Happy Wednesday foodie friends! With Valentine’s Day a couple days away, I wanted to share some of my favorite pasta recipes. If you are planning to cook a special dinner for your Valentine, I have some delicious recipes you will fall in love with!
Orecchiette with Broccolini
Serves: 4
Ingredients
6 tablespoons olive oil
8 medium garlic cloves, 4 minced and 4 thinly sliced
8 oil packed anchovy fillets, minced (feel free to omit these if you don’t eat them like me)
3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 1/2 pounds broccolini, trimmed and cut crosswise into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt
Pepper
12 ounces orecchiette pasta
Directions
In a large Dutch oven over medium-high, heat 2 tablespoons of oil until shimmering. Add the minced garlic and half the anchovies, then cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 45 seconds. Add the panko and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside; wipe out the pot.
In the same pot over medium-high, heat 2 tablespoons of the remaining oil until shimmering. Add the broccolini, pepper flakes, sliced garlic, ¾ teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the broccolini is crisp-tender and the garlic is golden brown, 6 to 7 minutes. Add ½ cup water and continue to cook, stirring, until most of the moisture has evaporated and the broccolini is fully tender, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl and set aside.
In the same pot over medium-high, boil 5 cups water. Add 1 teaspoons salt and the pasta, then cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is al dente. Stir in the broccolini mixture, the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and the remaining anchovies. Continue to cook over medium-high, stirring constantly, until the liquid has thickened enough to cling lightly to the pasta and broccolini, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat, then taste and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.
Lemon Basil Spaghetti with Garlic Breadcrumbs
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 pound dry spaghetti
Oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 lemon, zested
1/3 cup fresh basil, cut into ribbons
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon crushed pepper flakes (optional)
2/3 cup parmesan cheese
Salt
1/2 cup reserved pasta water
Fresh parsley for garnish
Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente or for about 8 minutes. Drain spaghetti from pot. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water for sauce. In a sauté pan, add butter and let it melt. Once butter is melted, add in garlic and crushed red pepper flakes (if using). Stir until garlic is fragrant or for about 1-2 minutes. Add in lemon juice and zest and stir. Next, add in spaghetti and toss until well combined. Take the reserved pasta water and add in a little at a time to spaghetti. To the spaghetti mixture, add in parmesan cheese and basil. Toss spaghetti mixture until everything is combined. Remove pan from heat. Lastly, in a small pan over medium-high heat add oil. Add in panko bread crumbs and garlic powder. Toast the breadcrumbs until they get a little color. Take off heat. Transfer spaghetti to a bowl and sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over spaghetti. Garnish with parmesan cheese and parsley.
Linguine alla Limone with Chicken Cutlets
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 pound dried linguine
1-2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice from 2 lemons
2/3 cup parmesan cheese
1-2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (add more if you want extra heat)
2-3 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped or pressed through a garlic crusher
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Chicken cutlets
1 pound thinly sliced chicken
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
oil for frying
1/2 cup Milk or cream (I found this actually helps to coat the chicken cutlets better in the breadcrumbs and they come out crispier too)
Directions
Boil a pot of water for the linguine. Follow directions according to package. Once linguine is done strain and return to pot. Add oil so it does not stick. Chop and measure the rest of the ingredients for linguine. To a sauté pan over medium heat add butter. Once butter has completely melted, but not burned add fresh garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. You can omit the crushed red pepper flakes if you do not like them. Cook for about 1-2 minutes until garlic becomes fragrant. At this point, add in fresh lemon juice. Stir mixture and add in linguine. Toss linguine until the mixture is combined well. Add in the parmesan cheese and parsley. Give the linguine a final toss.
Take your thinly sliced pieces of chicken out of the package. Pat them completely dry. Place them on a large plate afterwards. Grab two shallow dishes that you can place breadcrumbs in and milk/cream. Take one piece of the thinly sliced chicken either with your hand or a fork and place it in the shallow bowl with milk/cream. Next, place the piece of chicken in the breadcrumb mixture. Make sure to coat chicken completely in breadcrumbs. After chicken is coated place in a frying pan with oil over medium heat. Cook chicken cutlet for about 3-5 minutes, or until fully cooked. *Chicken should reach a temperature of 165 degrees. Once chicken cutlet is golden brown and fully cooked place on a large plate. Repeat this process until all chicken cutlets have been cooked.
Place linguine in a pasta bowl. Garnish with extra parsley and parmesan cheese. Serve the chicken cutlet whole or sliced.
Lemon Garlic Rigatoni with Spinach
Serves: 3
Ingredients
1 pound rigatoni ( if you don’t like rigatoni, feel free to use your favorite pasta)
1 small bag of fresh spinach
3-4 cloves of garlic, sliced
Oil
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 tablespoons mascarpone
3 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
1 lemon, sliced
Salt & pepper
Directions
Boil a large pot of salted water for the rigatoni. Once water is boiling add your rigatoni in and cook according to directions on package. Set rigatoni aside until a little later (add a little oil to rigatoni and stir, so it doesn’t stick). In a small sauté pan add butter and cook until butter melts in pan. Once butter melts add panko bread crumbs and garlic powder. Stir panko bread crumbs for about 10 minutes, or until they get toasty and a light brown color. Take pan off of heat and set panko bread crumb mixture in a small bowl. In a large sauté pan over medium heat add oil. To the oil, add sliced garlic and spinach. Add in sliced lemons, I added about five or so. (Sliced lemons are added in for flavor). Stir spinach until it starts to wilt. At this point, you can remove sliced lemons from sauté pan. Turn heat off and add mascarpone to spinach. Stir until spinach is evenly coated in mascarpone. Take the rigatoni and add it to your sauté pan with spinach. Toss rigatoni with spinach mascarpone mixture until evenly coated. Serve the rigatoni in your favorite pasta bowl and add panko bread crumb mixture and shredded parmesan cheese on top. If you want to be fancy, add a slice of lemon or two if you have any remaining.
Straw and Hay
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 package of fresh egg and spinach fettuccine ( I used Rana green and yellow pasta)
1 tablespoon butter
Pepper
1 small package of prosciutto, thinly sliced
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup fresh peas (If you can’t find fresh peas frozen works too, but thaw them)
1 cup heavy cream
Directions
Cook pasta according to package and set aside. In a sauté pan over medium heat add butter. Once butter has melted, add onion and sauté until softened for about 1 minute. Add peas to the pan and stir. Add the prosciutto in and stir for about 1-2 minutes. Pour the cream in and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the sauce starts to get a little thick. Season with pepper and remove pan from heat. Add pasta to pan with the sauce and toss . Add parmesan cheese and more pepper. Serve in your favorite pasta bowl.
Photo credit: Keeks Design
In the Kitchen with Mare 