Braised Spare Ribs with Pasta

It's great to be back to No Free Lunch! I'll mainly blame my absence on a particularly busy time at work, plus caring for a baby at home. The other reason is that we've had to go dairy and soy free, at least for the time being. This threw a huge wrench in the works for my cooking, as long time readers will know my love for both cheese and various fermented soy bean products. This has left me in a bit of a rut, cooking-wise, and a lot of our old standbys have gone out the window. Recently, I've developed this dairy and soy free braised spare ribs recipe. It's loosely inspired by Mark Bittman's simple braised ribs recipes featured his book, Mark Bittman's Kitchen Matrix. This is where I got the idea to have ribs with pasta. It's a winning combination, and I don't miss the dairy too much here.

Adding some umami-rich ingredients to braises is an idea that's been floating around the internet for a while (Kenji was an early proponent on Serious Eats). Soy sauce and parmesan rinds are usually my go-to choices, exemplified by my chicken and mushroom pasta from a few years ago. Although soy sauce isn't in that recipe, I have subsequently included some mushroom-flavored dark soy sauce. Since we've had to give up both soy and dairy, I've turned to tomato paste and anchovies for this recipe. I also love some acidity in this type of dish, and include the usual splash of vinegar. If you don't have to omit dairy, I couldn't fault adding some grated parmesan at the table, but we did not do that, of course.

The other benefit of braised ribs is that they are an ideal food for a baby! We have been introducing Shayna to food using baby-led weaning, where we let her explore food on her own rather than feeding her purees. Early on, babies need food with a long shape to grab onto, and ribs provide this with a built-in handle. She's taken to them like a star!

Zucchini Pasta

This zucchini pasta recipe is loosely based on one found in Kathleen Flinn's The Kitchen Counter Cooking School. We got the book as a gift about a decade ago, and reading it back then had a major influence on my cooking. For one thing, it got me to switch to the "pinch" knife grip used by professional chefs. The book details Flinn's experience teaching cooking classes to a group of novice cooks. While I don't agree with everything in it, it's a good read for anyone who wants to get more creative in the kitchen. Rereading the book during the pandemic reminded me of an intriguing pasta dish that Flinn used to teach her students basic knife skills.

The basic concept is simple: cook zucchini for a long time, until it breaks down and becomes part of the sauce for the pasta. In principle, it's not far from my own crab pasta. Flinn's recipe uses a huge amount of zucchini relative to the pasta, which I've rebalanced. I also add some garlic, onions, and sausage to make it a complete, self-contained meal. The sausage I used for this dish are from Costco and are a staple in our house. They are fully cooked and easily frozen and reheated in a convection oven to add some meat to a meal with little effort. You can, of course, use any sausage you like, or none at all. Some fresh basil from the garden completes the dish, but can be left out if unavailable.

Ham Pasta

Comfort foods and family favorites have always been a major part of No Free Lunch. I've featured quite a few of my childhood favorites, like klub, hotdish, and chow fun, but this one comes from Ariel. It was a staple of her family and has been part of our rotation for years. Although I typically do most of our cooking, she's stepped up lately with how busy I've been. This recipe has been an invaluable go-to dinner for us. It's quick and easy, and perfect for a busy weeknight.

What we call "ham pasta" is a variant of an American-style pasta alla carbonara, which adds cream and vegetables to the Italian classic. This is a great example of how foods change and evolve as they move around the world. There's definitely room for both versions. I've actually only made this dish once, and it didn't exactly go over well when I substituted the ham for turkey ham. That being said, this recipe is pretty loose and most of the amounts listed here can be adjusted to taste. 

Crab Pasta

With the start of the academic year quickly approaching, this highly productive period of blogs will likely slow down. I still hope to keep it up as much as I can, and make 2020 the biggest year in the history of No Free Lunch. I am especially glad to feature today's dish, which has been a staple in our house for the last few years. I've been making what we simply call "crab pasta" for a while, but held off on posting a recipe because it's something I generally make by feel with no measuring. Previous attempts to codify it resulted in me overthinking it and producing a substandard result. After a few tries, I've finally dialed it in. Crab pasta is a quick and easy meal that can easily slot in as a weeknight dinner. All the ingredients hold up well in the refrigerator or pantry, so it's also good food for our strange times.

