Jaime Oliver's Baked Camembert Pasta

(picture adapted from flickr)

This was quite tasty. Very simple, and exquisite. The can be baked in its box, which I purchased at Target. The flavors can be played around with too. Don't feel like you need to commit to rigatoni, either. Use whatever pasta you like.

Ingredients
(serves 4-6)

- a box of Camembert Cheese (250g)
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
- 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, pick the leaves off the woody stalk
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- extra virgin olive oil
- 100g grated parmesan cheese
- 400g dried rigatoni
- 150g fresh spinach

Directions

1. Open the box of cheese and unwrap it. Place it back to the wooden container (Note: mine did not come in a wooden container so I placed it in a oven safe dish like what you see in the photo).
2. Score a circle into the top of the skin, then lift it off and discard.
3. Lay the garlic slices on top of the cheese, sprinkle some pepper and drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil.
4. Scatter the rosemary leaves over the top and gently pat with your fingers to coat them in the oil.
5. Bake the cheese in a preheated oven of 180C (350F) for about 25 minutes, until golden and melted.
6. When the cheese has 10 minutes left to cook, add the pasta to the pan and cook according to packet instructions.
7. When the pasta is cooked, add the spinach to the pan – it only needs cooking for 10 seconds or so.
8. Drain the pasta and spinach to the pan and let it wilt.
9. Drizzle with a couple of good lugs of extra virgin olive oil and add the grated Parmesan. If the sauce is too thick for you, add a splash of reserved cooking water to thin out a bit. Season with salt and pepper and give it a good stir.
10. Remove the cheese from the oven. Divide the pasta between your serving bowls. Either drizzle the melted Camembert on top or pop cheese on the table and let everyone help themselves to a lovely, gooey spoonful.

Red/White Pasta

This is so easy and delicious. If you like to get into the bread and butter of italian food- but not have to put a lot of work into it, then this is for you. Now, I have recipes for homemade alfredo, and homemade marinara, but I'm not going to post them, because frankly, I didn't make them. I got so lazy tonight but managed to whip out a delicious entree in a half hour.


Red/White Pasta

1 pkg of Rotini or Fusilli pasta
1 can of your favorite marinara sauce (or be awesome and make your own)
1 can of your favorite alfredo sauce (again, go ahead and be awesome if you want)
1 cup grated mozzarella
(you can add vegetables to beef it up, so to speak... like zucchini or eggplant.

Preheat oven to 350.

Boil pasta to aldente, it will continue to cook when baking. Drain, and let sit for a minute. Spread some marinara on the bottom of a casserole dish, then pour half the pasta in. This is all about technique- you can't just mix the sauces up and pour them in, it won't taste as good, I promise. Dollop large spoonful's of each of the sauces sporadically throughout the dish. Layer the rest of the pasta then repeat. Sprinkle with mozzarella and bake for 20-25 minutes, till bubbling.

This is so tasty. Serve with french bread or garlic rolls.

Creamy Chicken Enchilada's

It was moderately difficult to get a good picture of these tasty enchilada's. I tried to take one out and have it nicely displayed on the plate, but in my carefulness I somehow ended it up flipping it upside down and it exploded on impact. But it tasted just as great at the others. This recipe can be customized to all different palate's, I am not one to have meat be the bulk of things and I don't like too much spice, so the recipe I give you will be the one I use, and you can change it accordingly. There are no mistakes with this one.

Creamy Chicken Enchilada's

2-3 boneless breasts of chicken

1 can of cream of chicken

1 1/2 cups of sour cream

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

salt and white pepper to taste

1 small can of chopped olives

1 small can of green chili's (I only use half)

1 1/2-2 cups of grated monterey jack cheese

4-5 tortillas (I used spinach in my attempt to "be healthier")

Boil chicken till just barely cooked through. Mix in a large bowl cream of chicken, sour cream and all seasonings till creamed together. Set one cup of this concoction aside. Preheat oven to 350.

With the remaining bulk of the cream sauce, add olives, chili's and all but 1/2 cup of the cheese. Mix evenly.

Shred the cooked chicken and stir into the mix. Using the plain sauce that was set aside, coat the bottom and sides of a square 8x8 dish with half, and leave the rest to spread on top. Fill the tortillas with the filling and place in the dish. Spread remaining sauce on top, and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese.

Cook for 20-25 min.

Croque Monsieur

OH my heavens. I certainly didn't intend the first recipe to be so intimidating. But in reality, it was very very easy and was absolutely delicious. I saw this on "It's Complicated", the movie with Meryl Streep, she cooked it for Steve Martin and when he bit into it I had it in my head to google this dish and have it on my table. There are so many ways to change it and make it your own. So feel free to tweak it if you feel so inclined.

For some reason I was ultra-motivated and I made my own french bread. It could be the new Kitchen Aid I received for Christmas, or just my desire for bread, I love it. But you don't need to bake your bread for heavens sake, just buy it. But if you are up for some self confidence, bake THIS bread.

I even made a baby Croque Monsieur for Jack, just his size. He ate it.

Croque Monsieur

INGREDIENTS

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

1 1/2 cups milk

A pinch each of salt, freshly ground pepper, nutmeg, or more to taste

6 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups grated)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (packed)

8 slices of French or Italian loaf bread12 ounces ham, sliced

Dijon mustard

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 400°F.

2 Make the béchamel sauce. Melt butter in a small saucepan on medium/low heat until it just starts to bubble. Add the flour and cook, stirring until smooth, about 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk, whisking continuously, cooking until thick. Remove from heat. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir in the Parmesan and 1/4 cup of the grated Gruyère. Set aside.

3 Lay out the bread slices on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven, a few minutes each side, until lightly toasted. For extra flavor you can spread some butter on the bread slices before you toast them if you want.

(Alternatively, you can assemble the sandwiches as follows in step four and grill them on a skillet, finishing them in the broiler with the bechamel sauce.)

4 Lightly brush half of the toasted slices with mustard. Add the ham slices and about 1 cup of the remaining Gruyère cheese. Top with the other toasted bread slices.

5 Spoon on the béchamel sauce to the tops of the sandwiches. Sprinkle with the remaining Gruyère cheese. Place on a broiling pan. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes, then turn on the broiler and broil for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, until the cheese topping is bubbly and lightly browned.

If you top this sandwich with a fried egg it becomes a Croque Madame.

Makes 4 sandwiches.

*Photo credit, me

*Recipe credit, "Simply Recipes"

*Bread recipe credit, "Confessions of a Bake A Holic"