The story below is from our January/February 2020 issue. For the full issue Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!
These easy recipes will have guests thinking you’ve been hard at work in the kitchen for hours.
Ashley Cuoco
Italian sausage sliders with magical marinara sauce
My most recent food adventure is learning how to make homemade pasta. On any given day my pasta may be perfect or full of imperfections, but one thing I know for sure, my pasta sauce will be perfect. How can I say this with such conviction? I’ve made my Mom’s marvelous from-scratch pasta sauce for years. To me, it is perfection, but I don’t always have time to spend hours stirring a pot of sauce, so I created these recipes that have all of the flavor with much less effort.
For now I will leave the pasta making to who I believe are the local pasta aficionados – Ashley Cuoco and Chef Stephanie Fees. Cuoco is a food photographer and blogger. She has the best basic pasta recipes as well as some fancier flavorful sauce recipes on her blog (ashcuoco.com). Chef Fees owns Scratch Pasta Company that makes and sells fabulous pasta in Lynchburg. Her pasta is available at Wine Gourmet, Roanoke Natural Foods Co+op and online at scratchpastaco.com.
As for my homemade pasta being imperfect, Cuoco made me feel much better when she told me, “I believe handmade pasta should be imperfect. You’ll always know it was made by loving human hands.”
Magical Marinara
This sauce is pure magic when you don’t have time to make marinara from scratch.
- 28-ounce can Cento crushed tomatoes
- 6-ounce jar basil pesto
- 6-ounce jar sun-dried tomato pesto
- ½ tablespoon Greek seasoning
Place all ingredients in a large pot. Stir to combine ingredients. Cook over medium low heat for 10 minutes. Serve warm over your favorite pasta. This magical marinara is also a delicious condiment on Italian sausage sliders.
Italian Sausage Sliders
Yield: 12 sliders. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- ¼ cup finely chopped onion
- 1 tablespoon Greek seasoning
- 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
- 1 pound ground beef
- 8 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
- 1 egg
- 12 slices very thin white bread, cut into very small cubes
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes
- 12 slider buns, split open and toasted
- 1 cup Magical Marinara Sauce
- 12 slices mozzarella cheese
Place onions, Greek seasoning, Italian sausage, ground beef, basil leaves and egg in a large mixing bowl. Mix using a large wooden spoon or your hands. Add bread cubes and red chili flakes and continue to mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.
Divide the mixture into 12 balls and flatten with a slider press or your hands to make sliders. Bake for 20 minutes or until they reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove sliders from oven and top each slider with a slice of Mozzarella cheese, folding the corners to fit the top of the slider. Place sliders on bottoms of slider buns. Return sliders to oven for one or two minutes until the cheese is melted. Remove from oven and top with Magical Marinara sauce (about 1 tablespoon per slider). Place bun tops on sliders to serve.
Wine pairing: Le Due Arbie 2016 Chianti Superiore, $17, Mr. Bill’s Wine Cellar
Shrimp Scampi Black Squid Ink Campanelle
Please don’t be timid about trying squid ink pasta. It has a mild briny flavor that “tastes like the sea” so it pairs well with seafood. Its bold black color makes an impressive presentation. 4 servings. Warm oven-safe pasta dishes in oven at 175 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 8 ounces Scratch Pasta Squid Ink Campanelle*
- ¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined (I use Kroger Private Selection Argentinean Raw, Peeled and Deveined, X-large Red Shrimp for this recipe – tastes like buttery lobster)
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
In a large skillet, melt ¼ cup butter and add olive oil. Add garlic, shallots, salt and lemon zest and cook and stir over medium-low heat until garlic is lightly browned, about one or two minutes. Add the shrimp and cook until they are pink and opaque, turning once, about one minute. Stir in the parsley, 3 tablespoons butter and white wine and simmer for two minutes. Add the lemon juice and crushed red pepper flakes. Turn to very low heat and cover pan to keep the sauce warm.
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and divide the pasta into 4 warmed pasta bowls. Top with shrimp scampi.
*Campanelle means “little bells” in Italian. It is a pasta shaped like a cone with a ruffled edge, or a bell-like flower.
Wine pairing: Bauer Feuersbrunn Riesling, $16, Mr. Bill’s Wine Cellar
Country Ham Carbonara
A hearty Italian dish with a southern twist. 4-6 servings.
- 1 pound spaghetti or pappardelle
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 6 ounces center slice country ham, cut into small pieces
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 6 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
- ½ cup whipping cream
- 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Thinly sliced green onions for garnish
Fill a large pot ¾ full of water. Add one tablespoon of salt (tip from Chef Stephanie Fees, owner Scratch Pasta: “Since pasta is unsalted/unseasoned, you’ve got to add a lot of salt to the water – most of it will go down the drain – so that the pasta tastes like something. Otherwise it’ll leave the dish tasting bland.”) Add spaghetti or pappardelle and cook to al dente, about 8 minutes. Reserve ¼ cup of the pasta cooking water.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add butter and olive oil and country ham. Brown country ham in butter and oil, then add shallots and garlic. Continue to stir and cook until garlic is lightly browned. Add red pepper flakes and wine. Stir and cook for 2 more minutes, then turn heat to low.
In a mixing bowl whisk together egg yolks and ¼ cup of the warm pasta cooking water (to keep the egg yolks from scrambling in the sauce) and whipping cream.
Drain the pasta and add it to the country ham mixture. Stir the pasta in with the country ham mixture and pour in the egg mixture. Toss rapidly to coat the pasta without cooking the egg. Remove from heat and add Parmesan cheese and black pepper. Continue to quickly toss the pasta in the sauce. Serve in warmed pasta bowls garnished with green onions.
Wine pairing: Crémant D’Alsace Michael Tonne, $19, Mr. Bill’s Wine Cellar
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