Presto Pasta Nights #244 Roundup

I had the distinct pleasure of serving as this week's guest host for Presto Pasta Nights, the weekly noodle celebration founded by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast way back in 2007!

It's the last PPN roundup of the year, but I am looking at one of the tastiest spreads a noodle lover could hope for.  We've got pasta in various shapes and flavors, made of various flours and cooked in all kinds of culinary traditions. Come into my virtual dining room, grab a glass of wine or some hot spiced cider and then pass your pasta bowl for a sampling of these wonderful eats:

Shaheen blogs at Allotment 2 Kitchen in western Scotland and loves to garden, forage and cook seasonally. She brings a plate of Garlic-Chilli-Spiked Cauliflower Pasta, which sounds so fragrant. Shaheen even uses the steamed core of the cauliflower in this dish, which is something this frugal cook will be trying next time out when I'm cooking cauliflower.

Tandy of Lavender and Lime has just taken the lid off her steaming platter of Creamy Pasta with Beef, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Mushrooms. Everybody dig in!

Alisha of Cook. Craft. Enjoy. is doling out some spicy Cajun Chicken Pasta. A little spice, a little cream, a little onion and peppers and that's some awesomeness on a plate.

My blogger pal Deb of Kahakai Kitchen in Honolulu was kind enough to drop by with some Rotini with Red Pepper and Anchovy Sauce. Deb is one of the cofounders of Cook the Books, a bimonthly foodie book club, where we are currently reading and cooking from John Thorne's Outlaw Cook.

Here at the Crispy Cook, I made a stir-fry of garlic, carrots, tofu, and Korean rice cakes, or dduk noodles, that remind me of little white tongue depressors. They require pre-soaking, but are a great textural addition to the wok.

Anne's Kitchen brings us a savory casserole to share: Wholemeal Penne, Pancetta and Cauliflower Bake. She advises that we can all have seconds without fear of being "gannet-esque" because the pancetta is less fatty than regular bacon and because wholemeal penne is in there too for extra nutrition.

One of my Capital District neighbors, Shelby, of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch, made a real crowd pleaser for her husband's office party and she made a double batch to share with us: Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese. Aren't they cute in their little individual ramekins?

Blogging from lovely Melbourne, Australia is Johanna of the Green Gourmet Giraffe. She came to our virtual feast to share her delicious recipe for Panfried Gnocchi with Cauliflower and Peas.

I know you must all be full from this wonderful pasta sampler, so before I head off for a nap to work off my carbo coma, I will just let you know that Presto Pasta Nights will be on holiday hiatus but then back in full force in the New Year, when our PPN founder, Ruth herself, will be ushering in our weekly helping of pasta love. From now until January 5th, you can send your PPN submissions to ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com.

Here's to a holiday season full of peace, love and pasta!

Gluten Free Food Find of the Week: Korean Rice Cakes or Dduk Noodles

One of our recent food finds at the Asian markets in Albany has been bags of dried rice cakes. No, not those tasteless puffed rice cracker-y things that come dusted with cheese or cinnamon, but a variety of Korean rice noodle, called dduk and spelled about thirty different ways in English.

These gluten-free noodles look like mini tongue-depressors to me, being somewhat elongated ovoids, and are a nice, chewy addition to stir-fries. One can buy fresh or frozen dduk, but so far I have just experimented with the bags of dried dduk. These noodles are made of pounded, steamed and dried sweet rice flour and must be pre-soaked in cold or boiling water to make them ready for cooking. They have a great texture that really stands up to extended cooking, so they are a good choice for any noodle soup or juicy stir-fry dishes in which a more tender noodle would give up and implode into mush.

Korean cooks make many varieties of dduk dishes, both sweet and savory, and a bowl of steaming Dduk Gook soup is a traditional way to ring in the New Year.  I enjoyed reading this blog post from a Korean doctor who relates the many sayings that involve their much beloved rice cakes, like "give your enemy another piece of dduk" (i.e., "turn the other cheek").

I haven't followed any traditional Korean recipes for using this noodle, (but I intend to!) so much as incorporating them in my weekly stir-fries when I have needed something starchy. They do tend to suck up a lot of sauce and flavor, so plan on adding more liquid to your wok when you are adding in your dduk noodles. Above you can see a stir-fry of julienned carrot, cabbage, zucchini and garlic bathed in a sesame-soy-garlic sauce and zapped with a little chili-garlic paste. The dduk noodles add such a nice heft in there!

