Sausage, Basil, & Port Fettuccine

The foundation of this recipe came from Sunset: Quick, Light, & Healthy...

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb sweet pork Italian sausage, casings removed
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 bundles sliced green onions (about 1.5 cups)
  
• 2 medium purple onions, thinly sliced
• 1. 5 cups port
• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 lb fettuccine

DIRECTIONS:

• Start your pasta water so it will be ready to use.
  
• Stir-fry sausage about 7 - 10 minutes breaking into pieces as you go. Remove sausage from pan with slotted spoon and keep warm (I like to put the meat in a glass dish and place in the oven on low heat...maybe 200 degrees). Pour off and discard all about 1 tsp of pan fat.
  
• Add garlic, green onions, and red onions to pan and stir-fry until soft (5 - 7 minutes). Add water, 1 tbsp at a time, if pan appears dry. You can also add olive oil but not too much as you don't want the dish to be too greasy.
  
• Somewhere along in here make sure you drop the pasta in the boiling water and cook according to package directions.
  
• Add port and bring to a boil. Boil, stirring often, until liquid is reduced by about half (5 - 6 minutes).
• Add tomatoes, vinegar, and sausage.
• Reduce heat and simmer for 2 - 5 minutes.
• Stir in chopped basil.
  
• Drain pasta well and add a little bit of olive oil to slick up the noodles a bit.
• Transfer to a warm bowl (or back to the cooking pot) then add sausage sauce.
• Stir to mix then serve topped with basil sprigs and Parmesan cheese. Yummy!
  

Gourmet Macaroni & Cheese

Be sure you work out or find some other way to burn calories before you eat this dish. Yum yum!


INGREDIENTS(Entree size servings for about 6 people):
Sea Salt to taste
Large elbow macaroni pasta
Olive Oil
2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBSP All Purpose flour
3 TBSP unsalted butter
2 cups Panko bread crumbs
2 cups heavy cream (the good stuff)!
1/2 tsp dried thyme or basil or oregano (or all three!)
Black pepper to taste
1 sweet onion (medium) diced
4 cups white extra sharp cheddar (Tillamook is the best! I buy the chunk and grate my own. Never use pre-grated stuff...way too dry and generally lower quality cheese)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a glass baking dish with butter.

Melt 1 TBSP the butter over low heat then add garlic. Cook for about 2 minutes but do not overcook. Then, add onions and cook until golden, 3 - 4 minutes. Stir often.
When onions are ready, stir in bread crumbs and Italian spices. Add salt to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.

Bring large saucepan of water to boil. Cook macaroni about 1 - 2 minutes less than package directions. Remove from heat, drain, and lightly coat with olive oil. Add to baking dish.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the remaining 2 TBSP of butter. When it melts, whisk in the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the heavy cream whisking constantly and watch the heat so burning does not occur. Good to let this cook (while whisking) over low heat for 5 - 10 minutes. Then, slowly add the cheese whisking constantly to make sure each batch melts completely.

Once all the cheese is added, pour over the macaroni and mix. Top with the breadcrumb mixture and cook for about 20 - 25 minutes or until topping is browned. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.

Enjoy!

Making Tomato Sauce from Scratch

Check this Flickr post for a way to make great tomato sauce from scratch!

Making Tomato Sauce from Scratch

Linguine with Garlic Sauce

Yum! This is a very nice pasta dish with fresh veggies in the sauce. Excellent!

The base of this recipe was taken from the book Pasta: Sunset Creative Cooking Library.

INGREDIENTS:
3 - 4 large tomatoes
1/4 cup water
fresh basil cut into small pieces
salt
black pepper, red pepper flakes
1/3 cup olive oil
6 - 10 large garlic cloves minced or pressed
Linguine Pasta
Parmesan Cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Peel, seed, and coarsely chop tomatoes. In a bowl, combine tomatoes, water, fresh basil, salt, black and red pepper. Set aside.
Place olive oil and garlic in small pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium-high heat until oil bubbles gently and garlic is light gold. (Do not brown garlic or it will taste bitter). Add tomato mixture to pan and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.

Cook linguine, drain, place in serving bowl. Cover with sauce, toss gently then serve. Add Parmesan to taste.

