Thursday, January 21, 2010

Ina Garten's Broccoli & Bowties And Nigella's Cheesecake

I haven't been cooking a lot of new recipes this lately. Instead, I have been repeating some new favorites. A few weeks ago I made Copycat Broccoli Cheese Soup from Panera and it was so good that I have made it two more times since then. It has become one of my new favorite recipes. I have also made peanut butter and chocolate chip muffins twice, which is a recipe I got from Donna at My Tasty Treasures. Those muffins are super delicious and everyone loves them. Another favorite this month was Ina Garten's herb-marinated loin of pork, which I just made again last night. We loved Ina's version of pork tenderloin so much that it is our new "go to" recipe for pork tenderloin. I used Ina's biscuit recipe to top my ham pot pie and we loved the biscuits so much that I made them again for breakfast a couple days later.

On a roll with Ina's recipes, I decided to make her Broccoli and Bowties (recipe found here). It begins with four heads of broccoli which are cooked in boiling, salted water for 3 minutes and then added to 1/2 pound of cooked bowtie pasta. A sauce is made from butter, olive oil, minced garlic, and lemon zest and poured over the pasta. The pasta is topped with toasted pine nuts and Parmigiano-Regiano.

I think I had rather high expectations for this dish and although it was good, it wasn't great. I enjoyed the broccoli and pasta and loved the hint of the garlic and lemon, but I would rate this more along the lines of a solid three stars, possibly four stars. I guess they can't all be five-stars!

For dessert I broke out my new springform pan and made Nigella's cheesecake from Nigella Express. Nigella's cheesecake is a no bake recipe with a graham cracker crust. In her cookbook, she tops her cheesecake with cherries. We didn't have any cherries so I topped ours with chocolate sauce. The recipe went together in about 10 minutes and was super easy. After chilling in the refrigerator for a couple of hours it was ready to eat.

Nigella's cheesecake recipe can be found here, online at Food Network. The cheesecake filling is a combination of cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla folded into whipped cream. I tasted the cheesecake filling before adding it to the pan and found that it needed a little more sugar. I added about 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar to the filling. Nigella's instructions tell you to fold the whipped cream into the thick cream cheese mixture, which was almost next to impossible. Instead, I mixed the two in my Kitchenaid mixer and I think it worked out fine.

The cheesecake was light and creamy and we liked it, but it wasn't anything spectacular. The upside of this recipe is that it can be thrown together with very few ingredients and also very little time. Great if you need a dessert in a hurry and don't have time to run to the store.
I am submitting this cheesecake to I Heart Cooking Clubs. This week's theme is potluck, which means anything goes. Head on over to the to see what everyone else is cooking up this week.

28 comments:

  1. I wonder if adding some chicken stock to Ina's broccoli pasta would help kick the flavor up a bit?

    So disappointing to make a so-so recipe when you're used to hitting the jackpot every time!

    Time for Tyler's Fish Tacos!!

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  2. Ooh, that cheesecake looks great and I'd take chocolate sauce over cherries anytime!

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  3. So i think pasta recipes like this, that are so very bare bones and simple, are good throw-together meals. Staples for when you have five minutes to decide what to cook for dinner. Good but not GREAT.

    That cheesecake looks fantastic. I love how simple it is! No need for water baths.

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  4. I like the look of that pasta recipe, but hubby has banned broccoli in this house (says it smells bad) LOL

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  5. The pasta recipe looks good to me too. I'd probably add red pepper flakes. Roasting the broccoli might give more flavor.

    I haven't been making much new lately either.

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  6. I guess we sacrifice some flavour complexity for ease and quickness. Looks tasty though!
    I am surprised Ina's was only so-so, she usually delivers in the flavour department.
    Great choices!

