One Hot Dish!

Friday night I took on my first meal in 2011. I decided that I would make somehting Italian and somewhat spicey. The night before, Lydia and I had been at the meat counter in Central Market and I saw that they had loose Hot Italian Sausage and I thought about how and what I might add together to come up with a meal.

Spicey Pork Sauge and Orecchiette

1 1/2 pounds Hot Italian Sausage (removed from the casing)

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 onion diced

cooking spray

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup red wine

1/4 cup capers, rinsed

12 white mushrooms, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

1 box orecchiette

parmesan cheese to top

1. In a large pot over medium-high heat, spray bottom of pot with cooking oil and add, garlic, onion and pork; season with salt & pepper to taste. Heat until fully cooked.
2. Reduce heat to simmer and add tomatoes, wine, capers and mushroom. Allow to simmer for several hours; stir often.
3. Cook orecchitte according to instructions. When cooked, pour in to a large pasta serving bowl. Add sauce on top; top with parmsan cheese.

This dish was delicious, but I fear that I was the only one that really fully enjoyed it - I love the heat and the rest of my family does not (so much). Everyone had seconds, but I still have my doubts. If I make this in the future, I would use 1/2 spicey pork and 1/2 plain pork to balance out the heat.

Overall, I was happy with the dinner and I served it with a nice loaf of french bread and a spinach salad. Everyone was grateful for the chocolate ice cream that we had for dessert - I thought that the ice cream might help with the heat too!

Super Yum!

I am just back from a weekend mini-vacation to Ocean Shores, WA.  My hubby and I have visited Ocean Shores many times (and I wrote about Galway Bay, one of our favorite restaurants in the greater Ocean Shores vicinity), in the past) but this was the first time we ever spent the night there.

Though our trip was short (we only stayed over Friday and Saturday nights), we had a ton of fun.  We stayed at this awesome inn that overlooked the harbor.  Our room was the Turret Room--we had a big soaking tub, a medieval-looking four-poster bed, and a wrap around balcony.  The Inn served up a tasty breakfast each morning and the place had a lingering smell of inciting food.  The innkeepers also offer a 4-course dinner on Friday and Saturday nights--we had dinner at the Inn our first night there and everything was perfect.

On Saturday night, we headed into the retail section of town and ate at Pasta di Vine, an Italian place that--as we later learned--is also owned by the couple who own and operate the inn (it's a small town!).  The food at the Italian place was very, very good, but it was dessert that blew us away.  We ordered their cheesecake and OMG!  I've never had a cheesecake quite like the one we got.

The cheesecake itself was very simple--just a plain cheesecake served without fruit or any type of sauce.  What set it apart from other cheesecake was that it was a creme brulee cheesecake.  They sprinkled sugar on the top and sides of our slice of cake and then torched the sugar, creating that familiar caramel-y shell of a creme brulee surrounding the cheesecake.  The results were amazing!  There were two contrasting textures: the smooth, velvety cheesecake and the crisp burnt sugar that cracked when you dug your fork into it.  And the flavor?  Perfection!  It was deep, rich, creamy, caramel-y and oh so good.

I've never had a creme brulee cheesecake before, but if I ever see this on a menu, I'm ordering the biggest slice ever.  It was out of this world!  I can't wait to go back to Ocean Shores to get this super yummy dessert again.

Farfalle with Hot Italian Sauge, Mushrooms, & Peas

I threw this dish together one night and it got rave reviews from the family. I was asked to write the recipe down so that I can make it again. I modeled this recipe after one that I saw in Giada De Laurentiis's cookbook, Everday Italian - her recipe is for Orecchiette with Spicy sausage and Broccoli Rabe. I changed it up a bit to make the family happy (Lydia HATES broccoli) and I thought adding peas and mushrooms would be delicious. Plus when I was buying ingredients, I could not find Orecchiette for under $6.50, but the Farfalle was on sale for $1.00 per box (so I went with bow ties).