I have the privilege of hosting Presto Pasta Nights #244 this week. PPN is a popular weekly blog event chronicling the many incarnations of the world's noodles and was started by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast  in 2007. I thought relaying my adventures with this new-dle would fit the bill quite nicely.

I have already received some great pasta recipes from other bloggers and look forward to other pasta creations in my emailbox until the deadline of Thursday, December 15. You can send them to me (with a photo attachment of your creation) at oldsaratogabooks (at) gmail (dot) com and please also cc ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com.  I will post the roundup for this last Presto Pasta Nights of 2011 the day after. Hope you can squeeze in some pasta fun with us during this busy holiday week!

Smoked Paprika Noodles with Butter, Cheese and Garlic Scape and Herb Drizzle

A wonderful bunch of gluten-free bloggers posted a collection of recipes and posts for making fresh pasta a couple of days ago. I was unable to get my own post up in time for the Gluten Free Ratio Rally, a monthly food blog challenge that encourages experimentation in the kitchen with gluten-free flours. Last month, we all played with pate a choux (I made cream puffs filled with coffee cream) and next month we will be trying out cake recipes.

I did make an awesomely good set of gluten-free noodles, gently flavored and colored with smoked paprika, and wanted to share my experiment with you. I started with the Fresh Gluten-Free Pasta recipe from the showcase cookbook, Gluten Free Girl and the Chef by Shauna and Daniel Ahern. I had made their recipe for fresh pasta once before and wanted to switch up some of the flours. Shauna and Daniel's recipe in their cookbook called for corn flour and quinoa flour, which added a nice nubby texture to the fresh pasta, but I was out of quinoa flour, so I subbed in brown rice flour and added in 3 generous tablespoons of smoked paprika. The Aherns have since done some other experimenting with fresh pasta, so you can check out their recipe at the link above and try it for yourself to find out how adding in a boost of extra egg yolks makes the dough more easy to work with.

My dough came out beautifully; just needed a touch more water to make it more pliable. I covered it and let it rest for a while, giving me time to head out to the herb patch to pick some Italian parsley, basil, oregano and garlic scapes. I whizzed them up with some olive oil and kosher salt in my blender to make a garlicky herb drizzle that I scattered over the noodles later on.

I then rolled out my pasta dough between sheets of parchment paper and was able to get it to about 1/4 inch thickness. I would have liked it to be thinner, but I just couldn't seem to get it to stretch as much as I wanted, so my noodles came out on the hearty and thick side. I therefore cut them into short fettuccine lengths.

After a short bath in some salted boiling water, I tossed my noodles with some butter and grated Parmesan, seasoned with salt and pepper and then drizzled on my garlic scape and herb puree. What a toothsome dish! It was a satisfying, yet light supper and we all licked our plates.

I'm sending a batch of these gluten free noodles over to Presto Pasta Nights, a weekly celebration of the world of pasta started by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast. This week's guest host is Lavender and Lime, who will be posting her roundup of carbs next Friday.

Pasta with Broccoli Rabe, Garlic Scapes and Anchovies

It's taken years, but I finally made an anchovy aficionado out of the old husband. Oh, I've tried before, with stealthy insertions of the salty fish into Caesar Salads, minced onto pizza pies and tucked into pastas, but I was always discovered. Not until I melted a tin of anchovies into a luscious and decidedly unsalty base for a supper pasta with Broccoli Rabe and some of our bountiful supply of homegrown garlic scapes did I succeed in winning over my Dan to the anchovy side.

When anchovies are cooked down over a low flame, they lose their super salinity and gain a mellow, earthy flavor that was the perfect foil to the bitter Broccoli Rabe greens. This dish was so successful, I've made it twice since, and Dan has even cleaned out the cupboard of my tinned anchovy stash, so I believe I have an anchovy convert on my hands now.

It's a quick and simple pasta dish and one that I will pass on to you should you covet a hearty pasta dish with once-sharp flavors that are delightfully mellowed after cooking.

