DINNER TIME! Pasta, Peas, and Pancetta

Here's another dish I'll make when I'm maybe a bit pressed for time and want to get a quality, tasty, and nutritious dinner on the table for my family.

It's very easy to throw together using two pots, doesn't take a lot of time, and I don't get any complaints.

INGREDIENTS

20 oz. pasta (I'm using a half and half mix of farfalle and rainbow - arcobaleno - pasta)
4 oz. frozen peas
4 oz. cubed pancetta
3 tsp. shredded Parmesan
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. minced garlic
4 oz. heavy whipping cream

Boil peas and pasta in pot of salted water.

The pasta I'm using is thick, so it takes up to 12 minutes to be al dente. Depending on your choice, it could be a shorter boil time.

Strain out the water when done and put the pasta and peas back in the pot.

Heat up olive oil in a medium sauce pan on high for 3-4 minutes. When hot, add the pancetta. Add 1 tsp. of Parmesan. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Lower heat in sauce pan to medium/low. Cook another 5 minutes.

Turn off heat, add another teaspoon of Parmesan and stir thoroughly.  After 2-3 minutes off the heat, add the cream and garlic. Stir into the pancetta mix.  Add the sauce to the pasta in the pasta pot and stir.

Serve.

I'm also serving this with Clearman's toast.  Clearman's is a restaurant chain here in Southern California that runs the Northwood's Inn steakhouses, among others. They're famous for their garlic cheese toast.

They sell their spread in local supermarkets. Occasionally, I'll pick up a tub.

Clearman's toast is traditionally made with sourdough sandwich bread. Simply apply the spread liberally to the bread and stick under the broiler in your oven for 1 - 2 minutes...until it looks as done as the picture above.

This recipe serves three to four people with no leftovers. It's a quick, delicious, and easy-to-make dinner that's especially good for a midweek dinner when you don't have time, don't want to spend a lot on take out food, and not feel guilty about what you put on your family's dinner table.

Now that you've read this post, please take a minute to stop by the Musick Channel Garage Sale at Ebay and pick up some bargains from our over 30 years of collecting.

Thank you for your support.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

This Week's Menu: Penne with Pancetta Cream Sauce and Asparagus Cheese Omelet

Going delicious and glucose friendly with this week's menu with a delicious pasta dish (the whole wheat makes it diabetic friendly but you can use regular penne if you want) and a basic asparagus and cheese omelet for breakfast.


Recipes are at the links below.

DINNER: Penne with Pancetta Cream Sauce

BREAKFAST: Asparagus and Cheese Omelet


Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

DINNER: Penne with Pancetta Cream Sauce

Here's a rich and tasty pasta dish that doesn't take a long time to make. It came out so good my son asked for seconds.

INGREDIENTS (6 servings):

16 ounces dry penne 
2 ounces low fat milk
1 ounce half and half\
1 ounce heavy cream
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 oz. diced pancetta
1 ounce dried Parmesan cheese
1 cup cooked and drained peas
1 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
5 tablespoons butter
Salt

In a 5-quart pot, boil water.

In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter. On high heat, add the onions and cook until translucent.

Put the pasta in the boiling water.

Add the pancetta, garlic, milk, flour, and half and half. Bring to a boil, whisking the entire time.

Add the peas and Parmesan. Lower to a simmer, whisking, for another five minutes.

When the sauce is thickened, turn off the heat and add the cream, whisking in.

Cook pasta until just a bit past al dente (just softening). I use whole wheat, which took 12 minutes.

Drain, serve with sauce ladeled on top. I also sprinkle the top with shredded quattro formagio.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

DINNER: Lasagna

We're making a lasagna for dinner this week. The lasagna itself is not a lot of work but the sauce is so be sure to do this ahead of time (recipes via the links in the recipe below).

Lasagna is basically just layers of whatever flavors and stuffings you like, stacked up between flat ribbons of pasta and baked.

As certain cartoon cats can attest, it's delicious!

INGREDIENTS
1 box lasagna pasta (we're using a diabetic friendly whole wheat version)
1/2 pound shredded ozzarella
1/2 grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon olive oil
24 oz. Sunday Sauce 
16 oz. spinach cream sauce
1 pound Italian sausage
1/cup ricotta cheese

In a sauce pan, cook the Italian sausage until cooked through and browned. Pour in the tomato sauce (Sunday Sauce) and mix thoroughly. Let boil for a couple of minutes.

