Ingredient: mozzarella cheese, grated

Swedish Meatball Noodle Bake

Swedish meatballs are more than just food; they represent a piece of Swedish heritage that has found its way into kitchens and restaurants globally.

The Swedish word for meatball, ‘Kottbullar’, first appeared in print around 1754. They are traditional Swedish ‘old-world’ fare at Smorgasbords and other festive occasions. Initially Swedish meatballs were only enjoyed by upper class Swedes but the increased availability of wood stoves and meat grinders in the 1850’s made meatballs accessible to the middle class as well. In northern Scandinavian countries beef was considered a luxury item, which meant meatballs were highly prized.

The meat content can vary based on geography. In southern Sweden, they are most often a 50/50 mix of beef and pork whereas further north in Sweden 70/30 of beef to pork is typical. Likely other options would be veal, venison, lamb or moose. Size-wise, they are smaller than those of Italy or Germany, typically not larger than a golf ball or smaller than ¾-inch across.

Traditional Swedish meatballs are seasoned with a hint of nutmeg, that adds warmth and depth to the meatballs, along with allspice that complements the nutmeg as well as salt & pepper. This blend of spices gives them their distinctive flavor.

In America, Swedish meatballs were very popular in the beginning of the 20th century and again in the 1950’s-1960′. But as is with many dishes, they continue to be re-invented into new concepts such as this Swedish meatball noodle bake. They are cherished for their rich blend of flavors and are a testament to the intersection of history, culture, and cuisine.

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 Swedish Meatball Noodle Bake
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword Swedish meatball noodle bake
Servings
Ingredients
Meatballs
Sauce
Noodles
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword Swedish meatball noodle bake
Servings
Ingredients
Meatballs
Sauce
Noodles
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Meatballs
  1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with foil & spray with baking spray.
  2. In a bowl, combine all meatball ingredients & form into balls. Place on foil lined baking sheet & bake for 10 minutes or until cooked. Remove from oven & place on paper towel to drain off any excess drippings.
  3. Cook noodles until al dente. Drain & set aside.
Sauce
  1. In a saucepan, melt butter. Cook the onions & mushrooms until tender, approximately 3-5 minutes. Mix in flour & cook for one minute. Slowly whisk in the beef broth & Worcestershire sauce. Heat to simmer & cook until thickened. Reduce heat to low & add sour cream & heavy cream. Season with salt & pepper.
  2. Add the noodles, sauce & meatballs to a prepared baking dish. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until sauce is thickened & bubbling.
  3. Garnish with sliced green onion. Nice to serve with roasted cherry tomatoes on the side.
Recipe Notes
  • You will probably notice I haven't used the traditional spices (nutmeg & allspice). Brion & I love Swedish meatballs but with a different combo of spices. Feel free to use what works for you.

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf

Chicken parmesan, also known as chicken parmigiana, originated from Italian immigrants in the US in the 1950s. The original version made with eggplant was adapted to use chicken breast instead.

The dish has become a ubiquitous mainstay in Italian American cuisine. Variations exist, but the core ingredients remain the same: chicken breast, breadcrumbs, Italian seasonings, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese.

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf combines the best of both worlds—the comforting appeal of meatloaf with the irresistible flavors of Chicken Parmesan.

Meatloaf is elemental. It’s enduring, served without undue fuss or expensive implements …. comfort food without a doubt. I think an easy meatloaf recipe is something every home ‘chef’ should have in their arsenal. This particular one consists of seasoned coarsely chopped chicken thighs nestled under a zesty tomato sauce and cheese topping. I find chicken thighs make such a nice tasting option as opposed to regular ground chicken.

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 Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine Canadian
Keyword chicken parmesan meatloaf
Servings
Ingredients
Meatloaf
Topping
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Canadian
Keyword chicken parmesan meatloaf
Servings
Ingredients
Meatloaf
Topping
Votes: 1
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Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a 8 x 4-inch loaf pan with foil & spray with cooking spray.
  2. In a saucepan, sauté onion & garlic in olive oil until softened. Cool completely.
  3. In a large bowl, mix all meatloaf ingredients just until combined. Place mixture in loaf pan. Using a fork flatten then top with marinara sauce.
  4. Bake 45 minutes.
  5. Combine topping ingredients. Top meatloaf with mozzarella & bread crumb topping. Bake an additional 15 minutes or until center reaches 165 F.
  6. Cool 10 minutes before slicing.