Pasta with Broccoli Rabe, Garlic Scapes and Anchovies

1/2 bunch broccoli rabe, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch slices

1 lb. fettuccine

1 tin anchovies

10 garlic scapes, chopped

Olive oil

Pinch of hot pepper flakes

Grated Romano cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste (taste first; you made not need to add any salt with the saltiness of the anchovies)


Cook fettuccine until al dente. Drain and rinse with warm water. Set aside.

Heat a teaspoon or so of olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add chopped garlic scapes and stir over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring. Add anchovies and their oil and break up with a wooden spoon, stirring until they melt and coat the scapes. Add chopped broccoli rabe and stir all around. Cook until leaves are wilted and broccoli rabe is crisp-tender, about 7-8 minutes. Add a little water and cover pan to steam for another minute or two.

Add hot pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste. Mix with your cooked pasta and toss to coat. Garnish with grated cheese.

Serve hot to 6-8 persons.

I am sending a plate of this toothsome pasta over to Helen of Fuss Free Flavours, who is this week's host for Presto Pasta Nights. This weekly event was started by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast and is a great showcase for noodly dishes. Helen will have the roundup for Presto Pasta Nights #221 posted after the July 7 deadline.

Let's Carbo Load with the Presto Pasta Nights #193 Roundup

So many wonderful, noodly dishes from around the globe came in this week for my stint as guest host for Presto Pasta Nights #193. This weekly event is the brainchild of Ruth from Once Upon a Feast and one can always find great ideas for cooking up the glorious range of noodles. From ravioli to rigatoni, from glass noodles to elbows, below we see a wealth of pasta cooked up by great cooks from around the world.

First in my mailbox was a submission from Beth over at The Seventh Level of Boredom. She made an awesome sounding Macaroni and Cheese with Green Chiles (and a few more spicy peppers thrown in for good measure).

We get a classic Beef Stroganoff served over egg noodles from Tina over at Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrelhead Manor. Paired with a glass of red wine and some bread to sop up the rich sauce, this sounds like the perfect comfort food for cool weather dining.


A vegetarian version of Beef Stroganoff was on the menu over at Margaret's blog, The Vegetarian Casserole Queen. Queen Margaret makes a creamy sauce of mushrooms, sour cream and meat substitute crumbles to make this hearty main dish.


Crab Mac and Cheese is a new twist on a classic recipe and Kevin of the Toronto blog Closet Cooking is the brains behind it. Enough time had passed from his university days when he lived off of macaroni and cheese, and he thought to combine this old favorite with another favorite dish, crab cakes, and thus, a delicious new hybrid was born.


Claudia is the creative mind at the Hawai'ian blog, Honey from Rock, and she presents us with a plate full of Cauliflower and Pennes from Heaven. This dish combines cauliflower with parsley, anchovies, garlic, fennel seeds and pollen (fennel pollen is all over the blogosphere these days. Hope Santa brings me some in my Crispy stocking!) and other seasonings.

I was also thinking about pasta and cauliflower this week, and here at The Crispy Cook, I made a batch of Guy Fieri's Paccheri Pasta, er Rigatoni with Cauliflower and Spinach. This was a hearty vegetarian main dish with chunks of cauliflower, tomatoes, spinach, loads of sauteed garlic, red pepper flakes, capers and other seasonings.


A simple, elegant, yet fun recipe from Giada De Laurentiis was on the menu over at Girlichef this past week. Heather made Little Stars with Butter and Parmesan, a perfect dish for the whole family to share at the supper table.

My Cook the Books co-hostess and fantastic food blogger and photographer, Deb of Kahakai Kitchen, was also channeling Giada this week and cooked up her recipe for Brown Butter and Sage Sauce for Mushroom Ravioli. A delicious and quick supper for the busy holiday season, indeed.


Sweet Artichoke is the blog, and Pasta with Artichokes is the scrumptious dish sent in by Vanessa, who blogs in both English and French! She recently visited Rome, where she feasted on artichokes and tells us all about how to prepare them for cooking. Check out her exquisite photographs.


Ben of What's Cooking, Mexico? was craving some meatballs when he was visiting his parents recently, and whipped up this flavorful dish: Meatballs in Poblano Sauce, served over linguine. What a beautiful sauce!

Glass noodles, those squishy, clear, wonderful noodles made of mung bean or sweet potato starch, were on the plate of LimeCake. The Melbourne, Australia-based blogger made Smoked Salmon Glass Noodle Salad and the photos on her blog post are just spectacular.


