Get Cooking: 150 Simple Recipes to Get You Started in the Kitchen (17 page)

1.
In a medium-large bowl, stir together the breadcrumbs and milk. Let sit for a minute or two.

2.
Lightly beat the egg in a small bowl. Add the egg, cheese, parsley, onion, salt, and about 5 grinds of black pepper to the breadcrumb mixture, mixing well with your fingers.

3.
Crumble in the ground beef, and use your hands to mix everything gently until it’s just combined.

4.
Set out a tray or a couple of dinner plates to hold the formed meatballs. Wet your hands with cold water and gently roll the meat mixture into 1½-inch balls, placing them on the tray or plate as you go. You should end up with about 24 meatballs. Wash your hands thoroughly after handling the raw meat.

5.
Place a soup pot, Dutch oven, or large (10-to 12-inch) heavy skillet over medium heat. After about a minute, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and swirl to coat the pot. Add just enough meatballs to fit comfortably, and cook undisturbed for about 2 minutes, or until the surface touching the pot is deeply browned.

6.
Turn the meatballs carefully with tongs to brown them all over. They are done when no longer pink in the middle (you can peek with the tip of a sharp knife). Total cooking time should be 10 to 12 minutes. If you have more raw meatballs to cook, take the cooked ones out of the pot, set them on a clean plate, and cover them loosely with foil. Brown the remaining ones, adding more olive oil to the pot for each batch.

7.
Once all the meatballs are fully cooked, return them to the pot to reheat briefly. They’re now ready to be eaten as is, or simmered gently in your favorite tomato sauce and tossed with pasta.

quick and easy spinach lasagna

Makes 8 to 10 servings

N
othing (not even the noodles!) needs to be precooked in this easy vegetarian lasagna (unless you make your own sauce, which you can do a week or more ahead of time). So it’s more like a DIY project, quickly assembled by stacking uncooked lasagna noodles, store-bought sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, and fresh baby spinach. Magically, all this raw stuff bakes itself into a good, honest lasagna. And by the way, there’s no need to buy official “no boil” noodles. The liquid in the spinach and the sauce, plus a little water, will perfectly cook regular lasagna noodles (the kind with the curly edges that you usually have to pre-boil).

1.
Adjust the oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 375°F (350°F if you’ll be using a glass pan). Have ready a 9-by 13-inch baking pan or its equivalent.

2.
Spoon a generous cup of the tomato sauce into the baking pan and spread it around. It won’t completely cover the bottom, but that’s okay. Cover the sauce with a single layer of noodles, edges touching (you can break some, if necessary, to make a single layer that covers the whole pan).

3.
Drop spoonfuls of the ricotta cheese here and there over the noodles, using half the ricotta. You don’t need to cover the noodles completely with the cheese. Spoon, and lightly spread, another cup or so of the tomato sauce over the ricotta. Don’t worry if there are chunks in the sauce and it spreads somewhat unevenly. Layer on half of the spinach leaves, pressing them into the sauce. (Don’t be alarmed if this looks like a lot of spinach. It cooks down during baking.) Then sprinkle the spinach with about half of the mozzarella.

4.
Place another single layer of noodles on top of the mozzarella, and drop spoonfuls of the remaining ricotta on top, using up all the ricotta.

5.
Spoon on half of the remaining sauce, spreading it around. Layer on the rest of the
spinach, pressing it down, and sprinkle the remaining mozzarella over the spinach.

6.
Make a final layer of noodles on top of the spinach, and spoon the remaining sauce on top of the noodles.

7.
Cover the pan very tightly with aluminum foil and bake, undisturbed, for 1 hour.

8.
Remove and save the foil, sprinkle the top of the lasagna with the Parmesan, and return the pan to the oven. Bake, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the top is golden.

9.
Remove the pan from the oven and cover it with the foil again. Let the lasagna rest for 15 minutes before cutting and serving. (This step helps ensure that the noodles are completely cooked and that the lasagna has solidified, so it will come out in neat squares or rectangles.)

genuine homemade mac & cheese

Makes 4 to 5 servings

Y
es, the stuff in the blue box is cheap and fast. But it is no match for this real MacCoy—with its crunchy, chewy crust on top and the soft, creamy pasta underneath. This version is made with a classic cheese sauce that comes together in about the time it takes to cook the pasta. The rest happens in the oven, so it’s really not that much trouble for a huge payoff. You can use packaged grated Cheddar or your own mix of good-quality cheeses. The tastier the cheese, of course, the better the dish will be.

