Sun-dried tomato pesto with chicken

Sun-dried tomato pesto is wonderful. I eat it for lunch with fresh noodles frequently. If you delete the chicken from the recipe below, the pesto can be used on noodles as a primo course (first), as spreads on crostini (toasted thin bread), fish, etc. I have added the chicken to make this a main course. You can substitute Italian sausage for the chicken also (about 6 links, cut) for a main course.

Ingredients (5 servings):

    * 1 pound – fresh pasta (penne if you can find it fresh)
    * 3 – skinless, boneless chicken breasts
    * 2 bottles (7 ounces each) – sundried tomatoes, oil drained
    * 5 ounces – parmesan cheese
    * ¼ cup – fresh basil (washed and packed in the cup)
    * 3 tablespoons – pine nuts
    * 6 cloves – garlic
    * ¾ cup – extra virgin olive oil
    * Salt and pepper to taste


Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Meanwhile, boil a few quarts of water in a pot with salt and cook the penne (fresh pasta should only take a few minutes). While you are waiting for the water to boil, rinse the chicken breasts and remove any fat. Place in a baking dish and cook in oven until brown and well done (about 30 to 40 minutes). Turn oven off once the breasts are finished but do not remove until you have completed cooking the pasta.

Combine the sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan cheese, basil, pine nuts, garlic, and olive oil in a food processor and blend until well mixed (see photo - can be refrigerated for up to two weeks, covered).

Basil, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan, and sun-dried tomatoes

Sun-dried tomato pesto

When the pasta is finished, set aside ½ cup water from the boiling pot, and then drain the pasta well. Place the pasta back into the cooking pot, add the sun-dried tomato pesto and mix well.

Sun-dried tomato pesto with chicken in the pan

Remove the chicken from the oven and dice. Add the chicken along with salt and pepper and the ½ cup pasta water. Cook on medium high heat while mixing until it is hot enough to serve.

Voila!

Bon appétit

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Italian special Manicotti

Manicotti is sometimes used interchangeably with cannelloni, but there is a difference (see my cannelloni recipe). The major difference is that cannelloni is made from pasta sheets that are rolled and manicotti is made from pre-shaped noodles that are stuffed. I also bake my manicotti which is not always done.


Ingredients (6 servings):



    * 14 – manicotti pasta shells (about 8 ounces) – these can be purchased in the store (I typically use Ronzoni but there are other brands that are as good).
    * 2 cups – ricotta cheese
    * 3 cups – mozzarella cheese, grated
    * 1 cup – Parmesan cheese, grated
    * 2 cups – cottage cheese
    * 2 – eggs
    * 1 tablespoon – fresh Italian parsley, chopped
    * ¼ teaspoon – salt
    * ¼ teaspoon – pepper
    * ¼ teaspoon – nutmeg
    * Botticelli's rich Italian tomato sauce (as much as desired)


Preparation:



Cook pasta in boiling salted water as prescribed in the directions on the box. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the ricotta, half of the mozzarella, ¼ cup Parmesan, and cottage cheeses together along with the eggs, parsley, salt and pepper, and nutmeg in a large bowl.



The ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, and cottage cheeses, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper, and nutmeg.


Once the pasta tubes are done cooking, pour into a colander and run cool water over them. Let them sit for a few minutes to allow the pasta to cool and the water to drain. Stuff the pasta tubes after they have cooled with the cheese mixture and place in a baking dish (I use a 10 x 14 x 3 inch dish) to form a single layer (see the photo).



stuffing pasta.



Layer of stuffed noodles.


Top the pasta with Botticelli's rich Italian tomato sauce. I like to make sure all the pasta is covered with sauce, but you can use as much or little of the sauce as desired. I then add the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese to the top and bake for 35 minutes (I like to see the cheese on the top start to brown.

Enjoy!

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Napolitano Cannelloni: Italian dish

Napolitano Cannelloni is a spectacular dish with a deep rich tomato sauce over thin noodles stuffed with cheeses, egg, and prosciutto. I will discuss making noodle dough, mozzarella, and prosciutto in other articles, but even with store-bought ingredients, the dish will be a sensation. One of the ingredients, prosciutto, literally means ham in Italian. But in English, it refers to the cured, dried, and spiced ham found in most supermarket delis which the Italians refer to as prosciutto crudo meaning raw.


Ingredients (serves 6):



    * 12 oz ricotta cheese
    * 2 large eggs
    * 8 oz mozzarella cheese (fresh!) cubed
    * 4 oz prosciutto, chopped
    * 4 oz parmesan cheese grated Ragù finto tomato meat sauce – make what is called for in the recipe.
    * Egg pasta – if you make it yourself, you should make 14 - 4" x 6" rectangles of thin dough. See my homemade pasta. If you use my recipe make sure you make the dough thinner than suggested in the recipe (one notch). You can also buy the manicotti shells found in most supermarkets. Fresh dough is out of this world, and I always recommend it.
    * Fresh basil


Mixing



In a large bowl mix the eggs and ricotta cheese until it is creamy. Add the mozzarella, prosciutto, parmesan, and one tablespoon Ragù finto sauce then mix.


