Friday, September 28, 2007

When You Don't Feel Like REALLY Cooking


Picture from Food Network

You take recipes from Giada De Laurentis! She is one of my absolute favorite Food Network chefs. Everything she makes (that I've at least made at home) tastes amazing and is never too hard to figure out. Since I didn't cook last night (at all) and just ate leftovers, I thought I'd post one of my favorite Giada quick-fix dinner meals. We actually have made this quite a few times. I know, I've been told we make WAY too much pasta...but we love pasta! Maybe next week, it'll be no-pasta-eating week as a challenge. Happy Friday!

Rigatoni with Red Pepper, Almonds, and Bread Crumbs
from Giada de Laurentis, Everyday Italian

1 pound rigatoni pasta
3 cups purchased garlic-flavored croutons, (about 5 ounces)
1/4 cup slivered almonds (about 1 ounce), toasted (*Pine nuts work really well too!)
1 cup julienned roasted red bell peppers
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

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 into a large bowl.
Place the croutons and the almonds in a food processor. Pulse until it becomes the texture of bread crumbs. Add the crouton and almond mixture to the hot pasta. Add the peppers and the olive oil. Toss to combine and serve.

1 comment:

Ethan said...

We made this last night. It was quite yummy. I grilled two red and 1 green bell peppers and a jalapeno, and also a thick slice of an onion till they were all charred and soft and sweet. I tossed it with the crushed croutons and almonds and oil. We ate a ton of it at dinner.

Thanks!