Penne with Artichoke Hearts: Cooking with Tessa Kiros

What's Going on Today: Crazy Friday - daughter's pre-school class, lunch date, after naptime coffee with friends.

Naptime Goals: Catch up on correspondence, order more summer clothes for daughter, prepare for the weekend. Make artichoke heart sauce.

Tonight's Menu: Tessa's Penne with Artichoke Hearts, slice of Banana Bread for dessert.

Parenting Lesson of the Day: TGIF. It applies to all of us.

This week has been wonderful - daffodils are springing up everything, masses of birds flit around the parks and we can't get enough of the playground and parks. Funny though, with all this natural beauty to call us outdoors I've noticed that the pace of life has quickened. Tenfold. All of a sudden it is Friday and I have no idea where the time has gone. No matter though, tonight I am going to pull out one of our old favorite, Tessa Kiros' Penne with Artichoke Hearts.

You all know artichokes are one of my favorite vegetables and this is one of my favorite ways to cook with them. I love the way Tessa tosses them with pasta and a basic pan sauce. The flavors are simple, clean and satisfying. To prepare this during naptime I only have to do one thing - make the sauce. My favorite method for doing start out naptime by sauteing the artichokes then adding the broth so they can simmer away while I do other things. Sometimes I use fresh artichokes for this dish too, I just didn't happen to pick any up today so I am using the frozen ones from my freezer instead.

This is one of those dishes that it is best not to over think. Simply prepare the artichokes as instructed and gently toss them with the pasta. That's all it takes to serve a warm, spring meal for dinner after a long week out and about. This is one of my go-to spring dinners, especially when artichokes are in season and it is bound to become one of yours as well.

Penne with Artichoke Hearts

adapted from Twelve by Tessa Kiros

1 9oz. box frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
3 T. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 t. dried thyme
3 c. low-sodium vegetable broth or chicken broth
Kosher salt and Pepper
1 1lb. penne or other kind of short pasta
1 c. freshly grated Parmesan for serving

1. In a wide, shallow sauce pan heat the olive oil. Add the garlic, thyme and the artichoke hearts, saute until tender and a little golden on the edges. About 4 minutes. Then, add the broth and set it to simmer over low-medium heat until it is reduced to less than 1 c. of liquid. Before you turn off the heat taste it for seasonings and add a few pinches of salt and pepper as needed.
2. Boil the pasta in salted water according to package directions. Place it in a large bowl and toss it with the artichoke sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan and serve.

Naptime Notes:

Naptime Recipe Ideas: This recipe doubles well and would be great served at a luncheon or on a buffet. If you wanted some extra texture you could also consider adding some sliced almonds.

Naptime Stopwatch: 5 minutes to prepare the sauce, 30 minutes for it to simmer.

Naptime Reviews:  My daughter is unsure about artichoke hearts but loved the smooth, creamy pasta. My husband adored this, especially after a long week at work.

Fish with Artichoke-Mustard Sauce

What’s Going on Today: Family morning on the beach, shell-collecting, walk to town for lunch. 

Naptime Goals: Finish “The Girl Who Played with Fire” (so good!), pick up fish for dinner while Daddy stays at home with napping daughter.

Tonight’s Meal: Grouper with Artichoke Mustard Sauce, Green Beans with Toasted Almonds

We spent our first 24 hours in the Sunshine State without much sun, but now it is out in all its glory and it is fantastic! I’ve always been a beach person. Ever since I was little I have loved jumping around in the waves, collecting shells and, these days, building endless castles and moats with my daughter.

In the spirit of vacation mode I am making the posts this week short and sweet. I am sure lots of families are getting ready for spring break and I hope you don’t even bring your computers with you. I did, of course, lest you doubt being a Naptime Chef ever gets put on hold. Because, after all, as long as I’m with my family, I’m cooking!