Eggs and ricotta


Pasta and Cannelloni


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. The pasta should be cooked in salted water al dente. Once the rectangular pasta has cooked (rinse with water to cool), place on a clean cloth. Disperse the cheese mixture evenly among the 14 pasta rectangles and roll each up (leave the ends open). I use a 10" x 14" glass baking dish and spread generous amounts of the tomato sauce on the bottom before I lay the pasta in the dish. The cannelloni should be in one layer. Use the rest of the tomato sauce on top of the cannelloni along with some grated parmesan cheese if you choose. Cover and bake for 15 minutes and then uncover and continue to bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the sauce is browned. Garnish with basil and serve.

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Ideal Easy Italian Recipe For Your Party

For parties and gatherings, there are easy Italian recipes you can prepare. These are easy to prepare in a very short time. Impress your guests with the secret of your easy to prepare Italian dinner recipe.Many love Italian food. It is rich with mixtures of delicious meat and sauce. If you decide on having a party, you can serve Italian dinner not having to spend so much time to prepare one. There are many easy Italian dinner recipes ideal for any party or gathering.

An Italian dinner will surely impress your guests and satisfy their appetite. To have an idea, here are the details on how to make your Italian dinner party enjoyable to everyone.Italian dinner usually starts with a fine wine. It can be a Martini or Negroni combined with lemon and a cube of ice. You can serve Limoncello after dinner. Italians believe that this is good for digestion.

For the main dish, here are some easy Italian recipes which you can prepare to complete your Italian party.

Bruschetta Recipe

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds of ripe Roma tomatoes
2 tablespoons red onions finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
3 tablespoon of virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan shavings
Toasted crusty bread
Slice the tomatoes into half and squeeze the seeds out. Cut into cubes and put it into a bowl. Mix other ingredients such as garlic, onions, vinegar, basil, salt, pepper and olive oil. Leave it for at least an hour in room temperature. Prepare the toasted bread and apply some olive oil on it. Scoop the tomato mixture all over the bread and sprinkle it with the Parmesan cheese. It is ready to serve.

Baked Ziti with Sausage
Ingredients:
1 diced large onion
6 cloves of garlic
1.5 lbs of spicy Italian sausage
Salt
Pepper
¼ cup of dry red wine
1 can of chopped tomatoes including the juice
4 diced tomatoes
¼ cup of chopped fresh oregano
1 cup of ricotta cheese
¾ of grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup of flat leaf parsley chopped into small pieces
1 pound dry ziti pasta which is cooked to al dente
1 pound mozzarella cheese which is diced
Olive oil
Preheat the oven to 425o F. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Sauté the onion in oil until it is soft. Put in the sausage and garlic. Wait for the sausage to turn brown. Add salt and pepper to make it tasty. Remove the excess fat and heat again. Mix the red wine and boil.
Next, add the tomatoes with juice. Let it simmer for about 9 minutes. Allow the sauce to get thick then you can add the oregano.

Mix the parsley together with half parmesan and ricotta in a bowl. Add some salt and pepper.

Combine the cooked pasta and the ricotta mixture. Add the sauce and sausage. Mix and combine with mozzarella. Pour it into large baking dish which is greased. Use the excess parmesan and thoroughly sprinkle. Bake it without the cover until it bubbles and colored light brown. Now you can serve it.

There are a lot more varieties of easy dinner recipe products available. It will be sure hit to your guests.

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Basic Ingredients for Italian Recipes

So you decided you're going to start doing some more Italian cooking. You found a great database of Italian recipes and you're excited about wading into the world of pasta, pesto and parmagiana.It would be helpful to have on hand some staple ingredients that are found in a lot of Italian cooking. That way, you'll be able to get your fix of Italian food any day, without extensive grocery shopping. Let's look at some of them!

Garlic: It may sound like a cliché, but this humble bulb has a place in just about all-Italian cooking. Keep it in a cool, dry place such as a root cellar or pantry. When buying garlic, look for bulbs with no dark discoloration on the bottom. This may indicate age or molding.Tomato sauce: Don't go expensive here. The house brand at your local grocer and the national brands will be impossible to tell apart if you put them in a bowl. Avoid the "preseasoned" blends, as you'll be adding your own herbs and spices to your recipe.

Pasta: Don't buy a huge amount of any one specific noodle. Rather, keep a small amount of the most common types, such as spaghetti, linguine, elbow macaroni, small and large shells and wide egg noodles. For storage, it helps if you can keep long noodles in a long container. Most plastic ware makers have a "pasta keeper" of some sort available.

Parmesan cheese: While it may not always be an ingredient, freshly ground Parmesan is almost always a welcome addition on top of a pasta dish. Kraft has a new "fresh shreds" product with a block of cheese in a container with its own grater. It works very well, and the price is not exorbitant.

Olive oil: One mistake many Italian-food rookies make is using expensive extra-virgin olive oil for things like pan-frying. Use standard olive oil, which will be yellow in color and as much as 50 percent cheaper, for these purposes. You'll still get all the health benefits!Keep your pantry properly stocked, and you'll be prepared to cook any Italian recipes you wish!

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