I bought the corn when I made barley succotash and I’ve had the leftover bag ever since. When I need to add a vegetable for dinner, I often tell myself I’ll just heat up the corn, but I never do. I like corn on the cob, corn bread, and corn in things. But plain corn on the side isn’t very interesting to me and so the bag languished in the freezer. 

Then I saw a fairly recent post from Amateur Gourmet for corn chowder. I thought this would be perfect, but then he said it wasn’t worth doing with frozen corn. Sigh. It’s the end of the summer and corn season is over so I moved on.

Until it was Monday. On Monday nights I like to go to Zumba. I like to eat before Zumba so I don’t feel faint and famished but I can’t eat too much or I’ll feel sick. But, I also need to make something hearty enough so Ryan has a real dinner and not rabbit food. So I thought back to corn chowder, and advice be dammed, I was going to try it with frozen corn!

I’m so glad I did because this soup is freaking delicious! The soup is wonderfully flavorful. This is one of the best soups I have ever had. The corn gives it sweetness and the cayenne pepper (which is my personal addition) gives just the whisper of heat. And the cream makes it feel so rich, but with only one cup in the whole pot you don’t have to feel too guilty. It is hearty but not heavy (seriously, I went to Zumba and felt fine and thought about the soup the whole time). Ryan gave it a 9 out of 10. I kept loudly saying, “this soup is so good!” I was mad when I had to leave for class and couldn’t have a second bowl. Try it, this is a wonderful soup.

Adapted from Amateur Gourmet who adapted it from Jasper White.

Messy level: There is a lot of cutting prep work for this recipe, that’s the only reason I will give it a 2 spoon rating. Otherwise, it’s just dump it all in the pot and wait for it to get delicious.

Amazing Corn Chowder

 

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Ingredients

• 3-4 cups of frozen corn
• 4 oz of slab bacon, cut into ⅓" dice
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 5 sprigs thyme, leaves removed and chopped
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ⅛ tsp turmeric
• ¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1 lb Yukon gold potatoes peeled, and cut into ½" cubes
• about 5-6 cups of chicken stock (enough to cover everything)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp minced chives

Instructions

1. In a large heavy pot, cook the bacon over medium heat. Cook until the bacon is crisp. Spoon out all but a tablespoon of the bacon fat.
2. Add the butter, onion, bell pepper, thyme, cumin, cayenne pepper, and turmeric. Look at the pretty spices! They will make the soup pretty too. Add a pinch of salt. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring every so often.
3. Add the corn, potatoes, and stock. Turn the heat to high and bring to a vigorous boil. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
4. Using a wood spoon, smash some of the corn and potatoes against the side of the pot. This will help thicken the chowder. Reduce the heat to medium and taste for salt and pepper.
5. Stir in the corn starch mixture.
6. Bring the soup back to a boil and stir until the chowder has thickened to your liking.
7. Turn off the heat and add the cream. Adjust for salt if you need to.
8. Serve and top with chopped chives.

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But I thought about it and said, why not?! Let’s lean into the holiday season of hearty foods, decadent meals, and rich desserts. Now, don’t get crazy and give up your exercise routine, but let’s wait until January 2nd to worry about our meals. So here’s a great meal that will make you feel cozy on a cold day, that’s great to serve to holiday house guests, and will provide you with workday lunches you’ll eagerly gobble up.

The way I make this recipe, I make the sauce using Marcella Hazan’s recipe, which I first mentioned in my pici post. If you do the whole recipe the way I do, it should take you about an hour. If you’re going to use jar sauce, I think this should take you about 30 minutes.

Now, I know most of the time a recipe like this is called baked ziti. I’m calling it baked rigatoni because it’s my favorite noodle to use. Rigatoni’s large and textured shape makes it perfect for sticking to cheese, sauce, and meat. In my opinion, rigatoni allows you to have the perfect bite. But, if you’re interested in other pasta, I’ve used penne and ziti before and I also think you could use macaroni or fusilli.

Last but not least, I don’t usually measure when I make this. I like a lot of cheese and sauce. Feel free to find your perfect balance of ingredients. I hope you enjoy and can find space in your belly for this great meal.

Adapted from Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce recipe and the Amateur Gourmet’s baked ziti recipe.

Baked Rigatoni

 

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Ingredients

Tomato Sauce

• 1 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes
• 5 tbsp butter
• 1 medium onion

Meat

• olive oil
• 1 medium onion, minced
• salt
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb ground beef
• ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
• ½ tsp smoked paprika (optional)
• salt

Everything Else

• 1 lb box of rigatoni
• 8-10 oz ricotta cheese (so a bit more than 1 cup)
• 8 oz ball of mozzarella (or larger!)
• ¼ cup grated parmesan

Instructions

1. We're starting with the tomato sauce. Put the can of tomatoes in a medium sauce pan. Take a knife and roughly cut up the tomatoes in halves or quarters. This isn't the serious, it just helps everything break down.
2. Cut (and peel) the onion. Cut the onion in half from end to end, not across the equator. Put the onion halves and butter in the tomato sauce.
3. Heat the sauce on medium high until it's simmering. Then turn the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes. Set your kitchen timer! Over the 45 minutes, stir occasionally and use your spoon to smash and cut up the tomatoes.
4. Preheat your oven to 450°.
5. When the timer says 25 minutes left, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet on medium-high heat. Add the minced onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is soft but not yet brown (about 7 minutes).
6. Once the onions and garlic are ready, add the ground beef. Add the crushed red pepper, salt and paprika, if using. Cook until brown. Break up with your spoon as you cook it.
7. When the meat is finished pour out any excess fat and grease from the pan. Then set the meat side, it will wait until everything else is ready.
8. When the timer says 15 minutes left, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
9. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta. Cook until it is al dente (about 6-8 minutes). This means, when it still has a chew to it. Cook it about 2 minutes less than you usually would, when it's just on the cusp of being ready but is still a bit tough. The pasta will cook more in the oven.
10. Drain the pasta using a colander.
11. The sauce should be done by now. Remove the onion and throw it away. Add the cooked ground beef and the pasta to the pot of sauce. Mix it thoroughly.
12. Add the ricotta to the pot. Mix a little, but try to leave some chunks of ricotta showing.
13. Pour half of the pasta-beef-sauce mix into a 9"x13" pan. On top of that half, add half of the Parmesan and half of the mozzarella.
14. Pour the other half of the pasta mix and then top that with the rest of the cheese.
15. Cook in the oven for 15. The sauce will be bubbling and the cheese will be a bit brown.

