O Foods Contest Winner! and another O Foods Recipe: PierOgi Pasta
I have the very distinct privilege of announcing one of the O Foods Recipe Winners, from those participants who were featured on Bleeding Espresso. We had a really hard time deciding as there were so many great recipes. So Michelle and I decided to share our top three and go from there – but we both had the same exact top three:
Olive Ascolane from The Flavors of Abruzzo , Octopus in a Stew from Spanish Recipes and Chard stuffed with Riso Arborio and Portobello Mushrooms from Feed Yourself.
Uh oh! How to chose now???
So I decided to enlist the help of a real expert – our new pup Peperoncino!
I saw on Wendy’s blog that she recently had a contest and her puppy, Marco chose the winner, which I thought was brilliant. So I put the recipes on a slip of paper, put them on the floor and the first one he sniffed was the winner! Well it looks like Peperoncino wants some Octopus! So congratulations to Nuria, from Spanish Recipes who has won a $50 gift certificate from Amazon, with her Octopus Stew! π
Thanks again to all of you who participated and be sure to stop over to Nuria’s blog for some more great Spanish Recipes!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
PierOgi Pasta
Here is a great fall pasta dish, that is so satisfying and chock full of veggie goodness. My best friend Jen, who lives in MA is Polish and all the women in her family get together the Saturday after Thanksgiving and make Pierogi for Christmas. I have always thought this is a wonderful family tradition. I love Pierogi, but have never made it myself. A long time ago, when I still lived in MA I was at Jen’s house…she was making a dish for dinner that she called Lazy Man’s Pierogi, which was from what I can remember: sauteed cabbage, onions and mushrooms tossed with sauerkraut, cottage cheese and egg noodles. It looked and smelled great and I always put it on the back burner for a “someday recipe”. Well that day came. But I decided to change it up a little.
I sauteed the cabbage, onion and mushrooms like she did. Then I added sauerkraut, some leftover tomato sauce and some Greek Yogurt. I cooked it all down until it was soft but still crunchy and then added whole wheat tortellini to it and continued to cook it for another 10 minutes so the tortellini had time to steam in the juices. I seasoned everything with salt, pepper, cumin and paprika. It turned out great and made enough to feed a small army! We loved it and it is something I will certainly be making down the road again! Plus I get to see Jen a week from today, when we head up north for our yearly trip to New England! YAY! π
michelle of bleeding espresso - October 6, 2008 at 3:21 am
Oh that looks great Jenn, and congrats to Nuria!
NΓΒΊria - October 6, 2008 at 3:41 am
OMG!!!!!! I can’t believe it!!! Woooooweeeeeeeeeeeee! I won, I won, I won π π :D!!!
Peperoncino… you are my hero… I love you!!! that nose of you is as smart as Boleta’s… or even smarter! Thank you… Wouf, wouf π
Thank you Jenn, thank you Michelle and thank you Sara for this fantastic prize and for hosting this great event! It’s been a honour participating in O Foods – and arising the awareness of Ovarian Cancer in the foodie community.
Congratulations to Flavours of Abruzzo and Feed Yourself too. Thank you All. I’m just so excited and happyΓ’β’Β₯Γ’β’Β₯Γ’β’Β₯. I’m posting about it inmediately!!!
casalba - October 6, 2008 at 5:58 am
Congratulations to Nuria. Her recipe looks delicious – as does her whole blog. What lovely photos.
Congratulations to all of you who organised this too. Great job.
Bellini Valli - October 6, 2008 at 7:55 am
Couldn’t have gone to a better person. Congratulations Nuria!!!!!
kat - October 6, 2008 at 8:31 am
Interesting way to get the flavors of pierogi without the work!
Peter G - October 6, 2008 at 9:24 am
I agree…well done to Nuria! And what a hearty pasta dish that is Jenn.
grace - October 6, 2008 at 9:44 am
two of my favorite spices are cumin and paprika, so this sounds phenomenal. i love the look of the tortellini too.
RecipeGirl - October 6, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Nuria has a great blog… very interesting stuff, including that Octopus stew!!
An old roommate of mine used to eat Pierogi all of the time so she introduced them to me. Making a fall pasta dish out of them is a fun idea!
Trip to New England? Lucky you!!!
Teresa - October 6, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Great choice! Octopus! What a wonderful idea. Congratulations on running a great challenge Jenn. Kudos to all of you for bringing attention to a much worth cause.
nina - October 6, 2008 at 3:04 pm
You have combined flavors in this pasta dish that I would never have tried together……you certainly have a way with flavors, Jenn!! It looks delicious!
Deborah - October 6, 2008 at 3:52 pm
They all look wonderful – I would have had a hard time choosing as well!
jen of a2eatwrite - October 6, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Oooooo…. love the PierOgi Pasta recipe and SO glad Nuria’s wonderful creativity and spirit have been rewarded!
Adam - October 6, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Great creative “O” dishes all around π It would of been impossible to pick if it was up to me.
What a fun pierogi dish! We make something just like that and call it ‘cabbage with noodles’ and it is delicious. I have to say yours sounds better though, with all the flavors combined π You can be my Polish sister anytime π
The Leftover Queen - October 6, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Thanks so much everyone for all your support with the O Foods! It was wonderful that Nuria won! π
Thanks Adam – that means a lot! π
Lo - October 6, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Awesome job, Nuria!
And I’ve got some cabbage that is begging to be used up this week… so guess what I might make π
Bren@Flanboyanteats.com - October 6, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Congrats Nuria!Jen, this is so good, particularly since
I’ve been afraid of having good pasta for a while now. I had a bad dish some years back and it kept me from eating all that goodness. This has all the ingredients I love; sans the egg noodles. π
Cherrye at My Bella Vita - October 7, 2008 at 4:58 am
There were so many great recipes I don’t know how you guys chose! They all sounded great and congrats to the runners-up and the winner.
Blond Duck - October 7, 2008 at 11:42 am
You come up with the coolest creations!
kittie - October 9, 2008 at 5:13 am
Congrats to all the winners!
Cracking stuff π