Oven Roasted Parsnips & Carrots with White Balsamic Vinegar

In our opinion parsnips have always been underrated.  Come to think of it so is roasting vegetables.  Both are healthy and easy choices, and along with ever popular carrots, these make for an attractive and tasty side dish.  And there is a benefit to the finished product looking like colorful French fries – kids will want to eat and love them!

• 1 pound medium parsnips, trimmed, peeled
• 1 pound medium carrots, trimmed, peeled
• 2 tablespoons Pastamoré Rosemary with Roasted Garlic Dipping Oil
• 1 tablespoon Pastamoré White Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Cut the parsnips and carrots into what will look like French fries – they should be about 3 inches by ½ inch by ½ inch.  Combine parsnips and carrots in a bowl.  Drizzle oil and white balsamic, sprinkle in the salt & pepper; toss to coat evenly.  Spread in even layer on baking sheet.  Roast until vegetables are tender and brown around edges, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.

Serves four.

Pasta Mix & Match #1

• 12 ounces Pastamoré Tomato Basil Fettuccine
• 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon Pastamoré Rosemary with Roasted Garlic Dipping Oil
• ½ lb or so leftover skirt steak, marinated in Pastamoré Chardonnay & Roasted Garlic Marinade
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced for garnish

A few hours before dinner, combine the tomatoes, garlic and Rosemary Garlic Dipping Oil in a small bowl.  Cover and allow flavors to meld in the fridge.  Slice the skirt steak into thin strips.  Cook the pasta to taste, drain and portion into serving bowls.  Top with skirt steak and marinated tomatoes as well as the leftover juices from each.  Garnish with green onions.

Remember, these "Pasta Serving Suggestion" recipes are just mix and match ideas.  Leftover grilled chicken would have worked just as well or even shrimp.  Pastamoré Basil Parmesan Dipping Oil or our Tomato Blend would have worked with the tomatoes.  And of course, a different fettuccine would be fun to try too, and may even be better!  Think Spinach Basil, Chipotle Fettuccine, or even Sweet Potato!  Let us know about what you try!

Serves four.

White Truffle Butter

Truffle butter is an indulgent but handy condiment for the gourmet household.  Use a pat of butter when sautéing vegetables or scallops.  In fact it will brighten any seafood.  Many of our Pastamoré pastas will be enhanced with a small amount.  Mashed potatoes go from ordinary to extraordinary when you add truffle butter.  Lastly, you can use truffle butter to wake up the flavor of omelets and scrambled eggs!

• 1 stick unsalted butter (4 ounces), softened
• Pastamoré White Truffle Oil, to taste
• Salt 
• Chopped fresh herbs, optional

In a small mixing bowl, combine the butter and white truffle oil.  Season with salt to taste. Spoon the butter onto a piece of plastic wrap and form into a log, about 1 inch thick. Wrap the log tightly and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Nan’s Quick Pizza – Shrimp & Roasted Corn

(This is part of our series of Boboli recipes.  While we do like to make pizza dough, for easy but wonderful weekday dinners it is hard to beat a premade pizza crust.  Other brands are popping up in your local grocery store, and worth trying.  We also like to use premade flatbreads, or naan.  Recipes are great but the advantage to having a Boboli handy is your ability to salvage leftovers from your fridge, allowing you to be creative and frugal at once!)

This recipe was inspired by Nan’s Asian Grilled Shrimp Salad.  Same core ingredients, we just used our Basil Parmesan Dipping Oilinstead and plopped it on a pizza!

Sadly, this particular pizza is no more...

• ½ lb medium cooked frozen shrimp, thawed
• 4 ounce ( ¼ bag) Trader Joe’s Fire Roasted Corn, thawed
• 2 tablespoons Pastamoré Basil Parmesan Dipping Oil
• 1 to 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
• 1 12 inch Boboli pizza crust (any style)
• ¼ to ½ cup pizza or marinara sauce
• 2 cups mozzarella, grated
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

Place shrimp, corn and red pepper flakes in a medium bowl.  Drizzle with the Basil Parmesan Oil.  Use only as much as needed to cover, a little bit will go a long way.  Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for a few hours, which will allow the flavors to meld.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Spread the tomato sauce on the Boboli, just barely covering the surface.  The sauce is not a key ingredient, so do not overwhelm with too much.  Cover with cheese.  Spread shrimp/corn mixture evenly over the top.  Season with salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle on the basil.  Bake in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

Serves 3 to 4.

