Pasta e Fagioli, Pasta Fagioli , Pasta Fazool, Pasta Fasul, or Pasta and Beans

Pasta e fagioli, meaning "pasta and beans", is a traditional Italian soup. Like many other Italian favorites, it started as a peasant dish, being composed of inexpensive ingredients. It is often called pasta fasul in the United States, derived from its Neapolitan name, pasta e fasule.


One of my father-in-laws favorite dishes (he loves most pasta dishes). This recipe was in my mother-in-laws recipe box. Most people who talk about pasta and beans say there is no meat in a real italian recipe. To that I say, it is a recipe, recipes are made for experimentation. So yes, I add sweet sausage to my Pasta e fagioli. Give it a try you might like it.

Pasta and Beans topped with Parmesan

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Antoher Lazy Cook's Recipe

Who doesn’t love lasagna?   I never particularly cared for it growing up.  My mom always used cottage cheese in her recipe and it grossed me out.   My mother-in-law always used a ricotta filling, which I liked a lot better.  When I got married, I sort of married the two recipes and came up with my own version.  Oh yea, I also made a simple version for someone who doesn’t want to spend all that time layering noodles. 

 

Lazy Lasagna

1 lb. your favorite pasta, cooked and drained

Sauce

½ lb. 85 % hamburger
½ lb. sweet Italian sausage
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp. parsley flakes
1 tsp. dried basil
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/3 cup white wine
2 cans your favorite tomato sauce
1 pkg. shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup parmesan cheese

Lasagna Filling

2 lb. Ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 cup parmesan cheese
Mix ingredients together, use for cheese layer in lasagna. Also use for filling in manicotti or stuffed shells. 

Start by making the sauce.   In sauce a pan cook off hamburger in loose form.  Drain off extra fat if needed, set aside.   Next, do the same with the sausage, drain off extra fat if needed, set aside.  

In sauce pan add two tablespoons of olive oil.  Sauté onion and garlic just until onion is translucent.  Add the hamburger and sausage back into the pan.  Add the two cans of sauce, salt, pepper, parsley, and basil.  Cook for 30 minutes on low to medium heat.  

Preheat oven to 350°.  

In large pot of boiling, salted water, cook your favorite pasta, just until al dente and drain.   

While the pasta is cooking mix the filling in an appropriate sized bowl and set aside.

Place pasta in a large bowl and mix with just enough sauce to coat the pasta.

Spray the bottom and sides of a large oven proof dish. Layer half of the pasta in the bottom of the ovenproof dish.  Sprinkle with half of the parmesan cheese. Next, add a layer on the lasagna filling spreading as evenly as possible. Then top that layer with the remaining pasta, another sprinkling of the parmesan and finally topping with the mozzarella cheese.  

Cover with wax paper and a layer of aluminum foil.  Bake in over for 30-45 minutes.  Removing both the wax and aluminum foil for the last 10-15 minutes.  

 

 

Notes/swaps

·         I like to use smaller pastas like, penne, elbows or even rigatoni.

·         I always set the table with some extra sauce.






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Milk Gravy is the base for Sausage and Biscuits, Cod Fish Gravy, Hamburger Gravy or Dried Beef Gravy

This is a recipe from my Mom’s collection.  She was a great cook. She always made delicious food and enough of it to feed a small army. Maybe because she had a small army of her own, there were ten of us kids.   She is no longer with us. God Bless her soul. I have many memories of her preparing and cooking many meals.  She would use this really large copper bottom frying pan and make the best fried chicken in it.  Although I watched her do it many times, I have never been able to duplicate it.   She also cooked many meals in cast iron pans. I remember her showing me how to brown the flour in the cast iron pan to make brown gravy (one of my least favorites).   She was great at making penny pinching meals and milk gravy was a basic recipe that she changed out often to get different flavors.

Sometimes she would add crumbled breakfast sausage for Sausage Biscuits and Gravy.   Other times she would add dried beef for Chipped Beef Gravy and Toast.  Or sometimes she would buy Salted Cod in the little wooden box and make Cod Fish Gravy to have over boiled potatoes.  There were times she even added ground hamburger for a Hamburger Gravy.    I remember all of them being delicious.     So when I was feeling a little nostalgic and missing my momma, I decided to try one of her old recipes.   Today’s choice was her version of Chipped Beef Gravy over Pumpernickel Toast served with spring peas and tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and balsamic glaze.  

