Tomorrow is my S’s birthday - 25 - quarter of a century! He and his wife are coming for dinner. He has requested an Italian/pasta dish. I’d like to do something good and more special than spaghetti and meatballs but I’ll be working a full day tomorrow so I need something not too complicated or that takes too much time.
What I imagine in my mind is something that might have the following items (not all of course!):
pasta
chicken or italian sausage
artichokes
spinach?
mushrooms
marinara or alfredo (is there a good off the shelf one??) or a marinara cream sauce
I have a yummy recipe for linguine carbonara that I got from – believe it or not – a Seventeen magazine many years ago. It’s very eggy and cheesy, with mushroom, onions, frozen peas and bacon. It’s not quick to pull together, but it is yummy, and you can do lots of the prep (the chopping) the day before. LMK if you’d like me to post the recipe.
do you have time to assemble tonight? https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/roasted-vegetable-lasagna
Or a simpler lasagna-I sometime make a lasagna with jarred sauce, ground sausage and layer it with dollops of ricotta and slices of mozzarella cheese. I wing it no recipe. I once saw an episode of Diners, Drive in and dives where they made a similar lasagna. I sometimes add spinach or another dish.
I also make a pasta dish where I use spinach, canned diced tomatoes and kalamata olives and add feta at the end. Sort of a Greek pasta.
I really like this recipe. Not too many ingredients and it comes together pretty quickly. I buy the best pesto and fresh mozzarella I can find and it makes a big difference. It says you can make the meat sauce ahead but I don’t know why you couldn’t put the whole thing together tonight and bake it tomorrow although I haven’t tried doing that.
This is a request from a kid to his mom. Consider any dishes you used to make that he liked when he was living at home. He wants the mom touch and made his request knowing you, your skills and repertoire. My son would get the spicy spaghetti sauce I make by the gallon and freeze with that request. He would also get freshly cooked noodles instead of my habit of cooking the box’s worth and freezing leftovers for H to thaw and use since he disses those when he visits. Choose the meat he likes that you do well. He can get exotic/fancy at so many restaurants. Looks to me as though he is choosing from what may be several different ethnic options that you do well.
My mom’s version of spaghetti sauce included Campbell’s tomato soup. Needless to say none of her kids asked for that recipe or any others from her. We all cook with more than salt, pepper and garlic powder… Looks like your son is willing to have your cooking on a special occasion.
Pasta Sauce Raphael from the original Silver Palate cookbook contains artichoke hearts and is deliciously spicy and unusual. The is a cut back version of the original, which made enough for 4 lbs of pasta.
Note that the original recipe did not include watercress. I see no reason why you shouldn’t throw in some fresh spinach leaves at the last minute instead. Also note that if you can get GOOD canned plum tomatoes-- RedPack is the best!–you can use those instead of laboring with fresh ones that are probably not that great anyway.
@wis75 , you make a very good point! But I will say his tastes have changed much after he graduated (thank goodness - he’ll eat more than chicken nuggets!) . I thought about chicken parm which he loves but we had that the last time he came over.
Don’t really have time to put something together tonight - life is really busy right now I need to be gardening after work and till dark! So I’d prefer a dish that can be done tomorrow night in an hour or less! I will check out the things listed above.
@consolation, that Pasta Sauce Raphael dish (the original one) is one of the first dishes I ever cooked for dh when we were dating. His mom gave him The New Basics Cookbook (same authors as Silver Palate) for his birthday the year after he graduated college. I found it while visiting him once. Dh is from California and loves artichoke hearts so chose to try that recipe. I don’t think I had ever eaten them until I made this dish for him. We still make this dish a couple of times a year. The original recipe actually calls for a 28oz can of plum tomatoes which is what I always use. And it is very very easy!
This sauce from Bon Appetit is EXCELLENT, and so easy because it’s roasted in the oven (doesn’t need to be watched like other sauces). I like to “dress it up” a bit by adding extra red pepper flakes and chopped asparagus.
My quick throw-together for pasta is a brown butter-sage sauce, exactly what it sounds like. A stick of butter goes in a frying pan until it starts to turn brown, then a handful of sage leaves go in until they get slightly crispy. You can do this with or without garlic. It goes better with fat noodles like fettuccine or tagliatelle.
To add veggies like tomatoes (I like grape tomatoes cut in half), artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, pine nuts or greens, just before serving heat up a sauce pan with a little olive oil. Toss in the vegetables and stir just until they are warm, minimal wilting. I also like to cook (separately) slices of hot Italian sausage to go with this.
It’s a quick meal, maybe 30 minutes starting with the sausage while the water heats, doing the sauce and veggies while the noodles cook.
Lots of good suggestions here. If I was short on time I would probably grill some Italian sausage/slice them and add to bow tie pasta with a jarred sauce like Rao’s. They make a marinara and a vodka sauce which are decent. You could also add one of the other ingredients that you mentioned. Enjoy!
I am not a huge casserole fan. But, I do like this one. It has some of the ingredients you listed and can be made ahead of time. I double the sundried tomatoes.
Have you considered pranking the birthday boy by pretending that you are going to serve his favorite pasta dish from the era when he was a toddler… and show everyone a box of dried Mac and cheese? Then bring out whatever delicious pasta dish you choose to create for this special occasion. Happy birthday to your son!
@4kids4us Interestingly, I checked my cookbooks, and discovered that they first published the Raphael recipe in The Silver Palate Cookbook, and then published a revised version in The New Basics. The first one called for using fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, and the second version used canned tomatoes. Much easier, and most of the time better if you use GOOD canned tomatoes, since really good fresh tomatoes are not always available…
I swear by RedPack. I used to work with someone whose Italian grandmother used only RedPack. He himself is an excellent cook and wine expert, so I think he is trustworthy.
