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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Saturday Project: Canning Salsa
02 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
in from the garden, recipe Tags: salsa
Around here, salsa is pretty much its own food group. 
We have salsa of some sort with every meal and almost every snack. We’ve got our green salsas, our salsa verdes, our basic red salsas, our sweet salsas … my favorite is the roasted salsa, pictured here.
With the amazing summer tomato harvest we had, I decided to can salsa. Now, the problem I run into is the whole preservation without making anyone sick issue. My table salsa recipes, undoubtedly, are not appropriate for water bath canning. So, I turned to good ol’ Dad, the food technologist, for advice. And then I tweaked a recipe I found in Mom’s old Ball Blue Book. It took nearly all day, but the results were outstanding. My mother-in-law requested several jars for her pantry.
The recipe below makes a lot of salsa. Use two pots or a ginormous stock pot if you need to. If you’re not interested in a quart of salsa each month for the next year, halve or even quarter the recipe. Remember to keep the ingredients in the proper proportions for food safety.
Ingredients (for 12 quarts):
- 40 cups peeled, cored and chopped tomatoes (this was roughly 100 tomatoes, combination of roma and hybrid)
- 30 cups chopped peppers (I used a combination of 5 cups serrano, 15 cups jalapeno, and 10 cups green bell peppers. This was 9 large-ish green bells, around 2 lbs of jalapenos, and about 3/4 lb of serranos.)
- 20 cups chopped onions
- 5 cups apple cider vinegar
- 15 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 cup chopped cilantro, packed
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons hot sauce (I use chipotle tabasco)
Directions:
- Prepare the boiling water canner, jars, and lids. I use the dishwasher sterilize setting to prepare jars, and I just barely simmer the lids. Quick note here — I used different sizes of jars as well as a combination of wide and regular mouth … make sure you’ve got the proper assortment of lids and bands available.
- Combine all of the ingredients in a large pot – don’t be afraid to do this in batches. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Ladle/pour the salsa into the warm jars. Leave 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe the rim, and center the lid on the jar. Apply the band, but not tightly.
- Process in the boiling water canner.
- Remove, cool, check for seal, store.
- Enjoy!
The Photo Journey:
tomatoes to be peeled
tomatoes ready to go
onions and cilantro
nifty canning utensils
simmering lids
simmering salsa
jars to be put away
Roasted Potatoes, Take Two
30 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in recipe Tags: recipe, roasted potatoes
I’ve mentioned before that I adore potatoes, right? I could never do a low-carb diet because there is just no way I could eliminate potatoes from my kitchen.
This is another take on roasted potatoes. These potatoes are so delicious that they are a staple around here once the weather starts cooling and the oven comes into use. Even better, the recipe calls for just six simple ingredients, most of which you’re certain to have on hand. More