1.
Spray a 1-quart gratin dish or an 8-inch square baking pan with vegetable oil spray, and set aside.

2.
Set the oven rack on the highest rung that will fit your baking pan (this will help the top brown nicely) and preheat the oven to 350°F.

3.
Put a medium-sized pot of cold water to boil over high heat, and add a tablespoon of salt. Place a large colander in the sink. When the water boils, add the macaroni, keeping the heat high. Cook for the amount of time recommended on the package, tasting the macaroni toward the end of the suggested time to be sure it is not getting overcooked. When it is
just
tender enough to bite into comfortably but not yet mushy, dump the pasta-and-water into the colander. Run cold water over the pasta to bring it to room temperature so that it stops cooking. Shake to mostly drain (it’s okay to leave some water clinging). Leave it in place—you’ll need it in just a few minutes.

4.
To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter over low heat, in the same pot you used to cook the macaroni. When the butter is melted, use a whisk to beat in the flour, salt, mustard, and cayenne. Keep whisking for a few seconds, until the mixture forms a thick paste. Then slowly drizzle in the milk, still vigorously whisking, so the sauce becomes smooth as the milk is incorporated. Keep cooking and stirring (switching from the whisk to a wooden spoon) for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the mixture is velvety, thick, and smooth. Sprinkle in about two-thirds each of the Cheddar and the Parmesan, and stir until the cheeses are fully blended in. Remove the pot from the heat.

5.
Add the cooked macaroni and the remaining Cheddar to the cheese sauce. Stir until all the pasta is well coated. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan, and top with the breadcrumbs and the remaining Parmesan. Set the pan on a foil-lined baking tray to catch any drips, and bake, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, or until bubbly around the edges and crisp and golden on top. Serve hot.

GET CREATIVE

• Use whole wheat macaroni instead of white.
  
• Mince a medium-sized clove of garlic and add it when melting the butter.
  
• Stir up to 2 teaspoons prepared horseradish and/or prepared mustard (in addition to the dry mustard) into the cheese sauce before adding the pasta.
  
• If you have cooked broccoli or cauliflower on hand, add up to 2 cups (chopped) when mixing the pasta with the sauce; or add up to 2 cups chopped raw broccoli or cauliflower to the macaroni during the last minute of cooking.
  
• Mix a handful of chopped walnuts with the breadcrumbs before sprinkling them over the mac and cheese.
  
• You might want to make this cheese sauce separately, to serve on top of cooked vegetables or potatoes. It’s multipurpose!
  

linguine with clam sauce

Makes 2 to 3 servings

F
resh clams, cooked with a little white wine, garlic, and onion, create a classic pasta sauce that will wow you with its complex flavor. Don’t be put off by the idea of buying and cooking fresh clams. It’s really quite foolproof and actually kind of fun. A note on timing: Ideally, you want the hot pasta and just-opened clams to be done at about the same time, so check the pasta package for its suggested cooking time and calculate accordingly. It’s fine if the pasta is done a few minutes before the clams, because you can reheat it a bit when you add it to the clams and sauce.

1.
Put a large pot of cold water to boil over high heat, and add a tablespoon of salt. Place a large colander in the sink. When the water boils, add the linguine, keeping the heat high. Cook for the amount of time recommended on the package, tasting the pasta toward the end of the suggested time to be sure it is not getting overcooked. When it is
just
tender enough to bite into comfortably but not yet mushy, dump the water-plus-pasta into the colander. Shake to mostly drain (it’s okay to leave some water clinging), and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Leave it in place—you’ll need it in just a few minutes.

2.
While the pasta is cooking, place a soup pot or a Dutch oven (something large and deep with a lid at the ready) over medium heat. Let this pot heat for a minute, then add the 3 tablespoons oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add the onion and salt, and cook over medium heat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, or until the onion softens.