Crab pasta is entirely my own invention, but it was loosely inspired by the classic Neapolitan dish pasta aglio e olio. This is a simple pasta consisting of spaghetti in a sauce made with garlic, olive oil, and the starchy water from the pasta. It was famously featured in the 2014 film Chef, which I heartily recommend for anyone interested in cooking. In Italy, many traditional pasta dishes are meatless, intended to be served separately to a meat course. For me, at home, I usually only want to make one thing, so I added imitation crab to the mix to have the pasta stand on its own as a main dish.

Imitation crab (also known as "krab") is a highly underrated ingredient, and is used in another one of my favorites, crab salad. This pasta also works fine with shrimp and would probably work with real crab, as well, though I haven't tried that myself. You could get away without the fresh herbs, but I think they are important for the color contrast and adding another flavor dimension. Chives are a great choice, as are Chinese chives, if you can get them. Since our Italian parsley plants are thriving, while our chives aren't (possibly due to being covered up by a huge squash plant), I used that this time. This recipe is designed to use a full box (1 lb.) of pasta, and makes enough for us to have dinner and then lunch the next day with the leftovers. This does require quite a large pan to make, but it's easily scaled down to use half a box, if desired.

Upgrade: Ragù alla Bolognese

I've previously posted two recipes in the category of meat sauces: a quick one from all the way back in 2012 and a recreation of Dad's late '70s version in 2015. This time, I'm going back to the roots of the style. Ragù alla bolognese is perhaps the most famous of all meat sauces. The dish originates in the northern Italian city of Bologna. It's a classic with a long history, so I did quite a bit of research ahead of time. The version in The Silver Spoon (Il cucchiaio d'argento - sort of Italy's answer to The Joy of Cooking) is a very traditional and simple take: just mirepoix, ground meat, tomato paste, and water. Traditional bolognese lacks any garlic or herbs and has relatively little tomato content. This is contrary to how I typically construct a quick pasta sauce. Instead, bolognese is all about showcasing the meat, which it does very well. There is so much flavor here, I didn't find myself missing those familiar standbys. 

I also consulted some more modern interpretations, including those of Kenji, Marcella Hazan (Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking), and a few others I found online. I constructed my version to respect the traditional version as much as possible, so I am keeping herbs and tomatoes to a minimum and also leaving garlic out. At the same time, I am including some of the more common ingredients that show up recipes I have found. Pancetta is a common addition, which I have switched out for the more affordable and accessible regular bacon. White wine, milk, and chicken stock provide the cooking liquid. The cheese rinds are my personal addition to give a little flavor boost during cooking. 

I conceived of this recipe very much in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Using a full four pounds of meat, it produces a lot of sauce. I froze most of it in bags to pull out for easy meals later. In the spirit of corona cuisine, this recipe would be highly adaptable to adjustments in the specifics. For the meat, feel free to experiment with more pork or something more interesting, like lamb or bison. Traditionally, the pasta of choice is fresh tagliatelle, but that's going to have to wait for the upgrade to the upgrade. I used rigatoni, a choice Marcella Hazan calls "irreproachable." Good enough for me!

Upgrade: White Macaroni Hotdish

Hotdish is one of the iconic dishes of the Upper Midwest, particularly associated with Minnesota. Church cookbooks are full of them, and many families have their own house recipes. My family has two, both macaroni-based styles, which we refer to as "red" and "white." This also gives you a convenient wine pairing. The red kind uses tomato soup, and comes from my maternal grandmother. The white kind, which was one of my earliest posts, comes from my paternal grandparents. Although we lost all three of them in the last few years, their legacy lives on through traditions like these. Today, I'm revisiting the white hotdish to how I make it now, a better version than could muster at the tender age of 23. To this day, it is still one of my top comfort foods, and I'll be making it for years to come.

