Friday Friendly Food

We love pasta with peas, usually I make it with prosciutto or pancetta and a little cream but for Friday during lent it goes meatless. It also went without cream because I didn't have any. It's still a great dish! Here's what you need:

Olive oil

Dry white wine

1-2 onions sliced thinly

4 cloves garlic, crushed

I pint of grape tomatoes halved ( I had 3 plum tomatoes laying around that I added)

1 cup frozen petite peas

1 lb pasta

Grated cheese

Fresh parsley and basil chopped

Red pepper flakes, Salt and pepper

Heat pasta water. 

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large skillet and add the onions and garlic. Season and sauté until they wilt. 

Splash some white wine in the pan and add the tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes start to collapse. 

Add the peas and chopped herbs and keep the heat on low while waiting for the pasta to cook. 

Reserve some of the water and add a bit when combining pasta to the sauce. Sprinkle a good handful of grated cheese on and serve. 

Broccoli Cheddar Soup is nothing new, you can google it and find a bunch of recipes. I like to add potatoes to thicken it.  This is how I make mine:

2 lbs broccoli cut up

2 onions diced

3 carrots diced

3 celery diced

3 garlic cloves crushed 

4 whole potatoes peeled

8 oz shredded cheddar 

2 qts Chicken stock

2tbs butter

2 tbs flour

1 cup milk 

Thyme, salt, pepper

Sauté onion, carrot and celery in a heavy soup pot until they sweat. Season with salt and pepper and add the whole potatoes and the broccoli

Cover with chicken broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add thyme and check seasoning. In the meantime shred the cheese and gather remaining ingredients 

Heat the butter in a small pan and cook the flour for a few minutes. Whisk in the milk and add the cheese, whisk until smooth. 

Blend the soup as smooth as you'd like and return to heat. 

Add the cheese sauce to the hot soup and combine. It's not a pretty soup but it's delicious!

Pasta CeCe

Pasta with chick peas...one of my favorites! This is a good meatless meal (use white wine and pasta water in place of chicken stock) for lent. Here's how I make mine:

1 can chick peas drained and rinsed

2 onions sliced thinly 

4 cloves garlic chopped or crushed

Olive oil

Crushed red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper

Fresh parsley chopped

A few splashes of chicken stock

1 lb pasta

While pasta water is heating, sauté onions and garlic in olive oil. 

Once they are cooked down and carmelizing, season with salt and pepper

And add chick peas. Mash them a bit to break them up or else they will roll all over the plate when you eat. 

At this point you need a little liquid to loosen everything up. A few good splashes should do it (appr. 1cup)

Add parsley and check seasoning. Toss with cooked pasta and serve with a drizzle of olive oil and lots of grated cheese.