Autumn Pasta

Lovely Autumn Pasta

Look at these beautiful pastas from Torino, Italy!

Totally Natural, no Artificial Colors

I found these Autumn colored pastas when I was out shopping and I just knew that I had to have them.

Such lovely colors!

I also knew that Gordon could make some excellent tasting dishes with these so I bought up several. Here are the results of Gordon’s creations.

I’ll be posting a few recipes here that I think you will like. I know that WE did!

Buon Appetito!

Julie and Gordon

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What’s for Dinner?

How About,

Gordon’s……..

Cheesy-Pea-sy Tuxedo Bow Tie Pasta w/ Artichokes?

Beautiful Bow Ties

(See recipe below)

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AND,

Our Sloppy Italian-American Pumpkin Panettone French Toast w/Mascarpone Cheese and Pumpkin Butter w/ a Glazed Pasta Topping

Yours does not have to be as sloppy as ours is.

You can cut back on some of the filling and toppings.

(See recipe down below.)

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But first up:

Our Autumn Garden Shrimp Pasta

Ingredients:

2, 1.1 lb. packages of Pasta

We used these long strips of curly edge pasta but you could use a tagliatelle, or any that you would prefer. I don’t think that rules really matter much in cooking anymore anyway.

Chart of Pastas

Recipe Continued:

1 1/2 Zucchini Squash diced

1 Cup Butternut Squash diced

1 Jar Sweet Martini Onions

1/4 Cup Chardonnay Wine

1 Cup of Milk

4 T. Olive Oil

2 T. Butter or Margarine

4 T. All Purpose Flour

3/4 Cup Fontina Cheese

1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese

2 Cups Spinach Leaves

2 Cups cooked Med. sized Shrimp

3 T. Sun Dried Tomatoes

1 T. Pink Pepper Corns

Pictured are some zucchini, pre-cut butternut squash, sun dried tomatoes, sweet Martini onions, baby spinach, Chardonnay wine, and the pasta.

We also used shrimp and milk…

both shredded Parmesan and grated Fontina cheese.

Be sure to wash your veggies and shrimp well!

I sliced the zucchini length wise then into medium sized cubes.

Be sure to have all of your ingredients chopped and ready to cook before you cook your pasta noodles.

Add some salt to the water to add flavor to the pasta.

Do not break the pasta as it will slowly sink into the pot as it absorbs the water.

The pasta should only take about 10 min. to cook.

A Holiday Kitchen

Twinkling Lights, Festive Foods, Beautiful Holiday Foods

While the pasta is cooking, you can saute your vegetables, including the Martini onions, in about 2 T. olive oil.

Add about 1/4 cup of your wine and saute until almost gone.

Julie took a great picture of the sauteed veggies here!

Cook the pasta noodles until they have just a little bite to them. Do not rinse them and save some of the pasta water for the sauce.

The shrimp were medium sized and fully prepped.

Pasta, Spinach leaves, and Shrimp Draining in the Sink

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Start your roux with some type of fat… butter, olive oil, bacon grease, etc…

I used 2 T. butter and 2 T. olive oil.

Now, place in the same amount of flour (4 T.) and cook on low heat. The more you cook the flour, the less liquid your roux can absorb. I wanted a white sauce, so you cook the flour just enough to get the flour taste out… about 3 min.

Now add some milk… about a 3/4 cup at first and stir. In about a 2 min. you will see the flour absorb the milk and the sauce will become thick. Add about 1/2 cup more and stir again until the milk is absorbed.

You have now made a Bechamel sauce.

Once thickened again, add your cheese and stir until incorporated into the sauce.

Add more milk if needed.

Congratulations, you have now made a Mornay sauce.

This is also a great fondue sauce.

Now, add your sauteed vegetables…

then your spinach and shrimp…

and your sun dried tomatoes.

Here is another great picture of the finished sauce.

Thanks Julie!

Pour the sauce over the pasta in a large bowl and fold to combine.

Place the pasta into your serving bowl and grate some more cheese over the pasta as a garnish.

Sprinkle with some pink peppercorns for color and taste.

Serve while still hot and Enjoy!

All you need is a good bread and this meal is complete!

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Breakfast The Next Day

The Leftover Butternut Squash Sweet Potato Pancakes

A tasty and healthy way to use up any leftover butternut squash from our pasta recipe above.

Add your Butter Nut Squash to a pan of melted butter and saute until browned.

Finish cooking the squash in the microwave.

Mix your Sweet Potato pancake batter as per instructions.

Pour in your Sweet Potato batter into the pan and add the sauteed squash by hand.

Cook the pancake until the bubbles are firm and carefully flip with a spatula.

Enjoy!

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Cheesy-Pea-sy Tuxedo Bow Tie Pasta w/ Artichokes

Beautiful! Delicious!

Our Dinner Plates

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The Ingredients:

2, 1 lb. bags Bow Tie Pasta

1 1/4 Cup Milk

2 T. Butter or Margarine

2 T. Olive Oil

4 T. All Purpose Flour

1/2 Cup Fontina Cheese

1/2 Cup Reggiano-Parmesan Cheese

1/2 tsp Roasted Garlic Powder

1/2 Cup Frozen Peas

2 6 oz. Jars Marinated Artichoke Hearts, Drained and Chopped

Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

Start to boil the water for your pasta.

Now you can see why we call it Tuxedo Pasta.

Make your roux with some type of fat… butter, olive oil, bacon grease, etc…

I used 2 T. butter and 2 T. olive oil.

This is called a Bechamel Sauce!

Once thickened again, add your cheese and stir until incorporated into the sauce.

