Tag: pasta

Tasty, easy summer meals

Salad Niçoise can be made and plated in a variety of ways. (photo from pxhere.com/MariaPolna)

Summer meals should be easy and, ideally, quick to make after a long day at work or having fun – or when it’s really hot outside. When you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, salads and pasta are perfect options.

SALADE NIÇOISE
(6 servings)

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound trimmed green beans
2 cups arugula (optional)
1 thinly sliced red onion
2 tomatoes cut into wedges (or equivalent in cherry tomatoes)
1/2 cup pitted ripe olives
1 2-oz can anchovy fillets
2 7-oz cans drained tuna, broken into chunks
2 sliced hard-boiled eggs

For the dressing, place the olive oil, vegetable oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in a jar, close the lid and shake vigorously.

For the salad, place green beans in a saucepan with small amount boiling, salted water, cover and cook 17-20 minutes. Drain. Turn into bowl. Add half cup of dressing, toss, cover and refrigerate two hours.

After the two hours, turn beans into a salad bowl or plate layered with some arugula (if using). Add a few onion slices, tomato wedges, olives and anchovy fillets. Add tuna and egg slices. Garnish with rest of onion. Drizzle remaining dressing.

CAESAR ON THE LIGHT SIDE
(This Food & Wine recipe is by Jamie Oliver. It makes 4 servings.)

1/3 cup low-fat or nonfat Greek-style yogurt
2 mashed anchovy fillets (optional)
1 minced garlic clove
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided
salt and pepper to taste
1 large head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces

In a small bowl, whisk yogurt with anchovies (if using), garlic, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Whisk in the oil and half the cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Toss the romaine in a large bowl with half the dressing and the remaining cheese. Serve, with the other half of the dressing on the table, for guests who would like a little more.

Oliver turns this into a main course by adding broiled salmon or, if you don’t keep kosher, grilled chicken breast.

CHEESY MEDITERRANEAN ARTICHOKE PASTA
(8 servings)

8 oz cooked and drained penne pasta
1 14.5-oz can drained diced tomatoes\
1 14-oz can drained, quartered artichoke hearts
1 2.25-oz. can sliced, ripe, pitted olives
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Place tomatoes, artichoke hearts and olives in a saucepan. Add olive oil and hot pasta and warm until thoroughly heated, about five minutes. Add cheese and serve immediately.

TWO-CHEESE PENNE
(4 servings)

3 to 4 tbsp olive oil
2 or 3 minced garlic cloves or 2/3 cup chopped onion or both
3 1/2 cups or so chopped ripe tomatoes
pepper to taste
4 1/2 cups penne
3 tbsp chopped fresh basil
3/4 to 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup cubed mozzarella cheese

Heat three to four tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan. Sauté garlic for 15 seconds. If using onion, sauté for five minutes.

Add tomatoes and salt and cook 10 to 15 minutes. Remove one-third of sauce to a bowl. Add one tablespoon basil to frying pan and stir it in.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add penne and cook eight or nine minutes. Drain and add to frying pan. Coat with sauce.

Remove from heat and add one tablespoon basil and the grated Parmesan cheese. Mix well. Add mozzarella and toss until it starts to melt. Pour into a bowl and add remaining oil and pepper.

Toss gently and add the remaining one tablespoon of basil. Serve immediately.

Sybil Kaplan is a Jerusalem-based journalist and author. She has edited/compiled nine kosher cookbooks and is a food writer for North American Jewish publications. She leads walks of the Jewish food market, Machaneh Yehudah, in English.

Trio of cheesy pastas

(photo from Umbe Ber/Pixabay)

Every time I do a food column, I look up its history, and I am continually fascinated by what I learn. We all know what is pasta – unleavened semolina mixed with water or eggs and formed into various shapes. It was not until 1874 that the word pasta came into popular use, from the Italian. However, there is mention, as early as the first century CE of fried dough as an everyday food.

Lagana is mentioned in a fifth-century cookbook as an ancient version of lasagna. A kind of boiled dough is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud, common in ancient Israel from the third to fifth centuries CE. Dry pasta became popular in the 14th and 15th centuries; tomatoes came to Italy in the 16th century and to Italian cuisine in the 17th century. Pasta became popular in North America with the Italian immigration at the beginning of the 20th century.

How many kinds of pasta do you think there are – long, medium length, short cut, stretch, soup, with fillings and gnocchi? There are 163!

Here are some recipes, which use different kinds of pasta.

MY FAVOURITE LO-CAL FETTUCCINE ALFREDO
4 servings

8 ounces fettuccine noodles
4 cups pareve chicken soup
1 cup low-fat sour cream
2 tbsp low-fat margarine
2 minced garlic cloves
3 tbsp chopped parsley
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese

  1. Cook noodles in chicken soup 12 minutes. Drain. Place in a bowl.
  2. In a frying pan, melt margarine. Sauté garlic one minute. Reduce heat and add sour cream and blend. Add noodles.
  3. Serve with parsley and Parmesan cheese.

CHEESY FETTUCCINE ALFREDO
4 servings

1/3 cup butter or margarine
8 ounces cooked, drained egg noodles
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese
1/2 cup half and half

  1. Melt butter or margarine in a frying pan.
  2. Add noodles and toss well.
  3. Sprinkle with cheese and toss gently until cheeses are melted and blended.
  4. Add half and half just to heat. Serve at once.

PENNE WITH EGGPLANT, OLIVES AND FETA
4-5 servings

3 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 diced medium red bell peppers
3 chopped garlic cloves
1/2 pound eggplant, cut into 1//2-inch cubes
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes in juice diced or 1 pound regular diced tomatoes
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil or 1/4 cup dry
1/4 cup pitted Kalamata or other black-brine cured olives
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 3/4 cups crumbled feta cheese

  1. Spray a rectangular baking dish with vegetable spray. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Heat oil in a large pot. Add bell peppers and garlic. Sauté three minutes. Add eggplant and oregano. Reduce heat, cover and cook until eggplant is soft (about 15 minutes).
  3. Add tomatoes, 1/4 cup fresh basil (or 1/8 cup dry), olives, tomato paste and vinegar. Cover and simmer about 12 minutes.
  4. Cook pasta in boiling salt water until just tender. Drain well.
  5. Stir pasta into vegetable mixture. Transfer to baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with feta and 1/4 cup fresh (or 1/8 cup dry) basil.

Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, lecturer, book reviewer and food writer in Jerusalem. She created and leads the weekly English-language Shuk Walks in Machane Yehuda, she has compiled and edited nine kosher cookbooks.