Spaghetti with Ricotta and Baby Artichokes - Bakespace Challenge

There's been a lot going on in Bakespace Land and it's been nothing but fun. I wish I had more time though, because I missed out on one of the challenges but I'll get to it eventually. For this challenge we were each assigned a bakespace member (who is also participating in the challenge) and we had to cook from their bakespace kitchen. If you're not a bakespace member yet (get over there and sign up!), the kitchen is our online recipe box that is filled with recipes that we have upload to the website. I got to cook out of Moni's kitchen. You can check out her kitchen here and check out her blog here. Moni (Monica) is a fabulous baker and is very much into Halloween treats. I was certainly nervous about this challenge and doubted myself the whole time (for no reason!). To help alleviate the stress a bit I decided not to bake and to make one of her savory recipes. The recipe that appealed to me most was her Rice Stuffed Artichokes. I love artichokes and stuffed artichokes often frequent my dinner table but the combination of ingredients in this dish were slightly new to me. I never had ricotta and artichokes together before and I have never stuffed artichokes with rice. It really does look delicious though! I realized that full size artichokes aren't in season right now but I was determinted to make this recipe work for me. So instead I bought the little baby artichokes. The little guys aren't really good for stuffing but I looked at her ingredients and thought that I could make a fabulous pasta dish with them. I feel bad about having to change the recipe so much but we were told we could make the dish our own and I didn't have much choice. I'm really happy with the result and I hope you try this one! My suggestion this time is to use the fresh artichokes. The frozen or canned artichoke hearts will not be able to stand the cooking time necessary for them to actually penetrate the sauce. This sauce has a delicious flavor. You can taste the artichokes even if you don't bite into one.

Spaghetti with Ricotta and Baby Artichokes

Inspired by Monica

Ingredients:

12 baby artichokes, cleaned and trimmed of outer leaves, quartered
1 onion, sliced
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
prepared pasta sauce (I had this leftover)
About 1 cup part skim ricotta
kalamata olives, halved (I had about 1/4 cup but you know how I love them so I would use more)
Approx 2 cups chicken broth
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
1 pound spaghetti

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, saute artichokes in oil with onions olives and crushed red pepper. Lightly season with salt and black pepper.

2. Once onions are cooked add chicken broth to just barely cover the artichokes and let cook. Add more broth as it reduced and cover. Cook until artichokes are tender, about 30 minutes.

3. Add sauce and some more chicken broth to thin out the sauce. Stir to combine. Cover and let artichokes cook in the sauce for another 20-30 minutes.

4. Cook spaghetti in salted boiling water until al dente. While pasta is cooking turn off heat from the sauce and add ricotta until it's a creamy consistency. When pasta is cooked toss with sauce.

Spaghetti with Ricotta and Baby Artichokes - Bakespace Challenge

There's been a lot going on in Bakespace Land and it's been nothing but fun. I wish I had more time though, because I missed out on one of the challenges but I'll get to it eventually. For this challenge we were each assigned a bakespace member (who is also participating in the challenge) and we had to cook from their bakespace kitchen. If you're not a bakespace member yet (get over there and sign up!), the kitchen is our online recipe box that is filled with recipes that we have upload to the website. I got to cook out of Moni's kitchen. You can check out her kitchen here and check out her blog here. Moni (Monica) is a fabulous baker and is very much into Halloween treats. I was certainly nervous about this challenge and doubted myself the whole time (for no reason!). To help alleviate the stress a bit I decided not to bake and to make one of her savory recipes. The recipe that appealed to me most was her Rice Stuffed Artichokes. I love artichokes and stuffed artichokes often frequent my dinner table but the combination of ingredients in this dish were slightly new to me. I never had ricotta and artichokes together before and I have never stuffed artichokes with rice. It really does look delicious though! I realized that full size artichokes aren't in season right now but I was determinted to make this recipe work for me. So instead I bought the little baby artichokes. The little guys aren't really good for stuffing but I looked at her ingredients and thought that I could make a fabulous pasta dish with them. I feel bad about having to change the recipe so much but we were told we could make the dish our own and I didn't have much choice. I'm really happy with the result and I hope you try this one! My suggestion this time is to use the fresh artichokes. The frozen or canned artichoke hearts will not be able to stand the cooking time necessary for them to actually penetrate the sauce. This sauce has a delicious flavor. You can taste the artichokes even if you don't bite into one.

