This was pretty good. I feel like it could've used a few tweaks, but it was a solid start.

The sun-dried tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, and mozzarella all worked well together. And I appreciated the generous quantity of fresh basil. But I felt like it could've used a few more elements. I think garlic and mushrooms would've been particularly nice.

Sliced cremini mushrooms would be good. Especially if you sauté them with a bit of garlic and butter first. But I think that small marinated button mushrooms or mixed wild mushrooms would be even better here!

Mediterranean Strata

Adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 250-300g bread, cubed
• 300-400g artichoke hearts, chopped
• 1/3 c. Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
• 1/4 c. sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 125g mushrooms, sliced or coarsely chopped
• 1/2 c. fresh basil, chopped
• 125g mozzarella cheese, grated
• 2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan
• 6 large eggs
• 2 c. milk
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Grease a 23x33cm (9x13") baking dish.
2. Place the bread cubes in the prepared baking dish in a single layer.
3. Layer the artichoke hearts, olives, and tomatoes on top.
4. If desired, sauté the mushrooms with the garlic and a little butter before layering them into the baking dish along with everything else.
5. Sprinkle with the basil and cheeses.
6. Beat the eggs with the milk and season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Pour the custard mixture evenly over the ingredients in the baking dish.
8. Cover with foil and let stand for at least an hour. Or transfer to the fridge and chill overnight.
9. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F) and bake, covered, for 20 minutes.
10. Remove the foil and continue baking for another 20-25 minutes.
11. Remove from oven and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

This was pretty tasty! Definitely not health food. But a nice treat. Especially on the first day. (I do think it loses something in the reheating. It's still good. Just not as good.)

Marry Me Shrimp Pasta

Slightly adapted from Delish.com

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. sun-dried tomato oil¹
• 450g shrimp, shelled and deveined
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 450g dry pasta (rigatoni, shells, or penne all work well)
• 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 c. sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 2 c. chicken stock
• 1 c. heavy (35%) cream or half-and-half (10% MF)
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning²
• 300g spinach
• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan
• fresh basil, to serve (optional)

Directions

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the shrimp, season with salt and pepper, and cook until pink and opaque (3-5 minutes).
3. Remove shrimp from pan and set aside.
4. Meanwhile, boil the pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving ~1/2 c. of pasta water, and set aside.
5. Reduce pan temperature to medium.
6. Add garlic, tomato paste, and red pepper flakes and cook until paste darkens (1-2 minutes).
7. Add sun-dried tomatoes, broth, cream, and Italian seasoning, deglaze the pan, and bring to a simmer.
8. Cook until the sauce thickens slightly (~5 minutes).
9. Add spinach and cook until wilted (1-2 minutes).
10. Add pasta, shrimp, and reserved pasta water, stir vigorously for a few seconds, and cook until pasta is well-coated and sauce is glossy.
11. Stir in Parmesan.
12. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper.
13. Sprinkle with fresh basil (if using) and server.

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¹ My tomatoes were not oil-packed, so I didn't have any tomato oil for my sauce. Instead I used a bit of oil from some spicy, oil-packed anchovies. I feel like this was an acceptable substitute. ^Back
2 I didn't have any ready-made Italian seasoning, so I just mixed in a few herbs separately: mostly parsley, oregano, and basil with just a touch of rosemary and thyme. ^Back

This was supposed to be an egg white frittata. But I've never been keen on pure egg whites for that sort of thing. So I used a mix of whole eggs and egg whites. I ended up using seven whole eggs and six egg whites, but I probably could've gotten away with five and ten respectively. Either way, I think the mix worked well. It's a bit lighter than a frittata made entirely with whole eggs, but doesn't have the aggressive leanness of an entirely yolk-less rendition.

The beet greens, sun-dried tomatoes, and feta all work well together. That said, I think fresh spinach would work almost as well. (Although I would definitely stick to fresh for this. I don't think fozen would make an acceptable substitute.) Luckily though, we had some lovely fresh beet greens left over from the beet salad we made the other day. And I hated to see them go to waste. So this recipe worked out prefectly!