There is a lot of variation in what can go in a hotdish. In Molly on the Range, Molly Yeh gives a four-part breakdown of creamed soup, vegetables, meat, and starch. Yet, with the exception of starch (I think), all of these are negotiable. Her own tater tot hotdish eschews the soup for a homemade mix of milk and stock, while my family's red hotdish uses tomato soup. I've even winged it with just canned tomatoes. My original recipe for this hotdish had no vegetables (just mushrooms), though I now include onions. You could easily replace the meat with more mushrooms to make a vegetarian version. Starches vary greatly, and can include pasta, rice, wild rice, potatoes, or even crushed crackers. The starch component is what holds the dish together and turns a soupy mess into a hotdish. Thinking about this basic formula, shepherd's pie might be the proto-hotdish. The Jewish noodle kugel, Italian lasagna, and Greek pastitsio are certainly cousins, at the very least.

The biggest difference between this version and my original is the scale. This recipe is designed to use a full one-pound box of macaroni, which I wouldn't have done back when I lived alone. With two of us, I like making it bigger so we can have leftovers for a few days of quick lunches. Although I've scaled up the overall size, I've left the amount of meat at one pound of mixed beef and pork, which corrects the overly meaty balance. Adding onions and more mushrooms gives the whole thing a little more variation. For the topping, I use a mixture of grated Swiss and Parmesan and some breadcrumbs for a little crunch. The Swiss is just a basic supermarket block, as the subtlety of gruyère is kind of lost on this dish. That said, I still prefer real Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano for this, which will give you a little nuttiness. Cooking at a high temperature for 45 minutes leads to a soft interior and crisp crust.

Let's talk about the soup. I had actually meant to get this post out several weeks ago, but messed up the recipe by not using enough soup. This hotdish should be creamy and gooey, and the macaroni should be well-coated before baking. I found a giant 26 oz. can, which is about what you need to adequately coat the full pound of pasta here. A regular-sized can then forms the base for the topping, making for a total of 36.5 oz. of soup. I'm not sure the full can was needed at the end, but it doesn't hurt and I wasn't going to save a half can of soup. If you only have three regular cans instead, the total amount will be 31.5 oz. This leaves about a half can for the topping, which should work fine.

Braised Chicken and Mushroom Pasta

We'll return to San Diego shortly, but in the meantime let's dive into some more chicken. Like so many of our family favorite recipes, this one happened by accident. A few weeks ago, Ariel was on her way home from a work trip and it was up to me to have dinner ready when she arrived. I had some chicken and not a lot else. I was thinking about making chicken chasseur again, but didn't have any tomatoes. What I did find was a jar of mixed dried mushrooms. These have a ton of flavor and are a great thing to have on hand. This particular jar came from World Market. The dish came together beautifully, and this is my best attempt to recreate it. 

This recipe utilizes one of my favorite tricks, which I haven't featured on the blog before. I got the idea of using Parmesan rinds in soups and braises from Kenji's "Tuscan" bean soup recipe, which imparts some extra flavor as the sauce cooks. Every time I buy a wedge of Parmesan, I cut the rinds off and freeze them so they are ready to go any time. Similarly, whenever I use chicken thighs, I trim off the excess skin and save it to make schmaltz. Whenever I use shrimp, I save the shells to make soup. There's flavor hiding in these scraps - don't throw them away!

One last note: this is the first post using our beautiful new dishes from our wedding registry! The color is a nice contrast for this decidedly brown dish.

Ingredients

• 4-6 chicken thighs
• 1 large onion, sliced into strips
• 5 cloves garlic (adjust to taste), minced
• 2 Tbs flour
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup (about 50 g) dried mushrooms (I used a mix of oyster, shiitake, porcini, and black trumpet)
• 4 inch piece (about 50 g) Parmesan rinds
• 1 lb dry pasta
• Olive oil
• Salt and black pepper

Instructions

Trim excess skin from chicken and season both sides with salt and pepper. In a large sauté pan or similar vessel, heat a little olive oil on medium-high heat. Cook the chicken, starting skin side down, until browned on both sides and the skin has rendered. Remove chicken and set aside, but do not drain the pan.

Drop heat to medium and add the sliced onion to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until softened. 

Add garlic, stir together, and cook another minute. Add the flour, stir together, and cook another minute. Deglaze the plan with wine, scraping up the bottom of the pan. Reduce briefly, then add the chicken stock. Stir in the oregano, bay leaf, mushrooms, and Parmesan rinds. Place the chicken back in the pan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cover. Simmer for about 40 minutes. 

