Do Not Over Think the Comfort.

For New Year’s, most of San Juan County was hit by snow storms, dumping much needed moisture in the mountains, and in and around the towns.  This is definitely a blessing!  However, it did make travel difficult, so those truckers delivering goods for the stores, and packages from Amazon, were not thinking themselves blessed.  But that is balance, a pro for a con, and proof that not everyone can be made happy at the exact same time.

All right then, during 2022, I wrote several articles on preserving basic foods, sustainability, and not having the delusion that all will always be available.  Therefore, if readers paid attention, the days locked inside the home, during the storms, should not have been hardship.  Then again, 2020 through 2022, should have been teaching the same notion of making sure to be stocked up, in case of emergency.

Deep breath, let’s put aside the feeling of being overwhelmed, and embrace the healing ideal of comfort.  With food, wanting something to eat, that gives a warm, comforting feeling, could either be simplistic or complicated. Depends on what you believe is a comfort food; while someone believes it is mashed potatoes with butter, someone else is looking for baby new potatoes topped with creme fraiche and caviar.  The one thing that needs to be remembered is that you should be just as comfortable making the dish as you are eating it.

A cuisine that embodies comfort is Italian. Italian food wraps itself around you like a blanket; while the pasta is your pillow, the sauce massages the aches and pains from the body.  Sounds nice?  Funny though how many folks I have met who are scared to death to make Italian recipes.  "It's too complicated or difficult.", "I'll never find all the ingredients I'll need", "How do I know I'm doing it right if I've never tasted it before?"   Answer to all three questions: "You're over thinking it!"  You cannot make comfort food if you are putting such stress upon yourself...relax...do...enjoy.

Making homemade pasta sauce is relatively easy nowadays, especially since almost everyone and their mother owns a crock pot (slow cooker). Now let’s make an Italian casserole that is so easy, you will kick yourself for having self-doubts on your ability to make it. Hints: if you cannot find ziti in the pasta aisle, use another tubular pasta such as penne or rigatoni. If you want meat in your dish, grill up some Italian sausage or make meatballs. Please, please do not buy frozen meatballs, they are so full of fillers, that is why they can bounce!

Remember, with my sauce and meatball recipes, you can half them, or make the full recipes and they can be frozen for up to six months. You did cut out those recipes, from the newspaper, and put them in your recipe box, right?  Oh, when cooking your pasta up, use a little olive oil in the boiling water instead of salt; still keeps the pasta from sticking together, but adds more flavor.

 

Baked Ziti

 Ingredients:

1(16 oz.) box ziti, or tubular, pasta

6 cups homemade pasta sauce plus 2 extra cups

1(16 oz.) bag shredded mozzarella plus 1(8 oz.) bag shredded Italian cheese mix

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350F; spray a 3-quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Prepare ziti according to package directions. In a large bowl, mix together thoroughly the cooked ziti, 6 cups of sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese.

 

Spread out mixture into baking dish and top evenly with the shredded Italian cheese mix. Bake for 30-40 minutes; until cheese on top is melted and just starting to brown at the edges. 

 

After Baking

Before Baking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serve with the extra two cups of sauce for anyone wanting more sauce with their pasta, or to dip bread (preferably toasted garlic bread) into.

Makes 6-8 servings.

 Or use Rigatoni:

Baked Rigatoni

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: if you have room in the freezer, before baking, split the pasta/cheese mixture between a baking dish, and an aluminum foil baking pan.  Wrap the aluminum foil pan, first with a layer of aluminum foil, then either plastic wrap, or insert into a plastic freezer bag.  Label with name and date; then when ready to bake, remove the plastic, place in oven at 450F for one hour.  Remove aluminum foil, spread Italian cheese mix overall, and bake an additional 15 minutes.  The pasta casserole will be good for up to six months in the freezer.

Mary Cokenour

 

Freshen Up Leftover Pasta with Veggies

 So here's the scenario; meatballs and sausages plus a baked pasta dish.  While it's expected that they'll all be eaten together, that often isn't the case.  The meat items might be used to make a sandwich, or broken up and used to spruce up pizza.  However, you're now stuck with a half pan full of pasta, and while it has sauce and cheese with it, it's kind of boring as is.

Click on Baked Ziti and it will take you to the recipe for this hearty dish of pasta baked together with homemade pasta sauce and cheese.  Now what happens if you have a lot left over?  Better yet, what if you have someone over who is vegetarian?  Serve just salad as a side?  Boring again!  Now let's take that baked pasta and combine it with a homemade sauce chock full of veggies!