Scalloped Potato & Beef Lasagna

There are countless variations of lasagna across Italy and beyond. Entire cookbooks have been dedicated to this beloved dish, showcasing its multifarious nature.

 Potato slices absorb sauce and moisture so using them in place of lasagna noodles is a creative twist that can yield a delicious and hearty dish.  Along with potato slices there are a variety of alternatives to traditional lasagna noodles that you can use in your recipes. From zucchini strips and eggplant slices to portobello mushrooms and butternut squash, these alternatives offer flavorful and healthy ways to enjoy the classic Italian staple.

This beef potato lasagna combines layers of tender potato slices with creamy cheese and ground beef. Nothing but pure comfort food!

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 Scalloped Potato & Beef Lasagna
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Cuisine Italian
Keyword beef potato lasagna
Servings
Ingredients
Cuisine Italian
Keyword beef potato lasagna
Servings
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a 9 x 9-inch baking dish. Set aside.
  2. Microwave washed potatoes (with skins) for a few minutes to partially cook. Slice in 1/8 -inch slices & place half of them in a layer on bottom of baking dish.
  3. In a saucepan, sauté onions & garlic in oil until soft then add beef, salt, pepper & Italian seasoning. Add a layer of the meat mixture over the layer of potatoes.
  4. In a small saucepan, melt butter then add flour. Cook for a few minutes until bubbly then add 2/3 cup milk & 23 gm parmesan cheese. With a wire whisk combine into a smooth sauce.
  5. Spoon half of the butter/cheese mixture over the ground beef. Sprinkle with half of the mozzarella cheese.
  6. Repeat with remaining ingredients, layering in the same sequence. If using the cream, pour over all.
  7. Bake for 1 hour, covered with aluminum foil. Remove the foil for the last 10 minutes. Test to be sure the potatoes are soft.
  8. Remove from oven, cool for a few minutes then sprinkle with chives.

Chicken ‘Parm’ Stuffed Garlic Bread

Chicken parmesan stuffed garlic bread, a perfect fusion of cheesy goodness and garlicky delight. It’s a scrumptious twist on the classic Italian favorite.

Chicken parmesan, also known as ‘chicken parm’, is a dish that originated in the United States from Italian immigrants. The most widely accepted theory is that chicken parm was created in the 1950s, when Italian immigrants began to adapt their traditional dishes to American ingredients and cooking methods. The dish became a popular staple in restaurants serving Italian American cuisine by the 1950s. The first recorded instance of the dish is in a 1953 recipe book called ‘The Italian Cook Book’ by Ada Boni. 

Chicken parmigiana as we know it always contains the same basic ingredients: chicken breast, often butterflied, breadcrumbs, Italian seasonings, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese. But it wasn’t always that way.  In the Old World, that’s Italy prior to the Italian diaspora, the large-scale emigration of Italians from Italy to America, proteins like chicken were not widely available. As such, the original chicken parmigiana was actually made with breaded, fried slices of eggplant in place of chicken for a dish called melanzane alla Parmigiana. This form of the dish originated in Southern Italy, where the poor soil made it difficult to raise animals for food but where enterprising — and thrifty — peasants could scratch out a living growing hardier crops like eggplant. It also thrived in the hot climate of the South.

In North America, most of the time eggplant parmesan is thought of as just the vegetarian version of an Italian American classic. However, it is actually the other way around — eggplant is the original version of this dish.

You would expect a recipe for something with the word ‘parmesan’ in its name to contain just that, but you would be wrong. The cheese most associated with this dish is mozzarella.

This recipe certainly takes chicken parm & garlic bread up a notch. Yum!

