Monday, May 7, 2007

A Delightful Dish from Giada

I very rarely watch any television, but since I have been doing my spring cleaning I've gotten behind on my ironing. One day last week, I set up the ironing board in front of the TV, and turned on the Food Network. Let me tell you that Paula Deen is my favorite chef. Everything that she makes just looks so wonderful, and I love her laugh. I think that I'd like to hang out in her kitchen. After Paula, Giada comes on. I like her a little less. She's a little too smiley for me. That being said, she caught my attention with a quick pasta recipe.

Today, I broke out the ironing board again. You guessed it! I found myself in front of the Food network. And, Giada was on. It was the same episode as last week. I only watched long enough to make a list of the ingredients to make the appetizing pasta dish. I made it for supper tonight, and I think I like Giada a whole lot more now! This dish literally took fifteen minutes, and was really delicious!




The ingredients are assembled...






sauteeing the garlic
in olive oil.




Rough chop the spinach,
and saute it in the
olive oil and garlic.

Boy does this
smell good!



Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
Toss them with the spinach.

Add the cooked pasta.







Grate the Parmesan and
Asiago cheeses. Toss.









Abigail shows off the finished product!








recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis (Everyday Italian)
Fusilli (spring or rotini) Pasta with Spinach and Asiago
1 pound fusilli pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (9-ounce) bag fresh spinach, roughly chopped
8 ounces (1/2 pint) cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup (about 3 1/2-ounces) grated Asiago
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, warm olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the spinach and tomatoes and cook until the spinach wilts, about 2 more minutes. Add the cooked pasta and toss. Add the cheeses, salt, pepper, and the pasta cooking liquid and stir to combine.

Transfer the pasta to a serving plate and serve.

I doubled this for the seven of us. I also used about four cloves of garlic. Doubling it would have called for two. Wanna kiss?


15 comments:

Ruth said...

Looks YUMMY!! I'll have to give it a try. Thanks for showing the play by play!! =o)

Trella said...

Looks yummy! I also love Paula Dean, but wil have to give Giada's recipe a try.

Karen said...

I KNOW! I have a hard time getting past all those teeth that she loves to shine! I guess if I had teeth that pretty, I'd smile like that too!
It looks really good, and I will have to try it. I like cheese anyway!
Thanks for letting me know where to find the cleaner.
And Paula.....LOVE HER!

Kelli said...

Oh, I am definitely making this...YUM!!! I know what you mean about being too smiley but my mouth always waters when I see what she's cooking! Thank you for the recipe!
Kelli
P.s Have you tried Paula Deen's banana pudding? It's GOOD! LOL

Susan said...

Looks yummy will have to give this one a try. Thanks for all the visuals and step-by-step.

Sheri said...

Oh this looks yummy, yummy! We are big Italian food lovers, so I must try it. Thanks Tracy!

Oh, and the birthday went super. I shall blog about it soon.

Christie Belle said...

That does look really yummy. After reading your last two posts, I feel like I need to go eat:) I watch her from time to time, she does have some really good recipes, but I hadn't seen this one, so thanks for sharing it! Oh, Paula is my fave too!

Mrs. Anna T said...

Mmm... might be certainly worth a try, if I need a quick and easy dinner! Thanks, Tracy!

Unknown said...

My absolutely favorite ingredient in ANY meal is ... E.A.S.Y. Thanks for this one.

Now, can you explain how to do that fancy signature on the bottom of your posts. I think you have to create it elsewhere and post it, then copy the source and stick it in your HTML. Am I close?

If so, where exactly on the HTML does it go? It is soooo cute.

Tracy said...

Becky,
Hmmm... I wonder if it could be done that way? For now, I created it on Paint, saved it as a picture, and upload it as a photo everytime. See my post comments "TEST" for more details.

Jennifer in MS said...

Looks yummy! I'm the same way....I LOVE Paula and get her magazine and I have one of her cookbooks. Giada normally doesn't make things that I would make, though my brother and his Italian wife have her cookbook and make her recipes all the time! I told them they will have to cook for me so I can try them out!:0)

If you see a recipe that looks good, you can find it on foodnetwork.com. You can see the episodes by date and print the recipe off. I do it all the time!

Karen, LOL about her teeth! I said the same thing when my brother was saying how attractive she is! Something about those big teeth to me........

Lori said...

Yummy! Thanks for sharing another recipe. I will be copying this one and trying it.

Gena said...

I want to be Paula when I grow up. Really. She just seems so genuine and every recipe of hers that I have tried is absolutely delicious!

I had a hard time with Giada for a while, but after I watched a couple of times I realized that her dishes are pretty quick and easy, healthy and good. I watched that episode that you saw and wondered if my family would eat it because of the spinach. I may have to try it anyway.

Barbara said...

Looks tasty. Have downloaded it. First time a slip of my hand and your whole blog page fown to older posts ended up on my computer in word. Not exactly what I was after but second time was fine.

Christy said...

I LOVE Paula Deen too...and Giada makes me laugh with those teeth LOL.

I have also made this recipe and it is really, really good!!