Pasta Night!

February 27, 2013

Amazing home cooked meal!

I saw a recipe about two weeks ago that I have been dying to try! It is not the most healthy recipe in the world, but I did a few things to try to help it. I think it is worth sharing. Especially the side dish, because that was healthy and also incredible! But we will get to that in a minute...

The main dish was a recipe I saw on the Rachael Ray show. It is called Cincinnati Spaghetti. It is a mix between spaghetti and Cincinnati Chili. Now my mom has a famous (around our family) recipe for spaghetti sauce, but I just knew I needed to try this one, because I LOVE Cincinnati Chili! And the weird thing is, it ended up tasting very much like my moms spaghetti. Turns out it has a lot of the same ingredients. This one just has a little extra chili pepper and such in it. (But it isn't too hot- I'm not a big fan of really hot food. But you could make it hotter if that's what you prefer- just load in a few extra chilies!)


Cincinnati Spaghetti - By Rachael Ray -

Sauce Ingredients-

• 2 tablespoons EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2-3 slices smoky bacon, finely chopped (I used 4, gotta love bacon!)
• 1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin
• 1 onion, finely chopped (I used an extra large one!)
• 4-5 large cloves garlic, finely chopped (I probably used 7 though, I love garlic.)
• Salt and pepper
• 3 jalapeño chili peppers, seeded and finely chopped (I used a food processor.)
• 2 tablespoons ancho chili powder or chili powder blend (Gebhardts preferred brand), a couple of palmfuls
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (Might have added a little more than that!)
• 1 tablespoon smoked sweet paprika, a palmful (I used regular paprika.)
• 1 teaspoon allspice, 1/3 palmful
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, eyeball the amount in your palm (I used closer to 1 teaspoon.)
• 1 healthy pinch ground cloves (I used a good amount!)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, about 1/2 a palmful, lightly crushed in palm
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce – eyeball it 
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1 14-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 32-ounce can fire-roasted crushed or diced tomatoes 
• 1 14-ounce can red kidney beans, drained
• 1 1/2 pounds bucatini or spaghetti (I used wheat spaghetti - trying to make it a little healthier!)

Toppings-

• Finley chopped raw white, red or green onions (I used white.)
• Shredded cheddar cheese (I used white cheddar. And I used a fresh blog of cheese and used my food processor to shred it for me. So much more moist that way! I highly recommend that!)
• Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese  (I also used a fresh block of cheese, and I hand grated it over the dish.)
• Pickled jalapeño slices (I only put those on my boyfriend's, I'm not a big jalapeno person!)
• Cilantro or parsley, chopped (I used Cilantro.)

Recipe-

Cincinnati Chili.

• Heat EVOO in large soup pot over medium-high heat, add bacon and crisp, then add beef and brown well. Add onions, garlic, jalapeño peppers, chili powder, cocoa powder, paprika, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, oregano and Worcestershire. 
• Cook until onions are tender, about 10 minutes. Add tomato paste, stir a minute. Add stock, tomato sauce, crushed or diced tomatoes, and beans. Bring to a bubble, reduce heat to a simmer while partially covered for 45 minutes.
• (If you want to make this ahead of time - you could cool and store it now, just reheat when you are ready over medium heat...)
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Add the pasta once boiling, cook until the pasta is as tender as you would like. Remove one cup of the water from the pasta and add it into the spaghetti sauce. Then drain the pasta. 
• At this point you are "supposed" to put the pasta back in the hot pot, and then pour 2/3 of the sauce in with it and toss it together. Then top with the rest of the sauce and whatever toppings you want. (Onions, cheddar cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pickled jalapeño slices, Cilantro or parsley.) Instead, I put a little pasta in individual bowls, and then added the sauce, and then topped each bowl how I wanted. (That way the I could store the sauce separate from the pasta, and be able to have lots of leftovers!) By the way, you are supposed to top it more like you would chili than spaghetti... Thats why there are so many toppings.

For Rachael Ray's recipe, and a video of her making this on her show, click here!

It is a great spaghetti recipe! But what is spaghetti without garlic bread, right? Well, I didn't want to eat garlic bread- well, actually I did, but I knew that wouldn't be very good for me! So I made up my own extremely yummy substitute. And I loved it! Now it is going to be house staple for sure! This is quite healthy, and just magical!

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower - By McKenna Medley -

Ingredients-

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower.

• 2 heads of cauliflower
• 1/4 cup of olive oil (maybe slightly over 1/4 cup)
• Salt and pepper (approx 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. But I just eyed it...)
• Garlic! Approx 3-4 garlic cloves, depending on the size. 

Recipe-

• Heat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. 
• Wash the heads of cauliflower, and break it apart into much smaller pieces. You should have quite a big pile of cauliflower when you are done. And you don't want them to be too big of chunks, it will take longer to cook, and won't be as flavorful.
• In a large bowl, pour in the olive oil, then add the salt and pepper. Then I used a garlic press to get the cloves of garlic smashed, and then added them to the oil. Mix it all together.
• Add the cauliflower into the bowl, and mix it around until all the pieces are covered well. 
• Get out a baking sheet and cover it in parchment paper. (I'm sure other options could be used, but I used parchment.) Then spread out the cauliflower on the baking sheet. Put it into the oven.
• I baked it on convection, and my oven usually cooks fast. But I let it cook for 20 minutes, and then I took it out and mixed it up a bit, then I let it cook about another 20 minutes. But just cook until they are kinda crispy and starting to burn in spots. 

They will be like delish little garlic breads, but in a way different, and in my opinion better. (Maybe just better because I don't feel as bad eating them, but still they are awesome!) They should be crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. (Some might be soggy. I had that problem toward the middle of my pan, but even the soggier ones were so yummy!)

I hope you try the recipes! They made for a wonderful meal at home for us tonight. And I am positive I will be making more of the Roasted Garlic Cauliflower in the near future! A lot more of it...