Healthy & Delicious: Baked Rotelle Puttanesca
On Mondays, Kristen Swensson of Cheap, Healthy, Good swings by these parts to share healthy and delicious recipes with us. Today, a delicious baked pasta recipe.
Like every red-blooded American who cares about the exact crispiness of her roasted potatoes, the correct bean-to-meat ratio of her chili, and the precise inner temperature of her turkey thighs, I loves me some Cook’s Illustrated. Christopher Kimball is a bow-tied man-god in my apartment, second only to John Cleese and the guy who repaired our bathroom wall. Everything I’ve ever made from a CI cookbook has been at worst, very good, and at best, totally freaking outstanding.
I received their 30-Minute Best Recipe tome For Christmas last year, and can’t praise it highly enough. The meals actually take half an hour (with prep!) and there’s a wide range of healthier options, making it ideal for busy people with body concerns. (See: me.) One of my favorite dishes is Baked Ziti Puttanesca, a somewhat lighter version of their cream-heavy Baked Ziti. Briny, rich, and a little under 600 calories per serving, it’s definitely not diet food, but it’s still a fairly guiltless way to enjoy mammoth helpings of phenomenal pasta.
What’s nice, too, is the recipe’s versatility. You can sub in penne, rotelle (as seen here), or any other small-ish noodle that cooks in 10 to 12 minutes. You can chop the fat pretty significantly by reducing the mozzarella, Parmesan, olive oil, and olives. You can even cook it in a Dutch oven, which could prevent a lot of melted pan handles. (Er … not that I did that.)
Whether or not you decide to make the dish, definitely buy the book. It’d make a great Christmas present, and the recipient might even make you dinner. If you’re lucky.
Baked Rotelle Puttanesca
- serves 4 or 5 -
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Best 30-Minute Recipes.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 anchovy fillets, rinsed and minced
salt and black ground pepper
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
3 cups water
12 ounces rotelle (3 ¾ cups)
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup minced fresh basil
1/3 to 1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, roughly chopped
1 cup shredded or minced part-skim mozzarella cheese
Procedure
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees.
2. Combine oil, garlic, pepper flakes, anchovies, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in 12-inch ovensafe nonstick skillet and sauté over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add crushed tomatoes, water, rotelle, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook, stirring often and adjusting heat as needed to maintain vigorous simmer, until rotelle is almost tender, 15 to 18 minutes.
3. Stir in wine, Parmesan, basil, and olives. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over rotelle. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until cheese has melted and browned, about 10 minutes. Serve.
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5 Comments:
I have that book and their Best Recipe book. Love them and you're right--the 30 minute recipes are actually 30 minutes in real time.
dhorst at 11:05AM on 12/08/08
Going to try this recipe this week.
How is the book in terms of vegetarian recipes? Is it very meat heavy?
spartana07 at 11:58AM on 12/08/08
This is interesting because I cook a lot and find their recipes (and those in Baking Illustrated) to be well thought-out but consistently mediocre in the taste department. This looks delicious, however!
marinelm at 12:11PM on 12/08/08
Spartana, it's so-so for veggie recipes. Lots of the book focuses on meat, but there are still several dozen pasta, soup, and egg-based dishes that'll get a non-carnivore by.
Kristen Swensson at 2:55PM on 12/08/08
So I made this the other night and it was good, but I wouldn't say it was flawless. This biggest thing is the amount of time that you cook the noodles for on the stovetop. Maybe I should have thought of this before but the pot I was using (8qt dutch oven) kept the sauce that the noodles cooked in much warmer during the simmer. After 15 minutes the noodles were done and then got a little too done after its turn in the oven. That would be my only issue with the recipe. Otherwise it tasted really great.
kplays at 11:40AM on 12/11/08