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  7. Mmm...I don't eat enough broccoli. Looks like Ina Garten recipes are real winners at your house :)

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  8. Bow tie pasta is so cute. We don't include broccoli in many recipes and I don't know why. This would be a perfect way to get started using it. I love Ina's recipes too.
    Sam

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  9. Yum and double yum! The bow tie recipe looks like something my kiddos would eat, it sounds wonderful! :)

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  10. The pasta looks quite good, it's true they can't all be five stars, it still looks good! I like such recipes because they are quick and easy.

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  11. It seems like a high broccoli to pasta ratio, but I think you might like it better with 2 changes. Replace the broccoli with broccoli rabe and instead of minced garlic, slice it "Goodfellas style," very, very, very thinly, then browned (not burnt) in some olive oil. You'll be sorry you didn't make 6 heads of garlic that way. I haven't been posting as much because I, too, have been making old favorites. Can't wait for your next throwdown.

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  12. I love Ina Garten's recipes. This looks amazing, Kim!

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  13. Two of my favorite women - Ina and Nigella! These look amazing, Kim, and your cheesecake is picture perfect!

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  14. I love Ina Garten recipes. I would have very high expectations too. However, this recipe would be a great weeknight meal.
    The cheesecake looks good too.
    Dinner served at your house this week would have been really good. :-)

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  15. i love those meals that are so good that you can't help yourself but to make them again and again. i'm sorry the pasta didn't turn out as good as you hoped, but that cheesecake looks incredible!

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  16. That recipe from Ina is one of my favorites, but I always add Mrs. Dash Tomato Basil Garlic seasoning to kick it up. Otherwise, I agree, it can be kind of "eh".

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  17. Ina's stuff usually works wonders - I like the chicken broth idea for added flavor. I do broccoli8 sausage and pasta a lot - I use the pasta water and it seems to work. Now that cheesecake.... oh my! I don't do favorites - but that's one of my favorite desserts and yours is scurmptious. I left you "an appreciation" on my blog. I do appreciate!

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  18. I make the broccoli pasta dish with cavatelli and add some chx broth, red pepper flakes, plus what u mentioned. Its a dish we enjoy on occasion, like u said not spectacular but a good dish. Nigellas cheesecake sounds delicious, great photo too.. my fav cheesecake is Tyler's ultimate. PS I am so glad you enjoy the muffins:)

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  19. I love how easy the cheesecake is--a great throw it together dessert and would be fun with whatever fresh berries are in season too.

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  20. Its been awhile have been wanting to bake a NL cheese cake and will be my first time and this is one of the first recipes i did chose...
    You have done a wonderful job with both....
    Pasta w broccoli and cheese cake for dessert...how cool is that.....

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  21. We love broccoli and pasta in this house :)That is a delicious and simple recipe.

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  22. I love Ina's recipes too. When you get a moment, please stop by my blog to pick up a surprise for you! Bye for now, Roz

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  23. I just love the broccoli and pine nuts in this pasta dish. And don't even get me started about that scrumptious cheesecake. I know I could eat at least 3 pieces of this without even blinking! :D

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  24. MMM not a fan of broccoli but think it would be great with oh say peas or maybe green beans. I love pine nuts so that either would be a great combination. Cheesecake = Heaven and Im sure Nigella's is even more so than the average.

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  25. At least it was still good, even if not spectacular.

    And you hit on a point. There's nothing wrong with repeating favorites. I caught myself recently ruling out ideas for dinner only because "Nah, I've already blogged about that". I like my blog for pushing me to try new things but I need to balance it by not letting my blog restrict my choices either.

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  26. The broccoli pasta does look good. Sorry about the cheesecake. It's so disappointing when a recipe comes out just ok. Well, it happens to all of us!

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  27. The pasta dish looks delish! The ingredients look yummy for the cheesecake but I guess once in a while you come across a recipe that is just okay. I had that with Nigella's carmalized oranges.

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  28. I don't think I have ever tried an Ina recipe--but I have watched her show a few times and I really admire her style of cooking!! Glad you found so many new favorites--oh the joys of cooking! :-)

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