Hailing from Houston, Texas, Allie blogged up a Pasta with Clams recipe over at Yum in Tum this week. She bathed some little pasta stars in a mix of clams, preserved lemon, harissa, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes, and it does sound celestial indeed.

Now here's an intriguing pasta recipe: Pasta with Mustard from Swedish-born, Italian citizen Brii of Briiblog in English. I love the way Brii presents this dish in white flowerpots; as she says, "a funny way to serve a funny dish". Belissima!


Joanne of Eats Well With Others gives us a delicious pot of Italian Braised Beef Penne from her New York City kitchen as well as a hilarious look at the state of her love life.


Athens, Greece blogger Katerina of Culinary Flavors sends us a dish of her rich looking Spaghetti al Roquefort. While she herself is not a big fan of this delightful cheese, her husband and son enjoy it, so she made them a very special meal.


Here's a super-quick pasta dish from Honeybee Cooks Jackfruit that puts a flavorful dish on the table pronto: 20 Minute Pasta Dinner. The Honeybee combines broccoli, shallots, spinach, feta cheese and a whole lot of other seasonings in this delicious vegetarian pasta.


There you have it: a ton of tasty options to contemplate for your next week's menu. I am passing the Presto Pasta Nights hosting torch over to From Kirsten's Kitchen to Yours in Los Angeles, so be sure to check there next Friday for another great roundup.

Presto Pasta Nights #193 Happening Here This Week

Hey Kids! This week it's my turn to host Presto Pasta Nights, the weekly blog event that gives center stage to the humble noodle, in all its glorious incarnations. Presto Pasta Nights was hatched over at Ruth's blog, Once Upon a Feast, and she graciously offers other food bloggers the chance to carbo load as guest hosts for this fun event. (Do let Ruth know if you would like an opportunity to do so in the future).


To join in the fun, all you need to do is blog about a recipe that involves some kind of pasta, link back to Presto Pasta Nights and The Crispy Cook, and then send me an email by Thursday, December 9, midnight Eastern Standard Time (info (at) oldsaratogabooks (dot) com to let me know that your post is up. Add a cc to Ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com and include a photo attachment so I know which shot you'd like me to feature in my roundup post this Friday, December 10.

For my entry to Presto Pasta Nights, I wanted to try a recipe I had bookmarked earlier on The Food Network site, created by Guy Fieri, Paccheri Pasta with Cauliflower and Spinach. It seems that whenever I go to my neighborhood gym to work off some of my cooking, the televisions over the elliptical machines and stationery bikes are always stuck on The Food Network and Guy's smiling face. I'm already sweating and then I start drooling, so I have to keep a full water bottle at the ready to keep hydrated.

Anyway, I wanted to make use of the beautiful cauliflowers that are appearing in the produce aisle this time of year, so I gathered up a lovely white chouxfleur and set to work. The paccheri pasta refers to large tubes, but we made do with gluten-free corn rigatoni. This sauce was easy to prepare and had so many layers of flavor from loads of sliced and minced garlic, fresh Italian parsley, capers, red pepper flakes and fresh grated Romano cheese. A hearty vegetarian pasta dish indeed and the al dente cauliflower florets make a nice counterpoint to the softer noodles.


I have already gotten some intriguing and tasty Presto Pasta Nights entries already and am looking forward to YOUR noodly submissions to our weekly pasta party!

Rounding Up Pasta Presto Nights #165

I had an eye-opening, enjoyable time serving as the current guest host for Presto Pasta Nights, the weekly sampler of pastaliciousness started by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast over three years ago. In this edition, PPN #165, we had eighteen submissions showing a splendid variety of noodles, seasonings and accompaniments. Many dishes used the herbs and vegetables of Spring and all were tantalizing.

Grab your pasta fork and let's dig in!

Lemon and Anchovies is trying to ward off unseasonably cool weather from her Northern California home with a gorgeous bowl of Pasta Salad with Arugula and Four Herbs. She claims that this is the best-tasting recipe she has ever posted on her blog, so I'll be sure to test drive this recipe!


Rotini with Spinach and Asiago Cheese was on the menu over at Gramma's Cookin. It sounds like the perfect pasta for lighter eating now that the Northern Hemisphere (except for Northern California, apparently) is easing into hot summer weather.


