I love a good one dish meal. Not exactly a one pot meal since we’re cooking in a pot and a sauté pan on the stove before putting everything in a baking dish. But one dish where all the protein, veggies and starch are combined for an all-in-one meal deal.

You’re probably sitting on your phone or computer thinking, um, Lauren, it’s called a casserole. But casseroles are usually cooked slowly in the oven, while this Light Baked Spaghetti is mostly cooked on the stovetop and then just baked a little extra in the oven to get warm and melt the cheeses.

There’s so much goodness in this meal! It’s basically a hybrid of a spaghetti dinner and sausage, peppers and onions. We’ve loaded in angel hair pasta, a simple tomato and basil sauce, chicken sausage, sautéed mushrooms, peppers and onions and some gooey cheese.

You can use any type of chicken sausage you prefer. I used a sun-dried tomato and basil chicken sausage from Wegman’s and it was perfect. The original recipe calls for whole wheat pasta, which you can certainly use if you like it. Matt and I aren’t big fans of whole wheat pasta so instead I used Barilla Protein Plus.

Matt and I ate this Light Baked Spaghetti three nights in a row for dinner and we weren’t mad about it one bit. In fact, we missed it when it was all gone! I hope you all enjoy this baked pasta dish!

Light Baked Spaghetti

 

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Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 8 ounces angel hair pasta, whole wheat or preferred type
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 8 ounces chicken sausage, crumbled, see note
• 2 bell peppers, stems removed and diced, see note
• 8 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
• ½ cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Cooking spray

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil then cook pasta according to package instructions for al dente, drain.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the crumbled chicken sausage and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, salt and Italian seasoning. Cook until the veggies are tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the crushed tomatoes, basil and ¾ cup of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 15 minutes. The sauce should be thickened slightly.
4. While the sauce is simmering, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9”x13” pan with cooking spray.
5. When the sauce is done simmering, toss in the pasta until coated. Add half the pasta mixture to the baking dish. Sprinkle with half of each cheese then add the remaining pasta mixture on top. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 20-25 minutes, removing the foil with 5 minutes left. If you want the top to be crunchier you can broil for a couple minutes at the end. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

You can use any type of chicken sausage you prefer. Sweet Italian, roasted garlic or sun-dried tomato and basil are all great options. If your chicken sausages have thick casings that are able to be removed then remove them before crumbling. If the casings are soft and crumble along with the sausage then just do that instead.
You can use any type of bell peppers you prefer. I don’t like green peppers so I used 1 red pepper and 1 orange pepper.

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 Recipe from January/February 2012 issue of Food Network Magazine.

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Lauren Uncategorized 4 Comments

I want to be clear right from the first sentence that this is not a recipe for homemade butternut squash ravioli. What we’re focusing on today is this easy and delicious brown butter sage sauce. Add some fall raviolis, toasted hazelnuts and crumbled biscotti cookie and you will think you’re at a fine dining restaurant instead of your own kitchen!

Now, if you’re feeling really ambitious you certainly could use homemade ravioli for this dish, but fall brings a wide variety of fresh butternut squash and pumpkin ravioli to the grocery stores so I’m all about taking advantage to get a quick meal on the table.

Every time I see squash ravioli in a brown butter sage sauce on a restaurant menu I always end up ordering it so I decided it was time to make some to enjoy at home. If you’ve never had brown butter, it’s simply butter that has continued to cook over low heat after it has melted until it has a darker color and tastes rich, nutty and toasted.

Also, if you’ve never browned butter that means you’ve never made my Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies! If that’s the case please stop reading right now and go bake these cookies!

Okay, for those of you that are still with us, the sauce is simply brown butter that we then use to fry a couple sage leaves before removing from the heat. A little seasoning and Parmesan are added before tossing with the cooked ravioli. The toasted hazelnuts and crumbled biscotti add just the right amount of crunch to the finished dish. I love using hazelnuts since they’re so buttery, but you could also use toasted pine nuts or pistachios. Enjoy this one and have a great weekend!

Butternut Squash Ravioli in a Sage Brown Butter Sauce

 

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Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• ½ cup chopped hazelnuts
• 1 pound fresh butternut squash or pumpkin ravioli
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 fresh sage leaves, torn
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• ½ cup fresh grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
• 2 amaretti or biscotti cookies, crumbled

Directions

1. Toast the hazelnuts. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the chopped hazelnuts on a baking sheet then bake for 3-5 minutes, or until lightly toasting, being careful not to let burn. Set aside.
2. Cook the fresh ravioli according to the package directions. If they’re done before the browned butter sauce, very lightly toss with olive oil so they don’t stick together.
3. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat. Once melted, let the butter continue to cook, swirling the pan occasionally. Once the butter is a light tan and starts to smell a lightly nutty, add the torn sage leaves. Let the sage leaves lightly crisp up then remove from the heat. Add the ground nutmeg. Add the cooked raviolis and toss to coat. Add the Parmesan. Plate the raviolis and sauce then top each plate with the toasted hazelnuts and crumbled cookies. Top with additional Parmesan, if desired.