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Messy Level  I’m giving this three spoons only because the pasta, meat, and sauce, and final product are all cooked in different pans, so that means there’s a lot of dishes. Also, pouring the rigatoni mix can be a little hard and sauce can splatter. I don’t really find this that messy, but my dishwasher might disagree.

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And then I tried a roasted acorn squash stuffed with rice and lentils. It came out under cooked and under seasoned. That was probably a recipe that with a little tweaking I could get right, but I was still disappointed.

But one meal worth writing about was my lunch on Monday. I had off for Columbus day and my friends Ashley and Mala came over. We had a pretty fancy lunch despite some lazy hostessing on my part. And by lazy hostessing, I mean that 75% of the dining table was covered with a puzzle of Abraham Lincoln that I’m working on, and I also made them use paper plates. In spite of that, lunch actually turned out quite nice and now I wish I had taken more pictures.

We started out with a cheese plate. Ashley brought apple-cinnamon covered goat cheese. I had never had goat cheese coated in anything but herbs, so it was cool to try. We also had Gruyere and cheddar, which I served on my fancy cheese platter with the fancy cheese knives.

For our lunch we had a salad (that Ashley made), pici pasta, and homemade tomato sauce. Ashley’s salad was a great combination of sweet, from the fruits, and a sharp saltiness, from the blue cheese. The pear she used was a little soft, which was actually really nice because it soaked up the dressing. And the addition of pecans made for a nice crunch.

The recipes for the pici and tomato sauce I adapted from the Amateur Gourmet. We were all skeptical of how well the pasta would come out and we were delighted that it actually tasted like pasta. We did have some issues with shaping the pasta. The Amateur Gourmet said to shape the pasta, put it on a plate, and toss it with flour before putting the pasta into boiling water. We did that, but we must not have used enough flour because all the pasta stuck together and Mala and I ended up ripping the heap of dough apart and throwing in random sized pieces into the water. The three of us agreed it would have been easier to bring the water to a boil, then shape the pasta, then immediately throw it in the water so the shape would be less weird. Because of the random shaping, some of the fatter pieces were heavy and reminded me of gnocchi. But, if you roll thinner pieces it really tastes just like pasta. Though in the end, I think we were all impressed that we made homemade pasta for lunch.

The pasta sauce was my favorite part. I learned about it from the Amateur Gourmet, but the original author is Marcella Hazan. This recipe is SO EASY and SO DELICIOUS. I really don’t think I’m overselling it. There’s this pasta restaurant that Ryan and I love called Pasta Mia. The pasta there is so good that we always overeat because we want to soak up as much of the good flavor as possible. The first time I made this recipe I thought, “this smells like Pasta Mia.” But I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to influence Ryan. Then he took a bite and said, “this is like Pasta Mia.” So if Pasta Mia means anything to you, then you’ll know this sauce is good. If Pasta Mia means nothing to you, sorry. You should still try it because it’s so simple and comforting and tasty.

Anyway, today’s post has three recipes and I hope you enjoy!

Ashley’s Salad–

Ingredients:

(Portion amounts based on your taste preferences)

arugula

sweet and spicy pecans

crumbled blue cheese

1 pear, sliced

dried cranberries

balsamic vinaigrette

Directions: 

1. Mix arugula, pecans, cheese, pear, and cranberries in a large bowl.

2. Dress with balsamic vinaigrette. Serve!

Tomato Sauce –

Ingredients:

1 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes

5 tbsp butter

1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half.

Directions:

1. Empty the can of tomatoes into a pot. Use a knife and roughly cut up the tomatoes. Don’t get crazy with this, just cut the tomatoes in halves or quarters.

2. Add the butter and onion halves. Turn on the heat to medium and bring to a simmer.

3. Once it’s simmering, lower the heat. Let it simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally and use your spoon to smash and crush the tomatoes.

4. After 45 minutes, discard the onion.

5. Serve.

Pici Pasta –

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 large egg, beaten (Mala beat the egg first, then we measured out half)

1 cup water, room temperature

Directions:

1. In a large bowl mix together flour and salt.

2. Add the water and egg. Knead until smooth. (Amateur Gourmet says about 5 minutes)

3. Flatten it and rub it with olive oil. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for 30 minutes.

4. While you’re waiting for the dough, bring  a large pot of water to boil.

5. Generously flour your work surface and hands. Roll out the dough. Cut the dough into desired pieces. (I cut the dough into chunks and then rolled out snakes).

6. Drop the pasta snakes into the boiling water.

7. Boil for 3-4 minutes.  You want the pasta to be cooked through but not raw.

8. Drain, top with sauce. Serve!

Messy level: The salad and tomato sauces are easy 1-2 spoon recipes. The pici though is a 4-spoon recipe. You have to stick you hands in and knead the dough and it get really sticky and caked into your finger nails. Also you have to flour your work surface and roll everything out. It takes a bit of work and makes quite a bit of mess. All this mess is the reason I was  a lazy hostess and opted for paper plates.

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