Godfather II Linguine

I am sure my friend J.V. would have some appropriate quote from the Godfather to go along with this meal...at any rate...this is a superb dish for two (thank you Saveur Magazine for the basic ingredients)

INGREDIENTS:
Kosher salt, to taste
8 oz dried linguine
.5 cup extra virgin olive oil
.5 cup red bell pepper
.5 cup yellow bell pepper
5 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 small onion (white or yellow) finely chopped
1/2 cup white wine
8 mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1 cup halved grape tomatoes
2 tbsp unsalted butter
8 large shrimp, peeled, deveined
8 large basil leaves, shredded
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring a pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Add pasta and cook 1 minute less than al-dente (8 - 10 minutes). Drain pasta and reserve 1 cup liquid.

2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a 12" skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Add peppers, garlic, onion and cook for about 5 minutes (until they start to soften)
4. Add wine and mussels, cover, cook about 2 minutes until mussels open.
5. Add reserved pasta water, tomatoes, butter, and shrimp and cook about 1 minute until the shrimp are pink.
6. Add cooked linguine, toss to combine, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens and clings to the pasta.
7. Stir in basil and season with salt & pepper.
8. Divide pasta between two bowls, sprinkle with more basil, and add cheese.

Note: Good idea on this to have the pasta almost cooked before starting the other items. You will add the pasta in step 6.

Bang up Baked Tomatoes

Try this for a quick and easy way to enjoy tomatoes of any kind...

INGREDIENTS:
Tomatoes (grape, cherry, or diced larger size)
Olive oil
Garlic or garlic powder
Salt
Parmesan Cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Oven at 400
Cut tomatoes to bite-size pieces then mix with other ingredients to taste
Bake for about 20 minutes and enjoy. Yummy!

I find this works really well placed in a small oven-proof dish (single serving size). Then, you can just take it out of the oven, place a plate or hot-pad underneath, and serve.

Pasta AglaOglio

Like the name? I believe the official Italian dish is titled Pasta Aglio or even Pasta Oglio. I can never remember which hence the name above. At any rate, if you like garlic or have lots of vampires hanging around your house, then this pasta is for you. If not, don't even think about it.

INGREDIENTS:
Tons of fresh garlic sliced thinly
Plenty of olive oil
Just a few red chili flakes
A good sprinkling of Italian spices (Penzey's Pasta Sprinkle works great or you can just add dried oregano, thyme, basil, or rosemary in any combination)
Your choice of pasta although longer noodles like angel hair or linguine or spaghetti work best.
Fresh parmesan to shave on top
Good bread on the side (or can make baguettes or crostinis)

DIRECTIONS:
Make the pasta and while it is cooking, start a largish pan (big enough to hold all the pasta) with olive oil on medium-low heat. Add the garlic and saute until brown and crunchy (NOT black and burned). Add the spices and the chili flakes and cook for another minute on even lower heat. Add the pasta and cook for another minute to blend. Serve piping hot with cheese shavings on top. Delish!

Some things to be careful of...cook your pasta a minute less than the directions. The last bit of cooking will occur in the oil & garlic pan.

Be sure to use PLENTY of garlic. I normally use 3 - 4 full heads for the dish (again....this is a garlic lover's dish only).

Baby's Best Bruschetta

Baby's Best Bruschetta as in "ooh baby this tastes so good". I made this last night and was concerned that the vine-ripened tomatoes I had chosen were not ripe enough. So, I added extra garlic and olive oil and a few secret spices (which are revealed below). Wow! Baby! Was that good! Put a bit on a toasted baguette and there is nothing better in the world of food.

INGREDIENTS:
Vine ripened tomatoes - as many as you want
Olive oil - enough to make the mixture moist but not runny
Garlic - can never have enough
Sea Salt - enough to bring out the flavor but not overwhelm
Fresh Ground Pepper - see above for salt
Secret Spices (Penzey's Pasta Sprinkle which has thyme and oregano and stuff in it) - just a pinch or two
Basil - enough to accent and provide that good basil flavor

Mix everything but the basil (leaving skins on the tomatoes) and let sit for 30 minutes at room temperature. Roll the basil all together and cut into strips then mix in.

BAGUETTE:
Baguette loaf from the store
Slice on the diagonal (thin)
Brush with olive oil
350 F for about 10 min
Remove and serve right away