One of our favorite parts about beach vacation is fresh seafood. Luckily, we have access to good fish year-round, but it always seems particularly appropriate and healthy to eat it when we are actually enjoying ocean views. Last night I whipped up Grouper with this delicious Artichoke-Mustard Sauce. Since I tend not to cook a lot during my daughter’s afternoon naptime while on vacation, I usually rely on some of my fabulous dinners that are easy to make right before we want to eat. (However, it is worth noting, this sauce can easily be made-ahead of time and kept in the fridge until serving.)

Making the sauce is a snap and requires four basic ingredients that can be procured almost anywhere. After I make it I drizzle it on top of broiled fish seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon. Then, I like to serve it with a green vegetable like I did here - green beans with fresh toasted almonds and a dash of olive oil with salt. The flavors in this meal are highlighted nicely by the Artichoke Mustard sauce which has a wonderful balance of tangy with a hint of sweet, and is perfect for dressing fish, chicken or pork. In fact, I bet it would excellent tossed with pasta or orzo, too. I hope this recipe treats you well on your next family vacation. Or, if you can't wait that long, made right in the comfort of your own home.

Artichoke-Mustard Sauce

Adapted from The Uncommon Gourmet

Yields 2 cups

14 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and cut into bite size pieces

¼ c. Dijon mustard

6 T. boiling water

1/3 c. olive oil

1 t. freshly ground black pepper

2 t. fresh lemon juice

1.     Place the mustard in a heatproof bowl. Pour the boiling water in a slow, steady stream and whisk constantly until the water is completely incorporated.

2.     Next, pour in the oil, whisking until the mixture is completely incorporated and there are no bubbles of oil left. Then, whisk in the pepper and lemon juice.

3.     Finally, add the artichokes and give them a quick stir to mix it all together.

4.     Serve as is, over fish, chicken or pork. Or, this sauce can be kept in the fridge for up to 10 hours before being served.

Naptime Notes:

Naptime Recipe Ideas & Variations: This sauce would taste great with almost any kind of fish, consider trying it on halibut, cod, scrod or even salmon. It also works well on chicken or pork cutlets.

Naptime Stopwatch: Making this sauce takes about 8 minutes total, a perfectly reasonable amount of time for the key ingredient to your meal. Also, if you are really in a pinch you can make the sauce ahead of time and keep it in the fridge before you want to serve it.

Naptime Notes: This is a great sauce for children if they like mustard. I saved some for my daughter to use for dipping her chicken fingers for lunch today!

Creamy Artichoke Lasagna: Webisode #7

My Day So Far: Post-holiday catch up: thank you notes, bill paying, grocery shopping (!), brunch with daughter at local bagel shop.

Naptime Goals: Make Artichoke Lasagna, take down Christmas decorations, catch up on after vacation pile o' mail.

Tonight's Meal: Artichoke Lasagna - we'll have it for tomorrow night, too!

Parenting Lesson of the Day: Parents who say they never bribe their children are lying.

January 2nd is one of my least favorite days of the year. It indicates the end of the holiday season, the beginning of yet another cold northeastern winter, and requires that I snap out of holiday mode and get back to the daily grind. In short, on this particular day I find that there is very little to look forward to and lots of work to be done.

This year the start of the month proved to be no different on the work front, the only problem I had was figuring out where to begin. After a fun-filled ten days in Cooperstown I'd all but forgotten about my responsibilities here in New York. Upon returning we were faced with towering stacks of unpaid bills, a rather dusty apartment and bunches of stale-looking Christmas decorations. I have to say, the whole scene was rather forlorn, a feeling only furthered by a glance at the sad empty shelves in our fridge. Christmas baking was over and New Year's entertaining complete, leaving me with two yogurts, a stick of butter and one small bag of fingerling potatoes. With no hope of utilizing these ingredients to assemble any kind of ad-hoc dinner, I quickly decided to commence my chores with the inevitable post-holiday large scale grocery shopping.