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 Chicken 'Parm' Stuffed Garlic Bread
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Course Lunch
Keyword chicken parm stuffed garlic bread
Servings
Ingredients
Roasted Chicken
Other
Garlic Bread
Course Lunch
Keyword chicken parm stuffed garlic bread
Servings
Ingredients
Roasted Chicken
Other
Garlic Bread
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Chicken
  1. Slice chicken lengthwise. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine salt, spices & oil; add chicken breast slices. Seal bag & turn to coat.
  2. Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a baking tray with foil paper.
  3. Spread chicken out evenly & bake about 45 minutes or until no longer pink inside. Don't overcook. Remove from oven, cool & chop. Set aside.
Other
  1. Cook bacon & process in food processor for a few seconds, just until a LARGE crumbly texture is reached.
  2. Grate the two different cheeses & combine. Set aside.
Garlic Bread
  1. Cook potato, mash & cool. In a small bowl, combine yeast with lukewarm water; whisk until yeast is dissolved. Let stand about 3 minutes until foamy. Add butter, minced garlic, salt, sour cream & potato; mix well.
  2. Stir in flour, one cup at a time. When dough is completely blended, turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough about 10 minutes, until smooth & elastic. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap & let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
  3. Remove risen dough from bowl, turn onto lightly floured surface; roll dough to about a 9" x 20" rectangle. Place a large piece of parchment on a sheet pan. Roll dough onto your rolling pin then unroll onto parchment paper. Place 1/2 of the cheese down the center of dough, top it with crumbled bacon, chicken & remaining cheese.
  4. Starting from the long side , bring the two sides up to meet in the center & pick dough together firmly. Fold the short ends in about 1-inch & pinch together. Using the parchment paper, roll 'baguette' over so the pinched seam side is on the bottom.
  5. Cover with plastic wrap; allow to rise for 15 minutes while preheating oven to 375 F. Brush with egg wash if preferred. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.
Serving
  1. Remove from oven & serve hot with 'pizza sauce' for dipping.

Breakfast Turkey Hashbrown Burgers

There’s something fundamentally satisfying about the textural contrast of biting through a crisp savory shell into a juicy turkey burger. It’s not like burgers needed to be reinvented, but I’m all about trying new things to see if there’s something novel and delicious to be discovered. 

Breakfast can be many things to many people. Hash browns come in many shapes and sizes. They can be prepared in various ways. Some consider it the ultimate breakfast food that needs to be served with eggs.

Brion has always enjoyed hashbrowns, not the diced, fried to a crisp in a deep fryer kind, but the nice shredded, golden kind. My inventions for new culinary techniques that revolutionize the way we eat usually happen in the middle of the night during a bout of insomnia. But all it takes is a quick Internet search to reveal that I’m far from the first person to have invented the cookery method, and hundreds of recipes already exist. Nevertheless, this idea for an interesting breakfast is a good example of that.

I crusted the turkey burgers with some shredded potatoes, so when they cook and get crispy, they act as a barrier that locks in all the juices.  The roasted tomatoes add a nice little garnish to the burgers.  I topped the burgers with poached eggs, because when you cut into it, the velvety, creamy yolk pours out onto the burger and acts as a sauce…and what goes better with potatoes than eggs, right?  So, there you have it …. crispy, golden hashbrowns, meat, eggs & tomatoes …. what a breakfast!

