Tag Archives: red pepper

Pasta Primavera

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Filed under entree, Large round mold, octogonal silpat, pasta, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

This week I feel like I am playing catch up with all the things that need attention. It is cleaning up the yard of all the dead flowers, planting new ones, trimming bushes. It is getting back to customers for cooking classes… Anyway, though I am still on vacation, my days are filled with things to do. This evening as I was still on the phone at 8pm, I needed to find something quick to fix for dinner and since the kids love their pasta carbonara, I decided to fix pasta primavera… a little healthier than carbonara;-)

Ingredients: 2 tbsp of butter, 1 cup of grated parmesan, 2 cup of heavy cream, 1 egg, 1/8 tsp of pepper, various vegetables ( I used 1 red pepper, 1/2 asparagus bundle, 2 corn husks), 1 pack of pasta of your choice ( spaghetti, fettuccini, ..)

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. When the butter is melting, add the heavy cream and the parmesan. Stir as the mixture is warming up. When the mixture is hot, add 1 egg and mix well. Keep stirring, but reduce the heat to medium so as not to curdle the sauce. Keep stirring until the mixture is becoming thicker. When the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, add the pepper, stir and lower the temperature to low just to keep the mixture warm. While the pasta is cooking, prepare the vegetables. Place the corn into the large round mold. Place the octogonal silpat on top and microwave for 4 minutes. Remove the mold from the microwave and with a knife remove the kernels off the cobb. Set aside. Trim the ends of the asparagus and cut the asparagus in 3 inches segments. Place them into the round mold, add the sliced red pepper, the corn and microwave for 3 minutes. Set aside.

Drain the pasta, and empty them back into the pot. Add the sauce and the vegetables and stir. Divide this mixture among the numbers of guests in your house, and sprinkle some fresh parmesan atop this mixture. Et voila!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Corn Salsa

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Filed under appetizers, Large round mold, octogonal silpat, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

Corn is so cheap right now that it would be a folly not to buy it. And yes, you guessed it I bought 10 ears of corn so now I need to find creative ways to eat all this yummy corn. Tonite I wanted to use the corn as a side and decided to use what i had on hand to make a corn salsa. You may eat this salsa as a side, or as an appetizer.

Ingredients for 4-6: 3 ears of corn, 1 cup of diced red and orange peppers, 2 tbsp of olive oil, 4 tbsp. of white vinegar,  1/4 tsp of salt,  1/8 tsp of pepper, 1 tbsp of fresh and chopped cilantro,  1/4 cup of white onion chopped very thinly, and optional hot sauce.

Place the corn in the large round mold and cook them for 5 minutes. With a knife, remove the kernels off the cobb. Add the diced onion, the diced red pepper, the cilantro and all the other ingredients. Add a few drop of the hot sauce if you wish to spice it up. Et voila!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Pasta with a Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Sauce

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Filed under entree, pasta, pork, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, silpat, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

Once in a a blue moon, I can cook other things than potatoes for my husband;-). On those days, my choices are still limited : croque-monsieurs, crepes or pastas. Today too lazy to fix crepes, and wanting to fix a more balanced meal, I chose to cook pasta. Cooking pasta is so much fun, because you can dress the pasta in a million different way, yet when your family do not care to have seafood or vegetables in their pasta, it somewhat restricts you with what you can prepare. Since my husband loved red pepper, i chose to prepare the pasta with a red pepper sauce. I usually make a creamy sauce where I puree the red pepper and add cream, but tonite I decided to go a lighter way.

Ingredients: 2 red pepper, 1 whole head of garlic, salt and pepper to taste, linguini or spaghetti, 2 tbsp of fresh basil chopped, 1 package of four cheese italian sausages from Johnsville, olive oil, fresh parmesan.

Slice the red pepper in half, remove the seeds and place the red pepper open face down on  a silpat as well as the garlic head.  Cook in a warm oven at 450 for 30 minutes or until the skin of the red pepper is scorching. Remove the red pepper from the oven and place them in a ziploc bag. Place them in the fridge to cool.

Meanwhile add 1 tsp of olive oil in a frying pan. When the oil is getting hot, add the sausages and cook them on medium-high for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium low, cover the pan and cook them for another 7-10 minutes or until they are cooked through. Make sure to turn them during cooking so that they are cooked evenly on all sides. When the sausages are cooked, set the pan aside and keep warm until the rest of the meal is ready.

Cook the pasta according to the directions of the package. While the pasta are cooking, prepare the sauce. When the pepper have cooled ( 10-15 minutes), remove the peppers one by one from the ziploc bag and peel them. Place the red pepper and the garlic in a chopper and puree them. Add the chopped basil, 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1/4 tsp of salt, 1/8 tsp of pepper and mix well. When the pastas are cooked, drain them and add 1/4 cup of the sauce in the pasta. Mix well. Slice the sausages in 1 inch cut and add them to the pasta. Serve tha pasta on each plate, drizzle more sauce and sprinkle some fresh parmesan. Et voila!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

An Asian Twist on Vegetables….

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Filed under Large round mold, octogonal silpat, vegetables, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

Some people crave sweets, salty snacks. Me… good vegetables… I am not satisfied if my dinner does not include vegetables. The problem is variety. I get tired of eating the same vegetables. Luckily with each season comes new vegetables, yet it is difficult to find fun ways to eat them. In the book ” 75 Nouvelles Recettes Proteinees” from the Marabout Editions, there is a large selection of vegetables recipes. Some better than others. The recipe of today’s post was based on the recipe called “legumes vapeurs a l’asiatique”. Though I really like the originality of the vegetable mix, I made a few changes including the sauce.

Ingredients for 4: 1 red pepper cut in thin strips, 1 bag of miniature carrots ( can be found in the packaged vegetables in your grocery store), 2-3 summer squash sliced thinly, 2 cups of snow peas, salt, light soy sauce, hoisin sauce.

Trim the snow peas. Place all the vegetables in the round mold to steam them. Mix 1/16 tsp of salt with 1 tsp of water, and pour it into the round mold. Place the octogonal silpat on top of the round mold and microwave for 5 minutes. While the vegetables are cooking, mix 2 tsp of light soy sauce with 2 tsp of hoisin sauce and 1 tsp of grated fresh ginger. Pour this mixture into the cooked vegetable and mix well to coat. Et voila!!!

 Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!