While the chicken cooks, cook the pasta. You can undercook it a bit, as it will finish in the sauce. When the chicken is done, remove from the pan and set aside. Turn the heat up to high and reduce to desired thickness, about 5 minutes. For the last minute, add the pasta to the pan and toss until well coated. 

Serve with grated Parmesan and bread.

Poulet Chasseur, Provençal Style

Bonne fête, everyone, or as we say here in the USA, happy Bastille Day! With all the wedding planning going on, July 14 kind of sneaked up on me. This morning, I grabbed Essential Pepin and Julia Child's The Way to Cook and got to work. When I recently posted my chicken with bell peppers recipe, I commented that chicken is a real workhorse in a busy person's home. With a little French technique, it's easy and inexpensive to turn a few pieces of chicken into a nice dinner. Pepin, in particular, seems to be a master of the humble chicken. 

While in the past, I've tended to recreate some classic French dish for Bastille Day, I went with something of my own creation this time, loosely based on my reading from this morning. Julia Child writes that the Provençal style involves olive oil, tomatoes, and garlic. Since Provence is located in southeastern France, next to Italy, this makes a lot of sense. Since Ariel is a huge fan of mushrooms, I decided to add these, as well, positioning my dish as a tomato-forward variant of poulet chasseur, or "hunter's chicken." Interestingly, other countries also have dishes with the "hunter" label, including Italy's chicken cacciatore and Germany's jägerschnitzel, which I covered last year. I chose to serve it with cavatappi pasta, Ariel's favorite, but rice, potatoes, or any other kind of pasta would work well. As a side, we had sautéed string beans from our farm share.

To add a little French revolutionary history, chasseur was the name given to the light troops in Napoleon's army, who served as scouts and skirmishers. The chasseurs à cheval were one of the most distinguished regiments in the Garde Impériale, and the emperor himself was known to wear their uniform on campaign.

Ingredients

• 6 chicken thighs
• 1 onion, diced (about 1/2 lb.)
• 1 lb. mushrooms, sliced
• 6-8 cloves garlic, grated or minced (dependent on size)
• 1 Tbs flour
• 2/3 c dry white wine
• 1 28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
• 2 tsp Herbes de Provence
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 lb. pasta (optional)

Instructions

Dice the onion, rinse and slice the mushrooms, and grate the garlic ahead of time. Gently break up the tomatoes with fingers. 

In a large sauté pan, heat some olive oil on medium-high heat. Pat the chicken dry and season both sides with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the pan, skin side down, and cook until the skin is crisp and releases easily from the pan. Flip over and cook a few more minutes, until lightly browned. 

Chicken after flipping

Set the chicken aside (it will not be fully cooked yet) on a plate. Turn the heat to medium and add the onion and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and sauté a few minutes, until softened. Add the flour and garlic. Stir well and cook a few more minutes. This will form the base of the sauce. Add the wine and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and cook down briefly. Add the tomatoes, their juice, and the herbes de Provence. Bring to a boil and reduce to thicken for about 5 more minutes. (Note: I forgot to do this, and reduced at the end. This is fine, too).

Ready to simmer

Return the chicken to the pan. Cover and reduce to a simmer. Simmer until the chicken is fully cooked, about 20 minutes. If serving with pasta, now is the time to cook it, timing according to how long it takes to cook.

To assemble a portion, place a layer of pasta, dish out some sauce, making sure to get a good mix of tomatoes and mushrooms, and add a piece of chicken on top.

Sam's Spaghetti

Happy Halloween and a happy birthday to my father, Sam. Today, I am pleased to present one of his original creations, a historical recipe from his younger days. In the late 1970s, he was working in his first job out of college. His colleague, Dan, asked if he had a spaghetti sauce recipe, and he came up with something on the fly, and likely forgot all about it. Soon after, both he and Dan had moved on from the company. Decades later, they reconnected, and he learned that "Sam's spaghetti," as it was now known, had become a beloved family tradition. To this day, Dan's (now adult) sons still ask for it.

The sauce itself is quite thick, and a deep red. Using tomato paste is an interesting choice, and gives the sauce a real intensity compared with my usual sauces with crushed tomato as a base (see beef ragù and fettuccine in tomato sauce). This sauce is certainly of the "old school" of Italian-American cookery, but continues to be delicious nearly forty years after its inception.