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Lauren Uncategorized 4 Comments

Sometimes I see a recipe shared on Instagram and I need to make it instantly. That’s what happened with this Creamy Corn Pasta with Basil. The NY Times Cooking account shared a photo of this summery and fresh pasta dish and revealed the most intriguing part: there is no cream in this luscious dish, just pureed corn.

I’ve shared a bunch of recipes here that have been very successful using pureed cauliflower instead of cream so I was excited to try a similar technique with corn. Matt and I were blown away when we tried this Creamy Corn Pasta with Basil!

The dish uses such simple ingredients, but it’s packed with flavor giving it that can’t-stop-eating-it quality. Unlike using pureed cauliflower to get the cream texture without the cauliflower flavor, pureeing part of the sautéed corn amplified the corn flavor so that sweet corn taste is really coating every single farfalle noodle.

Zucchini and corn is a classic summer pairing so I included some sautéed zucchini to add some more veggies and texture to the dish. Additional ingredients, such as the fresh basil, parsley, Parmesan and jalapeño really make the pasta pop.

I’m so excited I didn’t wait around to make this Creamy Corn Pasta with Basil so now I can make it again and again. I hope you all make this one soon!

Creamy Corn Pasta with Basil

 

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Yield: 3 servings

Ingredients

• 12 ounces orecchiette or farfalle
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 6-8 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (keep the whites and greens separate)
• 2 large ears of corn, shucked and kernels removed (about 2 cups kernels)
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 zucchini, halved lengthwise then cut into half-moon rounds
• ½ cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
• ⅓ cup roughly chopped basil, plus more for serving
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste

Directions

1. Cook pasta to al dente, according to the package directions. Drain, making sure to reserve ½ cup of pasta water.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large sauté pan. Add the whites of the scallions, season with salt, and cook for 3 minutes. Add all the corn except keep ¼ cup of the corn aside and add ¼ cup water. Let simmer for 3-5 minutes. Add the pepper and salt then transfer to a blender (or blend with an immersion blender) and puree until smooth.
3. Return the sauté pan to medium-high heat to melt the butter. Add the zucchini and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the remaining ¼ cup of corn kernels, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the corn puree and cook for 30 seconds.
4. Reduce the heat to medium and add the cooked pasta and reserved pasta water. Toss to coat and cook for 1 minute then add almost all the scallion greens and Parmesan. Season with red pepper flakes and additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve the pasta hot garnished with a little drizzle of olive oil, chopped scallion greens and Parmesan.

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Lauren Uncategorized 4 Comments

Sometimes it takes a little while for me to remake a recipe. And sometimes that little while is ten years, but that’s okay, as long as it means I eventually got back to it. This Pasta with Shrimp and Roasted Veggies in a Garlic Lemon Sauce recipe comes deep from the archives of recipes I printed, made and tucked away in one of my binders.

Way back when, I only read a handful of food blogs and one of them was For the Love of Cooking. This recipe is extremely important because it introduced Matt and I to the amazingness that is roasted garlic. How little we knew of life before that moment!

We made this pasta dish in Matt’s off-campus apartment the summer after junior year of college and with our limited space and kitchen equipment it was quite the ordeal. The recipe is fairly simple, there’s just a lot of ingredients and most of them require some chopping, shredding or zesting.

I love this dish because it’s so fresh, but all the veggies get a nice depth of flavor from being roasted. Asparagus, zucchini and grape tomatoes all get roasted before being tossed with pasta, toasted pine nuts, fresh Parmesan cheese and plenty of fresh herbs. There’s two standout other mix-ins, though. The first is the tender shrimp that get marinated in olive oil, lemon zest, basil parsley and garlic. The second is that zesty roasted garlic lemon sauce that should be used on every pasta, chicken and seafood dish from now until forever.

This dish is the perfect example of how some basic ingredients, like lemon, fresh herbs and roasted garlic, can take an ordinary pasta dish to a flavor-packed one that you don’t forget about for ten years. I’m so glad I finally made this dish again and with it fresh on our minds, I’m sure it won’t be another ten years until we have it again!

Pasta with Shrimp and Roasted Veggies in a Garlic Lemon Sauce

 

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Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

for the shrimp

• 1½ pounds shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Zest of half a lemon
• Salt and pepper

for the pasta

• 1 bulb garlic
• 4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 8 ounces farfalle pasta
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 bunch of asparagus, ends removed and spears cut into thirds
• 2 cups grape tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• Zest of half a lemon
• Juice of 1 lemon
• ¼ cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
• 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
• Sal and pepper

Directions

for the shrimp

1. Combine the shrimp, olive oil, parsley, basil, garlic and lemon zest in a bowl or plastic container. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and put in the fridge to marinate for at least 2 hours.

