The Best Garlic Bread in the World (Great with Pasta)

By Mike Kazmark

A fabulous garlic bread is every bit as complimentary to a great bowl of pasta as a great icing is to a cake. If the icing is only fair, it is hard for the cake to really stand out. Lets say you go to a restaurant. They bring out an incredible bowl of steaming hot pasta and the first thing you try is the garlic bread. If the garlic bread is only mediocre, the pasta will have a really hard time selling itself. If after the first bite you grab the whole bread basket claiming it as your own, even a fair pasta will at least have a chance!

There are a few components to making great garlic bread. Chief among these is a good bread. I like using a good sourdough from a specialty store. These stores have sprung up all over and carry all kinds of organic products from fruits and vegetables to baked items. These often have great sourdough breads. I usually buy it sliced. I lay out the slices on a cookie sheet and liberally apply butter to just the top of each slice. I then lightly sprinkle garlic powder, and lightly sprinkle ground oregano (not too much or it will taste like a pizza!) on the butter. I then finely grate Sharp Cheddar Cheese and sprinkle enough cheese so as to just cover the bread and butter completely. If you do not cover the bread completely, the edges of the bread will burn before the cheese has melted. But you do not want the cheese to be so thick that it melts into a big glob. I then lightly sprinkle a touch more garlic powder and oregano on top of the cheese. This adds a little more flavor and looks good.

Now comes the critical part. Timing. You want to put the cookie sheet with the bread slices under a broiler long enough to melt the cheese but the difference between perfect garlic bread and burned garlic bread can be a matter of 30 seconds. So you have to stay on it. Serve piping hot and enjoy!

Addendum:
My wife grabbed the keyboard out of my hands and typed in her own thoughts on "the best garlic bread in the world." I think she meant to do this as a joke but I am going to include it because people have enjoyed her approach to garlic bread as well. Her method is not as time sensitive as the above method and can come out a bit more gooey (which many people like).

"This is Mike's wife. I would like to include this garlic bread recipe from my Italian mother. Begin with a round loaf of Sourdough bread (sliced). Take one to two cubes of butter and add garlic to the butter to taste. Start at the end of the loaf and spread the garlic butter on both sides of each piece of bread. Then sprinkle both sides of each slice with grated parmesan cheese. Continue this through the entire loaf. Then wrap in foil and cook at 350 degrees till heated through (approximately 10-15 minutes). Open up the top of the foil and cook till the top is brown and crispy."

Have fun. Experiment. Try both methods and you will soon be on your way to a truly sensational garlic bread that will set the stage for whatever pasta recipes, soup recipes, etc. that will follow.

My name is Mike Kazmark. I started http://www.bestpastarecipes.com . My wife and I found a little hole-in-the-wall place where they really know how to cook in Orange County, CA. The chef there inspired me to start a website where incredible tasting dishes could be presented in a manner that the average person would feel confident preparing. That is how our website began. What I am most looking forward to is hearing someone take one of our incredible dishes, go through the steps and exclaim, "I did it!", and to know that they have just mastered the preparation of a fabulous meal for their family. There is a process that happens that I really like when someone submits a recipe they've developed for others to freely use. The care and love that went into the original, now gets passed on so that other chefs can give back that same care and love in the act of serving their own families. Other families get to enjoy the same meal and build their own memories together. I like that.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Kazmark
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Easy Spaghetti Recipes

By Rachel Paxton

Spaghetti has always been a favorite family meal. My teenage daughter will eat leftover spaghetti for breakfast, lunch, and as a mid-afternoon snack. Not everyone loves spaghetti so much that they will go to that extreme, however, and the same meals can getting boring after awhile. Here are some ways to jazz up this old favorite:

Italian Sausage Spaghetti

• 2 lbs. Italian sausage

• 48 oz. spaghetti sauce

• 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste

• Green pepper, sliced thin

• 1 lg. onion, sliced thin

• 1 tbsp. Parmesan cheese

• 1 tsp. parsley flakes

• 1 c. water

Place sausage in skillet and cover in water. Simmer 10 minutes; drain. Meanwhile, place remaining ingredients in crock pot. Add drained sausage and cover; cook on low 4 hours. Increase to high; cook 1 hour more. Cut sausage in bite-size slices and serve over cooked spaghetti. Sprinkle with more Parmesan, if desired.

