spaghetti à la lady and the tramp

In Disney World we ate at the Lady and the Tramp-themed Tony's Town Square Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. Most of the items on the menu included meat or cheese (which I don't eat) so I asked our server if I could have a spaghetti dish that combined ingredients used in some of the meat dishes. He had the chef visit our table (Disney is super accommodating, by the way, if you have any kind of special diet. I was very impressed!) and he put together one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had! I made a humble recreation this week and thought I'd share the recipe!

First snap the asparagus (you bend the asparagus so it snaps in the middle and only keep the tops) and then chop those up into bite-sized pieces. Spread them on a greased cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil, then roast at 350' for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil water for spaghetti. In a frying pan, combine some extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 can of drained and rinsed chick peas (in Disney I had pine nuts instead, but now that I'm home with access to my beloved garbanzo beans I had to include them!) chopped garlic (to taste -- I'm a little heavy-handed with the garlic myself) and 1/4 c. chopped sundried tomatoes. Let those simmer on low heat until the spaghetti and asparagus are done, and then combine. Then eat it all quickly before any family members notice that you cooked...

spaghetti with chickpea meatballs and sweet tomato sauce

I've been trying to cook new recipes lately since I've been in a terrible rut for the last couple months. I eat the same thing every day and it just gets a little monotonous. My diet for most of 2012 consisted of baked sweet potatoes, chickpeas mixed with tomatoes (recipe here) and cucumbers with hummus. Not much variety at all. I guess this is technically still a variation on chickpeas and tomatoes, but it was super yummy and tasted different so I think it counts as a new dish for my cooking repertoire.

I adapted the recipe for the meatballs from this one from Cookin' Canuck. I used chickpeas instead of cannellini beans (partially because they're my go-to bean for everything and partially because I was hungry and didn't have cannellini beans in the cupboard.) and pre-packaged everything. I also made my meatballs 1tbsp instead of 2tbsp so they would cook through faster. The recipe below made about 20 meatballs so next time I'm going to halve it. I ended up putting most of them in the freezer. (I feel like Andy Bernard when he makes his New Years resolution to "learn how to cook for one.")

For the meatballs you need:
1.5 cans of chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
about 1/4 c. roasted red peppers
2 tbsp. onion powder*
1 egg
1/2 c. breadcrumbs (or panko)
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp. dried parsley
1 tbsp. dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 350. In a food processor, combine chickpeas and peppers until they're combined but not pureed. Then mix with all of the other ingredients, and form into 1 tbsp balls. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Mine needed some extra time and I ended up cooking them for 35 minutes.

For the sauce, I just combined canned tomato sauce with oregano, parsley, garlic and olive oil and then added honey to taste. Let it simmer for a while, and then add the meatballs. Let the meatballs cook in the sauce for a few more minutes, then add them to pasta and enjoy!

I think this recipe would also taste delicious with the chickpea mixture sauteed on the stove and then added to the sauce for a chunky meat sauce instead of meatballs!

*I love the taste of onions but hate the texture so I always use onion powder. You'll probably want to use real onions :)

tomato + chickpeas

One of my favorite lunches is a quick meal I throw together with chick peas and tomatoes. It's probably the simplest, fastest dish I make -- and by far one of the most delicious! Me and my dad always fight over who gets the last bit of food left in the frying pan :)

Just heat up some oil in a frying pan, and add a nice helping of tomatoes (I like to use one container of grape tomatoes, cut into halves.) Rinse off a can of chickpeas and add them to the mix. Once the tomatoes are softened and the chickpeas are a little browned, add about 1/4 c. of panko (Japanese bread crumbs, but normal bread crumbs work ok too.) I like a lot of bread crumbs, but you can just add them until you get the consistency you want. Then toss in some garlic powder, oregano and parsley. Let it all cook for about five minutes and you're done! I love eating this as a main course, but it's also great as a topping on crusty bread, and could also work as a side dish for dinner!