This version is slightly edited from the one provided by Dan. The original uses "3 mushrooms," but I brought this up a little to use an 8 oz. package. I used my own mixture of herbs rather than the recommended Italian seasoning, which I do not have. Finally, it can be useful to save a little pasta water to thin the sauce to your desired consistency.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, diced
• 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 12 oz. tomato paste (1 large can)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cooked pasta (reserve some of the cooking water)

Instructions

In a large saute pan, heat a bit of olive oil on medium high heat. Add onions and mushrooms and cook until softened. Remove from pan and set aside.

Season the beef with salt and pepper. Add to the pan with the garlic. Add more oil if needed. Turn heat up to high and cook until the beef is browned. Deglaze the pan with wine. Add tomato paste, water, and herbs. Return the mushrooms and onion to the pan. Mix well and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. This will be just enough time to prepare the pasta. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper as desired. If the sauce is too thick, mix in a splash of the pasta water. Serve with grated parmesan.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Spaghetti and meatballs truly is a classic American comfort food. It's simple, hearty, and undeniably tasty. The dish is also one that lends itself to variation. I present a simple, basic sauce here that can easily be augmented with a variety of vegetables, herbs, or mushrooms. You could also spice it up with some crushed red pepper. My version here is light on sauce; adding another cup of crushed tomato will give you a saucier pasta. I've chosen to make my meatballs with equal parts ground beef, veal, and pork, and they really explode with flavor when you take a bite. It reheats very well, and I've been eating off of it for the last few days!

Ingredients

Sauce

• 1/2 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• Olive oil
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 cups crushed tomato
• Water to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste

Meatballs

• 1/2 lb ground sirloin
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1/2 lb ground veal
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• Olive oil
• 1/2 cup chicken stock

Everything Else

• 1 1/2 lb dry spaghetti
• Salted water
• Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• Chopped flat leaf parsley

Instructions

Start with the sauce. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Drizzle a little olive oil in a saucepan and heat on medium high. Saute the onions until softened and browned, adding the garlic halfway through. Add the basil, oregano, and crushed tomato, and stir. Put on a back burner and simmer while making the meatballs, about an hour. Add water to thin the sauce to your desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

For the meatballs, combine the three meats in a bowl. Add the egg, cheese, salt, and pepper. Mix together with your hands until homogeneous. Little by little, add the breadcrumbs, mixing in until integrated. Form into meatballs, no more than 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I got about 30 meatballs out of it.

Heat olive oil on medium high in a large saute pan. Brown meatballs on all sides. Add chicken stock, cover, and cook until meatballs are cooked through, just a few minutes. You can crack open a sacrificial meatball if you need to check them. Note that the chicken stock will be partially, but not completely absorbed. I made the mistake of trying to cram them all in one pan. They made it, but it's easier to brown them if you either work in batches or in a very large pan.

Be aware that a large pot of water takes time to boil, so this should be started early. Boil a pot of salted water, and cook the spaghetti for about 9 minutes. Drain and transfer to large serving dish. Cover with meatballs and pour the sauce over. Serve with grated Parmiggiano, chopped parsley, and a red checkered tablecloth.

Fettuccine in Tomato Sauce

This recipe is an illustration of how the same classic techniques and ingredients can make completely different dishes. Last week, I used a mirepoix to form the base of the sauce for a lamb shank. Here, I've created a classic, simple tomato sauce. I think the ratio of sauce to pasta is important. There's just enough here to lightly coat the fettuccine, rather than have it swimming in sauce. The sauteed vegetables give the dish  texture. Note also that when I make tomato sauce, I always prefer to use crushed tomatoes or chopped tomatoes, rather than tomato paste. This will give you a lighter, runnier sauce than the intense tomato paste. You can leave the dish as a simple and elegant pasta course, or you can make a meal of it by adding some Italian sausage, some pan-seared ham, or whatever meat you like.

