Recipe: Three Cheese Tortellini and Sweet Italian Sausage in a Simple Tomato Sauce

So, I decided to keep dinner simple last night (plus, I wanted to make a fool-proof dish for my dad, to make up for the strange, sweet pasta dish from the other night). Three cheese tortellini, which can be found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store (either near the deli, or sometimes over near dairy, with the random selections of packaged lunch meats and cheeses), makes this meal a little more exciting that just a simple sausage-and-tomato pasta dish, and they're easy to prepare (you cook them just like you would regular pasta).

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1 lb. three-cheese tortellini (other varieties can be substituted)
• Olive oil, enough to lightly coat the bottom of a medium pan
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 3 links sweet Italian sausage, casings removed, meat pulled apart into bite-sized pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1, 14.5 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
• 1, 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Dried Italian seasoning, to taste
• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions

Add olive oil and butter to a medium pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add the sausage bits and cook until just cooked through and lightly browned on the outside. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for one minute, then add the diced tomatoes, sauce, paste, and seasonings. Cook over low heat. While the sausage and tomato sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add tortellini and cook according to package instructions (approx. 7-10 minutes). Drain the finished pasta and return to the pot. Add the sausage and tomato mixture to the pasta and gently toss to combine. Serve with grated Italian cheese (Pecorino-Romano's saltiness is a nice touch in this dish), as desired.

This dish is simple, can be made quickly, and is quite filling. Adding sausage to the tortellini and sauce mixture adds a little texture and extra flavor, and crushed red pepper flakes add a little spiciness that kicks the dish up a bit. If you want a little more heat, use hot Italian sausage instead of the sweet Italian sausage. This is the perfect dish to serve with a glass of spicy, woody red wine, and it's great the next day.

Recipe: Creamy Fontina Cheese Grits topped with Sauteed Chicken and Tomatoes

Last night, while browsing through recipes on Pinterest and TasteSpotting, I came across a shrimp and grits recipe and it stuck with me, making me think about my time in the South. I'd never heard of grits until I moved down south to start college in South Carolina in 2007. When I first came across grits, I was in our campus dining hall and passed right by, thinking that the mushy, khaki-colored mixture was some kind of strange, southern oatmeal. During fall break that year, I stayed with my suitemate and her family and we had what I call "grit sticks," or grits, chilled until semi-solid, then cut into French toast stick-style pieces and sauteed in butter, served with warm maple syrup. Now, that was pretty tasty, so I started to come around to grits, strange as they still seemed. Our dining hall served cheap, out of the box grits that were watery and relatively flavorless, but I started adding a ladle-full to my plate in the mornings and topped it with a generous lump of shredded cheddar cheese, slowly becoming a fan of this southern staple. Later, I had the chance to try the famed shrimp and grits at Soby's, this fancy little restaurant in downtown Greenville, and I was officially hooked. Not really porridge, and not quite polenta, grits are their own unique food, with a rich, creamy texture that works well in a variety of applications. Tonight, I was craving cheesy grits, and we happened to have a huge chunk of velvety fontina cheese that I knew would melt perfectly into the dish. Topped with a tomato, onion, and chicken mixture, it made for a tasty and filling meal that made my desire to move back down south that much stronger.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 20-30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients
For the grits

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup chicken broth/stock
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup grits (I used Bob's Red Mill Organic Corn Grits/Polenta and they were excellent; make sure whatever you get is a fairly quick cooking brand but good quality as well—Bob's only took 5 minutes)
• 7 oz. fontina cheese, shredded
• Approx. 1/4 cup milk
• Garlic powder, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste

*Note: Depending on what kind of grits you use and how much, it may call for slightly different ingredients. No matter what though, make sure that, if the recipe calls for all water, substitute in some chicken broth, because it adds flavor. Also be sure to add in garlic when you bring the liquids to a boil to add even more flavor.

For the chicken and tomato mixture

• Olive oil, enough to lightly coat the bottom of a pan
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 chicken breasts, sliced into 1 inch thick slices or cut into small cubes
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1, 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
• 1/4-1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 2-5 tbsp. red wine (cooking wine will do)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Fresh or dried herbs, to taste

Directions

Place a large pan over medium high heat and add the butter and olive oil to it. Add the onions and cook until they begin to soften slightly, then add the chicken and season with salt and pepper. While the chicken is cooking, combine the water, chicken broth, garlic, and salt for the grits in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the grits and reduce the heat to medium low, stirring occasionally to break up any lumps. To the chicken and onion mixture, add garlic, and about 30 seconds later, add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and red wine. Reduce the heat to low and let cook, making sure the chicken is cooked through but still tender. To the grits, add the milk and cheese and stir thoroughly to combine. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, as desired. Serve the tomato and chicken mixture on top of a generous helping of grits and garnish with fresh or dried herbs, as desired. 

This dish is a big ol' bowl of comfort. The cheesy grits are creamy and warm—the perfect accompaniment to tender chicken, bright tomatoes, and fresh herbs. Perfect any time of year, this dish is flavorful and so easy to make. It's even better served with a slice of crusty Italian bread, a glass of red wine, and a fresh salad. (Or, you could just eat straight spoonfuls of the grits, because they are seriously that good).

Oh! On a slightly unrelated note, I finally tried out my microplane herb mill (a.k.a. a fresh herb grinder), using it to garnish tonight's meal with a mix of fresh basil and oregano.The herbs came out finely chopped like they would be in a jar of dried herbs, and the smell as they were cut was amazing. You could just as easily chop them up by hand, but this gadget was still pretty fun to use.

