The only drawback to cooking all these wonderful meals is that it can be pretty time-consuming, especially when you have other evening commitments; sometimes we don’t end up sitting down to eat until 9:30 or later! So it’s good to have a collection of quick recipes to come back to when you know you’ll be pressed for time. This recipe, based on one by Mario Batali in The Mushroom Lover’s Mushroom Cookbook, is one we’ll be adding to the rotation. Start to finish, this meal takes less than 30 minutes to prepare. Presto! (Pasta Night!)

Chris says:

I can’t believe you used to hate mushrooms.

Lisa says:

I can relate to people not liking them, but these are delicious. So you cut a bunch of oil out of the recipe?

Chris says:

Yep, the original called for like 5 tablespoons… that’s “Molto” Mario for you!

Fettuccine with Shiitakes
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1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
8 oz shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, cleaned, and cut in half
1 cup chicken broth
2 oz sweet red vermouth
8 oz fresh fettuccine
1 bunch of arugula, cleaned and chopped (1 cup)

Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Saute the garlic until soft but not burned. Add the shiitakes and cook until they give up their liquid, 2 to 3 minutes.
Pour in the stock and vermouth. Bring to a boil and boil until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. The sauce should just coat the mushrooms.
Bring a pot of water to boil and cook the fettuccine until al dente.
Over high heat, toss the arugula into the shiitake sauce until it just wilts. Pour the sauce over the drained pasta. Serve hot.

2 Servings.

This is one of those “let’s see what we have in the refrigerator” meals that I just love. Capers, anchovies, and olives, all in one sauce? Yes, please. I like to add shrimp, and we happened to have some in the freezer. The recipe below is quick and easy, and one that I return to again and again. Everything was on the table in just over 25 minutes.

Angel Hair with Shrimp Puttanesca
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1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 1/2 cups diced plum tomatoes
1/4 cup minced parsley
3 tbsp olives, roughly chopped (I prefer kalamata, tonight we used green)
2 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tbsp capers
2 tsp anchovy paste
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper, more to taste
shrimp (optional)
3-4 cups hot cooked pasta (we used whole-wheat angel hair)

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over low heat. Add garlic and saute for 5 minutes. Add tomato and next 6 ingredients (tomato through crushed red pepper) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes or until thick.
Meanwhile, if using shrimp, cook as desired (I quickly sauteed the shrimp in a tsp or so of garlic-infused oil). Stir cooked shrimp into tomato mixture.
Combine tomato mixture and pasta and toss well. Garnish with oregano sprigs or fresh basil.

3-4 servings.

Tonight Lisa made this recipe, the first from a new cookbook we recently spotted in the Bargain Books section: Fitness Food. This cookbook presents recipes that have been “specially developed for active people”; to us it just looks like a nice collection of well-balanced, healthy recipes. I’m sure we’ll be making more from this book over the next few weeks. We used a little less asparagus than the recipe called for, and next time we’ll use a few more cherry tomatoes. We both really enjoyed this one.

Warm Chicken and Pasta Salad
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1 lb 10 oz orange sweet potatoes, cut into 3/4″ cubes
9 oz cherry tomatoes, halved
cooking spray
2 7-oz boneless skinless chicken breast fillets
2 bunches slender asparagus, trimmed and cut into thirds
13 oz macaroni (we used whole-wheat rigatoni)
14 oz can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
3 handfuls arugula leaves
3 tbs fat-free french dressing

Preheat an oven to 400. Place the sweet potato at one end of a large nonstick baking dish and the tomatoes at the other end, cut-side down. Lightly spray with oil and bake for 45 minutes, turning halfway through. Remove the tomatoes after 30 minutes.
Preheat a grill over high heat. Cook the chicken for 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through.
Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil, add the asparagus and cook for one minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and plunge into ice water. Drain. Return the water to a boil and cook the pasta for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and keep warm.
Slice the chicken into 1/2″ thick strips and place in a large bowl with the vegetables, beans, pasta, and arugula and toss until combined. Add the dressing to the salad and toss until well combined. Season to taste and serve.

6 Servings.

Lisa needs to start carbo-loading for the marathon so we wanted to try a new pasta dish, and this one was quick, easy, and didn’t require us to go out and buy anything special — everything was already in the fridge or on the shelf. I’m normally not a fan of “creamy” sauces, but this one had a chicken broth and wine base thickened with flour, which made for a cream-like, savory sauce without any dairy. Plus it had capers, and I loves me some capers.

Tuna Wine Sauce (4 servings)
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2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onion stalks, thinly sliced
2 tbsp flour
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup white wine
1 6.5 oz can chunk light tuna, drained
2 tbsp capers, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 dashes Tabasco® sauce
Black pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and green onions and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the flour and blend well. Stir in the broth and wine, stirring constantly until thickened. Reduce the heat and stir in the tuna and capers. Add the lemon juice, Tabasco, and pepper. Serve hot over pasta.

This was a quick-to-make recipe from the San Francisco Chronicle — only modification was that we only used half the oil that the original called for. If you’re a fan of arugula, try this one out! The recipe below is scaled to serve two.

Linguine with Tuna, Arugula, and Hot Pepper
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1/2 lb linguine
1/8 c extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 big pinch hot red pepper flakes
6 oz can tuna in olive oil, drained
Kosher salt
4-5 oz baby arugula

INSTRUCTIONS:

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the linguine and boil until al dente.

While pasta cooks, heat olive oil, garlic and hot pepper flakes over moderately low heat until garlic is fragrant and sizzling. Add tuna and shred it into fine flakes with a fork. Season with salt and add a few tablespoons of boiling water from the pasta pot to make the mixture moist and sauce-like. Keep warm over low heat.

Just before the pasta is ready, set aside 1 cup of boiling water. Drain pasta and return it to the warm pot set over moderate heat. Add arugula and contents of the skillet and toss vigorously with tongs, moistening with some of the reserved pasta water. The arugula will wilt in the heat of the pasta. Divide among warm bowls and serve immediately.

Serves 2.