Ingredients

• 1/2 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 carrots
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 cups crushed tomatoes
• Dried oregano
• Salt and pepper
• 3/4 pound dry fettuccine
• Fresh flat leaf parsley
• Crumbled Parmiggiano-Reggiano

Instructions
 

We'll start by preparing the mirepoix. Heat some olive oil in a saute pan, medium-high heat. Dice the onion and add to pan. Peel and dice the carrots and add. Peel, then crush or mince the garlic and add. Finally, dice the celery and add this as well. Thrown in some oregano. Cook everything, tossing frequently, until lightly browned. 

Add the crushed tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Make sure to taste the sauce as you go along.

Cook the pasta in the usual way, 10 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain, rinse. Once the sauce is done, pour it into the pot with the pasta. Toss well to coat over heat for a few minutes. Serve with parsley and crumbled Parmiggiano.

Baked Penne Mornay

Pasta and cheese. What's not to love? The idea behind this type of dish is a sort of classed-up mac and cheese. I was originally inspired to try a recipe like this when I saw something similar on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. My version isn't quite as extravagant, and I've added Italian sausage. The recipe for the cheese sauce is derived from one found in The Joy of Cooking, but with more cheese.

Ingredients

Pasta

• 2 1/2 cups dry penne pasta
• 3 links Italian sausage
• 2 tbs half and half
• Extra Parmiggiano-Reggiano

Sauce

• 2 tbs butter
• 2 tbs flour
• 1 1/4 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup grated Emmentaler
• 1/4 cup grated Parmiggiano-Reggiano
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Get some salted water boiling and cook the pasta for about 10 minutes. Drain, rinse, and set aside. Heat pan on medium-high. De-case the sausage. Break it up and add to the pan. Cook until well browned and set aside.

Clean out the pan. We'll now make the sauce. Melt butter on medium heat. Add flour and mix together. Cook until the roux darkens slightly. Add milk and whisk together. Simmer the sauce while grating the cheese. Add grated cheese and stir together until melted and integrated. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Combine the pasta, sauce, sausage, and half and half in a casserole dish. Mix thoroughly to coat the pasta. Cover the top with more grated Parmiggiano. Bake for 20 minutes. The top should be a little crunchy, while the interior will be creamy and cheesy.

Minnesota Hotdish

I'm going back to my roots for this one. No matter how many delicious Indiana pork tenderloins you feed me, there will always be a place in my heart and belly for hotdish. There's just something so endearing about a food that you dump a can of soup into. Comfort food at it's finest. This recipe is the perfect complement to the mushroom soup-based casserole from January. I, perhaps like many Minnesotans, am lucky to have casseroles from both sides of the family. This is a dish Mom grew up eating, and I made sure to call for some tips before making it.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups dry elbow macaroni
• 2/3 pound ground beef
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1 cup diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 can tomato soup
• 1/6 cup breadcrumbs
• Salt and pepper
• Vegetable oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Boil salted water in a pot. Cook the macaroni for 10 minutes in the boiling water.

Dice the onion. Heat some oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat. Fry the onions until soft, then add beef and season with salt and pepper. Remember, other seasonings would be so un-Minnesotan. Brown the beef. Add the diced tomatoes and tomato soup. Mix together and heat briefly.

In a casserole dish, combine the beef, onion, and tomato mixture with the macaroni. Mix thoroughly, then sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly on top. Bake for 30 minutes. If you desire a softer, gooier texture, bake longer. You may also want to broil for a few minutes to brown the breadcrumbs on top. Make sure to watch it so it doesn't get burned.

Pasta alla Carbonara

Pasta alla Carbonara is a dish you see floating around in restaurants in the U.S. quite a bit. Like many other pasta dishes (Bolognese for example), the traditional Italian version is simpler than the ones typically seen around here. The classic Carbonara features bacon, egg, cheese, and black pepper - no peas, cream, or mushrooms. In my version, I have used fettuccine instead of the usual spaghetti, and good old American bacon instead of Italian pancetta or guanciale.

Ingredients

• One box dry pasta (3/4 - 1 pound)
• 4 strips thick cut bacon
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup grated Parmiggiano-Reggiano
• Black pepper
• Salt
• Olive oil

Instructions

For the pasta: Boil water in a large pot. Salt the water liberally. Boil the pasta for 8 minutes, and set aside. Save a bit of the water, too.