Nan’s Asian Grilled Shrimp Salad

This can be prepared on the grill, in a wok or a hot skillet.  For the grill, use a pan designed for the BBQ with holes in the bottom.  You may also want to try this recipe with grilled chicken or steak.

• 12 to 15 thawed frozen jumbo shrimp (we use frozen cooked from Costco)
• ¼ cup Pastamoré Asian Dipping Oil
• 4 ounces frozen Fire Roasted Corn, thawed (¼ bag from Trader Joe’s)
• ½ Asian pear, sliced
• 7 ounces (or so) mixed greens (bagged pre-washed)
• 5 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved, optional
• one avocado, optional

Place shrimp and corn in a bowl, and toss with the Asian oil, and marinate about an hour.  Heat grill or pan to medium high heat.  Using a slotted spoon place the shrimp and corn in the cooking vessel of your choice and sauté.  Once heated through and sizzling, remove and place back in the bowl with the remaining Asian oil and toss again.  Arrange on greens along with pear and tomato halves.

Nan’s Asian Fried Rice

• 2 cups cooked white rice
• 1 ½ tablespoons Pastamoré Asian Dipping Oil
• 1 egg
• 4 ounces frozen mixed vegetables
• 4 ounces protein (chicken or pork, chopped and/or cooked shrimp)
• salt and pepper to taste

 

Heat a wok or large skillet to medium high.  Add rice.  Drizzle with the Asian Dipping Oil and sauté until heated through, about 2 minutes.  Make a ‘hole’ in the middle of the pan and add the raw egg.  Stir into rice and blend.  Once the egg has cooked, add the frozen vegetables and the protein and stir to combine thoroughly.  Reduce heat to low and cover.  The fried rice should be hot and ready in about 10 to 12 minutes.

There is very little hard and fast about this recipe, other than fried rice should contain rice!  This is one of those recipes where a look through the fridge is in order – find some leftovers!  Any vegetable combo will work, and a leftover chicken breast or steak will fit the bill.  Get creative!

Oven Roasted Figs with Goat Cheese

Nan insists you need to LOVE figs to make this recipe!

• 4 fresh figs, cut in half lengthwise
• 4 ounces of goat cheese or chèvre
• drizzle of Pastamoré Fig Balsamic Vinegar
• baguette (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove a small scoop of the fig meat from the center of each fig half, leaving a small indent for the cheese.  Place the figs cut side up on a baking sheet.  Dollop ½ ounce of goat cheese on each fig.  Bake until warmed through and cheese just melted, about 5 minutes.  Serve two halves to a plate, and drizzle with the fig balsamic vinegar.  Serve with baguette.

Serves four.

Slow Cooked Ribs with Nan’s Rich Balsamic BBQ Sauce

Nan claims these are some of the best lip-smacking ribs she has ever made, what do you think?  She uses a slow cooker/crock pot, but you can also slow roast them in the oven.

for the ribs

• 5 to 6 lbs ribs (Nan likes baby back or country style, but you can use your favorite instead!)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• ¼ cup Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped

for the sauce

• 1 cup Pastamoré Traditional Barrel-Aged Balsamic Vinegar(Nan also suggests trying this with our Blackberry or Dark Sweet Cherry Balsamic)
• 1 cup ketchup
• 6 ounces beer
• ¼ cup honey
• 3 tablespoons course mustard
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 ½ teaspoons Pastamoré Worcestershire Sauce
• ¼ cup water
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (or to taste)
• ¼ cup dark brown sugar
• ½ red onion, chopped to a small dice
• 1 large garlic clove, minced

Combine oil, salt, garlic and herbs in a small bowl.  Spread evenly over ribs.  Place in slow cooker for 4 to 6 hours until tender.

