Tag: quick marinara sauce

Baked Mini Spinach and Sausage Arancini

These mini baked Italian rice balls are made with brown rice, chicken sausage, spinach and mozzarella cheese. Served with some warm marinara sauce, they make the perfect finger foods for the Holiday season or any time you want to serve appetizers.

The Holidays are right around the corner, so this week I am sharing Holiday recipes to get you in the spirit. I don’t know about you, but I love Italian rice balls. They are often deep fried and high in calories so I typically stay away unless I’m making this Sicilian Rice Ball Casserole[1] which turns rice balls into a meal!

I came across a recipe from the Baby&Toddler on the Go Cookbook[2] (which btw is such a great book for feeding young kids) for mini baked brown rice aranci, and adapted them with adult palates in mind and more of the flavors I typically like in a rice ball. This recipe cuts a substantial amount of fat by baking instead of frying and replaces the white rice with brown – but you still get plenty of flavor from the sausage and Pecorino Romano cheese.

You can make the filling ahead of time, roll them into balls and refrigerate until you are ready to bake them. I would bread them just before baking.

Baked Mini Spinach and Sausage Arancini
gordon-ramsay-recipe.com
Servings: 11 • Size: 2 rice balls • Old Points: 2 pts • Points+: 2 pts
Calories: 89 • Fat: 3 g • Protein: 5 g • Carb: 11 g • Fiber: 1 g • Sugar: 1 g
Sodium: 254 mg • Cholesterol: 27 mg

Ingredients:

  • 1 Italian chicken (or turkey) sausage link, removed from casing
  • cooking spray
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 large egg and 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
  • 1 cup cooked brown rice, hot
  • 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 1/4 cup chopped spinach
  • 1 large egg white
  • 3 tbsp Pecorino Romano
  • 2 tbsp quick marinara sauce[3], plus more for serving

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400° F. Spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.

Place the flour, beaten egg and egg white, and bread crumbs in separate bowls.  

Cook the sausage in a small saute pan, breaking it up as it cooks until cooked through. Set aside to cool then place in a small chopper to mince.

In a medium bowl, combine the rice, sausage, mozzarella, spinach, egg white, pecorino romano cheese, and 2 tbsp marinara sauce mixing well. Roll about 1 heaping tablespoon of the rice mixture into a round ball.

Roll the ball in the flour, then the egg, and then the bread crumbs, shaking off any excess at each step.  Place the breaded rice ball on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining rice mixture until it has all been used up.

Bake the balls for 8 minutes, turn over, and bake for another 8 minutes, until they are a crisp golden brown.  Let the rice balls cool before serving, and serve with hot marinara[4] sauce for dipping.

Makes 22 balls.

References

  1. ^ Sicilian Rice Ball Casserole (www.gordon-ramsay-recipe.com)
  2. ^ Baby&Toddler on the Go Cookbook (www.amazon.com)
  3. ^ quick marinara sauce (www.gordon-ramsay-recipe.com)
  4. ^ marinara (www.gordon-ramsay-recipe.com)

Baked Eggplant Sticks

Strips of eggplant, breaded and baked until golden and served with a quick marinara sauce. Serve these as a snack, appetizer or side dish. I’m making these tonight with an eggplant I bought at the farmer’s market and figured I would revive the recipe from the archives. Enjoy!

I can vividly remember the day when my picky daughter, who was in middle school at the time, told me she liked eggplant.  

Eggplant? Really? She was eating dinner at a friend’s and they were having breaded eggplant for dinner and she loved it. Kids are always more willing to try new food when they are eating over their friends’. I was delighted she liked a new vegetable and I made breaded eggplant for her at least once a month, only I baked them instead of making them fried.

Eggplant is probably not for everyone, but if you like eggplant, or want to try introducing them to your family and don’t know how, this is a good place to start. There are many varieties of eggplant, Japanese eggplant is a bit sweeter and milder. If you have a farmer’s market near you, you will find a lot of varieties is season right now.