Salt
1 1/2 cup frozen peas
1 box Farfalle (bow tie) pasta
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds hot Italian sausage
3 cloves garlic, chopped
6 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground

Place the frozen peas in a large strainer. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the frozen peas (in the strainer) to the boiling water for about 30 seconds; remove from the boiling water and set the peas aside. Cook the Farfalle in the same boiling water until tender but still firm to the bite (approximately 12 minutes), stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

In a large, heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until the sausage is brown and the juices form, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are cooked, about 2 minutes. Add the peas and pasta and coat well. Add enough of the reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and pepper and transfer to a pasta bowl.

Serves 6.

Caprese Salad - A Delicious Summer Treat

I love summer fruits and veggies and to have fresh tomatoes is a real treat. I love caprese salads and think that they really showcase the ripe tomato in a tasty way.

This recipe is from Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis - it is super easy and absolutely delicious!

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese. drained and sliced
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

Whisk the lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in the oil to blend. Set the dressing aside.

Arrange the tomatoes and cheese on a platter. Drizzle the dressing over. Sprinkle with basil and serve.

Stew Anyone?

Today's challenge was chicken - I had 4 chicken breasts on the bone, lots of cans in the pantry and veggies in the refrigerator. I grabbed a few cookbooks and ended up choosing Chicken Spezzatino from Everyday Italian by Giada de Laurentiis for my recipe.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 celery stalks, cut into bite sized pieces
1 carrot, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chopped tomatoes with their juices
1 (14 ounce) can reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 chicken breasts with ribs
1 (15 ounce) can organic kidney beans, drained (rinsed if not organic)

Instructions:
In a heavy 5 1/2 quart saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the celery, carrot, and onion, and saute until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes, broth, basil, tomato paste, bay leaf, and thyme. Add the chicken and press to submerge. Bring the liquid to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently, uncovered, turning the breasts over and stirring occasionally, until the chicken is almost cooked through, about 20 minutes. Add the kidney beans and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the liquid has reduce to a stew consistency, about 10 minutes.

Discard the bay leaf. Let the chicken cool for 5 minutes. Discard the skin and bones and cut the meat into bite-sized pieces. Return the stew and bring to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4 to 6.

Notes:
Here are my changes to this recipe...

Well there were already 4 breasts halfway thawed when I decided to make this meal, so I doubled the the amount of chicken. I also doubled the amount of tomatoes, tomato paste and chicken broth too. I did not have any fresh basil on hand so I used 2 tablespoons of dried basil instead. I also used white cannellini beans (non-organic) instead of red kidney beans - either I think would work well. I also had a head of cauliflower that I needed to use, so I went ahead and added it to the stew.

This was really easy and turned out to be delicious! I had some crusty bread and a glass (or 2) of red wine and thought this was a wonderful meal. I will probably freeze half of this because there were not 8-12 people around to eat it!

Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Linguine

On Thursday, my Mom came home from a trip to the grocery store with a pound-and-a-half of shrimp. I said "Mom, what are you making? I love shrimp." She looked at me and said "What are you making with the shrimp?"

So I was given a challenge and my response was to checkout Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis. I found her recipe for Shrimp Fra Diavolo (Brother Devil) and decided to tweak it a bit and serve it over linguine.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juices
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup dry white wine
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 teaspoon oregano
3 tablespoons parsley
3 tablespoons basil
1/2 pound linguine

• In a medium bowl, toss the shrimp with 1 teaspoon salt and red pepper flakes. Mix well and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

• In a large, heavy skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and saute until just cooked through (about 2 minutes). Using a slotted spoon, transfer the shrimp to a bowl, cover and refrigerate.

• Add onion to the same skillet and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, wine, garlic, oregano, parsley, and basil. Bring the sauce up to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cover and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally for at least 2 hours.

• Follow the instructions on the box for cooking linguine (I used 1/2 the box or 1/2 pound). While you wait for the water to boil, remove the shrimp from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature. Once you add the linguine to the boiling water, add the shrimp and all of the juices to the sauce; stir well.

• Drain the linguine and put it in a large pasta bowl. Add the shrimp and sauce to the linguine and enjoy!

Serves 4

This turned out really well and everyone loved it (minus my son who had pizza)! If you wanted it a bit more spicy, add more red pepper flakes. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and slightly briny (but in a good way). I didn't think that any more salt was needed and was very happy with the seasoning of the dish. I served this with a salad and some crusty bread - I would definitely make this again!!