I had half a 3-quart baking dish of leftover baked rigatoni.  Nope, you don't have to use just ziti for the baked ziti recipe, any small tubular pasta will do, like rigatoni, penne and mostaccioli.  In a deep, large skillet, I heated up a fresh made veggie sauce, mixed in the leftover baked pasta, and let it continue cooking until all was hot and ready to be eaten.

Here's what I used...

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 cup each of chopped (about 1/2 inch in size) green and red bell peppers

1 medium zucchini, chopped (same size as the peppers)

1 tsp. cracked black pepper

2 cups chopped Roma tomatoes

2 cups pasta sauce

2 heaping Tbsp. minced garlic

1 Tbsp. each dried, crushed basil and oregano

Leftover baked pasta (about 1 and 1/2 quarts or about 4 servings)

Preparation:

In a deep, large skillet, medium high heat, heat the olive oil, then add in the onion, bell peppers, zucchini and black pepper; let them cook for 15 minutes.

Next, add in the remaining ingredients: tomatoes, sauce, garlic and herbs; mix thoroughly and continue to cook for an additional 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally to keep from sticking and/or burning.

Last step, mix in the left over baked pasta; mix thoroughly, breaking up the pasta pieces that might be clumped together, and let cook 10 additional minutes.  Mix again before serving.

Doing all this, I was able to stretch it out to six servings; the taste, smell and texture was delicious all the way throughout.

With the addition of the vegetables, I made something mundane into something fabulous; and even a vegetarian would find it to be fabulous as well.

This recipe can be made if cooking up some fresh pasta as well.  Cook the pasta to al dente, drain, and then add to the veggie sauce to cook together for that last 10 minutes before serving.  If someone doesn't like, or can't eat, cheese, it's not already in, so no worries.  However, you could always have a few of bowls of cheeses (shredded provolone, mozzarella and parmesan) on hand, so anyone wanting to add them, into their serving, can.

Now you don't have to wonder what to do with leftover pasta, just spruce it up with veggies!

Mary Cokenour

Don't Over Think the Comfort.

You want something to eat that gives you a warm, comforting feeling, but should the recipe be complicated or simple?  Depends on what you believe is a comfort food; while someone believes it's mashed potatoes with butter, someone else is looking for baby new potatoes topped with creme fraiche and caviar.  The one thing you need to remember is that you should be just as comfortable making the dish as you are eating it.

Italian food wraps itself around you like a blanket; while the pasta is your pillow, the sauce massages the aches and pains from the body.  Sounds nice?  Funny though how many folks I have met who are scared to death to make Italian recipes.  "It's too complicated or difficult.", "I'll never find all the ingredients I'll need", "How do I know I'm doing it right if I've never tasted it before?"   Answer to all three questions: "You're over thinking it!"  You can't make comfort food if you're putting such stress upon yourself...relax...do...enjoy.

Making homemade pasta sauce is relatively easy nowadays, especially since almost everyone and their mother owns a crock pot (slow cooker). Now lets make an Italian casserole that is so easy, you'll kick yourself for having self doubts on your ability to make it. Hints: if you cannot find ziti in the pasta aisle, use penne. If you want meat in your dish, grill up some Italian sausage or make meatballs. Please, please don't buy frozen meatballs, they are so full of fillers, that's why they can bounce. Remember, with my sauce and meatball recipes, you can half them, or make the full recipes and they can be frozen for up to six months. Oh, when cooking your pasta up, use a little olive oil in the boiling water instead of salt; still keeps the pasta from sticking together, but adds more flavor.

Baked Ziti

Ingredients:

1(16 oz)box ziti pasta
6 cups homemade pasta sauce plus 2 extra cups
1(16 oz)bag shredded mozzarella plus 1(8 oz)bag shredded Italian cheese mix

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350F; spray a 3 qt baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Prepare ziti according to package directions. In a large bowl, mix together thoroughly the cooked ziti, 6 cups of sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese.

Spread out mixture into baking dish and top evenly with the shredded Italian cheese mix. Bake for 30-40 minutes; until cheese on top is melted and just starting to brown at the edges.  

Serve with the extra two cups of sauce for anyone wanting more sauce with their pasta, or to dip bread (preferably toasted garlic bread) into.
Makes 6-8 servings.

Mary Cokenour