I am not above bribery when I need my daughter to be on her best behavior at the grocery store. There are plenty of occasions, like the one just this week, when I happily hand her a box of chocolate milk and cruise the aisles enjoying a kind of peace only brought on by typically verboten treats. In this instance her enjoyment of chocolate milk and pretzels allowed me to gather the ingredients for a week's worth of meals including one of our favorite's, Artichoke Lasagna.

Since I needed to buy myself some free time during naptime the following day for baking I decided to make this dish because it will last for at least two dinners. We also happen to love this particular lasagna because it showcases one of the best vegetables on the planet (according to me, at least) - artichokes! I first tasted it when my friend Barbara made it for me a few years ago. I was instantly smitten with it's simple creamy white sauce, hint of salty parmesan, and buttery artichokes layered between thin noodles.

Barbara explained her variation was inspired by the Marcella Hazan recipe of the same name. However, Hazan's recipe calls for endless sheets of homemade pasta, hand-trimmed artichokes and many many layers. While we both love the idea of these handmade ingredients, we generally agree that neither of us have the time to conquer all of these steps in the midst of busy family life. Instead we've developed a recipe that mimics the flavor of Hazan's with simpler instructions for assembly.

I could write forever and ever about this deliciously simple lasagna, but I've made a video instead. I hope you enjoy it and see just how easy it is to make during the day or evening. I guarantee your family will love it. Happy New Year!

Creamy Artichoke Lasagna

a recipe developed by Barbara and Kelsey, inspired by Marcella Hazan

2 T. butter

18 oz. frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and cut into bite size pieces

8 T. butter

8 T. all-purpose flour

4 c. whole milk

Kosher salt and pepper to taste

1 c. freshly grated parmesan

1 box no-boil Lasagna noodles (at least 12 noodles)

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly butter a 9x13 deep baking dish and set aside.

2. In a saute pan over medium heat melt 2 T. butter and add the bite size artichoke hearts. Saute the artichoke hearts in the butter for about 4 minutes until they are tender and the butter is all absorbed. Turn off heat.

3. In a deep saucepan melt the 8 T. butter over medium-low heat. Once the butter is totally melted add the flour and whisk constantly for 4-5 minutes to make sure the flour is cooked. Be sure to keep whisking so that the butter and flour don't burn. Then, slowly whisk in the milk, continually whisking to make sure the butter/flour mixture gets evenly incorporated. Keep stirring the white sauce over medium heat until it thickens. About 5 minutes. Then, add a few pinches of Kosher salt and freshly ground black better to taste. Once the sauce as thickened to the consistency of a thin pudding, remove from heat.

4. Begin assembling the lasagna by spreading a thin layer of white sauce on the bottom of the pan. Then line up four noodles on top of it, it's alright if the noodles overlap slightly. Cover the noodles with another layer of white sauce. Then, top it with half of the saute artichoke hearts. Scatter 1/2 c. of the parmesan over the artichokes and top with a second layer of noodles. Repeat layering with the sauce, artichokes and parmesan cheese. Top with a third layer of noodles. At this point, cover the remaining sauce and cover the top noodles completely. Then scatter a pinch or two of parmesan top if any remains.

5. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the sauce is bubble and lightly golden on top.

Naptime Notes:

Naptime Recipe Ideas: This lasagna is great to make-ahead and bake later in the day. As you see here, I bake it in the afternoon and re-heat it in the evening. You could also assemble the lasagna up to a day ahead and bake it right before dinner time. Either way, it won't go bad sitting in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap.

Naptime Stopwatch: Assembling this takes about 35 minutes. The payoffs are enormous - taking the time to make this lasagna means you have dinner for two nights!

Naptime Reviews: My daughter isn't too keen on the artichoke hearts yet, but loves the noodles with white sauce. My husband and I love this for dinner, especially paired with a bright green salad.

Artichoke Rosemary Pizza

My Day So Far: Post office to buy stamps and mail holiday packages, daughter's library class, pizza parlor to pick up fresh dough for tonight. 

Naptime Goals: Catch up on blog posts, stamp Christmas cards, weed through mounting stack of store catalogs, laundry = no time for Naptime Chef-ing today! 