For everything else: Cut the bacon into strips 1/4 - 1/3 inch in width. Heat a bit of olive oil in a large pan on medium heat. Start cooking the bacon. Mince the garlic and add that after a few minutes. Cook together until the bacon gets crispy, the fat renders, and the garlic gets browned. Turn the heat up a bit if needed.

While the bacon cooks, crack the eggs into a bowl and beat into a homogeneous mixture. Grate the cheese and mix it into the beaten eggs. Add the pasta into the pan and mix thoroughly to ensure it is hot and coated with the bacon fat. Now, remove the pan from the heat. Pour the egg-cheese mixture over the pasta and mix it in. The heat leftover will cook the eggs. Generously grind pepper over the pasta. Stir everything together for another minute or two. If desired, add a little of the pasta water to thin out the sauce. Serve with a little more grated cheese and parsley.

Beef Ragù

Like many people, I ate a lot of pasta in college. It was quick and required little effort. I could just cook it in an electric water boiler and shovel some jarred sauce onto it. There is no shame in using jarred sauce, and I still do so often, but this kind of slapdash cuisine is no longer satisfying to me. It is not to hard, however, to create a tasty pasta dish just from ingredients you have in your fridge or pantry. That's what I did today with this simple beef ragù. Ragù is simply a meat-based sauce, and can get much more complex than the quick one I present today. Traditional ragù originates from the Italian cities of Naples and Bologna.

Ingredients

• 3 cups dry pasta
• 1/2 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 1/2 tsp dry basil
• 1 1/2 tsp dry oregano
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes
• Salt and pepper
• Pinch of paprika
• Parmiggiano-Reggiano
• Olive oil

Instructions

While you are preparing the ragù, you can cook the pasta. Heat a pot of salted water and boil the pasta for about 10 minutes. I used farfalle, but go with your favorite. Once finished, drain, rinse, and set aside.

Dice the onion and finely mince the garlic. Heat olive oil on medium-high in a large sauté pan. Cook the onion until softened. Add the beef and garlic and turn heat up to high. Cook until beef is browned. While the beef is cooking, make sure to break up and chunks. Add basil and oregano while beef is cooking, and mix in. Season with salt and pepper also. 

Turn the heat back to medium-high and add both the diced and crushed tomatoes. Stir to integrate and simmer for a few minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika as desired. Now, transfer the ragù into the pot with the pasta, and stir to coat. When serving, grate or crumble Parmiggiano-Reggiano over the pasta. This recipe should make about three servings.

Macaroni Casserole

I would bet there are a few dishes that transport you back to your childhood every time you eat them. This is definitely one of mine. My grandparents have been making this casserole for as long as I can remember. It's an ancient and traditional recipe they smuggled to the United States all the way from Hong Kong. I also might have made that up. This is a delicious and easy-to-make macaroni casserole that truly deserves to be passed down through the generations. I would love to hear about dishes of your childhood in the comments!

Ingredients

• 2 cups dry elbow macaroni
• 1 pound ground beef or pork
• 1 cup diced mushrooms
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup grated or crumbled hard cheese
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Garlic powder
• Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

The choice of meat is up to you. I have made it with all pork, all beef, or a mix of the two. You can also add diced ham if you like. This recipe makes a pretty meaty casserole. If you prefer less meat and more pasta, adjust accordingly.

Boil salted water in a pot. Once the water is boiling, cook the macaroni for ten minutes. Then drain and rinse the pasta. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Season the meat with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce. Heat olive oil in a frying pan and brown the meat and mushrooms. Work in batches to avoid crowding the pan. 

Once the meat, mushrooms, and macaroni are finished, mix them all together in a casserole dish. Take about 2/3 of the soup out of the can and mix it in also. Smear the rest of the soup over the top of the pasta-meat mixture. Top with cheese. You can use whatever cheese you want. This time, I used gruyère. Cheddar or Monterey Jack are other good options.

Bake the casserole for 10 minutes, then broil for about 5 minutes, until cheese becomes crispy. Handle with care, as the dish will have become very hot. Scoop out onto plates, making sure everyone gets a proper cross-section. It keeps very well in the refrigerator. Just heat it up for a few minutes in the microwave later.