Mizithra Cheese Pasta

When my sister was younger, she used to work at The Old Spaghetti Factory.  This worked out nicely for our family, since we love that restaurant.  Our family loves all Italian restaurants in general.

My favorite dish that I always get there is pasta with Mizithra cheese and browned butter.

It's been a while since I've eaten there, and I got a craving, so I decided to make my own version of it.  It turned out really good, but I wish that I had a different cheese grater that would grate finer.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. of your favorite pasta--I bought angel hair, then cooked half of the 1 lb. box
1/2 cube butter or margarine--brown this over medium heat for a few minutes, or until it darkens in color, careful not to burn
1-2 cups grated mizithra cheese--I found this at Smith's Marketplace in their deli section
1-2 cups grated parmesan cheese--I don't know if OSF uses this or not, but my husband loves it so I threw it on as well.  It came grated the size that I wish my mizithra cheese was

The Old Spaghetti Factory spells it "mizithra cheese."  Smith's spells it like this:

I served it alongside my standard spinach salad.  My husband is always so impressed when I make this salad.  He must think I've fussed over it longer than I really have, because honestly it takes me all of 3 minutes to throw this together.

I usually always have a bag of spinach in my fridge, and I ALWAYS have some Brianna's Poppyseed dressing (yes it has to be that brand).  I chop up some strawberries and toss on some sugared almonds from a bag, and that's it!  All pre-made so it's an easy cheater salad.  But we love it and have it all of the time.

Thanks for reminiscing with me about The Old Spaghetti factory.  The kids all liked it--especially my six year old.  I was so impressed that he had 3 helpings of pasta.  I was not as impressed later as I noticed that about half of it was on the floor.  *sigh*  Gotta love those cute little kids.  :)

My favorite lasagna

(image from google images)

1 1/2 lb. ground beef, browned

28 oz. Prego Sauce-traditional (of course you can use any kind, but this is my favorite)

8 lasagna noodles, cooked

1 c. sour cream

3 heaping Tbs. ricotta cheese (I use way more than this, I love it so I just keep throwing more on!)

1 lb. grated Jack cheese

Layer-

sauce/meat (1/2 of it)

4 noodles

Sour cream and ricotta cheese

1/2 jack cheese

Repeat.

Bake at 350 for 48-50 minutes.

Chicken with Lemon Caper Cream Sauce

I kind of experimented and made this recipe up to copy a dish I loved from a restaurant. I served it with a simple side dish of pasta and steamed vegetables.

4 chicken breast tenderloins, pounded to 1/4 in. thick
2-3 T. butter
2 Tbs. minced shallots
1/2 c. heavy cream
capers
lemon juice
3/4 c. chicken broth or stock, depending on which you like

Season chicken with salt and pepper, and saute in pan with butter until chicken is done, about 4 minutes on each side.   Remove from skillet, set aside and keep warm. Add shallots to skillet and cook until they are transparent.  Stir in 3/4 c. chicken broth. and bring to a boil.  Cook until liquid reduces by half (this reduction intensifies flavor).  Stir in cream, and stir over med. heat until cream begins to boil.  Turn off heat, and stir in lemon peel, juice, and capers.  Pour over chicken.

Ravioli with Pine Nut Sage-butter sauce

1 lb. ravioli with cheese
1 stick butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup pinenuts (could also use walnuts)
1 cup fresh sage leaves, coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 c. chicken or vegetable broth
grated Parmesan cheese to taste

Cook ravioli in slightly salted water, drain. (Once they come to the top, they are pretty much done, about 3 min.)
In a large skillet, heat the butter over med. heat until golden brown. Add garlic and pinenuts. Saute for 1 minute. Stir in the sage leaves, salt, and broth. Cook over medium heat for 1 minute. Stir the ravioli in the sauce, and cook just long enough to heat through. Place on serving platter; sprinkle with cheese and serve at once.

Recipe came from Marguerite Henderson, Thanksgiving Point cooking class "When Company Comes"

Baked Ziti

Ingredients:

1 box (16 oz) Ziti pasta1 jar spaghetti sauce

1/2 lb ground beef

1/2 lb pork sausage

Salt, black pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes (all to taste)

12 oz cottage cheese (or ricotta if you prefer)

1/2 cup (4 oz) mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

8 slices provolone cheese

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350 and grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 casserole dish.

- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, season water with salt, boil pasta till al dente; drain and set aside.

- Meanwhile brown sausage and ground beef in skillet and season with desired amounts of salt, black pepper, garlic and red pepper flakes. Drain excess grease away from meats and return back to skillet. Add the jar of spaghetti sauce and let simmer until you are ready to assemble the dish.

- Place enough sauce mixture on the bottom of the pan so the noodles won't stick. Then assemble the rest of the dish- half of the cooked noodles, all of the cottage cheese, 4 slices of provolone cheese, 1/2 of the remaining sauce, remaining noodles, half of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, remaining sauce, remaining cheese.

- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Let set 10 minutes to cool before serving. Source of recipe and picture

Chicken Spaghetti

Chicken Spaghetti (from Ali)

Chicken breasts
1/2 onion, chopped
1 can cream of chicken
1 can evaporated milk
fresh parmesan
spaghetti

Grill and cube chicken breasts with chopped onion. Add cans of cream of chicken and evaporated milk. Stir together, and add a couple of handfuls of fresh parmesan. Serve over spaghetti.

Chicken in Lemon Cream with Penne

Courtesy of Giada DeLaurentiis, from her new book, Everyday Pasta, with a few minor modifications from fromourkitchentoyours.blogspot.com

1 pound penne pasta

3 T. extra virgin olive oil

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, diced into 1-inch cubes

1 t. herbes de Provence

pinch of salt, plus 1/2 t.

pinch of pepper, plus 1/4 t.

1 c. chicken broth

2 c. heavy cream

zest of 1 lemon

pinch of cayenne pepper

1/4 c. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Cook pasta until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, 8-10 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Season the cubed chicken breast with herbes de Provence and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook the chicken until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chicken and set aside. (Here, I actually seasoned and baked the chicken ahead of time [to save time], and added the juices from the baked chicken to the finished sauce.)

Pour off any excess oil from the pan. Add the chicken broth to the pan and cook over medium-high heat, using a wooden spoon to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the cream, lemon zest, and cayenne. (I let the lemon zest steep in the cream while I cooked the chicken.) Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the pasta, chicken, 1/2 t. salt, 1/4 t. pepper, chopped parsley, and lemon juice. Toss to coat the pasta and chicken with the sauce and serve.