Half dried tomato and adzuki bean pasta

Spring Fettucini

ReBar: Modern Food Cookbook

Macc and Two Cheeses with Caramelized Shallots

I love maccaroni and cheese, but because it lack a few vitamins and has a bit more cholesterol than I desire, I haven't made it for years. Finally I thought, what the heck, I'll try some. I found this recipe in my Bon Appetit and it sounded tempting- the cheesy, creamy pasta covered with caramelized onions and dotted with goat cheese. Although that was about it. So I added some diced tomatoes and fresh spinach- just to help justify eating the stuff. I began with caramlizing the onions (although the recipe called for shallots), in 3Tbs butter. I then cooked the maccaroni. I made the cheese sauce by boiling some milke and adding shredded cheese (Greve, but I'd try Präst next time) and a little flour. Whisked until smooth, added the pasta and veggies then spread it in a baking dish. I topped it with the caramlized onions then spread the soft goat chees on top. It baked for 15min just to heat through, then was done! It did taste good. And we liked it last night, but for left overs today Johan decided it was maybe a little too cheesey. Maybe not healthy enough to justify. So, we'll see if it comes around again. Maybe if there are kids over or something!

Johan Scale: G

Bon Appetit December 2008

Pomodori al forno

I read an article in my sep Bon Appetit about these tomatoes. Then I read about them on a blog (by the same writer). Then I read about them on another blog, stolen from the first blog. So I thought, I have to try this, I'd be a fool not too. And my intuition was right! One recipe was for the tomatoes to be put on baguette with goat cheese, the other to be put on pasta with parmesan, so I put them on pasta with goat chesse! A good compromise, I thought. I began by buying 1 kilo plum tomatoes and de-seeding them. I put them in a swimming pool of olive oil and sprinkled on a little sugar, salt and dried oregano. I roasted them slowly at 250F for a total of 2 1/2 hrs! Then the pasta recipe said to peel the guys. But as soon as I peeled one, I thought, these peels can't go to waste. So, I just ate them. It was at that point I knew I had something magical. I then put the tomatoes in a bowl with the olive oil and added garlic and parsley. I let all that sit for another 2 hrs. When Johan finally came home, I took 1/2 the tomatoes and gently chopped them in a bowl, then threw them together with some cooked whole wheat penne pasta. We put a little goat cheese on top and smaklig måltid (bon appetit?)! It was so, so good. I was blown away at how much flavor came out of these little tomatoes. They were juicy and soft and delicious. We licked the bowl clean. And it really didn't take long at all, if you subtract the 5hrs of waiting time! So, if you know you'll be home for a day, please do yourself a favor and try these. And don't forget that once you've eaten the tomatoes, you still have a deliciously infused olive oil you can save for dipping bread! Hmmmm, I wonder if I can can this...

Johan Scale: VG+

The Wednesday Chef

Orangette

Pumpkin Lasagna

Thanks to Jessie for recommending this one! It was so fun to make something so different than what I we usually eat. I can think of only one other time that my maing dish had pumpkin as a main ingredient (pumpkin ravioli, also amazing!). I've never made my own pumpkin puree, so that was fun and I am happy to have some left-overs. The lasagna was quite simple. I baked and pureed the pumpkin and mixed in a little salt and dried sage. I mixed some ricotta and parmesan cheeses with some salt and pepper (was there one more thing?). Then I layered the noodles, puree, cheese, over and over then baked the thing for quite some time. It not the most beautiful dinner I've made, but it sure tasted good! It was really soft and creamy and the pasta added a nice balance to that. Overall, a really fun recipe to try!

Johan Scale: VG

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/:

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/9771?section=

Tuna Noodle Bowl

I've had a couple of cans of tuna in the cupboard for a long time, so Johan suggested that we use them this evening. All I usually use canned tuna for is tuna sandwiches, so I wasn't so sure what to make. I found this recipe on realsimple.com and to be honest, wasn't feeling so good about it. It calls for bowtie pasta, carrots, peppers, capers, tuna, paremsan cheese with a dressing. It just sounded a little boring, but for some reason I decided to try it and what a success! It was so good! It probably took about 15min max to make and I had all the ingredients except carrots and peppers, so was super inexpensive! This is the second recipe I've made off this site and have loved them both. Things are looking good for this site in my book! Johan loved it, too.