Chipped Beef Gravy

 

 

Milk Gravy Recipe

 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup pan drippings (bacon drippings or sausage drippings)*
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk or heavy cream  room temperature
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

In a medium frying pan over medium-high heat, combine bacon or sausage dripping and flour; stirring constantly until the flour has absorbed all the drippings.  Cook for a few minutes just to cook out the starchy taste.  

Gradually add the milk or cream, stirring constantly until all is added, and cook until the gravy is smooth and thick. Season with salt and pepper to your liking.

At this point you can serve it as is or you can add: 

 

dried beef
pre-cooked breakfast sausage
browned hamburger
Cod fish 

If you are using dried beef or salted cod, be sure to rinse them several times to remove the salt they are packed in. 

Makes enough gravy for 10 to 12 homemade biscuits.

Notes/Swaps

·         You can use the drippings from any meat, but bacon and sausage are the traditional ones used.






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Sweet & Spicy

So if Peter Piper actually Picked a Peck of Peppers, do you think he made Pickled Peppers?  Sorry, couldn't resist.  As a child I loved to say tongue twisters.  Guess you just never out grow some things.  

We are all trying to eat healthier these days.   Trying to figure out what and how to keep the meals healthy, appetizing and full of flavor can sometimes be a challenge.  But these next few recipes are sure to please any low carb dieter.  

Sausage Stuffed Hot Cherry Peppers

2 Jars Pickled Cherry Peppers (about 18 peppers) (drained well)

1 lb.  Sweet Sausage (I use Dino’s)

1 egg

1 tbs. dried parsley

1/3 cup bread crumbs

1/3 cup parmesan cheese

1 pkg. Mixed shredded Italian Cheese  (for topping)

 

Using small paring knife remove stems and seeds leaving the pepper as whole as possible.    Mix all remaining ingredients (except shredded cheese)  to make sausage meatballs.   Stuff into hollowed out peppers.   Place on foil lined baking sheet.  Bake for 20-25 minutes in 350° oven.  

Note:  If you don’t like hot and spicy, feel free to stuff those red, yellow, and orange mini peppers, or pickled sweet cherry peppers.    

 

Jalapeno Chicken Wraps

18 fresh Jalapeno’s

1 brick of cream cheese, softened

½ cup onion, diced fine

½ cup peppers, diced fine

1/3 cup carrot, diced fine

1 large clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp. olive oil

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Chicken breast, cut into thin strips

1 lb. think sliced Smokey bacon

1/3 cup NY Maple Syrup

1 pkg. over sized toothpicks to hold it all together

There are a few steps to recipe so I found it best to one task at time for each ingredient before moving on to the next. 

Cut chicken breast into thin strips.  Place in bowl with store bought Speedie Chicken Sauce to marinate.

In small sauté pan, sauté onion, peppers, carrots, and garlic until soft and tender to the bite.   Remove from heat and let cool.

Well your vegetables are cooling, cut each Jalapeno in half, leaving the stem intact.   Remove seeds and membranes.   Remember to leave both halves together so you don’t have to match them up later.   

In small bowl, combine softened cream cheese and cooled vegetables.   Stir until combined.  

Fill each half of the Jalapeno with the cream cheese mixture and then sandwich back together. Place on a foil lined baking sheet or cutting board.   Fill all remaining peppers and set aside. 

Start wrapping each filled pepper with a strip of chicken.  I was able to find oversized toothpicks to stick through the middle and help hold everything together.   Once you have the chicken in place, you can then wrap it with a strip of bacon.   Place it on a foil lined baking sheet.    When the tray is full, brush each piece with maple syrup.  Place on sheet and place in a 350° oven.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Notes:  You won’t be disappointed with these.  While they are baking, they fill the house with a warm, spicy, maple aroma.   It drove our dog bonkers.  It wasn’t long after they were out of the oven that I found myself having to do a taste test.    Taste testing was delectable.  The Speedie marinade added just enough of a vinegar note to flavor the chicken.  The jalapeno on the inside and the bacon on the outside gave both the cream cheese and the chicken, a hidden Smokey flavor.    The sweetness of the maple syrup and the cool, creaminess of cream cheese off sets the heat of the jalapeno.  You won’t be able to stop at just one.  

You can amp up the filling by changing up the ingredients.   Tried these another time by mixing softened cream cheese with a drained black bean and corn salsa.  

You might try skipping the speedy sauce and brushing the chicken with a spicy mustard.   

Next time I am going to try a mixture of cream cheese and crumbly blue and try for more of a chicken wing flavor.    

The possibilities are endless.



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