Garlic Tomato Soup
12 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
in comfort food, recipe Tags: recipe, soup, tomato
As the temperature drops, I start craving soups. This is one of my favorites. It’s excellent with grilled cheese dunkers, and it reheats really well for lunch. As an added bonus, it’s a super-healing soup … great amounts of garlic along with onions and chicken broth. This is a wonderful, basic recipe that will stay in your repetoire and can be used so, so many ways. You can leave it chunky, or blend it smooth. You can add grated parm or basil, or even cilantro. More
Spaghetti with Olive Oil and Parm
08 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
in kitchen basics, recipe Tags: parmigiano reggiano, spaghetti
Sometimes, the best dishes are the most simple. And, let’s be honest, there really is nothing more simple than pasta with olive oil and parm. Unless you go with pasta and butter . . . mmmm.
Most people are fairly familiar with Spaghetti Aglio e Olio, Spaghetti with Garlic and Olive Oil. That’s a wonderful, wonderful dish too . . . but sometimes, we need to adjust recipes to suit the tastes of those around us. My munchkin, for example, is currently not entirely excited about the taste of garlic. He’s 3 . . . he’ll grow out of it. I hope.
Anyway, simple pasta is one of my go-to comfort dishes, and it doesn’t hurt that my munchkin adores it as much as I do. When I discovered that he’s all about the parm, I added that right on in.
I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!
Ingredients:
- 1 lb Thick Spaghetti (or other long pasta, such as linguine)
- sea salt to taste
- ½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, freshly grated
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- (for mom’s plate: red pepper flakes, finely chopped parsley)
Directions:
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add sea salt to taste. Your pasta cooking water should taste like the sea. For real. Just watch the good chefs on the Food Network … they say it all the time.
- Cook the pasta according to the directions. Drain, and reserve a small amount of the pasta cooking water (about 2 tablespoons).
- Combine the hot pasta with the cheese and oil in a large bowl. Add pasta cooking liquid as needed so it’s not dry.
- Mix well and serve.
Sausage & Leek Soup
06 Oct 2010 6 Comments
in comfort food, recipe Tags: leek, potatoes, recipe, sausage, soup
This recipe came about like many home recipes do.
Looking in the fridge, I realized that I had a few Italian sausages that hadn’t made it to the grill. There were also leeks that were supposed to have gone into another recipe that never made it to the testing block, as well as half a bag of baby carrots. Oh look — there are two oversized potatoes in the bin.
Voila – remnants turned into an amazing soup meal that made for amazing lunch leftovers (see pic)!
Ingredients:
- 2 Tablespoons butter or olive oil
- 3 links mild Italian sausage, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup white wine (or water, or broth)
- 3 leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced (whites and light green only)
- 2 cups diced carrots
- 2 large potatoes, diced
- 3-5 cups chicken broth (enough to barely cover the potatoes)
- a pinch of red pepper flakes
- salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
- Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom pot over medium heat.
- Add the sausage and brown. About 7 minutes.
- Deglaze the pot using wine/water/broth.
- Add the leeks, wilt for about 5 minutes.
- Add the carrots and enough chicken stock to cover the carrots. Heat thoroughly and cook for about 2 minutes.
- Add potatoes and enough chicken stock to barely cover the potatoes. (We add only enough to cover so that the result is a thicker soup. You can always add more stock later to thin it out if you prefer a different consistency.)
- Cook over medium until the potatoes and carrots are tender.
- You could use a potato masher to mash and stir until the potatoes are your desired consistency, but I left it chunky this time.
- Remove from heat and serve.
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Menu Plan: Oct. 4
04 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
We’ve been experimenting with single day cooking. Basically, I create my menu plan and shopping list around what’s in the freezer and pantry along with any particular meals the Mr. has been wanting. Then, I cook it all on Sunday and store it according to the meal type: lunches in individual containers and suppers family style. That way, when we finally make it home in the evening, all we need to do is pull something out of the fridge. This is what I made for this week:
Entrees:
Sides:
- Mexican-Style Rice
- Jalapeno Cheese Cornbread
- potatoes roasted in pan with chicken
- buttered egg noodles
- sauteed spinach greens
Dessert:
- Chocolate Chip-Cranberry Cookies from Three Many Cooks
- Chocoflan from Marcela Valladolid (this is INSANELY good … chocolate bundt cake with flan and cajeta (caramel) – sooooo good!)
