Sunday dinner shouldn’t be difficult, but it should be delicious! And as our days get colder, foods that comfort are at the top of my wish list. This Make & Bake Sunday Dinner ticks all the right boxes!
Today’s post is in partnership with Martha Stewart Living, Barilla® Collezione and Reynolds Kitchens™. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that help make Ciao Chow Bambina possible.
A bouquet of bucatini? For moi? Is there anything prettier? More comforting? More pleasing?
The person who presents another with a bouquet of Barilla® Collezione pasta surely knows what they’re doing.
Barilla® Collezione, a line of artisanal pasta, is crafted using traditional bronze plates for a homemade ‘al dente’ texture that holds onto sauce like a mama holds onto her baby. And this bucatini, with its thick hollow center and gratifying flavor, pairs beautifully with a light buttery sauce designed to complement its taste.
Bucatini with Toasted Breadcrumbs and Seared Scallops makes for a Sunday dinner that will have everyone running to the table. Pasta cooked to the perfect texture, and not a minute more, enveloped in toasted breadcrumbs enhanced with sautéed garlic and red pepper flakes, mixed with salty Parmesan, baby sweet peas, and topped with a tender seared scallop…. Yep, it’s what’s for Sunday dinner.
The few steps that it takes to pull this dish together are well worth the effort. And not only are we rewarded with a pasta dish that all but screams ‘home’, we’re throwing a dessert into the mix that’s as simple to make as you’ll be proud to serve.
I am all about making life easy. And in keeping with my life-made-easy mantra, I’m thrilled to share the product that made the making of dessert simple and quick.
Reynolds Kitchens™ Parchment Paper with Smartgrid® makes clean up fast and prep work easy.
Even my shaky little hands can cut a straight, perfectly sized sheet every time.
I had the idea to make these Chocolate Pignoli Cookies because A) pignoli cookies are one of my favorites, B) they’re in keeping with our Italian meal, and C) who doesn’t love a little taste of chocolate at the end of their meal?
These sweets have the texture of a meringue cookie with the benefit of creamy tasting pignolis and milk chocolate, though you could easily exchange the milk for bittersweet.
With only five ingredients, they’re easy to make yet so full of flavor.
I used a half tablespoon scoop to create tiny bites, but you could use a full tablespoon for larger cookies.
I think I read somewhere that the smaller the cookie the more you can eat… 😉
So here it is, my friends…. Make & Bake Sunday Dinner.
Perfect for today, or to keep in mind for future Sundays when company’s over for the holidays.
Buon Appetito!
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Bucatini with Toasted Breadcrumbs & Seared Scallops
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Sunday dinner shouldn’t be difficult, but it should be delicious! And as our days get colder, foods that comfort are at the top of my wish list. This Make & Bake Sunday Dinner ticks all the right boxes!
Ingredients
- 12 oz. Barilla® Collezione Bucatini
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
- 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
- 6 – 12 scallops
- Salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into cubes, divided
- 1 cup baby sweet peas
- Juice from 1 lemon
Instructions
- Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water until al dente.
- While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.
- Add garlic and cook until it just begins to brown, about 1 minute.
- Add bread crumbs and red pepper flakes. While stirring, cook for a minute until crumbs begin to toast. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a separate skillet, melt 2 Tbsp. butter. Add scallops and cook for about 2 minutes until opaque and caramelized on both sides. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook peas in boiling, salted water until just tender, about 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Drain pasta and add back to hot pan.
- Toss well with the 8 Tbsp. butter, seasoned bread crumbs, and Parmesan.
- Gently stir in peas.
- Serve immediately and top with a scallop or two.
- Squeeze lemon over top.
Chocolate Pignoli Cookies
- Yield: 48 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Sunday dinner shouldn’t be difficult, but it should be delicious! And as our days get colder, foods that comfort are at the top of my wish list. This Make & Bake Sunday Dinner ticks all the right boxes!
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large egg whites
- 11.5 oz. milk chocolate pieces, melted
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 cups pine nuts
Instructions
- In a medium bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the sugar and egg whites.
- Using a bain-marie, or double boiler, melt chocolate. Gently melt the pieces in a heatproof bowl over simmering, not boiling, water.
- Remove from heat and let cool.
- Once chocolate is completely cooled, add to sugar mixture.
- Whip the batter until smooth and fully combined.
- Place batter in the refrigerator for at least an hour, or over night, allowing the batter to firm up.
- When ready, preheat oven to 350 F.
- Prepare two cookie sheets with Reynolds Kitchens™ Parchment Paper with Smartgrid®.
- Place pignoli in a bowl.
- When batter is firm enough, scoop 1/2 Tbsp. measures. You’ll need a second spoon to slip the batter out of the measuring spoon and roll in the pignoli.
- Rest cookies on prepared cookie sheets about an inch apart.
- Bake for 13 minutes, rotating the two pans from the upper and lower thirds of the oven, half way through baking.
- Remove from oven and cool completely.
- Serve.
Forgot to pin? Here you go!
This dinner is wonderful, Scallops are everything to me and I love the beautiful sear you got going on here! I can’t forget to mention those fab cookies! Scallops and pine nuts in one sitting, be still my heart ;-). Pinned. Take care.
It’s a pretty special meal…but isn’t that what Sundays are all about! Thank you, my friend!