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.

Blueberry Scones

I don't do well with breakfast. I get bored easily. I'm also not a morning person, so I'm not generally interested in putting any effort into making a food first thing in the morning.

Milk and cereal are pretty much exclusively a camping food for me. Toast is boring. Porridge is good for a day or two, but then I want something else. Fry-ups are fatty and also way too much effort first thing in the morning most days. I tried making some "Carrot Cake Energy Bites". They were okay, but not great. I decided to keep perusing the breakfast ideas to see if anything else grabbed me. These scones seemed promising. I tweaked the recipe a little to use whole wheat flour, but otherwise left it pretty much alone.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Scones

Slightly adapted from Love and Lemons

Ingredients

• 330g whole what flour¹
• 1/2 c. sugar + 1 Tbsp. sugar, divided
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter
• 1 c. frozen blueberries
• 3/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine flour, 1/2 c. sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix well.
2. Cut in butter.
3. Toss with blueberries.
4. Stir in cream, egg, and vanilla extract.
5. Turn out dough into a well-floured surface and shape into a disc 3-4cm thick.
6. Sprinkle top of disc with 1 Tbsp. sugar.
7. Cut disc into eight wedges and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
8. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 20 minutes.

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Variations

Vegan Whole Wheat Blueberry Scones

Ingredients

• 330g whole what flour
• 1/2 c. vegan sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 c. coconut oil
• 1 c. frozen blueberries
• 3/4 c. full fat coconut milk
• 1 flax egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

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¹ I used hard wheat for this. I think soft flour would be fine as well. ^Back

I've been kind of discombobulated this week and keep dropping the ball on things I'm normally pretty good at being on top of. One of them is our produce basket. So, suddenly we had an influx of fruit and veggies with no plans on how to use them. During my somewhat befuddled grocery trip this morning, I noticed that perogies were on sale. Normally I just have perogies with some sautéed onions and sauerkraut (and maybe some sour cream and/or cheese), but I figured adding braised cabbage as a side dish probably wasn't a terrible idea.

Braised Red Cabbage with Apples

Adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. lard
• 1 onion, sliced
• ~1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 apple, coarsely chopped
• 1 small head of red cabbage, cored and sliced
• 1/4 c. cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Melt lard over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook until softened (~4 minutes).
3. Add pepper and apple and cook for another minute or so.
4. Add cabbage, cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, sugar, and salt and stir to coat.
5. Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes.

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Variations

Vegetarian Braised Red Cabbage with Apples

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 onion, sliced
• ~1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 apple, coarsely chopped
• 1 small head of red cabbage, cored and sliced
• 1/4 c. cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt

I tried to mostly follow the recipe for these. It didn't work very well. The original recipe calls for grinding up raw sunflower seeds in a food processor. I added a few Tbsp. of water and used the "food chop" setting on my blender. The resulting mixture was simultaneously wet and crumbly. I found that adding a little sunflower seed butter improved the handling dramatically. I think I'd just forgo the ground sunflower seeds and go for SunButter (or similar) right off the bat next time.

Carrot Cake Energy Balls

Adapted from Love and Lemons

Ingredients

• 12 dates, soaked
• 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 2/3 c. carrots, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
• up to 1 c. sunflower seed butter

Directions

1. Combine dates, maple syrup, and carrots in a food processor or blender and mince. You may need to had a couple Tbsp. of water if using a blender.
2. Combine cinnamon, sea salt, and coconut and mix well.
3. Stir carrot mixture into coconut mixture.
4. Add enough sunflower seed butter to hold it together.
5. Form into small balls and roll in graham cracker crumbs, more coconut, crushed banana chips or a combination of all of the above.

Tamatar Malai Rajmah (Kidney Beans with Slow-Stewed Tomato Sauce)

Here's an easy curry to throw together if you have time for the simmering. I replaced the minced garlic and ginger with their paste equivalents to reduce the prep work still further. I also halved the salt, black cardamom, and cayenne called for in the recipe; the first two to cater to my tastes and the second to cater to the Kidlet's.