Beet Green and Sun-Dried Tomato Frittata

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 100g (~2 c.) chopped beet greens, rised very well
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 75g sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 5 large eggs
• 1 large egg whites
• 75-100g crumbled feta¹

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Heat the oil over medium heat.
3. Add the onion and cook until softened (5-6 minutes).
4. Add the beet greens, season to tast with salt and pepper, cover, and cook until wilted (~2 minutes).
5. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and stir to mix.
6. Spread the vegetables out into an even layer on the bottom of the pan.
7. Beat the eggs with the egg whites and pour them into the pan.
8. Cook, without stirring, for 2 minutes.
9. Transfer to oven and cook until eggs are set (~10 minutes).
10. If top is still wet, place under broiler for a minute or two.
11. Invert onto plate, cut into wedges, and serve.

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¹ The original recipe only called for 60g of feta, but I didn't think that looked like enough, so I bumped it up to 100g. In retrospect, 75g probably would have been sufficient, but I'm certainly not complaining about the extra! ^Back

I really like how this pudding came out! And it's fairly simple to put together as well. I appreciated that when I was trying to assemble it first thing this morning.

The original recipe called for Swiss chard (aka silverbeet), but suggested that kale and/or spinach are also perfectly acceptable alternatives. Since TF doesn't really care for chard, I opted to use black (Tuscan/Lacinato) kale instead. I also upped the quantity of sun-dried tomatoes slightly. And, since I couldn't find any fontina at the grocery store, I picked up some lactose-free mild gouda to use in its place.

Sun-Dried Tomato, Basil, and Kale Bread Pudding

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 8 thick slices of bread¹
• 2 c. milk
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 Tbsp. bacon grease or butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch kale, chopped
• 1/4 c. chicken stock
• 1/2 c. firmly packed fresh basil, chopped
• 1/2 c. sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• ~100g mild gouda, grated

Directions

1. Break/cut the bread into large-ish chunks (maybe 2-3cm to a side).
2. Beat the eggs into the milk and mix in the salt and pepper.
3. Pour the custard over the bread chunks and stir to thoroughly combine. Set aside to soak for at least 15 minutes, mixing and pressing bread down occasionally.
4. Grease a 23x33cm (9x13") baking dish and preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
5. Melt grease/butter over medium heat.
6. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened (4-5 minutes).
7. Add the kale and cook until slightly wilted (~2 minutes).
8. Add the chicken stock and cook until liquid has been mostly absorbed (3-4 minutes).
9. Add kale mixture to bread mixture and stir to combine.
10. Mix in basil and sun-dried tomatoes.
11. Dump mixture into prepared baking dish and spread to make an even layer.
12. Sprinkle with cheese.
13. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 35-40 minutes.
14. Serve warm.

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¹ I used an assortment of stale bread chunks, heels, and crusts that had been saved in the freezer and just aimed for an amount that looked like it was approximately equivalent to 8 slices. In retrospect, I should have weighed it to make the results easier to reproduce, but I didn't think of that in time. ^Back

Simmons mentions in the preamble to this recipe that she feels the leek is often neglected and overlooked as a vegetable and I am inclined to agree. Leeks are delicious, but I don't see nearly enough recipes that call for them! So, I was very keen when I ran across this one that layers them with bread, tomatoes, and brie in a savoury custard.

This is a very straight-forward dish to put together. The biggest drawback for me is the time required. You need to have the wherewithal to assemble it the night before and then it needs to bake for ~an hour before it's ready to serve. That's more advanced planning than I usually put into my mornings. That said, it was a nice breakfast treat (once the custard had finally cooked through and set). It's quite rich, so you wouldn't want to have it every day, but it could be nice as a special occasion brunch dish.

Leek, Sun-Dried Tomato, and Brie Strata

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• ~450g leeks
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 4-8 slices of bread
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground and divided
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 12 sun-dried tomato halves, chopped
• 200g brie, diced
• 5 large eggs
• 2 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan

