Spaghetti a la Scarpetta

Food Network has a show called “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”.  In it, their TV personalities tell you about the best sweet thing, or fried thing, or appetizer they ever ate.  Well, they also did comfort food.  One of the comfort foods was Spaghetti with tomato sauce from Scarpetta (Scott Conant’s restaurant in Miami).

I am honestly not a fan of pasta with red sauce.  I find it boring, too sweet, and just blah.  Boy has my mind been changed.  Here is the recipe I used with a little adaptation- not much, basically quantities and canned tomatoes.

http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2009/10/making-scarpetta-tomato-basil-spaghetti-scott-conant-scarpetta-meatpacking-district-nyce.html

This took all of 40 minutes to make.  Don’t be frightened by the length of the instructions, I like to go into detail so there are few questions.  I hate when recipes are vague.

1/3 – 1/2 olive oil

1 28 oz can Organic Muir Glen whole tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

5-6 basil leaves

~ 1 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 1/4 Tbsp unstalted butter

1/2 lb spaghetti

salt (I use kosher)

Begin by infusing the olive oil with garlic, pepper flakes, and basil.  Do this by heating olive oil over medium heat.  Add pepper flakes, whole basil leaves, and 2 cloves of garlic smashed- whack them with the side of a large knife.  Bring that to a low boil then lower heat to low for about 10 mins.

In the meantime, halve and seed the tomatoes.  Save the juice that is in the can.

Once the oil is infused, remove all but 2-3 Tbsp from the sauce pan.

Heat to med heat and add the seeded, halved tomatoes and salt and simmer for 5 mins.  After 5 mins, crush with a potato masher (or a meat tenderizer since I don’t have a potato masher) and continue to simmer for no more than 40 mins. When it has reduced slightly, add some of the juice from the can of tomatoes, approx 3 tbsp.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  When boiling, add the pasta and cook for 7-8 mins (just before al dente).

While pasta is boiling, add butter to tomato sauce.  When pasta is about ready, remove from pot (reserving some of the cooking water for sauce) and add to tomato sauce.  The pasta will finish cooking in the sauce. If the sauce needs to be thinned slightly, add some of the pasta cooking water.

Top with basil chiffonade (roll basil leaves together and slice thinly).

I haven’t been to the restaurant, and I doubt I would ever pay $24 for a plate of spaghetti, but I can  only imagine how good Scott Conant’s is with mine being as good as it was.

Someday I will remember to take pictures, till then use your imagination or look at the picture above of the original. Mine didn’t look too far off honestly.

Goat Cheese (chevre), Asparagus, and Tomato pasta

Holy Moly is this good.  I seriously just left my table and HAD to share.  It took all I had not to send out a mass text to rave about it.  I think it would be good even if my only consistent pregnancy craving was not goat cheese, but it is, so I am trying to figure out how to eat it as often as possible.

Seriously…. even if you don’t like goat cheese, you should give it a try.  I made Eduardo eat a whole bowl before I told him what it was.  That was met with, ewww, why did you tell me? And followed by a second bowl of pasta.  it is really THAT good.

Here goes…

1 box frozen asparagus cuts (or fresh if they are in season, which they aren’t right now)

3 diced roma tomatoes

1 1/2 tsp diced garlic

about 2 inches of goat cheese AKA chevre (maybe like a 1/2 cup?  I have a huge log and just cut a chunk off of it)

1/2 box bow tie pasta (or whatever shape you want that will hold the sauce that is made)

Bring large pot of water to boil, salt well.

Sauté the diced tomatoes, asparagus, and garlic in skillet coated in olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Sauté till tomatoes begin to lose shape and asparagus is tender.

About 1/2 way through cooking of veggies, cook pasta.  Before draining, pull out approx 1 cup of pasta cooking water.  Now drain and return pasta to hot pot.

Pour veggie mix into hot pasta (be sure to get all the yummy liquid out of the saute pan… lick it if ya want… it is THAT good).

Crumble goat cheese into pasta veggie mix and stir.  The cheese will begin to melt as you stir.  In small incriments, add pasta cooking water to make a sauce.  I probably added about 1/2 cup, but it depends on how runny you want your sauce.

No joke, this will be a regular dinner in our house from now on.  Here are a few reasons it should be in your house too.

1. For the meat eaters out there, cutting meat out of your diet one day a week lessens the risk of certain health issues.  There is actually a “movement” for Meatless Monday. http://www.meatlessmonday.com/why-meatless/
2. Meat is freaking expensive, so while you are lessening your health risk, why not save some money.
3. Goat milk has the same amount of protein, vitamins C, and D as cow milk; but, goat milk has more vitamins A, B, Riboflavin. Goat milk is higher in minerals, calcium, potassium, magnesium, thiamin, niacin, iron, and phosphorus. http://www.northernprairiechevre.com/nutrition.html
4. Goat milk is non-allergenic, which means those with lactose intolerance are free to eat the hell out of this cheese!  http://www.northernprairiechevre.com/nutrition.html
5. BECAUSE IT IS YUMMY!

There you go folks, run out and buy a log of goat cheese and eat up!

