Alliteration What?

This dish will surely have you seeing green-- in a good way. This dish brought to you by the letter P.

Pasta, Pesto and Peas
From Food Network - Ina Garten

Ingredients:
3/4 pound fusilli pasta
3/4 pound bow tie pasta
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 1/2 cups pesto
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/4 cups good mayonnaise
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, defrosted
1/3 cup pignoli (pine nuts)
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:
1. Cook the fusilli and bow ties separately in a large pot of boiling salted water for 10 to 12 minutes until each pasta is al dente. Drain and toss into a bowl with the olive oil. Cool to room temperature.

2. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, puree the pesto, spinach, and lemon juice. Add the mayonnaise and puree. Add the pesto mixture to the cooled pasta and then add the Parmesan, peas, pignoli, salt, and pepper. Mix well, season to taste, and serve at room temperature.

Tine's Notes: I used elbow macaroni and rotini as my two pastas. Left out spinach and pine nuts (those suckers are expensive!). I had a jar of pesto sauce patiently waiting to be used and now have about 1/4 of it left over. Have you turned green yet?

Bu- boo- Bolognese!

After a friend introduced me to The Pioneer Woman, I've been hooked. You will be too if you have yet to check out her site. It's full of food, home, photography and randomness that I LOVE. I envy her lodge kitchen T  H  I  S much. Maybe more.

Perusing her site will easily suck hours out of my life. Finding this recipe during one of those time warps was definitely worth it.

Entered as Bolognese Sauce in my recipe collection-- it's Pastor Ryan's Bolognese Sauce if you want to get technical. I just know it's dee-li-shous. Look at it, how could it not?


Ingredients:
½ cups Olive Oil
1-½ cup Grated Carrots
1 whole Large Red Onion, Diced
2 pounds Ground Beef
2 Tablespoons Dried Oregano
2 Tablespoons Dried Basil Flakes
1 can (6 Ounce) Tomato Paste
5 cloves Garlic, Minced
1 cup (to 2 Cups) Red Wine
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire
2 cans (28 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes
1 cup Milk
Salt And Pepper, to taste
Fresh Parmesan Cheese

Cooking:
1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or skillet over medium heat. Add grated carrots and onions and cook for a few minutes. Make a well in the center of the mixture, and then add in the ground beef. Cook for a few minutes until brown, gradually stirring it into the carrot mixture.

2. Throw in oregano and basil. Use fresh if you have it; if you don’t, it’s fine. When the meat is browned and combined with other ingredients, make another well. Add tomato paste and let it heat. Add garlic and stir to combine.

3. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add red wine. Stir together. Add Worcestershire and stir. Add canned tomatoes. Finally, pour in milk, stir, and let simmer for 30 minutes to 2 hours—however long you need.

4. Serve with pasta and a generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Yields: 8 servings

Tine's Notes: I pretty much followed the recipe exactly. I used dried oregano and basil-- so fragrant! The only major change I made was to use only 1 can of whole tomatoes and 2 quartered fresh roma tomatoes. Also added a dash of sugar to balance out the acidity. Served on whole wheat rotini with grated Pecorino Romano. YUM YUM YUM