Directions

1. Trim the leeks and quarter them lengthwise, then soak in cold water and rinse very thoroughly, being sure to get all the grit out from between the layers. Thinly slice and set aside.
2. Melt the butter over medium-low heat.
3. Use some of the melted butter to grease a 9" (23cm) square pan or an equivalent sized casserole dish.
4. Add the leeks to the remaining butter and cook, stirring occasionally, for ~10 minutes.
5. Season with ~1/8 tsp. of pepper and 1/4 tsp. of salt and set aside.
6. Cover the bottom of the prepared baking dish with a layer of bread. Cut the bread to fit so that it completely fills the bottom in an even, single layer.
7. Spread the leeks out on top of the bread.
8. Layer the tomatoes on top of the leeks.
9. Add the diced brie on top of the tomatoes.
10. Finally, cap with another layer of bread, once again, cutting to fit as necessary.
11. Beat the eggs until foamy, then mix in the milk and the Parmesan.
12. Season the custard with the remaining salt and pepper.
13. Pour the custard over the strata.
14. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
15. In the morning, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
16. Uncover the strata and bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~1 hour. (It may need more or less time depending on the exact shape and size of the pan/dish used. Start checking at ~45 minutes.) Strata is done when custard is set and internal temperature of at least 70°C (160°F) is reached.

I was still in an eggy mood this morning so, after a brief perusal of The Good Egg, I decided to try out one of her frittata recipes. The potatoes and rosemary were also very appealing and sun-dried tomatoes are never not a good idea as far as I'm concerned, so this recipe seemed pretty ideal. (Except for the part where it's meant to be made with leftover baked or boiled potatoes, but that's easy enough to solve.)

Since I didn't have any leftover cooked potatoes on hand, I just quickly diced and boiled a few and worked on getting everything else prepped while they were cooking. It added a little bit more overhead and one more dirty pot, but it's not like boiling potatoes is a hugely onerous task. And the results were delicious and savoury and satisfying, so I can't really complain.

Potato and Sun-Dried Tomato Frittata

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 450g russet potatoes, cooked and diced
• 1/3 c. diced red bell pepper
• 1/3 c. diced onion
• 1/4 c. chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp. fresh rosemary, minced
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 8 large eggs
• 1/4 c. grated Parmesan

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium heat. (One notch above medium worked best on my stove.)
2. Add the potatoes and cook, turning occasionally, until golden (10-15 minutes).
3. Add the bell pepper and onion, reduce heat slightly, and cook until tender (~5 minutes).
4. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, rosemary, salt, and pepper and cook for another minute or two.
5. Whisk the eggs with the cheese in a large measuring cup.
6. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and reduce heat to medium-low. (One notch below medium for me.)
7. Cook until the bottom is set (~4 minutes).
8. Use a spatula to lift the edge of the frittata and let the raw eggs flow under. Repeat on opposite side and at at least one or two other points around the edge of the pan.
9. Cover, reduce heat slightly, and cook until nearly set (~15 minutes).
10. Preheat broiler during last minute or two of stovetop cooking.
11. When eggs are nearly fully set, remove lid and transfer pan to oven. Broil (on high) for 1-2 minutes.
12. Serve warm (ideally with a light salad on the side).

I haven't made very many curries out of the "contemporary" chapter of 660 Curries. Usually I find something I like in one of the earlier chapters and never make it that far. But I decided to start leafing through from the back the other day and spotted this pasta. The mention of dill in the title caught my eye since we still have a bunch to use up.

I actually doubled the dill and halved the oil called for and I think that worked out quite well! And the fact that I'd just happened to pick up a package of dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes a couple of days ago was extra-serindipitous.

Pasta with Cashew-Dill Cream Sauce

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 225g short pasta (penne, rotini, cavitapi, etc.)
• 1/2 c. dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/4 c. raw cashews
• 3-5 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 1 c. half-and-half (or whole milk for the calorie-conscious)
• 6-7 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 c. firmly packed fresh spinach
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh dill

Directions

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the pasta.
2. Boil pasta until al dente, reserve 1 c. of the cooking water, and drain the rest.
3. Rinse the pasta with cold water and set aside.
4. Pour the reserved pasta cooking water over the tomatoes and set aside for 15 minutes.
5. Once the tomatoes have softened, slice them thin and set aside.
6. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
7. Add the cashews and chilies and stir-fry until nuts are nicely browned and chilies have blackened.
8. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and transfer to blender.
9. Pour 1/2 c. of the half-and-half (or milk) into the blender and purée until smooth.
10. Return oil to heat, add the garlic, and cook until lightly browned.
11. Add a handful of spinach and cook until wilted. Continue adding spinach a handful at a time until all spinach has been added.
12. Add the contents of the blender to the pan.
13. Pour the remaining 1/2 c. of half-and-half¹ into the blender and swish it around to clean it out. Pour this into the pan as well.
14. Add the pasta, sundried tomatoes, salt, and dill and cook until warmed through (3-5 minutes).