Baked Eggplant Sticks
gordon-ramsay-recipe.com
Servings: 4 Serving Size: 1/4 • Old Points: 1 pt Points+: 1 pt
Calories: 86.9 • Fat: 2.9 • Carbs: 0.7 gFiber: 2.9 • Protein: 4.3 g Sugar: 0
Sodium: 202.4

Ingredients:

  • 10 oz eggplant
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
  • 1/2 cup Italian Seasoned breadcrumbs
  • 2 tbsp parmesan cheese
  • 1 large egg white
  • oil spray 
  • 1 cup quick marinara sauce[1] for dipping (extra points)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly spray with oil.

Cut ends off the eggplant. Slice eggplant in half, then into 1/4 inch thick slices. Lay each slice on the cutting board and cut into 1/4 inch strips. Be sure to cut all the strips the same size so they cook evenly.

Place eggplant strips in a bowl and season with olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Combine breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese in a bowl, and egg whites in another.

Dip a few strips of eggplant at a time into the egg whites, then into the breadcrumbs. Using a fork, remove eggplant from crumbs and place on the baking sheets. Spray with more oil and bake 10 minutes in the middle rack.

Turn over and bake an additional 5 minutes, or until golden. Serve hot.

References

  1. ^ quick marinara sauce (www.gordon-ramsay-recipe.com)

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Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Hope you all had a happy July 4th!! With zucchini season in full bloom, I thought I would revive this from the archives – one of my absolute favorites!! Enjoy!!

Summer zucchini hollowed out and stuffed with lean Italian sausage, then topped with marinara and cheese.

OMG! You guys are going to love these!

I’ve had this concept in my head for a while, but now that zucchini is in full season and my friend gave me some fresh from her garden, I put my idea to the test. The results were simply amazing, thumbs up all around, especially from my picky teen!

One boat fills me up, but you can enjoy two and still be in good shape. I love Polly-O part-skim mozzarella because it melts beautifully as you can see in the photo. I’m pretty picky about my Italian sausage, but I love al fresco’s sweet Italian chicken sausage[1], you forget it’s chicken while you eat it and it’s 75% less fat that pork sausage, and it’s gluten-free. Hope you enjoy.

Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats
gordon-ramsay-recipe.com
Servings: 8 • Size: 1 boat • Old Points: 3 pts • Points+: 4 pts
Calories: 153 • Fat: 7 g • Protein: 12.8 g • Carb: 9 g Fiber: 2 g • Sugar: 2 g
Sodium: 372 mg

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cups quick marinara sauce[2]
  • 4 (31 oz total) medium zucchini
  • 1 tsp oil
  • 1/2 small onion, finely diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
  • 14 oz lean Italian chicken sausage, removed from casing (Al Fresco)
  • 1/2 cup part skim shredded mozzarella (Polly-O)
  • 8 tsp grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to boil.

Preheat oven to 400°. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and using a spoon or melon baller, scoop out flesh, leaving 1/4″ thick. Chop the scooped out flesh of the zucchini in small pieces and set aside.

Drop zucchini halves in boiling water and cook 1 minute. Remove from water.

Place 1/4 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 12″ baking dish, and place zucchini halves cut side up.

In a large saute pan, brown sausage, breaking up as it cooks into smaller pieces until browned; set aside. Heat oil and add onion, garlic and bell pepper. Cook on a medium-low heat for about 2-3 minutes, until onions are translucent. Add chopped zucchini, season with salt and pepper and cook about 2-3 minutes. Combine with sausage and cook a few more minutes.

Using a spoon, fill each hollowed zucchini with 1/3 cup cooked sausage, pressing firmly. Top each with 2 tablespoons each of sauce, 1 tablespoon each of shredded mozzarella cheese and 1 teaspoon each of parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake 35 minutes until cheese is melted and zucchini is cooked through.

References

  1. ^ al fresco’s sweet Italian chicken sausage (www.alfrescoallnatural.com)
  2. ^ quick marinara sauce (www.gordon-ramsay-recipe.com)

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