parmesan cheese

Parmesan Crusted Potatoes with Asparagus

April 22, 2016 by Marisa 38 Comments

Parmesan crusted potatoes with asparagus is a simple dish which features just a few ingredients that can be prepared on any busy weeknight.

I have come to realize that I haven’t yet shared a vegetable recipe here on the blog before! So let me remedy that with this supper easy vegetable dish!

It’s just wonderful served alongside steak, chicken or even fish. You can even go vegetarian by topping the roasted vegetables with a fried egg. Yummy!!

These Parmesan crusted potatoes with asparagus are oven roasted to a golden brown perfection. Topping the vegetables with grated Parmesan cheese for the last 5 minutes of roasting time, develops a delicious crunchy crust. This imparts another layer of goodness to the vegetables that make them so irresistible.

Grelot Potatoes

My family is a huge potatoes fan…like really huge! My mom was never able to prepare enough potatoes to satisfy everyone at family gatherings! We would often find ourselves wrestling each other at the diner table for her oven roasted potatoes. For some reason, unbeknownst to us, my nephew Gab would end up with most of them on his plate! Go figure!

I used a delicious combination of red, yellow and blue little creamer potatoes. They’re thin skinned, buttery and nutritious and also pair so well with the fresh asparagus.

If you can’t find creamer potatoes in your area, any other baby potatoes will do. Just remember to cut them into equal sizes so they cook evenly.

Lining a baking sheet with parchment paper will ensure that the potatoes do no stick to the pan and…easy clean up!

Toss the potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread the potatoes out in a single layer, giving them room to brown and bake for 20 minutes.

When you’re ready to add the asparagus to the pan toss the asparagus with olive oil, salt and pepper. Then simply nestle them between the potatoes and bake 15 minutes more.

Sprinkle with the grated Parmesan cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes. The cheese melts and develops wonderful golden brown crust over the vegetables. Simply delicious!

If you make this recipe remember to tag @marisasitaliankitchen on Instagram so I can see your creation!

Parmesan Crusted Potatoes with Asparagus are oven roasted to a golden brown perfection and makes a wonderful side dish to any meat, chicken or fish.

Parmesan Crusted Potatoes And Asparagus

These Parmesan crusted potatoes are a healthy and delicious combination of red, yellow and blue Grelot potatoes. The vegetables are oven roasted to a golden brown perfection.

Course Vegetable

Cuisine Vegetarian

Servings 4

Author Marisa

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds grelots potatoes or any baby potatoes of your choice cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 pound asparagus tips trimmed
2 tablespoons plus 1 tablespoon of olive oil
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium sized bowl, toss the potatoes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper.
Spread on the prepared baking sheet, in a single layer.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Using the same bowl, toss the asparagus with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper.
Remove the pan with potatoes from the oven and flip the potatoes over.
Add the asparagus to the pan and bake along side the potatoes for 15 minutes.
Sprinkle with the grated cheese and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese is golden in spots.

Chicken Parmesan With Kale

June 1, 2015 by Marisa 6 Comments

Moist and tender Chicken Parmesan with Kale is a complete meal made in one pot from start to finish.

This classic Italian-Canadian dish is revisited with the addition of kale, into a one pot wonder. A leafy green vegetable and a nutritional powerhouse rich in vitamins A, C and K as well as iron and calcium with high levels of beta-carotene. Kale is slightly sweet in taste with a hint of pepper. The hearty texture of the kale leaves cooks up beautifully in this dish, soaking up all the wonderful flavors of the chicken and the marinara sauce.

This dish is a lighter and healthier version of the original Chicken Parmigiana and completely gluten free. The chicken breasts are seared not fried, cutting out most of the calories but not skimping on taste. Easy and delicious comfort food, made and finished in one pan. It comes together so easily making it great for a busy weeknight and yet elegant enough for a special occasion. It can be served with a side of rice, pasta, or even extra vegetables and rounded off with a crispy salad. My kind of meal !!

Preparing the kale:

Remove the tough stem and central rib by cutting it out with a knife or tearing the leaf away from the rib. Roughly chop the leaves and wash in a bowl of cold water. Swirl the leaves in the water bath to encourage any bits of dirt to float off and to ensure that any critters clinging to the leaves have washed away. Dry the leaves in a salad spinner and set aside.

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts halves
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch of kale, tough stems removed and leaves roughly chopped (approximately 8-10 cups)
2 cups Marinara sauce, or your favorite tomato sauce
8 slices mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400F (200C)

Season the chicken generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Warm the oil in a large OVEN PROOF pan over medium high heat. Add the chicken to the pan and cook for 7 minutes, turning once. The chicken will have a nice sear on both sides and should look golden brown. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set it aside.

Add the chopped kale to the frying pan and cook over medium heat just until wilted for about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the chicken with any remaining juices back to your pan with the kale and pour the Marinara sauce over the chicken. Divide the mozzarella slices evenly over each chicken and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

Place your pan in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes, just until the chicken is no longer pink inside.

Serve while still warm.

Yields 4 servings.

Recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma Cookbook.

Lasagna

March 9, 2015 by Marisa 11 Comments

My mother was a kind and gentle soul. On Sunday afternoons she would happily look forward to the arrival of her daughters and grand-kids, greeting everyone at the door and after the initial “buon giorno” she would turn to her grand-kids and proclaim “mi sembra dimagrito”, you look like you’ve lost some weight. Come, come nonna will feed you! And so the Sunday feast would begin!!!

My Italian meals are often based on my own mother’s recipes. She truly made the absolute best Lasagna but maybe I’m just biased that way! It certainly was not a recipe that can be thrown together after a busy day at work. It was one reserved for special occasions like Christmas, Easter or even a birthday celebration. It was one she would take great care and time to create, making most of the prep work the day before and she would assemble and bake it the same day it was served. I will share her recipe with a special secret ingredient in a later post to truly do it justice!

This lasagna recipe I’ve adapted better suits a busy mom. It is one I have made over and over again for my own family. While you can use any canned tomatoes of your choice I highly recommend San Marzano. They are much sweeter and have low acidity and seed count and are by far the most famous tomatoes to come out of Italy.

This recipe serves 12 people. You will need a pan about 15 by 10 1/2 by 2 1/2, approximately.

My daughter and her friends are eagerly waiting for the recipe so here it is girls! Buon Appetito!!!

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb minced Veal
1 lb mild Italian Sausage, casings removed
2 28 ounces canned San Marzano tomatoes, crushed
1 5.5 ounces tomato paste (small can)
1 tbls dried basil
1/2 cup snipped fresh basil
1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 cups water, approximately
375g lasagna noodles, oven ready (no boil)
4 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

In a large skillet or saucepan, add the olive oil, chopped onion, minced garlic, veal and Italian sausage. Cook on medium-high heat until the meat is browned and the onions are translucent using a wooden spoon to break down the meat as it cooks. Drain off the fat.

Stir in the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and both dried and fresh basil. Rinse out the tomato cans with the water and pour this into the saucepan. Turn up the heat, cover and bring the sauce up to a boil, stirring and checking it frequently. Once it starts to boil, lower the heat to low and let it simmer gently for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally. Taste for salt at the end of cooking and add more if needed.

Preheat oven to 375*

Assembling the Lasagna

Coat the bottom of your lasagna pan with some meat sauce. Layer the lasagna noodles side by side in a single layer.You may need to snap off the ends on a couple of noodles to fit the pan. Spread meat sauce over the noodles to cover. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese and one-third of the mozzarella. Repeat, layering the noodles, meat sauce and cheeses two more times. If you are running low on meat sauce for the last layer, just add some water to your sauce.