Lemon Blueberry Cream Muffins

I bought blueberries the other day, which is odd for me because frankly, I don’t really like blueberries.  None-the-less, they made their way into my cart and into my fridge.  I had grand ideas of making Eliot blueberry pancakes, knowing full well that he would spit them out and say “I no like it”.  Soooo, what better to do with a blueberry than to put it in a muffin.  I searched for a recipe that sounded yummy and I came across http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Blueberry-Cream-Muffins/Detail.aspx.  Sounded good to me, but ya know, I had to change it and make it me.  So, here is what I did.

4 eggs

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vegtable oil

1/2 cup applesauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

4 cups flour (which resulted in a mid-muffin-making trip to Winn-Dixie as I was unaware that I did not have flour)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups plain non-fat greek yogurt

2 cups blueberries

1 Tbsp lemon zest

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Lightly beat eggs while adding sugars.  Stir in vanilla and lemon juice.  In a seperate bowl, mix dry (flour, salt, baking soda).  Mix into wet, alternating with yogurt.  In yet another bowl, place blueberries and grated (or finely diced) lemon zest and dust with a little sugar.  When wet and dry have been combined, fold in blueberries and lemon zest.  Scoop batter into lined muffin tin.  Bake at 400 for 20 mins.

Ok, so the changes.  Applesauce instead of all oil-  makes it a little better for ya.  Greek yogurt instead of sour cream- removes some fat, adds some protein.  Adding lemon?  Why the heck not?!  Lemon and blueberry go great together and as I have professed before, I have a love of all things lemon.  My house even smells like lemons (thanks to Fresh Lemon and Kitchen Lemon Wallflowers).

Tortellini Soup and a trip down memory lane

I know it probably wasn’t so, but every time I think of being at my grandma Betty’s house (my dad’s mom) I remember these things:

1. Peanut butter sandwiches with butter.
2. Doing grandma’s hair. She never cared how ridiculous we made her look.
3. Salami- she always had salami for some reason.
4. Italian beef- an Illinois specialty that is damn tasty.
5. Tortellini soup.
6. Molly getting a curling brush stuck in my hair. I just had to add that for good measure.

Memories can be triggered by all types of things. A feeling in the air. A song on the radio. The smell of a lilac bush. It should be no surprise that we connect memories with food; the smell of it cooking, the taste that can make you feel like you are a kid again. Sometimes, you just want to be there, in that time, if just for a moment.

Tonight I went there. The smell of chicken broth and garlic will keep me there for a while longer. This soup is so easy and simple. No frills, just good food.

*the spice measurements are approximate. I don’t measure, I just shake.

1 package frozen tortellini (grandma used chicken or beef, I used organic cheese tortellini from Whole Foods)

32 oz chicken broth (organic, fat free, low sodium)

1 cup water

1 1/2 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp onion powder (not in grandma’s version)

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Pour chicken broth, water, and all spices into a large pot and bring to a boil. Add tortellini, cover, and simmer for 30 mins. I served it with Sister Shubert’s rolls, because really, what do those rolls not go with? The pasta is soft, not al dente, but it is sooo yummy.

Thanks to Molly for giving me the recipe. Now I need the recipe for Italian Beef.

I <3 vinegar

So this blog thing?  I am gonna give it a shot, for me, for you, for my future family.  Everything on the internet is forever, right?  Good, because I don’t want to write down my recipes but I also want them around for my grandkids.  I have all these memories of my grandma’s cooking, which is not the homemade cookies and apple pie that people associate with grandmas.  My grandma made her own special sloppy joe’s (ground beef and vegetable alpha-bit soup) and during the summer there are sliced tomatoes and cottage cheese with every meal.  In more typical grandma fashion, her rhubarb pie is to die for and is a constant request from my cousins and one uncle in-particular.  There are debates over which one of us she actually made it for (me of course).

So, that is why I am doing this.  For you, for me, but mostly, for my future people.  So, here goes…

I love vinegar.  Anyone who eats my food on a  regular basis knows this.  I also love lemon, but we will get back to that later I’m sure.  To clarify my love for vinegar I should add that I clean my house with it too.  On any given day the lingering aroma of my favorite fermented liquid can be recognized upon opening the door.  As unsophisticated as it is my favorite vinegar is plain old white, distilled vinegar.  Here, is my favorite recipe that is very vinegary.

2 boneless/ skinless chicken breasts cut in to 1″ chunks

2 medium (or 1 large) yellow or white onion

2 packages Sazon con azafran (with saffron)

1 tsp minced garlic

1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup white vinegar

1-2 cups white rice (cooked- recipe below)

1. Heat oil in large skillet to medium.  Slice onions and sweat in oil.  Just before tender, add in minced garlic.  Stir in one package sazon.

2.  Add diced chicken and second package Sazon.  Sauté approx 3 mins.  Add vinegar, cover, and let simmer till chicken is cooked through.

Serve over white rice.  It is super easy yet one of our favorite dinners.  Vinegar=yummy!

White rice

equal parts rice and water (I usually make two cups, which gives us leftovers that get added to my bag of rice that is already in the freezer.  When I get enough rice for fried rice, I make it!)

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1. Bring to a boil, cover, and turn to low (really low, all the way down)

2. cover and LEAVE IT ALONE!  Cook for approx 20 mins.  Rice is done when you can see small tunnels in the bed of rice.

This rice is not fluffy fluffy but it is not sticky either.  My husband thinks it is perfect and he is somewhat of a rice connoisseur, and french fries but that is another post all on it’s own.

I hope you like it!  Once I get the hang of this thing  will post pics of my recipes.