Pasta!

Jeremy and I have tried three new pasta recipes over the past week which have yielded some great results!

The first pasta dish was from Rachael Ray and was something that I had tried in the past: Spaghetti and Clam Sauce with Grape Tomatoes. This time around I didn't buy any clams and it still tasted great! In the beginning you add a few anchovy fillets to olive oil along with garlic and crushed red pepper...the anchovies make the whole dish taste salty in a great way. The best part of this dish is the fresh produce...the tomatoes cook until they split, but then the parsley and green onions are put in the dish last minute so they remain fresh and crisp. Here is the recipe if you are interested in trying this at home. Click me!

The second pasta dish was from a popular blog called "The Kitchn". The main ingredient in this dish is Brussels Sprout! Growing-up, I think we were served Brussels once...my mom didn't like them, and since she did most of the cooking, she didn't make them...fair enough! So I wasn't sure if this would be good because I didn't have much of an idea about the flavor and taste of Brussels Sprouts...however, the other main ingredient in this dish is pancetta which adds a great flavor to any dish, so I thought I would go for it. The sprouts go into the dish shaved, so the distinct flavor is spread throughout the dish without it being to concentrated. At the end, toasted pine nuts are sprinkled on top which adds a whole different dimension of texture and taste. I thought this dish turned out great and loved the idea of eating such a hearty vegetable in the main dish. Here is the recipe: click me!


The last recipe (see first picture) was one that Jeremy found in Gourmet Magazine awhile back and had on his "To Cook" list for awhile: Ziti with Poblanos and Chipotle Sauce. This pasta dish has a creamy sauce that is made by blending sour cream and a tablespoon of chipotle in adobo sauce. The sauce and ziti are mixed together with cooked poblano chilies, onions and roasted red peppers and topped off with green onions and cilantro. I was very excited to try this dish because it sounded so flavorful! Verdict: HOT!!!!!!!! It was way too spicy for either of us...it was tear jerking, sinus aggravating, heart-burning, spicy! The heat over powered all of the flavor. We tried to salvage it by added the rest of the left over sour cream to the sauce and pulled out most of the poblano chilies. This seemed to temper the spice at the time, but when I tried again the next night it was just as spicy. We had to throw it away. Jeremy is not ready to give up on the recipe...clearly we will add less chipotles. I also think it would be really good to include sliced chicken. When he gives it another shot, we will let you know how it turns out. Here is the recipe in case anyone is interested in trying it themselves: click me!

If you do try one, let us know how it turns out!