Tonight's Meal: Artichoke Rosemary Pizza - simple, delicious and requires no preparation. 

Parenting Lesson of the Day: Toddler's will eat almost anything when you call it "pizza."

I don't read many parenting magazines, I read food magazines. It's not that I don't like monthly volumes dedicated to parenting, it's just that I find food writing infinitely more interesting and inspirational. This month, while reading Food and Wine, I was particularly taken with Eugenia Bone's December Food Diary where she chronicles what she cooks and why, for the month of December. In a household with two kids, Eugenia's cooking outlook reads very similar to mine. She bakes on Sundays as a way to relax, makes large meals on Mondays that will last for a couple of days, and loves to entertain her friends. One of the dishes she writes about making is artichoke and fontina pizza. Given my love of all things artichoke, I knew this would be a great recipe for us. 

With all the craziness of the holidays it is harder to cook every single day. Earlier this week I made stew and it lasted us for a few nights, freeing up time for me during the day to get items checked off my holiday list. Tonight, since I am working all afternoon, I am taking one of my favorite shortcuts and using fresh pizza dough I picked up at the parlor (for $4!) to make homemade pizza for dinner. Sure, there are many times when I love to make my own pizza dough. But, in this case, buying a fresh pre-made ball from the experts down the street is the best way to go.  

Eugenia's pizza recipe calls for marinating artichoke hearts for three days. It is simple to do - and I plan to in the future - but since I wanted instant gratification after reading the article the day before the first time I made this, I cut out that step. Instead, I used olive oil flavored with herbs on the pizza dough, then added fresh chopped rosemary and a few dollops of fresh ricotta. These additions more than compensated for the un-marinated artichokes, rounding out the pizza with a fresh herbaceous flavor.

Preparing this pizza in the evening is very simple and doable for even the busiest home cook. The longest part for me is grating the fontina, which takes all of 2 minutes. Then I just layer on the ingredients, pop it in the oven and go about rounding up the troops for dinner. My daughter didn't love the artichokes because that flavor is still a little foreign to her. However, once we plucked them off she loved the rest of the pizza with the cheese and herbs. For a quick, tasty supper I was very pleased with it's warm reception. In addition, the clean-up was minimal. Leaving me plenty of free time after my daughter went to bed to continue with Santa duties. 

Artichoke Rosemary Pizza

adapted from Food and Wine, December 2009

1 8oz. ball store-bought pizza dough

1 9oz. package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and chopped into bite size pieces

1 1/2c. freshly grated fontina

3/4 c. fresh ricotta

1 t. fresh rosemary, chopped

2 T. olive oil, or a flavored olive oil of your choice

cornmeal for baking 

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Prepare a pizza stone with cornmeal, or rub a 9x13 jelly roll pan with plain olive oil.

2. Roll out the pizza dough to 1/8" thick on a lightly floured surface. Drizzle plain or flavored olive oil on top of dough. Place on pizza stone or on pan. Bake for... or until bubbles start to form on the surface of the dough. About 8 minutes.

3. Remove dough from the oven and scatter fontina on top. Then layer on chopped artichoke hearts, chopped rosemary, and dollop the ricotto on randomly by the Tablespoon-full. 

4. Return to oven and bake for 13-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted, crust is golden around the edges and pizza is piping hot. Cut and serve. 

Naptime Notes:

Naptime Recipe Variation Ideas: The possibilities for homemade pizza are endless. There is nothing wrong with buying fresh pizza dough, this will free up your time and leave your schedule to spend more time thinking about toppings! When coming up new ideas I suggest trying different cheeses, sauces, vegetables, thinly sliced meats and even fruit.

Naptime Stopwatch: Making this pizza takes very little time. I had it on the table in 30 minutes from the start it's preparation. 

Naptime Reviews: My daughter ate what essentially amounted to a white pizza, but the adults loved the artichokes!