Once the cheese has melted into your Bechamel sauce, you have now made a Mornay sauce.

This is also a great fondue sauce. Add your roasted garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste.

Turn the heat to low and stir occasionally.

Add your pasta to the boiling water and cook as per directions.

When done, drain well and place into a large bowl.

In a separate medium pot, place about 4 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and add 1 1/2 cups of frozen peas.

Doing this will gently cook the peas and keep their bright green color. After about 10 min. pour the peas into a large colander and drain well. Open two jars of marinated artichokes and drain well. Give the artichokes a rough chop, keeping them to bite sized chunks.

Now add your peas and artichokes to the pasta as seen above.

Pour your Mornay sauce into your bowl of pasta, peas, and artichokes and fold gently.

Enjoy!

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Our Sloppy Italian-American Panettone French Toast w/Mascarpone Cheese and Pumpkin Butter w/ a Glazed Pasta Topping

Yours does not have to be as sloppy as ours is.

You can cut back on some of the filling and toppings.

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Ingredients:

12 Thick Slices Pancetta

Filling:

1 1/2 Cups Mascarpone

1 Cup Montgomery Farms Pumpkin Butter (or any you desire)

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1 Tbsp. Pumpkin Spice Kahlua

Panettone French Toast:

Pumpkin Spice Panetone Bread

5 Eggs

5 Cups Milk

3 tsp. Cinnamon

2 tsp. Splenda Sugar Blend

6 Tbsp. Butter

Sweet Pasta Topping:

1/2 Cup Multi-colored Strigoli Pasta

1 Cup Water

3 Tbsp. Turbinado Sugar

1/2 Tbsp. Cinnamon

1/4 Cup Pumpkin Spice Kahlua

1/4 Cup Sun-Maid Golden Raisins

Panettone Toast Accent:

1/2 Tbsp. Powdered Sugar – to sprinkle on top the finished toast

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Place a sheet of non-stick aluminum foil on a sheet pan and evenly spread out your Pancetta slices.

Turn your oven onto 400’F.

Now to make the creamy filling.

Using a rubber spatula, remove the Mascarpone from the tub and place it into a medium sized bowl.

Time to place your Pancetta slices into the oven when it is up to temperature and cook for ~15 to 20 minutes until crispy.

Back to the filling… add your Pumpkin Butter into the bowl with the Mascarpone. We ended up using this entire jar as it was delicious!

Mix the ingredients with your rubber spatula as much or as little as you want. The swirls in this make for a beautiful display.

Now add your Cinnamon to the bowl…

…and then your Pumpkin Spice Kahlua and mix all the ingredients together. Place the filling into the refrigerator for later use.

Now to make the Panettone French Toast.

Start by using a medium sized bowl and crack at least three eggs into it. Then add as many cups of milk as you have eggs into the bowl.

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Hey, the Pancetta is ready… try not to eat too many of them. Place the Pancetta on a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb any excess grease.

Back to the egg mixture… add your cinnamon then one tsp. of sugar to the eggs and milk.

Use a whisk to mix all the ingredients well.

Here is one of the types of Panettone we used. It is about the size of a large muffin.

We sliced it in half as shown and then removed the wax paper attached to it. Here you can see the raisins inside.

Here is the larger Panettone bread we have.

While still in the wrapper slice it into thirds as shown.

Now remove any wrappings attached to the bread. This too has many raisins in it.

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Start your sweet Strigoli pasta by boiling it in ~ 4 Cups of water.

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Here you can see our Pancetta on the paper towel… count them, we only ate one!

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Seeing the size of our larger Panettone bread, we found we needed a larger bowl to be able to dip it into the egg and milk mixture. I then also added another two eggs, 2 cups of milk, a touch of cinnamon and sugar to the bowl and mixed them well before adding them to the larger bowl.

Panettone and Butter

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Place a large slice of your Panettone bread into the egg and milk mixture, when it starts to absorb the liquid then turn it over. The bread should still be firm and not lose its shape. Then add about two Tbsp. of butter to a large saute pan and melt it on medium high heat.

Fully melt your butter in the pan.

Drain your bread slightly to remove any excess liquid before placing it in the heated pan.

Here you can see I am getting another slice of the Panettone ready while this one is cooking.

Flip over the Panettone bread in the pan when it is browned as shown which takes about 5 minutes. You can use a large spatula to peek at the breads coloring or you can also move the bread around in the pan listening for a scratchy sound. This scratchy sound is the cooked bread hardened from the heat.

Again is another piece of Panettone in the egg and milk mixture. You can add a sprinkling of cinnamon to the bread if needed.

Here we are cooking the smaller muffin sized slices of Panettone in the pan after they were dredged in the eggs and milk.

You can also flip the bread to cook the other side as shown. Place the cooked slices onto a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil in an oven set at 250’F. This will ensure the inside of the thick bread slices are fully cooked while keeping them warm until ready to eat.

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Here you can see we have a full oven of Panettone French Toast.

Now to make the Sweet Strigoli Pasta.

Boil the pasta until about 3/4 of the way cooked which took about 5 minutes time.

Drain the pasta well in a colander and stop the cooking process by running it under cold water.

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Now For Our Sugar Glazed Pasta

Add your water to a wok and turn it to medium heat.

Now add your Turbinado sugar to the water.

Then add your cinnamon and Kahlua to the wok.

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Stir all the ingredients together and when the mixture is boiling add your golden raisins.

As this mixture reduces you will see the bubble get larger and larger. This is due to the sugar and water reducing creating a syrup. When you see these large bubbles…