Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Baked Rotini


laptop lunch 090331
Originally uploaded by Died of Ennui

Baked Rotini

12- or 13-oz box of whole wheat pasta

12 oz sausage (I used spicy Italian chicken sausage)
1 large onion, chopped
1 or 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
10-oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed if you have time
1 lb fresh mozzarella, cubed
8 oz part skim (processed) mozzarella, grated
2 28-oz cans tomatoes (crushed, diced, chopped, whatever you like)
oregano, thyme, basil, salt, pepper

Brown sausage, breaking up. Set aside. Saute onion. Add mushrooms when the onions start to turn translucent. Add the garlic whenever. Add some of the herbs; you can put more in later. Add the spinach; if it's still frozen, give it a poke every now and then until it's thawed and separated. Add the canned tomatoes. Add more herbs if you need to. Put the sausage back in. Let it simmer a little while, then remove from heat.

Cook pasta until just underdone. Drain and mix with sauce and cubed fresh mozzarella.

Spread out into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Cover with grated mozzarella.

Bake at 350F, covered, for 15 mins. Uncover and bake another 15 mins.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Baked bacon




The results of my bakin' bacon experiment: a success! Laid it out on a baking sheet and put it in a 400-degree oven for 12-ish minutes. It doesn't curl up. I slightly undercooked it so that when retrieved from the freezer for later usage, it can be given a quick fry to warm up and get crispy without getting burned. It needs to be drained really well, as it's just sitting there in a pool of its own grease, but once you put the bacon aside to drain, be sure to pour that lovely, tasty bacon fat into a jar and keep in the fridge. After the bacon drained and cooled, I just put it in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer.

Bakin' Bacon

















Since I most often cook for one (me), a pound of bacon is a bit of a hassle. I'll fry up a few slices and usually freeze the rest. The next time I need (want) a few slices, I have to defrost it and then refreeze what's left. And I'm not sure freezing and refreezing is such a good idea. Even if it's not a health risk (ha - get it? bacon? not a health risk?), it's probably not good for the texture (I watch Good Eats).

So...I decided to see if there was a way to cook the entire pound without covering my kitchen in grease and then freezing the cooked bacon. Guess what? You can BAKE bacon! It's brilliant!