for the pasta

1. Roast the garlic. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut off the top of the head of garlic so almost all the cloves are exposed. Place the head of garlic in a little square of aluminum foil and curve up the sides. Lightly drizzle the garlic with some olive oil then season with salt and pepper. Seal up the foil to make a little packet. Roast for 35 minutes then carefully open the foil packet to let cool. Once it's cool enough to handle, squeeze out the roasted garlic cloves.
2. When the garlic has 15 minutes left, start the onions. Heat 1 teaspoon of the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, lightly season with salt and pepper, and sauté for 15-20 minutes, until tender. Remove the onions to a large serving bowl then sear the shrimp in the same skillet, trying not to get too much of the marinade in the skillet. Cook for 3 minutes on each side, or until shrimp are pink and no longer translucent. Remove from the pan and add to the serving bowl.
3. While the onions are cooking, start boiling the water for the pasta. Cook the farfalle according to the package instructions until al dente. Drain and add to the large serving bowl.
4. On a large baking sheet lined with nonstick aluminum foil, spread out the zucchini, asparagus and grape tomatoes. Drizzle with 2 of the teaspoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. When you take the garlic out of the oven, add the baking sheet of veggies and cook for 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and add to the serving bowl.
5. While the vegetables are roasting, roughly chop the roasted garlic cloves that you squeezed out of the skin. Combine in a small bowl with the butter, lemon zest, lemon juice and the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Pour into the serving bowl.
6. When the onions, pasta, shrimp, veggies and roasted garlic lemon sauce have all been cooked and added to the serving bowl, toss to combine along with the Parmesan, parsley, basil and toasted pine nuts. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with more Parmesan on top, if desired.

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Lauren Uncategorized 2 Comments

It’s hard to know exactly when my pasta obsession began, but it’s at least as far back as I can remember. My brother and I used to have noodles with every dinner and we would even stuff it inside pita pockets sometimes. Yes, essentially a noodle sandwich. Yes, we were odd. I think most people tend to love pasta to some degree. I mean, how can you not? It’s simple, starchy and satisfying.

Somewhere down the line I decided pasta was a cheat meal. Matt and I would go weeks without having pasta for dinner. Then this past year, especially while preparing for my healthy January posts, I started thinking a lot about what healthy food means to me and came to the conclusion that I needed to remove the pasta cheat meal mentality. Instead of nixing pasta completely I needed to rebalance my pasta meal. A plate piled high with just spaghetti, marinara and cheese could be replaced with a smaller portion of pasta loaded with veggies. But still cheese. There always has to be cheese.

Since then Matt and I have been enjoying weeknight pasta, happily and healthily – at least with what healthy means to me. I now have three favorite healthy pasta hacks, two of which I have shared on Lemon & Mocha before. One is all the different types of alternative pasta on the market. I personally tend not to enjoy whole wheat pasta, but I have gladly embraced rice pasta, red lentil pasta, green bean pasta and, my new favorite, Barilla Veggie Spaghetti. No, this is not sponsored, it just tastes really good and is made with 25% vegetable puree making it slightly better for you than regular spaghetti. That is what I used in this recipe, but you can use any type of spaghetti you prefer.

My second hack I want to share is adding cauliflower puree to make pasta sauces creamy. I used this tasty trick in the Skinny Chicken Fusilli Alla Vodka with Basil, Spinach and Parmesan recipe and it works just as well here to create a rich pesto cream sauce without any actual cream. My third healthy pasta tip that I also shared with my Winter Pesto Pasta recipe is swapping out some of the pasta for zucchini noodles.

In addition to all those yummy ingredients I’ve kept it simple with some spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and of course Parmesan. This healthy creamy pesto pasta comes together really quickly making it a great weeknight meal. Keep it vegetarian or eat with some meatballs or chicken sausage. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Healthy Creamy Pesto Pasta with Zucchini, Spinach and Sun-dried Tomatoes

 

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Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

• 6 ounces spaghetti (I used Barilla Veggie Spaghetti)
• 1 cup frozen cauliflower florets
• ⅓ cup pesto
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 ounces fresh spinach
• 2 zucchinis, noodled; about 2.5 cups
• ⅔ cup julienned sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ⅓ cup fresh grated Parmesan, plus more for topping
• Fresh chopped basil for garnish
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Boil water for the pasta in a large pot. Once the water is boiling, add the spaghetti and set your timer according to the package instructions (mine was for 9 minutes). When there are 6 minutes left on your timer, add the cauliflower florets. When the timer goes off, drain the pasta and cauliflower, being sure to reserve 2 tablespoons of the cooking liquid. Carefully separate out the cauliflower florets. In a high-speed blender, puree the cooked cauliflower florets, reserved cooking liquid and the pesto until smooth. Alternatively you could puree the cauliflower then just stir it into the pesto if you like the texture of the pesto and don’t want it completely smooth.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the spinach and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost wilted then add the zucchini noodles and the sun-dried tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper; sauté for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cook for 30 seconds then remove from the heat.
3. Add the pesto mixture, the spaghetti and the Parmesan to the sauté pan. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve topped with additional Parmesan and fresh chopped basil.

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Lauren Uncategorized 2 Comments