While ribs are cooking prepare sauce.  In a large non-reactive sauce pan, bring balsamic vinegar to boil over medium heat.  Cook until reduced by about a third.  Add remaining ingredients and return to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until thick, 30 to 40 minutes uncovered.  The resulting sauce should be highly seasoned, but you can adjust to taste with additional vinegar, brown sugar or salt as desired.

Transfer ribs to baking sheets covered with foil.  Slather both sides of ribs with sauce.  Broil ribs 2 to 4 minutes per side until sauce sizzles and browns, or alternately you can bake the ribs in the oven for 8 to 12 minutes at 450 degrees, turning once and basting with sauce.  Serve with any remaining sauce on the side.  Be sure and have plenty of napkins!

Serves six.

Pear & Romaine Salad with Balsamic

A very special thank you to Nan’s Fan Toni Evans for this fabulous recipe!

• 1 to 2 Bosc pears, cut into ½ inch cubes (Asian pears will also work well)
• ¾ cup crumbled blue cheese
• ¾ cup pecan halves, toasted
• 2 heads romaine lettuce, torn into pieces
• ¼ cup Pastamoré White Balsamic with Pear Vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 5 basil leaves, minced
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine pears, cheese, pecans and romaine in a large bowl.

In a small bowl whisk to combine vinegar, garlic, basil, honey, salt and pepper.  Slowly add the olive oil while continuing to whisk.  Add to salad and toss just before serving.

Pan Roasted Cherry Balsamic Brussels Sprouts

• 12 Brussels sprouts, cut lengthwise
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter 
• 1 garlic clove – chopped
• ½ cup chicken stock (add more if necessary)
• 2 tablespoons Pastamoré Dark Sweet Cherry Balsamic Vinegar
• ¼ cup Ocean Spray ‘Craisins – Cherry juice infused’
• bread crumbs (optional)

In a medium saucepan sauté olive oil, butter and Brussels sprouts over medium heat until slightly brown.  Add garlic to pan, and cook for a minute or two longer.  Add chicken stock, balsamic vinegar, and Craisins.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer until fork tender.  The stock/balsamic mixture at this point should be reduced to a syrup.  Season with salt and fresh ground pepper.

Place in serving bowl and top with a sprinkle of bread crumbs if desired.  Serves two generously.

Creamy Pear Balsamic Dressing

Simply Yummy

This is a versatile and easily prepared dressing which can be used for salads, as a dip for artichokes, or simply along with sliced avocado.  Nan also suggests spooning a small amount over grilled asparagus.

• ½ cup good quality mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon White Balsamic with Pear Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon country style Dijon mustard (or see below)
• black pepper

With a whisk combine the pear vinegar and mustard with the mayonnaise in a small bowl.  Season with fresh cracked black pepper and salt if necessary to taste.  As a salad dressing, this will dress four dinner salads.

Any of the ingredients can be adjusted up or down to suit your taste.  In fact, Nan never measures the ingredients for this salad - she just uses a heaping spoon of this and a dash of that.  Also, in our kitchen we have tried this with other styles of mustard with great results, including spicy mustard and even a blood orange mustard.

Have fun with this recipe – let us know how it turned out in your kitchen!

Nan’s 'Pasta Cooking 101'

What is the best way to cook my Pastamoré pasta?

We get this question a lot.  And Nan always is ready with her answer.  Here are her keys to perfect pasta:

Key #1 – use a big pot and lots of water.  Seriously.  Big.  No sauce pans.  Nan recommends you to use a 12 quart stockpot – bigger is even better – to cook a 12 ounce package of our pasta.  The cooking pasta needs lots of room to swim and expand.  Too small of a pot and you will get variations in doneness and sticking.

Key #2 – add salt to the boiling water before you add the pasta.  This will not appreciably increase the sodium level in the finished product, but pasta does need seasoning.  Do NOT add oil at this point, save that for the drizzle of your favorite dipping oil at the end!

