Alrighty then, like I said yesterday, this is among my favorite meals. I freaking love prosciutto. And snap peas/spinach are both on the very, very short list of veggies that I willingly eat. Plus, it's a pretty easy, one-pan (plus the spaghetti pot, obvs) meal. I will say this, however: you really have to do all the prep work before you start cooking. I usually don't, and not pre-prepping makes this recipe super stressful to make. So prep it up! Also, this makes enough for four, and it's kind of hard to cut in half because of the measurements. So...yeah. Okay, enough chatting, here's the recipe. I slightly adapted it from Food Network magazine.
Ingredients:
- 12 ounces spaghetti
- 1/3 cup cooking sherry
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 3 wide strips of lemon peel (I usually use about half of the lemon's worth of peel)
- 5 tbsp butter, sliced into seven or so thin pieces
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1 bunch spinach (about 6 cups), roughly torn/chopped
- 2 cups sugar snap peas (I always use fresh, frozen doesn't really work with this)
- 1/4 pound prosciutto, torn into pieces
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- Parmesan-Romano cheese
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt liberally and add the pasta. Keep an eye on it; you'll cook it to just al dente.
While that's happening, bring the wine, garlic and lemon peel to a simmer in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once it's simmering, add the butter one or two slices at a time, whisking as it melts. Keep whisking until all the butter's melted, then add the olive oil one tablespoon at a time. (While still whisking. I know, it's a lot of whisking. Bear with me.)
Add about a teaspoon of salt, and pepper to taste. Add the snap peas and cook for about three minutes, then add the spinach and cook until wilted, another couple of minutes. Discard the lemon and garlic. (I usually do this before I add the spinach, actually, because it's kind of hard to pick out once the spinach is all up in there.)
When the pasta's ready, ladle out about 1/4 cup of cooking water and drain the pasta. Throw the spaghetti into the skillet, adding a tablespoon or two of the water. Sprinkle another teaspoon of salt over everything and toss, adding more water as needed to loosen. Sprinkle with a bit of the Parmesan-Romano (which you can find at the grocery store, right next to the regular Parmesan in one of those shelf-safe plastic shakers) and toss some more.
Divide the pasta/veggie mix up among four plates, then top with the prosciutto, parsley and more cheese. And don't worry; this reheats pretty well...just refrigerate the prosciutto separately and don't microwave it. So, dinner for two after all? Sure. I also make this recipe with the same amount of sauce stuff and slightly less pasta, and it works well for Matt and I. We're both pretty voracious eaters :)
Aaand, here's the other blog post from Thursday that went missing! These Asian-inspired dishes, as I said before, are so quick and easy to make. It's a Rachael Ray recipe, so naturally I had to cut down the ingredients list a bit to make this a practical meal. Ray-ray loves her long ingredients lists! (This recipe makes enough for two, just FYI.)
Ingredients:
- 1 can each chicken broth and beef broth (or two cans chicken broth)
- 1/2 box linguine
- 1/2 lb stew beef
- a few scallions or chives, cut into bite-size pieces on an angle
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots (I used my mandolin, or you can buy them shredded at the store)
- 1/2 bag frozen snap peas, thawed
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt generously, then add the linguine. Meanwhile, bring the broth to a boil in a separate pot (one large enough to hold the broth and the meat). Drain the linguine just before it's finished cooking and divide into two bowls. Put veggies on top of noodles.
Add the beef to the boiling broth and poach until cooked through, about 5-7 minutes, depending on how thick the pieces are. Then add the meat to the bowls and ladle the broth over them. Cover the bowls tightly with small plates or foil and let steep for 5 minutes to finish cooking the noodles and the veggies. Uncover and slurp away!
A note: I don't really like to add raw meat to a broth that I'll be eating. Ray-ray insists it's okay, but it weirds me out, so I browned the meat on all sides first in a separate pan with a little bit of sesame oil. You could just as easily use canola oil or another vegetable oil substitute.
There’s one thing you should know about me, if you’re going to read my food posts. I. Love. Carbs. I have yet to meet a carb that I don’t like, except maybe barley, which doesn’t count because apparently your body doesn’t process it like a carb. It’s kind of weird to admit this, but I’ve been known to eat just a bowl of rice (with some butter and salt) as a snack.
So it’s no surprise that I love Italian- and Asian-inspired dishes. When I was watching Iron Chef a few weeks ago, I saw Morimoto (my favorite, of course) make this delicious-looking rice bowl. He topped it with fish and a fried egg. It looked so simple, I just had to try it!
Ingredients:
If you read the “Food” tab above, you’ll note that I rarely measure ingredients when cooking. Don’t get tied to your measuring cups and teaspoons! Experiment with me :)
- 1 cup uncooked rice (I used Minute Rice, but the real stuff works great too)
- 2 eggs
- 1 package frozen snap peas (you will have leftovers!)
- 4 filets of a firm fish, like tilapia
- flour
- sesame oil (can substitute butter or canola oil)
- garlic powder
- salt and pepper
- soy sauce
Start by cooking the rice. If you’re using the real stuff, it’ll take about 20 minutes. If you’re using Minute Rice like me, it’ll only take about five minutes. Once the rice is ready, spread it out onto a plate and pop it in the freezer for about 10 minutes—just enough to cool it down, but not long enough to freeze it.
While that’s going on, dredge the fish in flour. You can use a little egg or milk to help the flour stick, but I usually go without on this dish for a lighter finish. Plus, I usually use fish that has just come out of my freezer and is still a little damp from the defrosting process, so extra moisture isn’t as necessary.
Heat the sesame oil (or substitute fat) in a skillet. Actually, heat it in two skillets. One for the fish (medium-high heat), and one for the eggs (medium heat). These will take about the same time to cook, unless you have a really thick cut of fish. Start cooking the fish, seasoning with a tiny bit of salt, some pepper and a dash of garlic powder. When you crack the eggs in the other pan, be careful to not break the yolks. Season those with salt and pepper too. In the meantime, start cooking the snap peas. I buy the kind that you can microwave right in the bag; it usually takes about five minutes.
Flip the fish after about three or four minutes. Just before you flip it, pour some soy sauce over the whole thing. Don’t go overboard or you’ll have a salty mess. I usually use about a tablespoon, maybe two. Ish. After you flip the fish, drizzle a little more soy sauce over the cooked side that is now facing up—just a couple drops.
As for the eggs. I prefer to flip mine to make an over-easy/over-medium yolk, which I still find a little difficult sometimes. In the pictures, you might notice that I did in fact break a yolk. If you want to play it safe, just cook them sunny-side up.
Now, the rice. Morimoto re-fried it in a pan, but I think it’s so much easier to nuke it. Grab two bowls and make two rounded little hills of rice in each one, making a medium-sized indent in the top (this is where the egg will go). When the snap peas are done cooking, set them aside and nuke the rice for 30 seconds to a minute, until it’s good and hot.
Time to assemble! Carefully slide an egg into the indent in each mound of rice. Make a small little pile of snap peas on one side of the mound, and arrange the fish on the other side. You’ll notice in my photos that my fish isn’t a filet; it’s a mess. I used cod, which is too flaky for this dish and fell apart while I was cooking it. Tasted good though.
This dish is particularly fun to eat. Break open the egg yolk and let it drizzle down over the rice. I like to dip my snap peas in it, too!