Napping with the Heart of an Artichoke

By all accounts my grandmother Harriet was a remarkable woman. She could recite the Lord's prayer in her sleep, crochet a baby blanket with one hand, and play poker for hours on end. She also wholeheartedly embraced her community, delivering meals to housebound elderly from the trunk of her Ford Thunderbird, regularly being issued speeding tickets along her route. In short, she was a woman of contradictions and we loved her for it. Many people attributed her near-century of volunteer activity and good health to "solid genes" and a healthy joie de vivre, but I am pretty sure her secret was eating artichokes.


Artichokes are often referred to as the "nutritional powerhouse" of vegetables and, given Harriet's long life, I wonder if she was on to something. She preferred artichokes over every other vegetable, consuming one daily and serving them to us whenever we visited. She favored eating them boiled until soft, except in the warm weather when we all wanted relief from hot foods. In the summer Harriet would dream up new ways to serve us her favorite veggie, often incorporating them into green salads, serving them cold alongside grilled chicken and adding them to quiches. Her imagination served her well and all of her meals were delicious, but, above all, my favorite was her "famous" artichoke heart pasta salad. Unfortunately, though she made this salad for me dozens of times, she never wrote down the recipe, so last summer I had to rely on my memories to write a new one.


My goal in recreating this dish was to make a salad that replicated hers in both texture and flavor, and was able to last in the fridge without getting gummy. I tried a few different combination's of pasta shapes and vinegars until, at the end of last summer, I managed to create a flavor medley that evoked the memories of my grandmother's version. The taste of my final recipe differs slightly from the original. It maintains the core flavors of artichoke hearts and sweet tomatoes wrapped in a tangy vinaigrette, but I revised her formula by adding toasted pine nuts for crunch, as well as some lemon juice to crank up the flavor. I also chose to use orzo instead of fusilli because I find that orzo is less starchy and holds up better when chilled. Since completing this Naptime Chef recipe challenge I have made this salad at least a dozen times. In doing so I discovered that, in addition being great to serve my family, it is a tasty side dish to serve at luncheons and makes a nice addition to any buffet table. Everyone who has eaten it raves about the taste, including my husband and daughter. I have to admit, I was initially surprised that my daughter liked artichoke hearts, until I realized I hadn't considered her artichoke-obsessed lineage. I mean, after all, she is Harriet's great-granddaughter, and that explains it all.

Naptime Orzo with Artichoke Hearts and Tomatoes - inspired by my grandmother
1 1/2 c. orzo
4 T. pine nuts, toasted
1 10oz. package of frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
1/3 c. olive oil
4 T. red-wine vinegar
Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
Zest of one lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Cook orzo in a pot of salted boiling water accordingy to package directions.
2. Whisk together olive oil, vinegar and lemon zest in a bowl, set aside.
3. Toast the pine nuts, be careful not to let them burn.
4. Halve the cherry tomatoes and set aside in a separate bowl.
5. Take the thawed artichoke hearts and cut them into quarters. You can add as many, or as little, of the artichoke hearts to the salad as you like to suit your tastes.
6. Once the orzo is cooked, drain it and put in a large bowl.
7. First, add the artichoke hearts and pine nuts and mix it around. Then, add the tomatoes and give the salad another few stirs.
8. Pour over the vinaigrette and gently mix it in until fully incorporated.
9. Finally, add the lemon juice and mix it into the salad.
10. Add salt & pepper to taste. Can be served warm or cold.

Naptime Notes:
Naptime Recipe Props: Like all good salads this recipe is flexible, you could add more, or less, of any ingredient you choose. I have also toyed with the idea of adding roasted cherry tomatoes to see if I would enjoy a richer tomato flavor. I plan to try this over the summer and will let you know.
Naptime Stopwatch: This salad takes about 35-40 minutes to prepare from start to finish. It is the perfect dish to prepare during naptime, this allows the pasta to cool before you serve it for dinner. Naptime Reviews: My whole family adores this salad, especially my daughter and husband. I have also served it at luncheons to great reviews, it travels well and is a great accompaniment to any buffet.