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Variations

Vegan Version

Ingredients

• 225g short pasta (penne, rotini, cavitapi, etc.)
• 1/2 c. dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/4 c. raw cashews
• 3-5 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 1 c. coconut milk
• 6-7 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 c. firmly packed fresh spinach
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh dill

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¹ I think it might be interesting to try replacing the second 1/2 c. of cream with 1/2 c. of the reserved pasta water instead. (The same water that was used for soaking the tomatoes in.) It should have some good thickening power, will be nicely flavoured from the tomatoes, and will be lower fat than the cream. ^Back

Today, the Kidlet asked for noodles, so symbol designed a sauce and then made pasta from scratch (using the dough from this recipe) to go with it while I prepped the sauce. It was really tasty, and the Kidlet declared it a "super favourite". The sauce was also pretty easy to make, too; if not making the noodles from scratch I think this would be a pretty low-effort dinner.

Pasta with Sausage Rosé Sauce

Original

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh pasta, or (probably?) about ¾ lb dried pasta
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, sliced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb italian sausage, skinned
• ¼ tsp fennel, ground
• ¼ tsp pink or white peppercorns, ground
• ¼ tsp chili flakes
• ½ tsp italian seasoning
• ¼ C white wine
• 1 C cream
• 1 C diced tomatoes
• ½ tsp stock concentrate (appropriate for ½ C of stock when prepared)
• ½ lb kale or spinach, chopped
• ¼ C sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• ½ C freshly grated parmesan, plus extra for serving
• basil for garnishing

Directions

1. Bring water to a boil in a large pot and cook pasta al dente. Drain, reserving ½ C of pasta water.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a deep skillet over medium heat.
3. Add onion and cook until softened and starting to turn translucent.
4. Add garlic and cook for ~1 minute.
5. Add sausage and break it up into small pieces.
6. Add fennel, peppercorns, pepper flakes, and italian seasoning.
7. Cook, stirring often, until sausage is just browned.
8. Add wine and cook until the liquid has almost completely cooked off.
9. Add cream, tomatoes, stock mix, and pasta water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
10. Add greens and stir in until warmed through and (if spinach) starting to wilt.
11. Stir in sundried tomatoes and parmesan.
12. Serve topped with basil and additional parmesan.

Penne al Prosciutto e Pomodori Secchi (Penne with Prosciutto, Sundried Tomatoes & Cream)

More prosciutto-based pasta! We were still out of prosciutto so we used bacon for this one (and omitted all other salt in the recipe); it worked out well. We also used vegetable tortellini rather than penne to make the meal a bit more substantial.

Penne al Prosciutto e Pomodori Secchi

The Classic Pasta Cookbook, p.117

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried penne
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 oz (56 g) prosciutto, cut into thin strips
• 2 tbsp sundried tomatoes in oil, coarsely chopped
• 1 C heavy cream
• ¼ C freshly grated parmesan
  

Directions

1. Begin boiling the water for the pasta.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat.
3. When the butter is melted, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens and turns translucent.
4. Add the prosciutto and cook until it begins to brown.
5. Add the sundried tomatoes and cream and cook until the cream has reduced by half; remove from the heat.
6. When the pasta is cooked al dente, toss with the sauce and cheese and serve.

 

This recipe is from a year ago, so I don't remember anything about it. It looks similar to our pasta with spinach, sundried tomatoes, and feta, so hopefully it's tasty.

The author mentions that pine nuts, while more expensive, would also go well in this.

Skillet Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes, Walnuts, and Feta

Budget Bytes

Ingredients

• ⅓ C walnuts, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ frozen broccoli florets, coarsely chopped
• 2 C vegetable broth
• ⅓ C sundried tomatoes, sliced
  
• ½ lb farfalle
• zest and juice of 1 fresh lemon
  
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 60 g feta, diced
  

Directions

1. Heat a large, deep skillet over medium-low heat.
2. Add the walnuts and toast, stirring often, until toasty and starting to brown, 1-2 minutes. Remove from the skillet and buffer.
   