In a square or rectangular baking pan, put in the olive oil. With a paper towel, wipe all interior surfaces with the oil so it is well coated.  Put in two lasagna noodles, side by side.

(NOTE: We're using a whole wheat version that does not need cooking ahead of time but many lasagna noodles do need to be boiled in water until al dente first)

Spoon in just enough of the tomato Sunday Sauce to cover the pasta completely. Put a handful of mozzarella over the sauce. 

Put two more noodle on top of that. Press down and try to make level and flat.  Sprinkle a layer of Parmesan, then a layer of the spinach cream sauce.

Two more pastas, and another layer of the tomato sauce with a layer of ricotta. Two more pastas and another layer of the Parmesan and spinach cream sauce.  Two more pastas, the rest of the mozzarella.

Cover and tent (with an air space between the top of the lasagna and foil) with foil.  

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

D-Day: The Pasta Predicament

An ongoing look into life with diabetes...

White rice? No problem. Don't really care for what I consider a pretty tasteless filler food anyway. Brown rice does nicely when I absolutely have to have it.

Smaller flour tortillas work well as a substitute for larger ones for me but, so far, the hardest has been pasta.

Like many, I love pasta. Tortellini, ravioli, lasagna, spaghetti...it's all so good and makes an easy meal when you're short on time or ideas.

Unfortunately, everytime I have it, no matter how I balance it out with other fats or proteins, it spikes my blood sugar by about 90 points.

Last night, I had a lovely beef tendon noodle soup at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants. I even left half of the noodles in the bowl. Started dinner at a nice reading of 105. Two hours and ten minutes later, it's at 197. 

That's not good.

Looking up pasta substitutes for diabetics suggests whole wheat or fortified (with protein) pasta. I will need to try that.  Quinoa (can't stand it) and spaghetti squash (it's still not spaghetti) are also mentioned.

Ugh!

I've decided that the next bowl of soup I have, I'll ask them to put in more spinach and leave out the noodles to see if that helps.

For now, pasta has to go on the very rarely list.

Darryl

Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick

All Rights Reserved

This Week's Sunday Menu: Maui Jim Pancakes and Pasta Parma Verde

It's a bit cool this week in Southern California so we're cooking indoors for this week's menu. Some nice, light pancakes from Maui Jim to a pasta dish I came up with after a visit for inspiration to our local Italian deli.

Click on the links below for the recipes.

Breakfast - Maui Jim Pancakes

Using cottage cheese and no baking powder, these pancakes are light, fluffy, and delicious.

Dinner - Pasta Parma Verde

A mental block haunted me when trying to come up for something for dinner.  A trip to Claro's, a local Italian deli, and their helpful and friendly counter people, convinced me to buy some Parma ham to come up with this tasty and satisfying pasta dish.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Pasta Parma Verde

You know the dilemma...what'll we have for dinner? That one question causes so much stress for a family cook. What will I do for my family for dinner?

We all want to cook a great meal and not just serve the same thing, time after time...no matter how good it is.

That was my quandary this Sunday morning as I perused the freezer for something to thaw for dinner. At first, I pulled out a smoked ham hock but I just wasn't feeling it.

Before I resigned myself to ordering a pizza or going out for burgers, I went to Claros', our local Italian deli, to see if I could get some inspiration.

Claro's never lets me down, and today is no exception.  

With a package of some super premium Parma ham in my hand, I headed home to make the following dish for dinner.

INGREDIENTS

4 oz. egg noodles

4 oz. casarecce noodles

1/2 pound Parma ham, thinly sliced

half a bunch of spinach leaves

2 stalks of broccolini finely chopped

4 small,green onions finely chopped

1/4 cup quattro formagio or parmesan

1 ounce (quarter stick) butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup half and half

2 tablespoons soft goat cheese
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Put water in a large pot (5 quarts or so) and start heating towards a boil.

Put a sheet of wax paper over a plate.  Hand-tear the Parma ham into small pieces and place on the was paper.

Spread the ham out evenly. Save this for later.

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan on high heat.  When hot, add the spinach.

Put the pasta into the boiling water. Cook until al dente (about 9 minutes)

Add the green onions and broccolini. Cook until the broccolini softens.

Turn the heat down to low/medium and add the garlic and quattro formagio. Mix in thoroughly.

Add the goat cheese.  

When the goat cheese is melted, add the ham and mix in very thoroughly.  

Turn off the heat, wait two minutes. Add the cream and stir in.

When the pasta is done, drain and mix into the sauce.

Darryl
Copyright - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved