I may have licked the bowl

Last night I made the most mouth-wateringly delicious Baked Ziti I have ever ingested. Truthfully, I'm not sure how many baked ziti's I've actually ever eaten because it is a time consuming dish to create. I made two different sauces, a filling, boiled noodles, and waited for it to bake, twice, before devouring ever last noodle and tomato on my plate. Dan *may* have muttered, "and this is why I'm dating you!" one too many times while salivating at every last bite. I know there are other reasons, but I would date me for this Baked Ziti.

The recipe is from America's Test Kitchen, they test typical recipes to come up with the very best, and each recipe is definitely the very best. I also love that they break down the reasons why they use a certain brand of tomato sauce over another or how to wisk eggs properly or make the perfect yellow cake from scratch, I know cooking nerd. They also have cookbooks and seasonal magazines with the best recipes you'll ever see.

I am pasting this recipe directly from the heavily copyrighted and password protected site just for all of you, but, just so you know, I made no substitutions. I followed it as written, down to the last instructional sentence...and then I couldn't wait long enough for leftovers and may have just had it again for lunch and may have licked the bowl afterward.

It's haunting me in the refrigerator.

Baked Ziti

From America's Test Kitchen

Why this recipe works:

Most versions of baked ziti seem like they went directly from the pantry into the oven, calling for little more than cooked pasta, jarred tomato sauce, a container of ricotta, and some preshred...(more)

Serves 8 to 10

The test kitchen prefers baked ziti made with heavy cream, but whole milk can be substituted by increasing the amount of cornstarch to 2 teaspoons and increasing the cooking time in step 3 by 1 to 2 minutes. Our preferred brand of mozzarella is Dragone Whole Milk Mozzarella. Part-skim mozzarella can also be used, but avoid preshredded cheese, as it does not melt well.

Ingredients

    1 pound whole milk cottage cheese or 1 percent cottage cheese (see note)

    2 large eggs , lightly beaten

    3 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 1/2 cups)

      Table salt

    1 pound ziti or other short, tubular pasta

    2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

    5 medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 5 teaspoons)

    1 (28-ounce) can tomato sauce

    1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes

    1 teaspoon dried oregano

    1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

    1 teaspoon sugar

      Ground black pepper

    3/4 teaspoon cornstarch

    1 cup heavy cream (see note)

    8 ounces low-moisture whole-milk mozzarella cheese , cut into 1/4-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups) (see note)

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk cottage cheese, eggs, and 1 cup Parmesan together in medium bowl; set aside. Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in large Dutch oven over high heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon salt and pasta; cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta begins to soften but is not yet cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain pasta and leave in colander (do not wash Dutch oven).

2. Meanwhile, heat oil and garlic in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until garlic is fragrant but not brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and oregano; simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in ½ cup basil and sugar, then season with salt and pepper.

3. Stir cornstarch into heavy cream in small bowl; transfer mixture to now-empty Dutch oven set over medium heat. Bring to simmer and cook until thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pot from heat and add cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup tomato sauce, and ¾ cup mozzarella, then stir to combine. Add pasta and stir to coat thoroughly with sauce.

4. Transfer pasta mixture to 13- by 9-inch baking dish and spread remaining tomato sauce evenly over pasta. Sprinkle remaining ¾ cup mozzarella and remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan over top. Cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

5. Remove foil and continue to cook until cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes longer. Cool for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons basil and serve.

© 2011 America’s Test Kitchen. All rights reserved.

Stuffed

You know how people always claim to be emotional eaters or eat when they're bored or because they're happy or drunk or just because the food is sitting there?! I've never thought of myself as one of these eaters. I eat what I like (including butter and even white bread - artisinal with crispy crust hot out of the oven = YUM), but maybe because I'm usually so busy with work and school and volunteering and family gatherings and lady dates and date dates, eating just isn't usually the focus of my every day.

HOWEVER, lately food has become just that. I shop for food, I'm constantly creating recipes in my head, and I read Shape and Women's Health magazine for the dinner ideas instead of the workout advice. Bottom line, I obviously don't have much going on so all I think about is food!

And, food is becoming an activity. Yesterday, with nothing to do but apply for jobs I went downtown for lunch and I was surrounded by literally millions of food options (well, I ruled out Sushi Boat right away, so 999,999 options). I could have eaten absolutely ANYWHERE, but for some reason I chose Boudin, a San Francisco classic sandwich shop specializing in sourdough bread. It's like comfort food. I had a salad and a chocolate chip cookie and instead of my usual eating and being finished and moving on I sat there and mowed that whole salad, the small loaf of sourdough that comes with it (and if the server had actually come by I would have asked for butter), and then ate the whole giant cookie until I was so stuffed I could barely get up from the table.

Maybe my current stuffed state (I'm currently munching a slice of nectarine blackberry upside-down cake) inspired me to make two deliciously stuffed meals (well, three if you count the store-bought ravioli's we had with spinach and tomatoes).

Quinoa-Stuffed Poblano Chiles

Adapted from Cooking Light, but the recipe was suuuuper bland, I added spices, salt and pepper jack cheese. The original recipe claimed 4 servings, but they're small so you're going to want to eat 2-3 peppers (depending on how large the peppers are that you find). I served these with black beans and Trader Joe's vegetable tortilla chips with flax seed (they're our favorite).

Ingredients

    4 (5-inch) poblano chiles (I used Anaheim, it was all I could find)

    1 1/2 cups water

    3/4 cup uncooked quinoa

    Olive oil

    1/2 cup (1 small) chopped zucchini

    1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

    1/2 cup chopped onion

    ½ of a 3-4 inch minced seeded jalapeno pepper (leave the seeds if you're braver than me)

    2 garlic cloves, minced

    1 tsp cumin

    1 tsp red pepper flakes

    salt and pepper to taste

    2 tablespoons unsalted pumpkin seed kernels

    1/2 cup minced green onions

    4 tablespoons minced cilantro (I always use more than that)

    2 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce (add soy and lime juice to taste)

    2 tablespoon lime juice

    2 cups tomato juice (I used el Pato brand tomato sauce, it's spicy and delicious)

    1 cup or more pepper jack cheese, grated

Preparation

1.       Preheat oven to 350°.

2.       Cut chiles in half lengthwise; remove stems and seeds, roast over open flame on gas stove top or under broiler in oven until blackened and you can smell the pepper. Set aside. Combine water and quinoa in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 13 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Set aside.

3.       Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil into pan and warm over med-high heat. Add bell peppers, onion, jalapeño pepper, garlic and spices; sauté 2 minutes. Add pumpkin seed kernels; saute 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in quinoa, green onions, cilantro, soy sauce, and lime juice and salt and pepper. Spoon quinoa mixture into each chile half until completely stuffed and spilling over!

4.       Pour tomato sauce into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish; place stuffed chiles in dish, sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until cheese melts and chiles are thoroughly heated. Remove from oven and spoon tomato sauce from the pan over chiles.

Stuffed French Toast
With almost a full container of fresh ricotta from Whole Foods (from another meal) we HAD to make stuffed french toast, obviously! The ingredients listed make enough for two people. Best served with really yummy breakfast sausage and some fresh fruit...or just a cold glass of milk and some Mrs. Butterworth's (really quality syrup)

   4 pieces of day-old brioche or high-quality french bread
   4 eggs
   1-2 tsps vanilla
   1 tsp cinnamon
   1/2 cup cream (shhh don't tell Dan I added cream!)
   Raspberries
   1/2 to 1 cup ricotta

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Mix the eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and cream in a bowl and pour into a baking dish large enough to soak the bread (I used a glass Pyrex dish). Spread two pieces of bread with as much ricotta as you can stand and place raspberries into this fluffy goodness. Top with another piece of bread. Place brioche "sandwiches" into egg mixture to soak. I placed a piece of foil on top and a heavy object from the kitchen to kinda squeeze it down and make sure the whole piece of bread got soaked. Then flip it over in 10-ish minutes to soak the other side.

Melt a tab of butter in the frying pan or griddle and place a french toast sandwich in the center. Brown each side and transfer to an oven-safe dish. Place in 300 degree oven for 10 minutes (to make sure the ricotta gets warm and melty).

Sprinkle with powdered sugar (for looks) and enjoy!!

I would like to experiment with soaking the bread first and then adding the stuffing to make sure all of the bread gets egged, but that would be messy and I haven't done it yet! Let me know if you try it out!