Plain ol’ pasta doesn’t have to be plain at all

baking, cheese, dinner, pasta, quirky, supper | July 24, 2011 | By

Baked rigatoni tube pasta with holes in them - standing up in baking dish with cheese and sauce

I really don’t know what to call this dish. After all, it *is* simply rigatoni with sauce and cheese.

Baked rigatoni tube pasta with holes in them - standing up in baking dish with cheese and sauce

Then again, for whatever reason, turning all the noodles upright after cooking and then baking them this way made this dish way more fun….both to make and eat.

Baked rigatoni tube pasta with holes in them - standing up in baking dish with cheese and sauce

Baked rigatoni tube pasta with holes in them - standing up in baking dish with cheese and sauce

It didn’t take very long, but it did take longer than I thought it would. I figured I could do more than one noodle at a time, laying them in bulk, but not a chance. Each one had to be stacked individually.

Baked rigatoni tube pasta with holes in them - standing up in baking dish with cheese and sauce

Doesn’t it look cool when they’re ready, though? And then comes the sauce and cheese. And then more sauce, ‘cause hey, why not?

Baked rigatoni tube pasta with holes in them - standing up in baking dish with cheese and sauce

Baked rigatoni tube pasta with holes in them - standing up in baking dish with cheese and sauce

And then hey, why not some more cheese to melt on top of that?

Baked rigatoni tube pasta with holes in them - standing up in baking dish with cheese and sauce

Yum. Now the tricky part was actually serving it. You see, with all that sauce, the pasta couldn’t exactly stick together, could it?

Baked rigatoni tube pasta with holes in them - standing up in baking dish with cheese and sauce

Notice it going everywhere? (Oh, and those cheese biscuits in the lower left? Also really, really good)

Baked rigatoni tube pasta with holes in them - standing up in baking dish with cheese and sauce

Yeah…. So it might’ve been a little messy….

Baked rigatoni tube pasta with holes in them - standing up in baking dish with cheese and sauce

But it still looked cool in the pan and tasted so much better than just “plain ol’ pasta.”

Blooming onion garlic bread

    Isn’t it lovely how simply cutting a dish differently can completely change it? And somehow, a dish always tastes better when it looks better.
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    • 20 oz flour
    • 12 oz water
    • 2 tsp kosher salt
    • 1 tsp yeast

    Knead for 10 minutes. Let rise for about an hour. Bake at 450F for 10 minutes and then 375F for 15-20 minutes.

    For the blooming onion variety, just shape into 4 small loaves and when cooled slightly, slice almost through to the bottom in inch segments. Add butter and garlic to each piece. Yum!
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    Even just keeping the vibrant colors of salad toppings separated in a bowl somehow make it more cheerful before hitting the plate. Love it.

    What’s on Your Plate?

Let’s Do Brunch

Steelhead salmon – 10 bucks, 3+ meals, and a happy cat

I adore the orange and yellow clearance stickers, but I especially love them when they’re plastered across gorgeous pieces of meat.  In this case, it was a large package of steelhead fillets for only $9.26. Seeing that it was originally a $40 selection makes it even sweeter.

I didn’t know exactly what kind of fish steelhead was, but because I thought it was salmon when I first saw the color, we figured it was something similar.

It wasn’t until we were almost to the checkout that I noticed the sticker actually called it catfish.  Um, there’s no way, lol. Weird. Fortunately, Wikipedia confirmed that steelhead is just another name for rainbow trout.

For meal #1, we had large steaks covered in Panko and baked until delicious. We could’ve had smaller steaks atop salads to stretch it farther, but for that kind of price, no need in skimping.

It actually produced two pans’ worth like that, so there was enough for us to have seconds and to have some for lunch the day.

The end pieces that weren’t thick enough for thick steaks, I cut into nuggets, dipped in egg, and battered with Panko.

The Panko crumbs hadn’t stuck quite as well to the steaks as I had hoped, so dipping in egg made sure it wasn’t going to budge. I also mixed in a bit of regular bread crumbs for more even coverage (read: even crispier goodness).

Mmmm, golden brown and crispy. Note, in the last picture you can see there’s two pans of these, too. Between all the, um, “taste testing” and snacking, it’s surprising there was any left, but I still had plenty to stick a whole pile into each of three bento boxes, too.

Bento box - Brown rice with soy sauce, onions, peas; Green beans; Baked steelhead salmon rainbow trout nuggets with panko bread crumbs; grapes in a muffin tin liner; peanut butter crackers with sliced bananas

So what about the cat? If you scroll back up, you can see that there were some large fatty pieces on the fish.

I took those areas, plus a few other scraps, and cut them into itty bitty pieces.

It’s certainly not the most appetizing-looking….

But after an overnight visit with the dehydrator, I had dozens of little homemade cat treats.

Not bad for 9 bucks and some change, eh?