Garlic Eggplant Pasta Dish

Well, chalk this up to another good recipe I managed to throw together! I admit, as I was sifting through my refrigerator, I had my doubts. I wondered what the kids would think of it, and I wondered if it would be good.

SCORE on both counts! Yay!

This was so easy. And it’s good for you: eggplant, artichokes, olive oil, marinated garlic, marinated black olives, a little basil, OOOO LALA! Eat this healthy stuff, and I’ll bet your term life ins rates will lower! I used all this stuff from leftovers in my fridge (food too expensive to throw to the dog). The garlic and olives I got from the deli at my grocery store.

Here it is:

Garlic Eggplant Pasta Dish

1 small eggplant, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup artichoke hearts, sliced into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup marinated garlic cloves, sliced in half
1/4 cup marinated black olives, sliced in half
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 cup olive oil
prepared spaghetti sauce (I used a big can of Prego)
1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained
pasta (rigatoni or rotini are perfect)

Start the water boiling for your pasta. In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil. Throw in the eggplant and allow to soften. Don’t let it get mushy, though! Toss in the artichokes and basil, and heat up. Toss in the garlic and olives. Keep the mixture moving in the saucepan so that nothing gets browned.

Cook the pasta. Heat the ground beef and sauce.

Serve!

I placed everything in separate dishes (eggplant mixture, pasta, ground beef, and sauce) for the picky eaters. But everyone ate it all. It’s delicious!

Super Easy Calzones

I don’t know what the difference is, exactly, between calzones and pepperoni rolls. They are shaped differently, but that’s only slightly. They are made with the same kinds of ingredients and bakes the same way… ??

When I worked in radio, there was a pizzeria across the street. They made the most FABULOUS pepperoni rolls. I used to call them to order one, and have them call me when it was done. Then, I’d put on a long song to play on the air, and run over the the pizzeria to get my roll. It was pretty risky, and one time, the song had JUST ended before I could plug another one in. Whew!

I’ll have to post my own pepperoni roll recipe up sometime. I want to take photos when I do, so stay tuned (in radio lingo).

With all that said, I found a really quick and easy recipe for Calzones that I thought I’d share. The recipe is not mine, it’s from Disney Family Food site. They have some nice, kid-friendly meals there. Here are the calzones:

Calzones

Ingredients

2 loaves frozen bread dough, thawed
1/2 pound sliced ham
1/2 pound sliced hard salami
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup jarred marinara sauce

Directions

1. Roll each loaf of dough into a rectangle about 8 inches by 12 inches.
2. Layer ham and salami down the center of each rolled loaf lengthwise.
3. Top meats with 1 cup shredded mozzarella for each roll.
4. Fold short ends of each loaf in about 1/2 inch and seal. Roll from the long sides and pinch well to seal the entire loaf. You should have 2 long rolls.
5. Bake, seam side down on a greased baking sheet in a 375 degree F oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Cut each roll into 8 slices and serve with marinara for dipping.

So there you have it. I would probably just make my own dough in my bread machine. My bread dough is healthier, anyway, and I’m convinced the olive oil I use instead of veggie oil is soo good for you. I love olive oil! You can use it for a billion things: lamps, skin oil, acne scar removal?, eating, digestive problems, etc. I love the stuff.

Anyway, that’s what I’d do. I’d also probably skip the ham (I don’t like ham) and use pepperoni. But then it would probably make the calzone into a pepperoni roll, don’t ya think?

Well, stay tuned, I’ll be making pepperoni rolls next week.

Chicken Riggies: A Central NY Dish

Central New York is renowned for incredible Italian dishes, due to the influx of immigrants in the late 1800s. I am not Italian, since I was raised in an Italian region by Italians, I cook a lot of Italian foods. (I also talk with my hands :-p ). One such Italian dish in the Utica, NY, area is Chicken Riggies, is a famous and popular local dish. There’s even a Riggie Fest every year, with local restaurants competing for the infamous title of King Riggie or something like that.

It seems that everybody around here has their own variation of Chicken Riggies; this is mine. I originally posted the recipe on my New York Traveler blog, where it went viral and go linked to on Wikipedia. That was cool, like getting a spot on the best paid web directories for free!

Anyway, as with a lot of my cooking, the ingredients are “a little this” and “a little that.” Basically, Chicken Riggies is a chicken, tomato cream, and sherry cream sauce on rigatoni pasta dish. This recipe is completely customizable– add more cream if you want it creamier; add more cherry peppers (so daring you are!) if you want to burn your tongue off; leave out the sherry if you don’t want alcohol. I prefer less cream, less spice, and more tomatoes. Mmmmm/

Chicken Riggies
Feeds an army or 4 to 5 Italians

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 3 or 4 hot cherry peppers (from the jar), seeded and chopped (add less or more if you are a glutton for punishment)
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 2 cans (28 oz. or so) diced tomatoes
• 4 leaves freshly chopped basil, or 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 cup sherry (optional; I always add it)
• 4 to 5 chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces*
• salt to taste
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup light cream (depending on taste)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese (optional)
• 2 1-lb. boxes of penne rigati or rigatoni

* You can pre-boil the chicken, or use leftover chicken, or use leftover grilled chicken cubes for extra kick.

This time, I boiled the chicken. Cut the chicken into cubes and toss them in a large wok (or other large pan) with the olive oil, diced onion, and chopped garlic. Cook gently until the onion turns tender.

While that’s cooking, mince a few pickled cherry peppers. I dislike hot dishes, so I only included two peppers for a little excitement. After you’ve chopped them, throw them into your wok, and stir.

Add the tomato paste and the cans of tomatoes; then add the spices. Mmm, I love basil. Stir well.

Allow the sauce to simmer for about 20 minutes. While the sauce is simmering, start boiling the rigatoni pasta.

Back to the tomatoes: After 20 minutes or so, add the sherry if you are using it, and cook for another 10 minutes. Stir frequently and do not allow the tomato sauce to burn– keep the heat a low/medium.

The tomatoes should be done, so remove them from the heat. Add the cream and the Parmesan cheese and lightly stir.

Stir in a handful of mozzarella cheese if you want.

Drain and lightly rinse the rigatoni. Place it into a large dish. Pour the Riggie tomato sauce on the pasta and lightly stir. Garnish with more cheese. It’s a terrific meal all on it’s own, but you can also serve it with a crispy green salad or garlic bread. Soooooo good.

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