Tamatar Malai Rajmah

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 2 (3") cinnamon sticks
• 2 bay leaves or Indian bay (cassia) leaves
• 1-2 black cardamom pods
• 4 Tbsp. garlic paste (or 4 large cloves of garlic¹, minced)
• 2-3 Tbsp. ginger paste (or 5 [1"x2"x1/4"] slices ginger, minced)
• 3 c. water, divided
• 3 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp. sweet paprika
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. cayenne powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/4 c. fried onion paste
• 3 c. cooked red kidney beans
• 1/2 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/2 tsp. Punjabi garam masala
• 2 Tbsp. fresh minced cilantro

Directions

1. Melt ghee over medium-high heat.
2. Add cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, and cardamom pod(s) and sizzle for 10-20 seconds.
3. Add garlic and ginger and cook for another 30-60 seconds.
4. Add 1/2 c. water, tomato paste, paprika, salt, coriander, cumin, cayenne, and turmeric and reduce heat to medium-low.
5. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Stir in another 1/2 c. of water, cover, and simmer for another 5 minutes.
7. Repeat step 6 twice more.
8. Add fried onion paste, cover, and simmer for another 5 minutes.
9. Add remaining 1 c. water and kidney beans and increase heat to medium.
10. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for ~15 minutes.
11. Stir in cream and Punjabi garam masala and cook until warmed through (~2 minutes).
12. Remove from heat and sprinkle with cilantro.
13. Serve with rice and/or naan.

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¹ You will probably have less than 4 Tbsp. of minced garlic. I always use a bit (or sometimes a lot) mare garlic paste than fresh garlic because its flavour is usually somewhat muted compared to fresh garlic. ^Back

The Kidlet was keen on making cookies today, so we flipped through the most recent issue of Cook's Country to see what goodies they had recipes for. The first two (chocolate brownie cookies and turtle bars) were a no-go due to the chocolate. But these biscochitos got the green light. We even still had some lard left over from our forays into sopaipilla-making, so it worked out quite well overall.

I appreciate how quick and easy these cookies were to throw together. It's a very simple dough to mix up, but the presence of the anise makes them a bit more special than a plain sugar cookie. It was a bit difficult to get the cinnamon sugar to stick to the outside after they came out of the oven, but a some gentle pressure seemed to do the trick in the end. I enjoy the very subtle savoury quality they get from the lard, but if you're wary of cookies that tread that line, feel free to use butter or shortening instead.

Biscochitos

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country December/January 2020

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. anise seeds, crushed
• 2/3 c. lard
• 3/4 c. sugar, divided
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Cream the lard with the crushed anise and 1/2 c. of the sugar.
3. Beat on medium-high for ~3 minutes.
4. Beat in egg and vanilla.
5. Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in dry ingredients.
6. Divide dough into two equal portions and roll each one into a 15cm (6") log.
7. Wrap tightly and chill until firm (~3 hours in the fridge, less in the freezer).
8. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
9. Slice logs into 5-6mm (~1/4") discs. (You should get ~4 dozen cookies total.)
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 13-15 minutes. (You will most likely need to do this in two batches.)
11. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes.
12. Combine remaining 1/4 c. sugar with cinnamon.
13. Toss the cookies, one or two at a time, with the cinnamon sugar. You may need to apply a bit of gentle pressure to get the sugar to stick.

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Variations

Vegetarian Biscochitos

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. anise seeds, crushed
• 2/3 c. butter
• 3/4 c. sugar, divided
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

We had nachos for dinner tonight and I figured this quick and easy soup would be a nice way to round out the meal.

Corn and Tomato Soup

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country December/January 2020

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 Tbsp. cumin, ground
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1L vegetable broth
• 2 1/2 c. frozen corn
• 2 tsp. chipotle chiles in adobo, minced
• 1 c. cooked black beans (optional)
• 1 (800mL) can diced tomatoes¹
• ~1/2 c. crumbled feta², to serve
• thinly sliced radishes, to serve (optional)
• chopped avocado, to serve (optional)

Directions

1. Melt butter over medium heat.
2. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened (~4 minutes).
3. Add cumin and pepper and cook for another minute or so.
4. Add vegetable broth, corn, chipotles, tomatoes, and beans (if using).
5. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
6. Reduce to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes.
7. Serve topped with feta (or cojia) and radishes and avocados (if using).

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¹ The original recipe calls for whole tinned tomatoes. It calls for draining them, reserving the juice, and then coarsely chopping the tomatoes. You then add tomatoes and the reserved juice along with the broth. I'm not sure why they don't just call for diced tomatoes to begin with. ^Back
2 Use cojita instead if you can find it. ^Back