I love a pasta dinner. Well, who doesn’t?!
We were very hungry and Pia didn’t want to wait too long for dinner to be ready. So we prepared this quick and easy recipe:

• 100gr of pasta per person. I chose a Bavette (flat large spaghetti)
• a few cloves of garlic
• a few sun-dried tomatoes
• a cup of cream (or even milk, just not a “light” milk)
• a cup of white wine
• half a cup of blue cheese (Roquefort is overkill, but that’s all we had)
• half a cup of grated Parmesan cheese

The pasta needs 8-10 minutes in boiling water.

Meanwhile, Pia cooked the tomatoes and garlic in a little oil. Then deglaze the pan with the wine, add the cream. Reduce by half. Add the cheeses, taste, then add salt and pepper to taste.

Voila! All ready in under 15mins

I did propose the following recipe earlier that night, but we didn’t make it this time:

• a few strips of bacon (bring to crisp)
• a few cloves of garlic (cook with bacon)
• add a cup of leftover cooked keshek
• add the cooked pasta

It might have been faster. Maybe next time

These chocolate chip muffins are simply delicious,  moist,  buttery and full of chocolate!

This recipe Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup (113 grams)  butter, melted and cooled
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup  milk or cream
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cups  granulated white sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup  milk chocolate chips

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C and  position rack in center of oven.
Butter, or line with paper liners your muffin tins.

Whisk  the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and the chocolate chips.
Then using a rubber spatula, or wooden spoon,  fold the wet ingredients and the melted butter, into the dry ingredients. It is very Important to stir only until the ingredients are combined.

Fill the muffin cups with the batter, using two spoons. Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Let the muffins cool for a while before removing them from pan.

Optional: You can sprinkle each muffin with a mixture of granulated sugar and cinnamon before baking.

I have been planning to make pumpkin lasagna for a while now. My past experiences with pumpkin/squash have been pleasant and successful.  (Pumpkin Spaghetti, Pumpkin Kibbeh, Pumpkin Bread and Pumpkin Ravioli)

Last week my mom came to visit and brought with her a present: A lovely butternut squash. I researched some recipes online, and found some interesting variations:

http://holdtheonions.net/2009/12/02/pumpkin-lasagna/

http://whatscookingmexico.com/2008/11/26/pumpkin-lasagna/

I really didn’t want the flavor of the butternut squash to be overpowered by sausage or spinach (Even though I am planning to try it with spinach next time). So I ended up improvising:  spicing up the squash (right amount of salt, pepper, nutmeg, sage, garlic), mixing it with my homemade ricotta, making plenty of bechamel sauce and not forgetting the other cheeses involved (Mozzarella and Parmesan).

Some people are intimidated about using pumpkin/squash in their recipes.  The easiest, and fasted way to puree a pumpkin/squash is by peeling, chopping, and steaming it (20 minutes and the flesh becomes soft & ready to puree).
Usually we need to drain as much water as we can from the pureed pumpkin, but in this case, the moisture would be useful to help cook the lasagna sheets.

Ingredients:

- Lasagna Box (I used spinach lasagna)
- 2 cups pumpkin puree
- 2 cups of ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- 1 onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves diced
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp dried sage
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt to taste (depends on the sweetness of your pumpkin)
- fresh mozzarella and Parmesan for layering  and topping the lasagna

Bechamel Sauce:
- 2 tbsp of butter
- 2 tbsp of flour
- 1 liter of warmed milk (full cream or light, it’s up to you)
- salt, nutmeg and white pepper to taste

Preparation:
- Butter or spray 2 medium sized rectangular oven safe pans

- Prepare the bechamel by melting the butter in a sauce pan, add the flour and whisk until it gets a nice bronze color. Add the warmed milk slowly and whisk to prevent lumps. Finally add the spices and turn off the heat as soon as the sauce starts thickening

- Sautee the diced onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil until transluscent

- In a medium bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, the onion and garlic mixture, ricotta, Parmesan and all the spices listed above.

- Pour a few ladles of bechamel mixture into your pans to cover their bottom, then layer the lasagna sheets.
pour some of pumpkin mixture to cover the sheets, few ladles of bechamel sauce then the mozzarella cheese.
Repeat with another layer of lasagna, pumpkin, bechamel and cheese.
Finally, one more layer of lasagna sheet, and this time only cover it with the rest of the bechamel sauce, finish up with plenty of mozzarella and some grated Parmesan (to give it that amazing golden color)

Put the pans in the middle rack of your preheated oven, cover with aluminum for the first 30 minutes, then remove the foil and let the cheese get a nice color.

Buon Appetito!

On the menu today is Spinach and Ricotta filled Cannelloni. And since there’s plenty of ricotta to go round (and the oven is on anyway), Pia decided to make some Pumpkin Lasagna as well.

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What to do with your homemade ricotta?
Let’s start with breakfast