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 Breakfast Turkey Hashbrown Burgers
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Course Brunch
Cuisine American
Keyword turkey hashbrown burgers
Servings
Ingredients
Spicy Hashbrowns
Turkey Burgers
Other Ingredients
Course Brunch
Cuisine American
Keyword turkey hashbrown burgers
Servings
Ingredients
Spicy Hashbrowns
Turkey Burgers
Other Ingredients
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Hashbrowns
  1. Thaw shredded hashbrowns on paper towel. In a bowl, place the flour, cheese, egg, onion, garlic, coriander, smoked paprika, salt & pepper. Add 'dried' shredded hashbrowns. Using a fork, mix everything until combined being careful not to break up the hashbrowns. Set aside until burgers are ready to be coated with the mixture.
Turkey Burgers
  1. In a bowl, combine burger ingredients & divide into 4 equal portions. Form into burger patties. Coat burgers with hashbrown mixture, gently pressing coating down to make sure it adheres well.
Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
  1. In a small bowl, place cherry tomatoes & add some Italian dressing to coat. Place on a foil lined baking dish.
Cooking
  1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
  2. In a skillet, heat 1 Tbsp EACH butter & olive oil. Carefully place hashbrown burgers in skillet & cook burgers on each side only until they are a golden brown. Remove to a baking pan & place in the oven to continue the cooking process until the meat is fully cooked. Roast the cherry tomatoes at the same time.
  3. While the burgers are in the oven, prepare the poached eggs. Heat a small pot of water until it is almost at a boil. Add 1 Tbsp vinegar to help the eggs to congeal. Crack the eggs gently right above the surface of the water. Turn off the heat & cover the pot for about 3-4 minutes or until the whites of the eggs are fully cooked but the yolks are still runny. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon.
  4. When the burgers & tomatoes are cooked, remove them from the oven. Place them on serving plates & top each burger with a poached egg. Garnish with sprigs of fresh thyme if you wish.

Quiche Lorraine w/ Hash Brown Crust

Quiche seems like a springtime dish, but the truth is its an ‘any season’ dish in my opinion. This version skips the pastry and is built on a crispy, grated, potato hash brown crust.

Hash browns can always be counted on to add heartiness and can be made several different ways, incorporating a variety of ingredients, including leftovers or whatever happens to be on hand in the fridge. Although hash browns are credited as being from the USA, there are similar dishes elsewhere that likely contributed towards the hash browns of today, and should be mentioned:

  • Rösti of Switzerland – like a potato pancake
  • Latkes of the Jewish folks – also like a potato pancake, but with eggs
  • Tortilla de papas (or patatas) of Spain – like an omelet

The original ‘quiche Lorraine’ was an open pie with a filling consisting of an egg and cream custard with smoked bacon. It was only later that cheese was added to the quiche Lorraine. The bottom crust was originally made from bread dough, but that has long since evolved into numerous other ideas such as puff pastry or hash brown crusts.

Although quiche is now a classic dish of French cuisine, quiche actually originated in Germany, in the medieval kingdom of Lothringen, under German rule, and which the French later renamed Lorraine. The word ‘quiche’ is from the German ‘Kuchen’, meaning cake.

The specialty quiche from Lorraine features gruyere cheese, onion, bacon as its primary flavors. The nice thing is, quiche is something that anyone can make and can be served as an entrée, for lunch, breakfast, or an evening snack.

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 Quiche Lorraine w/ Hash Brown Crust
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Course Brunch, Main Dish
Cuisine European
Keyword quiche Lorraine w/ hash brown crust
Servings
Ingredients
Potato Crust
Filling
Course Brunch, Main Dish
Cuisine European
Keyword quiche Lorraine w/ hash brown crust
Servings
Ingredients
Potato Crust
Filling
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Potato Crust
  1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
  2. Thaw & pat dry shredded hashbrowns on paper towels. Lightly toss with remaining crust ingredients. Press into the bottom & up the sides of a 9" quiche pan. Bake until golden brown around the edges, about 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F.
Filling
  1. In a skillet, cook bacon until crisp, 5-6 minutes; transfer to a paper towel lined plate & allow to cool.
  2. Wipe out skillet & heat oil. Add leeks & garlic; cook covered , stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes or until tender.
  3. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, heavy cream & smoked paprika. Stir in bacon, leeks & cheese. Spoon mixture into hashbrown crust. Slightly press sliced tomatoes , cut side up, into quiche. Sprinkle with 1/4 tsp each salt & pepper.
  4. Bake until set & golden brown about 20-25 minutes. Let rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes
  • To cut out a few calories, I use a low fat milk instead of the heavy cream. It just requires a little longer cooking time but still tastes great.