Key #3 – The suggested cooking times are on the package as a range – for example 4 to 6 minutes - and they will vary with the type and flavor of the pasta.  Everyone has their own preference for how done they like their pasta, so Nan recommends you stay by your pot and start tasting about a minute before the package indicates.  Once you get the pasta to the texture you are looking for, drain BUT leave a small amount of the boiling water in the pot.

Key #4 – Return the drained pasta to the same pot with the ¼ inch or so of the boiling water.  Now add the butter, blended olive oil or plain olive oil.  A little bit will go a long way, so add a little, taste, then add more if needed.  At this point if you can toss in another ingredient, like chicken, steamed vegetables, etc.  Plate it in pre-heated pasta bowls and you have yourself a fabulous flavorful and nutritious meal!

Note #1 – Cover your pot when heating the water to bring it to a boil faster.

Note #2 – You can find our recommendations on dipping oils and suggestions on ingredients to toss with our pasta here and here.

We would love to hear from you!  Feel free to add your ideas or tips!

Nan’s ‘Tapenade 101’

Tapenades come to us from the Provençal region of France, which stretches along the Mediterranean from Northern Italy and into Spain.  It originally was a simple paste consisting of olives, olive oil and capers (tapenade is the Provençal word for caper!).  It was most commonly served as a spread on crackers, crudités, or crostini, and it was best if you had a glass of Pernod close by.  Over time, tapenades have been enhanced with new flavors - additions of garlic, lemon, anchovies and herbs to name a few.

At Nan’s Gourmet Foods, tapenades are members of our ‘Nan Approved Foods’ family.  We feature five; each with a new take on the classic:

White Wine Artichoke & Roasted Garlic– Pale in color, the star ingredient, artichoke, is married to fabulous savory partners, white wine and roasted garlic.  Making the party even better are water chestnuts, a zip of chili pepper, parsley and a hint of lemon.

Bruschetta – our Bruschetta borrows its flavor from its namesake classic Italian cousin.  Tomatoes are slow roasted and combined with onions, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, capers and our own balsamic vinegar for this timeless country masterpiece.

Lemon Caper Artichoke– smooth silky artichokes are once again celebrated in this tapenade take, but the co-stars are different, making for a new taste sensation.  Lemon and peppery capers bring a new zing along with garlic and a hint of Parmesan cheese.
Green Olive Provençal - The South of France comes to life with our spicy green olive tapenade. Red bell pepper, capers, garlic, Herbes de Provence and a hint of lemon create a smooth satisfying spread.  Of the olive tapenades, this one is chunkier and has a bit of spiciness. 
Mediterranean Black Olive - Inspired by the old world tastes of the Mediterranean, our black olive tapenade is rich and luxurious.  Extra virgin olive oil, garlic and delicate spices are melded with three types of minced black olives.  It tends to be silkier and milder than the Green Olive version.

OK, so you have a new jar of Nan’s tapenade, can you do anything more with it other than just as an appetizer with the obligatory glass of wine?

Well, you can probably guess our answer...  YES!  And here are some ideas.  We would love to hear yours as well, please post away!

• Pasta Sauce – in a sauce pan combine your favorite tapenade with just enough white or red wine (chicken stock will also do the trick) to thin it out.  Heat and combine with your favorite freshly cooked wide noodle pasta, like a fettuccine, or even a penne or rotini.
• As a Super Condiment– try using a tapenade on your next burger, or on a sandwich instead of mustard and mayonnaise.
• Pizza??  - We have had some of our fans tell us to spread a tapenade on a pizza shell, like a Boboli, and then bake in the oven.  We haven’t tried it yet, but it sure sounds good! 
• Omelet – try some as a filling for your next omelet, along with some goat cheese!
• Deviled TapanEggs? – replace the mashed egg yolk in deviled eggs with your tapenade of choice.
• A Slightly Advanced Entree– try using a tapenade in a roulade – for example, spread over a flank steak, roll up, tie with string and bake in the oven.  There are several example roulade recipes online, including one from my personal hero Alton Brown.

Anything you like in the above list?  Anything you would like to add?  Please let us know!!