Irish Italian Spaghetti

• 1 onion, chopped

• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil

• 1 lb. ground beef

• 1 tsp. salt

• 1/4 tsp. pepper

• Dash of red pepper

• 1/2 tsp. chili powder

• 1/2 tsp. tabasco sauce

• 1 can cream of mushroom soup

• 1 can condensed tomato soup

• 1 (8 oz.) package spaghetti

• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Brown onion in oil. Add meat and seasonings. Brown lightly, cover. Simmer 10 minutes. Add soups, cover and simmer 45 minutes. Cook spaghetti. Cover with sauce and Parmesan cheese.

Baked Spaghetti

• 1 c. chopped onion

• 1 c. chopped green pepper

• 1 tbsp. butter or margarine

• 1 (28 oz.) can tomatoes with liquid, cut up

• 1 (4 oz.) can mushroom stems and pieces, drained

• 1 (2 1/4 oz.) can sliced ripe olives, drained

• 2 tsp. dried oregano

• 1 lb. hamburger, browned

• 12 oz. spaghetti, cooked and drained

• 2 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

• 1 can cream of mushroom soup

• 1/4 c. water

• 1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, saute onion and green pepper in butter until tender. Add tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, and oregano. Add ground beef. Simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes. Place half of the spaghetti in a greased 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Top with half of the vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with 1 c. cheddar cheese. Repeat layers. Mix soup and water until smooth; pour over casserole. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Six to 8 servings.

Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

• 1/2 c. margarine

• 1 c. chopped red bell pepper

• 1 (4 oz.) can sliced mushrooms, chopped

• 1/4 c. chopped hot pepper rings

• 2 c. chicken broth

• 1/4 c. flour

• 2 c. cooked chicken, chopped

• 1 (4 oz.) can diced pimento

• 1 tsp. salt

• 1 oz. chopped slivered almonds

• 1/2 lb. spaghetti, broken

• 4 slices American cheese

Melt margarine and cook peppers and mushrooms until tender; add flour and blend well. Add chicken broth. Cook and stir until thickened. Add chicken, pimento, and seasonings; heat and add almonds.

Cook spaghetti in boiling water for about 9 minutes. Drain and mix with previous ingredients. Place in casserole dish and cover with slices of American cheese. Heat at 325 degrees until cheese is melted (approx. 30 to 45 minutes). Serve.

About The Author

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For more recipes, organizing tips, home decorating, crafts, holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rachel_Paxton
http://EzineArticles.com/?Easy-Spaghetti-Recipes&id=18201

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Christmas Pasta

By Rachael Ray

on 10/10/07

From Rachael: "We eat fish on Christmas Eve, no meat allowed. After Midnight Mass, all bets are off! We make this sauce for Christmas Day: you can't fit another meat in the pot! As many times as you reheat it, it just gets that much better, so if people are coming and going throughout the day, cook off only as much pasta as you need at the time – half a pound for every 3 people. I suggest

Ingredients
* 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
* 4 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
* 1/4 pound pancetta, thick-cut, chopped into small bits
* 1/2 pound bulk hot Italian sausage
* 1 pound combined ground beef, pork and veal
* 1 medium carrot, peeled and finely chopped
* 1 rib celery, chopped
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 1 cup good quality dry red wine
* 1 cup prepared beef stock, packaged in a box container or canned
* 2 cans chunky style crushed tomatoes (32 ounces each)
* A handful of flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped
* 1/4 teaspoon allspice or cinnamon (a couple of pinches)
* Coarse salt and black pepper
* 2 pounds penne rigate, cooked to al dente
* Grated Pecorino Romano cheese, as an accompaniment
* Fresh, crusty bread, for mopping

Preparation

Heat a deep pot over medium-high heat. Add oil, garlic, bay leaf and pancetta bits and brown for one minute. Add meats and brown and crumble them for five minutes.

Chop carrot, celery and onions near the stove and add to the pot as you work. Cook vegetables with meat for five minutes and add wine. Cook for one minute; add stock and tomatoes to the pot.

Stir in parsley, allspice or cinnamon and season sauce with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring sauce to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and cook 10-15 minutes minimum before serving. Reheated sauce only improves.

Toss pasta (cook only as much pasta as you need at the time: half a pound for every three people) with a couple of ladles of sauce to coat, then top bowl with extra sauce. Top pasta with lots of cheese and pass bread at the table.

The sauce will cover up to two pounds of pasta.

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