Spaghetti with Ricotta and Baby Artichokes

Inspired by Monica

Ingredients:

12 baby artichokes, cleaned and trimmed of outer leaves, quartered
1 onion, sliced
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
prepared pasta sauce (I had this leftover)
About 1 cup part skim ricotta
kalamata olives, halved (I had about 1/4 cup but you know how I love them so I would use more)
Approx 2 cups chicken broth
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
1 pound spaghetti

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, saute artichokes in oil with onions olives and crushed red pepper. Lightly season with salt and black pepper.

2. Once onions are cooked add chicken broth to just barely cover the artichokes and let cook. Add more broth as it reduced and cover. Cook until artichokes are tender, about 30 minutes.

3. Add sauce and some more chicken broth to thin out the sauce. Stir to combine. Cover and let artichokes cook in the sauce for another 20-30 minutes.

4. Cook spaghetti in salted boiling water until al dente. While pasta is cooking turn off heat from the sauce and add ricotta until it's a creamy consistency. When pasta is cooked toss with sauce.

Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Portabellos

I made these mushrooms last year as a first course when our friends Nick and Kelly came over for dinner. Nick liked them and Kelly asked me for the recipe so she can make it for him. I had to make it again because I didn't remember what I did (this was pre-blog and I didn't write it down). I hope it tasted as good as it did last time and again I don't have exact measurements this is a taste as you go kind of thing but I'll do my best. I bet that won't help Kelly too much. Oops.

Ingredients:

4 portabello mushrooms, stems removed and reserved
1- 10 oz box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
part skim ricotta cheese
About 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese plus more for sprinkling on the top
About 1/4 cup romano cheese
salt and pepper
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Clean mushrooms by gently wiping with paper towel or vegetable brush. Do not rinse. Clean the stems and remove the woody ends. Chop and set aside.

2. Saute onion and stems in extra virgin olive oil, then add garlic. Let cook for about 1 minute. Add white wine and let it simmer for a minute or two.

2. Add spinach breaking it up with a spoon and add a little oil if you need to. Combine spinach with onion mixture, season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.

3. Once cooled add some ricotta a couple of tablespoons and a time and stir until it's a creamy mixture but not an overwhelming amount of ricotta. You want to still taste the spinach. This will probably come out to about 1/2 cup to 1 cup. Add romano cheese and taste it. Add more salt, pepper or cheese until it's seasoned to your taste.

4. In the meantime, heat a medium saute pan and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Add mushrooms to the pan and season both sides with salt and pepper. When mushrooms are cooked, top them with a good amount of spinach ricotta filling and sprinkle with a little more mozzarella. Put under the broiled to heat through and melt cheese.

Serve as a side dish or first course.


note - I didn't use the broiler to melt the cheese this time because it was really hot in the kitchen that day. You can skip this step if you want to.

Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Portabellos

I made these mushrooms last year as a first course when our friends Nick and Kelly came over for dinner. Nick liked them and Kelly asked me for the recipe so she can make it for him. I had to make it again because I didn't remember what I did (this was pre-blog and I didn't write it down). I hope it tasted as good as it did last time and again I don't have exact measurements this is a taste as you go kind of thing but I'll do my best. I bet that won't help Kelly too much. Oops.

Ingredients:

4 portabello mushrooms, stems removed and reserved
1- 10 oz box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
part skim ricotta cheese
About 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese plus more for sprinkling on the top
About 1/4 cup romano cheese
salt and pepper
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Clean mushrooms by gently wiping with paper towel or vegetable brush. Do not rinse. Clean the stems and remove the woody ends. Chop and set aside.

2. Saute onion and stems in extra virgin olive oil, then add garlic. Let cook for about 1 minute. Add white wine and let it simmer for a minute or two.

2. Add spinach breaking it up with a spoon and add a little oil if you need to. Combine spinach with onion mixture, season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.

3. Once cooled add some ricotta a couple of tablespoons and a time and stir until it's a creamy mixture but not an overwhelming amount of ricotta. You want to still taste the spinach. This will probably come out to about 1/2 cup to 1 cup. Add romano cheese and taste it. Add more salt, pepper or cheese until it's seasoned to your taste.

4. In the meantime, heat a medium saute pan and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Add mushrooms to the pan and season both sides with salt and pepper. When mushrooms are cooked, top them with a good amount of spinach ricotta filling and sprinkle with a little more mozzarella. Put under the broiled to heat through and melt cheese.

Serve as a side dish or first course.


note - I didn't use the broiler to melt the cheese this time because it was really hot in the kitchen that day. You can skip this step if you want to.