Pip's Plate

Remember Giorgio’s in the Uptown part of Minneapolis? Well, I never made it there (yes, I know, I really should have). There’s a new place in this uptown spot – it’s called Rinata. At first I thought their brand is very trendy and will be outdated in 2-3 years.

I met a friend at Rinata last night for dinner. I hadn’t seen her for awhile and it was very fun to catch up. Rinata has an interesting happy hour: everything on the menu is $2 off (including all drinks and food) that ends at 6pm. Cool!

We had some wine – their house white and red were very decent. We had an appetizer with octopus – we were both hoping it was better. It wasn’t nearly lemony enough, and it was served with saffron potatoes – kind of strange for an appetizer, but I’m sure some people like it.

Now, we hadn’t seen each other for a few months so we had a lot of catching up to do. Not to mention – it was 6pm – a wee bit early for us to be having dinner. Regardless, the over polite server came by about every 5 minutes for the next hour asking us if we were ready to order dinner. Yikes – give it a rest!

When we did order dinner, we were pleasantly surprised. All of the entrees at Rinata are pastas – I wish I had looked at the menu before going there since I’m not a big pasta person. Also, there is only 1 vegetarian friendly entree (unless you count the clams then it’s 2).

I had the papardelle with short rib ragu – it was simply yummy! My friend had the linguine with clams – it was also really good. I could tell that the pasta was store bought and not homemade. That was a disappointment. But the clams were really garlicky so that wins big points! (because we all know about my love affair with garlic)

In the end, I’m not sure if I’ll go back. It was decent, but not a place I would tell people they had to go to.

Rinata

2451 Hennepin Ave

Minneapolis, MN 55405

(612) 374-8998

www.rinatarestaurant.com

Nothing is more soothing on a cold gray day than a plate full of fresh-from-the-oven lasagna.

This version attempts to make lasagna a bit healthier than the traditional beef and cheese version. I’ve substituted ground chicken, added a ton of veggies, and cut down on the amount of cheese.

With all these veggies layered in between pasta and cheese, this becomes hearty and good-tasting to the bone.

Serve with garlic bread and Caesar salad for a complete meal.

4 Layer Hearty Chicken & Vegetable Lasagna
Makes 8 servings
Time: about 1 hour and 45 min

Ingredients
12 uncooked lasagna sheets
2 T olive oil, divided
1 # ground chicken
1 zucchini, diced
1/2 white onion diced
1 serrano pepper minced with seeds (optional)
5 cloves garlic minced
1 cup quartered baby bella mushrooms
26 oz jar tomato-basil pasta sauce
1 T chopped fresh oregano
1 t salt
1 t fresh ground pepper
2 cups shredded part skim mozzarella cheese, divided
15 oz container part skim ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Boil 6 quarts water in large pot. Add 1 T salt when boiling. Add lasagna to pot, stir, and cook for about 6-7 minutes, or according to package. When cooked, drain and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, heat 1 T olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add ground chicken and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks through. When fully cooked, remove from pan and place on a plate.

4. Heat remaining 1 T olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini, onion, garlic, serrano, and mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes or until onion is translucent.

5. Add chicken back to skillet with pasta sauce, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to simmer and let simmer while mixing remaining ingredients.

6. Combine 1 cup mozzarella, ricotta and eggs.

7. In a lightly greased 9 x 13″ pan, add 1 cup sauce mixture to bottom. Place 3 lasagna sheets on top of sauce. Add 1/3 of the cheese mixture, then 1/3 of the remaining sauce. Repeat layering pasta, cheese, and sauce. Top with Parmesan then remaining 1 cup mozzarella.

8. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 – 50 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 15 minutes. This is important because it gels together, making it much easier to dish out. Cut into 8 pieces and serve hot.

Light and creamy usually don’t go together. But! If you substitute sour cream for heavy cream, then you still end up with a creamy consistency and cut off a lot of the fat.

This is another recipe that I whipped up from stuff I had on hand at home when I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store.

This recipe is vegetarian, but you could easily add shrimp or chicken to it if you like. Just add protein after the garlic and onion, cook for a few minutes till brown, then add the tomatoes and stew for about 5 minutes, then add the remaining ingredients and follow the instructions.

Light Creamy Pasta

serves 4

time under 20 minutes

8 oz egg noodles

1 T olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 small onion, sliced

14.5 oz canned whole tomatoes, crushed by hand

1/4 cup sour cream (any variety – soy, light, fat free, etc)

6 oz artichoke hearts, quartered, not marinated or packed on oil

1 T fresh chopped thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook egg noodles for about 3 minutes (they should be al dente). Reserve the pasta water when draining.

2. Heat 1 T olive oil over medium heat in large skillet. Add garlic and onion – saute for 1 -2 minutes or until soft.

3. Crush tomatoes in a bowl by hand just to break them up so you don’t have huge chunks of tomatoes. Add to the pan with the sour cream. Mix well to distribute the sour cream.

4. Add artichokes and pasta. Continue to cook until everything is heated through and the pasta is cooked – about another 3-4 minutes. Add additional pasta water if you need more liquid.

5. Sprinkle with fresh thyme and add salt and pepper to taste.