Sunday was a fun-day. Kim, one of my best male friends came over for dinner and a movie. I enjoyed having the chance to cook a very hearty dish for him before he leaves for his new job that will take him over a thousand miles away. What made this meal even easier for me to make for this vegan-since-birth, was that he consumes dairy products. :)
Doesn't this look so yummy? You don't even miss the meat!
Pasta alla Formiana is a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis that I made a few changes to. I added a chipotle pepper to the sauce because in my house we like heat in our sauce. I used some extra garlic and instead of using beefsteak tomatoes, I went with a hearty tomato that still used the title beef/steak. It was cheaper than the Burpee beefsteak tomatoes and tasted just as succulent.
What I love best about the dish is that you don't have to cook the pasta before hand. I used the food processor to blend my canned crush tomatoes for the sauce along with some garlic and veggie broth. After a few pulses, I added the sauce to a pot and brought it to a boil. I also added some herbs to the sauce. I sprayed my baking dish with a nonstick coating and lined it with tomatoes on the bottom and sides. Added the noodles to the boiling sauce and then poured everything over the tomatoes. Lastly I topped the pasta with more tomatoes, drizzled some oil over and then added a thin layer of mozzarella. Bake for 30 minutes at 450F.
(Make sure you buy a mezze penne or smaller pasta. Anything bigger and you will have to pre-cook the pasta until al diente. We wound up buying a penne instead of the smaller mezze penne so I had to pre-cook my pasta for 4 minutes. Half the time and no big deal because I had it cooking while the sauce was going.)
While in the oven...I blanched and sauteed some gorgeous green beans.
Then I couldn't resist mixing some brownie batter and popping it in the oven while we ate.
The men, my husband and Kim ate, and ate...until they were in a state of bliss! ;)
We threw in a movie - Django - and ate brownies.
Oh and I didn't forget about the wine! Kim and I shared the bottle, half for him and half for me. Now that is a great friendship. Don't you think?
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