After I attended a Fisher-Price House Party a few months back, I thought it would be fun to host one of my own. And of course, if there's food involved, all that much better, so I applied to host the Barilla Piccolini House Party a couple of weeks ago. Piccolini is a new line of miniature pasta that Barilla is marketing, and I had already tried it when it first came out because I thought the little shapes were so cute!
So, I invited over 30 people to the party, and we ended up with about 8, which is good. House Party/Barilla sent me a Frommer's guide to Italy 2008, a Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication on Italian foods, some wine glass charms, two boxes of pasta, coupons for sauce, cute little kitchen timers with a bowtie pasta switch, storybooks about a family that has dinner together, Barilla logo'ed hackey sacks, and a CD of Andrea Bocelli's Vivere. Some of the items I gave away. Actually, I thought the hackey sacks and the storybooks were goofy. All in all, it was fun. I also served an antipasti platter, crostini with bruschetta and artichoke heart tapenade, and we had triple chocolate gelato and fruit sorbets for dessert. All very yummy. The recipes I used for the pasta worked out great, and were modified from the ones in the BHG SIP. Try them sometime - easy and very yummy.
Tomato-Pepper Sauce
1 yellow sweet pepper, seeded and cut into small pieces
1 red sweet pepper, seeded and cut into small pieces
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves of minced garlic
2 Tbs of olive oil
1/2 cup water (instead of dry red wine)
1 28-oz can of Italian plum tomatoes, undrained, crushed
3 Tbs of tomate paste
1 tsp sugar
In a Dutch oven, cook peppers, onion, and garlic in hot oil for 5 minutes or until tender. Add wine/water and bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and ground black pepper.
* The original recipe called for 1 pound of sweet Italian sausage. I made my vegetarian, but served a side of chicken Italian sausages and it was fine.
Easy Pasta Toss
8 oz of fettuccini, or linguine (I used bowtie and it was fine)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups steamed asparagus pieces (I used frozen), broccoli florets, or cauliflower florets (or a mix of any of these - I blanched my broccoli in the pasta water before I drained the pasta.)
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
1/4 cup finely shredded Pecorino Romano cheese (1 oz)
2 Tbs fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley (I used basil and thyme instead because that's what I had)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Salt to taste
Cook pasta according to direction; drain. Return to hot pan. Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, cook garlic and red pepper in hot oil over medium heat about 1 minute or until fragrant. Add garlic mixture and vegetables to cooked pasta; toss gently to coat. Add cheese, parsley, and black pepper; toss to combine. Season to taste w/salt.
You can check out House Party at: www.houseparty.com