Garlic Chicken over Creamy Artichoke & Lemon Ravioli

Canadians embrace food – we value family traditions, global trends, and local ingredients.  Like our food, families across Canada are evolving.  Blended, single-parent and multi-ethnic families have become part of our modern mosaic which echoes our growing tastes and preferences.  But what has stayed the same is our love of pasta.

Almost nine in ten households have pasta in their pantries or freezers. What’s more, it’s a good, simple food in an industry striving to meet the demands of today’s health-minded families. Along with being healthy, consumers have become more concerned with the origins of their food products, larger processors are typically viewed as not being local, due to the volume of ingredients they require to keep up with demand. But that’s not always the case.

My inspiration for this meal came from some special ravioli Brion & I had picked up at our favorite Italian Store. I wanted to showcase it in an herb garlic chicken meal but I was real interested to learn that the producer of this pasta was from right here in our province of Alberta. Here is just a bit of info I learned from the ‘Let’s Pasta’ website.

Situated in Lethbridge’s industrial area, Let’s Pasta has been producing the freshest and finest pastas for the last 24 years, using exclusively Southern Alberta Durum Semolina wheat. This wheat is grown on two local farms and processed at P&H Milling, mere minutes from the pasta facility.  In fact, those wheat farmers have an actual dedicated bin at P&H Milling, so there is always a steady supply available for Let’s Pasta.  All their pastas, which include tortellini, ravioli, and gnocchi, are also made using local cage-free eggs. This connection to their local agricultural community is at the root of all their operations, driven by the firm belief of growing with their farmers while supporting sustainable agriculture for future generations to enjoy.

Let’s Pasta uses only whole, real foods in their fillings, no preservatives, no additives, no flakes, or by-products. Just good, old fashioned ingredients like potatoes, butternut squash, pork, and spinach.  Now obviously the lobster and crab they use isn’t coming from Alberta, but they are from the Canadian Atlantic, and the Pacific region.  All their fillings are made by hand in their test kitchen, where they also try out new recipes all the time to add to their lineup.

The two farms that provide the Durum Semolina Wheat for Let’s Pasta, Saunders Farms (near Taber) and Neveridle Farms (near Lethbridge), grow for a program called Shepherd’s Grain, a collective that promotes no-till, direct-seed farming so they can renew and preserve the land for generations to come – theirs and yours. Each grower is certified by Food Alliance™ for sustainability and complies with their strict standards for land improvement. They even have a traceability program that reinforces their commitment to renew the relationship between consumers and the farmers who grow their food.

From the facility, Let’s Pasta’s products make their way into retailers throughout Alberta, and across Canada.  Not only are they available at select major retailers like Safeway, Sobeys, Federated and Calgary Co-Ops in Alberta, but you can also find their products at specialty shops like The Italian Centre Shop in Edmonton and Calgary, The Italian Store (also in Calgary) and Italian Bakery’s Mercato in St Albert. 

Having lived in Lethbridge years ago, I found this all quite interesting not to mention what great ravioli it is!

