoes with a spoon and stirring occasionally, until sauce is just thickened, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a pot of boiling salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) until al dente.

Add arugula to sauce and stir until wilted. Stir in drained pasta and cook 1 minute. Serve with Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and enjoy.