3. Increase heat to medium. Add the olive oil and minced garlic and sauté until garlic is fragrant, ~1 minute.
4. Add the broccoli and sauté until just thawed through. Remove and buffer with the walnuts.
   
5. Add the pasta, vegetable broth, tomatoes, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes, and stir to combine.
6. Increase heat to high and cover. Allow the broth to come to a boil, then stir briefly, re-cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender and most of the broth has been absorbed.
7. Stir the broccoli and walnuts back in, and top with feta and lemon zest.

The Cook's Country recipe this was adapted from was quite different; it used zucchini instead of peas, cod instead of haddock, and cooked the fish by wrapping it in foil and then baking it rather than cooking it in a tagine. But we didn't have cod or zucchini, and cooking it in the tagine was a lot more convenient than trying to individually wrap half a dozen haddock fillets, so we did this instead. And it worked out quite well! It wants some sort of accompaniment dish, but it was quite easy to put together and very tasty.

It would probably take well to additions like asparagus, too.

Haddock & Peas Tagine with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Loosely based on Cod Baked in Foil with Potatoes, Zucchini, and Sundried Tomatoes, Cook's Country, October-November 2019.

Ingredients

• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• ½-1 C frozen peas
• 1-1.5lb skinless haddock fillets
  
• 3 tbsp sundried tomatoes with their oil
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
  

Directions

1. Place onion and peas in the tagine.
2. Top vegetables with haddock.
3. Top fish with tomatoes, oil, and basil.
4. Cover tagine and bake at 450°F until fish is cooked through, ~15 minutes.
   

From the Cook's Illustrated "All-Time Best Pasta Recipes" issue, this recipe comes together surprisingly easily; it takes a while but is not particularly complicated. It was also a huge hit! Everyone finished their bowl and went back for seconds, even Alex.

As written the recipe uses chicken breasts. We used imitation pea-protein chicken; no-one would mistake it for real chicken in either taste or texture, but it's tasty in its own right and can generally be used in the same places you'd use chicken meat. Use either as the mood takes you.

For noodles, the book recommends penne, ziti, or campanelle. We did it with cavatappi and that worked excellently. I suspect that rotini would also be a good choice.

The proportions on this, intuitively, look a bit weird. There's half as much pasta as usual, twice as much chicken as pasta, and three times as much broccoli. With the cavatappi, at least, this worked fine, although I think that doubling the pasta would also have worked ok at the cost of increasing the starch:everything else ratio.

Pasta with Chicken and Broccoli

Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients

• 60mL unsalted butter
• 450g boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved lengthwise and then sliced into strips
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 10mL fresh thyme (or ~7mL dried)
• 10mL all-purpose flour
• 1mL red pepper flakes
• 500mL chicken or vegetable broth
• 250mL dry white wine
• 250mL freshly grated parmesan
• 250mL (~1 jar) sliced, oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
• 15mL fresh parsley
• 657g fresh broccoli, florets cut into ~2cm pieces, stems discarded
• 225g dry pasta
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Melt 15mL butter in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chicken in a single layer and cook, without stirring, until browned around edges, 1-2 minutes. Stir and continue to cook until cooked through, 2-3 minutes. Remove to plate.
2. Reduce heat to medium and melt another 15mL of butter. Add onion and 1mL salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, 5-7 minutes.
3. Add garlic, thyme, flour, and pepper flakes, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30-60 seconds.
4. Add broth and wine, bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened somewhat and reduced by half, 15-20 minutes.
5. Add parmesan, tomatoes, parsley, chicken, and remaining 30mL butter and cook until chicken is heated through and butter is melted, ~1 minute.
6. Season with black pepper to taste.
7. Meanwhile, boil water in a large pot. Add broccoli and 15mL salt and cook until crisp-tender, ~2 minutes. Remove broccoli, but keep water.
8. Return water to a boil and add pasta. Cook until al dente. Reserve 125mL of pasta water and drain pasta.
9. When sauce is ready, add broccoli and pasta and toss to combine. Adjust sauce thickness with reserved pasta water and serve.