Johan Scale: Super Strong 4.5

Real Simple, April 2000

http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=633290

Vegetable Lasagna

I was feeling like making lasagna tonight. And after my recent discovery that Italian lasagna does not contain ricotta cheese, I wasn't sure which kind to make. But I decided I don't care, and made American lasagna. I found this recipe in my "Better Homes and Gardens" cookbook, which I clearly don't use often enough. This turned out excellent! I am so glad that I tried it, it was delicious! I began buy roasting some red peppers, I fried some onion, garlic and mushrooms, then mixed the vegetables. Then I mixed some spinach, parmesan, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses with dried basil and oregano and a couple eggs. Then the layering accured with a tomato sauce. It baked for 30 min and that was it. It had a lot of health value as it had a fair amount of vegetables. The recipe said it made 8-10 servings, but that must be for small children, as it made about 4 for us, not big eaters. But Johan loved it, probably even more than I. He cut the ricotta a break, as he's a strong believer in the Italian lasagna. This will become a regular on my dinner menu!

Johan Scale: Strong 4.5

"Better Homes and Gardens: New Cook Book"

Linguine with spinach, snow peas, zucchini, and gremolata

This is the second time I made this dish. The first time i thought it was "Excellent," this time I thought is was "so-so." I'm not sure what the difference was. The pasta was overcooked, and there was too much of it (in relation to the amount of veggies) but the first time I accidently used cucumber instead of zucchini! Ooops, I wasn't going to tell anyone that embarassing detail. I have so many recipes that do this- it says to fry the zucchini until soft, about 2 min. And I end up frying it for AT LEAST 10 min before just calling it good. It happen with carrots, cabbage, onions, so many vegetables. Do the test-chefs just have some kind of super stove i don't? But, I began with frying the onion and garlic, then adding zucchini and snow peas. I added the overcooked pasta, whole basil leaves, spinach and paremsan cheese. Mix it all together, then serve with the parsley gremolata which consists of lemon zest, capers, parsley and olive oil. I think that's what makes the dish! It is a little plane otherwise. I will make it again, but for some reason, it just didn't wow me tonight.

Johan Scale: 4

Bon Appetit, May 2008

Tortellini with porcini mushroom sauce

I thought I'd throw in before and after photos to show how good this was! I got this recipe from a recent issue of Bon Appetit. An address mix-up caused me to recieve 2 issues the other day. This recipe was quite simple with not many ingredients, and probaly so good due to the cheese, cream and butter! Not my usual diet, but for whatever reason, this turned out great! I should probably call it 'Tortellini with white mushroom sauce,' because I substituted the dried porcini mushrooms for fresh white mushrooms (they weren't available at the market). I just fried them for a bit to get out the moisture (parboiled?). I used yellow onion instead of shallot. Can anyone (I guess that means you, Jessie!) tell me the benefit of using shallots? To me, they're just more expensive, with no real gain in flavor. And I guess that's about all the substitutions I made. The parmesan Johan brought back from Italy was a wonderful addition. I would use a little more fresh thyme next time, I just didn't have as much on hand as I thought. I'm sure it would have been even better with fresh tortellini, or homemade! But the cheese filled bagged tortellini was still great! Luckily I only used 1/2 the bag, so I can make this again soon with what I already have!

Johan Scale: Strong 4.5

Bon Appetit, September 2008

Spaghetti with Shrimp, Tomatoes and Feta Sabraw

Another winner from epicurious.com! My boyfriend loves shrimp and pasta, so I decided to try this recipe. It sounded a little boring, but good reviews made me give it a try! I was super excited to find normal sized, uncooked shrimp in Sweden so tonight was the night. This was another super simple and quick dish. I first sauteed the shrimp in olive oil and garlic, then added the tomato, scallions and basil to heat through. Plus, I love cooked tomatoes! Once the pasta was cooked, I just mixed it all together to make a delicious dinner! Will definitely make this one again.

Johan Scale: Solid 4

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/LINGUINE-WITH-SHRIMP-TOMATOES-AND-FETA-SABRAW-14179