Daphne at More than Words in far off Perth, Australia, teaches us how to prepare Risoni Salad with Honey Pork Patties. Risoni is a rice-shaped pasta (I wonder if it is the same thing as orzo?) that she dresses with peppers, lemon, corn and peas for a tangy salad.


After scooping up the best looking bunch of radish leaves (with radishes attached) at her Toronto farmer's market, Elizabeth from blog from OUR kitchen turned out a fab dish of Penne with Radish Leaves and Broccoli. Sounds terrifically good and I am glad to learn about the edibility of radish leaves, which Elizabeth also uses sauteed in omelettes.


Feeling a bit under the weather made Cool Lassie turn to her Pan Gravy Kadai Curry kitchen for some food medicine in the form of Algerian Couscous Salad with green lentils and a colorful medley of gourmet tomatoes. This dish must have improved her spirits with all those healthy, tasty ingredients.


Orzo makes an appearance in Split Pear-sonality's recipe for Orzo Tabbouleh. This Middle Eastern salad traditionally uses bulgur wheat as the main ingredient, but this pasta-rific version would be perfect to bring to a summer party.

Over in France, Katie of Thyme for Cooking used up the tail end of the seasonal green garlic and asparagus to make a lovely supper of Fried Gnocchi with Asparagus and Tomatoes. Magnifique~!


Apu took the classic recipe for baked macaroni and cheese and gave it a little twist with a mix of chopped vegetables over at her food blog Annarasa. Looks like a great variation on a crowd favorite.


Everyone's favorite comfort carb, macaroni and cheese, gets another overhaul with Brie, black olives and a crusty garlic bread topping from Reeni over at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.


My Hawaiian blogger buddy, Claudia of Honey from Rock made homemade beef raviolis with a chiffonade of beet and mustard greens, swirled in truffle butter. Excuse me while I swoon. (Claudia is a two-time winner of Cook the Books, a bimonthly foodie book club that explores various food-related books, and she knows her way around truffles, having cooked up a prize-winning Omelette aux Truffes to win the Cook the Books edition featuring Peter Mayle's book "French Lessons".)


Speaking of ravioli, memories of foraging for fiddlehead ferns and other wild edibles in her native Maine inspired Think On It to make up a batch of tender homemade ravioli with stinging nettles in her new hometown in Umbria.


Homemade cavatelli got topped with some fresh-picked favas, kale, dandelion greens and spinach in this healthy, tasty spring pasta dish sent in by Feeding Maybelle.


Despite its creamy appearance, the Healthy Chicken Zucchini Alfredo Pasta recipe submitted by Holy Cannoli Recipes doesn't contain heavy cream at all, but instead combines skim milk, evaporated nonfat milk and cheese to make the rich sauce. This contribution to Pasta Presto Nights is Holy Cannoli's first appearance at Pasta Presto Nights, so be sure to stop by her blog to say hello and welcome her to our noodly world.


Joanne of Eats Well With Others was my first received PPN entry with her take on fellow blogger Chaya's Pasta with Caramelized Onions, Broccoli and Ricotta. Now that's an awesome trio of flavors!


Debby over at A Feast for the Eyes seared up some sea scallops and served them over pasta with a tasty white wine sauce and Presto! we have a luscious scallop pasta with which to feast our virtual eyes.


Curry leaves are wonderfully aromatic and can be found at Indian and Asian markets for those who are not familiar with them. Rachana used them to perfume her dish of Curry Leaves Pasta over at Sizzle N Spice.


Pam at Sidewalk Shoes turned out a fantastic Fettuccine with Mushrooms, Lemon and Prosciutto for her contribution to Presto Pasta Nights this week. She adapted a recipe from Donna Hay to use her own homegrown oregano and some preserved lemon rind and it sounds decadent indeed.


To wrap things up, your happening host, the Crispy Cook made a gluten-free, vegetarian lasagna using rice noodles layered with spinachy ricotta, artichoke hearts and sauteed portabella mushrooms. It was a lovely combination of flavors.


Thanks again to Ruth for giving me this opportunity to host Presto Pasta Nights and for all the wonderful cooks who shared their recipes, photos and writing. Next week, this event will be hosted by Ruth herself, our own Pasta Maven, so be sure to send her your fabulous pasta creations to keep us all inspired in the kitchen.