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 Garlic Chicken over Creamy Artichoke & Lemon Ravioli
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword garlic chicken over ravioli w/ heirloom tomatoes & cheese sauce
Servings
Ingredients
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword garlic chicken over ravioli w/ heirloom tomatoes & cheese sauce
Servings
Ingredients
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Halve and peel shallot, then thinly slice lengthwise. Halve tomatoes. Zest 1 TBSP zest from lemon, then halve. Grate mozzarella on large holes of a grater. Finely chop chives.
  2. Put panko & a large drizzle of olive oil in a large pan. Place over medium-high heat. Toast, stirring, until deep golden, 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl. Wipe out pan. Heat another large drizzle of oil in same pan over medium-high heat. Pat chicken dry with a paper towel; season with salt and pepper.
  3. Add chicken to the pan and cook until done, 5-8 minutes per side. Remove from pan & let rest on a plate. Set pan aside. Place shallot and 2 Tbsp garlic herb butter in another pan. Heat over medium-high heat. Cook until softened, 2-3 minutes. Pour in milk & add 1 chicken bouillon cube . Bring to a simmer.
  4. Whisk Italian and mozzarella cheeses into pan with milk. Stir in juice from half of the lemon. Season with salt and pepper. Adjust heat to low. Meanwhile, add ravioli to pot of water, lower heat, and reduce to a simmer. Cook until al dente, 2-4 minutes. Reserve 1½ cups cooking water, then drain. Stir ravioli, tomatoes, peas, and ¾ cup cooking water into sauce in pan. Simmer until just thickened, 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
  5. Add more cooking water as needed to loosen pasta sauce. Set aside. Place thyme sprigs, ½ cup water, and remaining chicken bouillon cube in pan used for chicken and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Pour in any juices released by chicken. Let reduce slightly, 1-2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in remaining garlic herb butter & juice from lemon half (if you wish). Season with salt and pepper. Discard thyme sprigs.
  6. Arrange pasta mixture on a platter and sprinkle with panko, Parmesan, lemon zest, chives, & chili flakes to taste. Thinly slice chicken on a slight diagonal and arrange over pasta. Spoon pan sauce over chicken; sprinkle with remaining chives.
Recipe Notes
  • Garlic Herb Butter:
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
  • dash of black pepper
  • 1 -1 1/2 Tbsp freshly chopped herbs (such as rosemary, thyme, chives, parsley or sage)

Shrimp Stuffed Whitefish w/ Hashbrown Crust

When you stuff fish, you expand the flavor profiles available with fish. It’s such a great way to make your fish dinner more interesting and flavorful. You can stuff a whole fish or wrap thin fillets around the stuffing and then bake or grill the fish as usual. 

Whitefish is a freshwater fish that is commonly called Atlantic Cod, Halibut or Flounder. Whitefish, when cooked, are dry and compared to other fishes, the flesh of the whitefish is completely white.

Whitefish can be classified into different, unique species that can easily be identified according to their appearance and where they live.

These flaky white fish fillets are stuffed with a creamy shrimp filling and flavored with onion, garlic and spices. For something different I gave them a spicy hashbrown crust. This seafood dinner is just as tasty as it is eye appealing and definitely not dry.

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 Shrimp Stuffed Whitefish w/ Hashbrown Crust
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword shrimp stuffed whitefish
Servings
Ingredients
Spicy Hashbrowns
Whitefish & Shrimp
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword shrimp stuffed whitefish
Servings
Ingredients
Spicy Hashbrowns
Whitefish & Shrimp
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Spicy Hashbrowns
  1. Thaw shredded hashbrowns on a paper towel. In a bowl, place the flour, cheese, onion, garlic, coriander, smoked paprika, salt & pepper & egg. Add 'dried' shredded hashbrowns. Using a fork, mix everything until combined being careful not to break up the hashbrowns. Set aside until stuffed fish is ready to be coated with the mixture.
Stuffed Fish
  1. In a saucepan, add olive oil & heat . Add onions until they begin to soften & caramelize a bit then add garlic. Add shrimp pieces, cream cheese, seasonings & chives; stir until well incorporated. Remove mixture from heat & allow to cool.
  2. Lay out whitefish, remove all bones, skin & wash & dry thoroughly. Place fillets between two pieces of plastic wrap & pound gently to flatten a bit for easier rolling. Lay on work surface & divide shrimp mixture between the two fillets & spread until it is even.
  3. Preheat oven to 375 F.
  4. Roll up each fillet with the seam side down in a greased baking dish. Spoon hashbrown mixture over stuffed fillets. Press down coating to ensures it adheres well to top & sides of each stuffed fillet.
  5. Bake for about 45 minutes or until fish flakes easily. Cut each fillet in half to make four servings. Nice to serve with a few roasted cherry tomatoes & a side of guacamole.

Orecchiette w/ Cheesy Chicken Meatballs

One thing Italians share with the rest of the world is their love for pasta. Pasta remains part of a rich tradition that impacts every corner of Italy, meshing with regional cultures and influencing local cuisine.

Orecchiette is a pasta specialty from the beautiful southeastern region of Puglia, down in Italy’s southern ‘heel’. It’s one of the country’s flattest and most fertile regions, with wheat and olive oil produced in abundance.

Orecchiette translates to ‘small ears’—a fitting name for a dome-shaped pasta that looks like tiny ears. This pasta has a thin, concave center, chewy edges, and a rough surface texture. Orecchiette require only three ingredients: hard wheat flour, water and salt.

Their particular shape, combined with the rough surface, makes it perfect for any kind of sauce, especially vegetable sauces.

With its deep-rooted history in the region, use of simple ingredients, and its convenient versatility, orecchiette has become a defining part not only of Puglia’s cuisine, but its culture, as well. And its popularity extends far beyond the region of Puglia.

I absolutely love orecchiette with its chewiness and nice ‘cupping’ ability. Pared with some cheesy meatballs, this meal is so good!

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 Orecchiette w/ Cheesy Chicken Meatballs
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Rating: 5
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine Italian
Keyword orecchiette w/ cheesy chicken meatballs
Servings
SERVINGS
Ingredients
Meatballs
Pasta Sauce
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Italian
Keyword orecchiette w/ cheesy chicken meatballs
Servings
SERVINGS
Ingredients
Meatballs
Pasta Sauce
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Pasta
  1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add pasta & cook until tender but still firm to the bite., stirring occasionally, about 8-10 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving about 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Transfer pasta to a bowl & add the parmesan. Toss to lightly coat orecchiette, adding reserved pasta water, if needed to loosen pasta.
Meatballs
  1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a large baking sheet with foil & rub with oil.
  2. In a large bowl, combine ground chicken, Parmesan, bread crumbs, parsley, egg & garlic. Season with salt & pepper. Form into 30-40 meatballs, then place on prepared baking sheet & bake until browned & cooked through about 25 minutes.
Pasta Sauce
  1. In a large pot, add chicken broth & tomatoes & bring to a boil. Reduce heat & simmer until tomatoes are soft. Remove from heat & add meatballs & pasta/cheese mixture. Combine grated mozzarella cheese with basil paste.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly butter a 9-inch baking dish.
  3. Place meatball/pasta mixture in baking dish & top with mozzarella cheese/basil mixture. Bake only until cheese is melted.

Summer Vegetable & Shrimp Pizza

CELEBRATING HERITAGE DAY!

In 1974, the first Monday of August was made an official provincial holiday to recognize and celebrate the varied cultural heritage of Albertans. Businesses can chose whether or not to recognize the day as a general holiday, which most do.

The Heritage Festival held in our city of Edmonton, Alberta Canada is a three-day event to sample delicious food, see creative performances and celebrate Canada’s multiculturalism. Thousands of visitors come to enjoy the tastes, smells and sounds of different nations around the world.

Even though many people will take in the day’s events and cultural food at the festival, some chose to pack a picnic lunch and take a drive somewhere just to relax.

I am posting a summer veggie & shrimp pizza that should work real well with that idea.

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 Summer Vegetable & Shrimp Pizza
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword summer vegetable & shrimp pizza
Servings
Ingredients
Naan Bread
Toppings
Course Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword summer vegetable & shrimp pizza
Servings
Ingredients
Naan Bread
Toppings
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
  1. In a skillet, fry bacon until almost done. Remove to paper towel.
  2. Add zucchini, onion & garlic to skillet with bacon drippings & sauté for 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Increase heat slightly & add 1/2 tsp. of oil. Add shrimp & cook for 1 minute, turning halfway through. Transfer to a plate. Cut cooked corn kernels off of the cobs.
  3. Preheat oven to 375 F.
  4. Brush Naan breads with olive oil & sprinkle with salt, pepper & Parmesan cheese. Top with zucchini, onions, garlic, shrimp, corn, bacon bits & mozzarella cheese.
  5. Bake until cheese is bubbling & naan bread is 'toasted', about 7-8 minutes. Allow pizza to rest for 5 minutes, then cut into 8 slices. Sprinkle with basil & parsley. Serve