Recipe: Traditional Red Pizza Sauce

As I shared in my basic pizza dough recipe post, my mom wanted me to help make homemade pizza for a Super Bowl party she's hosting, and I worked off of a recipe from Food.com to create a delicious red sauce. This sauce has a TON of ingredients, which all blend together to create a rich, flavorful sauce perfect for pizza, or even as a pasta sauce. It's easy to pull together and the flavors deepen when you allow the sauce to simmer for a while. Now, because I had to make up a big batch (enough to cover at least four pizzas), and was editing the original recipe as I went along, the amounts listed here are measured for a larger amount and I have not done the math to edit it to work for a single pizza—I trust you can figure this out. This sauce freezes well, and can be stored for a few months, so you can easily make this recipe as is and freeze the excess for future pizzas or for other uses (pasta, dipping sauce for mozzarella sticks or fried eggplant, etc.; we still had left over after making about five or six pizzas).

Yields: Approx. 3.5 quarts
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30-60 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Blender, food processor, or immersion/stick blender

Ingredients

• 6-8 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tbsp. butter
• Approx. 2 cups onions, chopped (I used 4 small-to-medium onions)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• Approx. 45 oz. tomato sauce (I used a 29 oz. can, and then added a 15 oz. can when I realized I needed more)
• 1, 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 2, 6 oz. cans tomato paste
• 6-8 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
• 3-4 tsp. dried basil
• 3-4 tsp. dried oregano
• 3-4 tsp. dried fennel seeds
• 1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
• 3 whole bay leaves (remove these from sauce before pureeing)
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• Approx. 1 tsp. black pepper
• Approx. 2 tsp. salt
• Approx. 2 tsp. sugar

Directions

In a large pot, heat the butter and olive oil together over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and slightly transparent. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste and stir to combine (the paste is thick, so be sure you stir it vigorously to break it down in the sauce). Add in the remaining ingredients (the cheese, herbs, spices, sugar, and salt) and stir to combine. Briefly bring the sauce to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat to medium low, cover the pot with a lid, and let it simmer for 30-60 minutes (I cooked it for 30 minutes; the longer you cook it, the more the flavors can blend). Remove the bay leaves from the sauce. 

To blend: If using an immersion/stick blender (this is what I did, because it's the easiest and creates the least amount of dishes to wash), immerse the blender into the sauce in the pot and pulse to blend, stirring as you pulse, until the bigger chunks (onion, diced tomatoes, garlic) are broken up and blended into the sauce and the sauce is smooth. If using a blender or a food processor, pour as much as the sauce as possible (without overloading) into the holder on the unit and blend/pulse until smooth. Pour the smooth sauce into a clean bowl. Repeat this process with the remaining sauce until it's all blended and smooth. Sauce can be kept in the fridge for a few days or frozen for a few months. 

This sauce is a little sweet, a little spicy, a little tangy, and oh-so-good. Fennel and oregano are classic pizza sauce flavors, and the combination of the remaining flavorings is just right. Allowing the sauce to simmer for a while gives it a great depth of flavor, making it the perfect addition to any pizza, pasta, or other Italian-esque dish.

Recipe: Chunky Marinara Sauce

I had a few errands to run today, along with a test to study for, and some other little projects to work on, so I wanted to make something simple for dinner; preferably, something that was made entirely with ingredients already in my pantry, fridge, and freezer. A package of frozen veal and beef, leftover from my spaghetti and mozzarella-stuffed meatballs recipe, along with a bag of fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley and plenty of cans of tomatoes helped me decide to make spaghetti and meatballs with a chunky marinara sauce. Now, the meatball recipe I've already shared (though, for tonight's dinner, I chose not to stuff them with mozzarella), but the marinara was just something quick and easy that I threw together in about 20 minutes. A lot of the ingredient amounts are really just approximations—the basic ingredients you need are onion, tomato, garlic, and herbs (particularly oregano), but the herbs should be measured to taste.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1-2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, or enough to lightly coat the bottom of a pan
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1, 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1, 15 oz. can tomato sauce
• Approx. 1 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Approx. 1 tsp. dried oregano
• Dried Italian seasoning and basil, to taste
• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until fragrant and slightly tender, but not burnt (about 5 minutes). Add in the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, dried herbs and spices, and salt and pepper. Stir to combine, and let cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Stir occasionally to keep the sauce from burning or sticking to the sides. Once cooked through and flavorful, serve. 

*If you like a smooth marinara, put the warm sauce in a food processor or use a stick/immersion blender to blend to a smooth consistency. 

The crushed red pepper flakes in this sauce kick it up a notch, and the flavors of the onion and garlic add a little tang and bite to the sauce. Despite being from a can, the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce have a fresh taste that's brought out by the addition of herbs, salt, and pepper. This sauce is great over just about any kind of pasta, but it could also be used for a meatball sub or used as a dipping sauce for fried mozzarella or fried eggplant.

Recipe: Chicken and Fettuccine in a Garlicky White Wine Sauce

In my last post, I shared my recipe for basic pasta dough and some basic instructions for using a pasta maker, and this post features the recipe I chose to highlight that delicious fresh pasta. Homemade fettuccine pasta form the base for salt-and-pepper-seasoned chicken breasts, sauteed and then cooked in a sauce of white wine, garlic, tomatoes, and olive oil, with just a splash of cream. The sauce is creamy, yet light, and so rich and flavorful, and it clings beautifully to the pasta and chicken. More than likely, you already have all of the ingredients you need at home, and this is a really easy dish to pull together (of course, I made homemade pasta, which made it take a little longer, but regular boxed pasta obviously works just fine).

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: About 20-30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to about 1/2-inch thickness and cut in half (creating 4 servings)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus a little more for cooking the chicken
• Butter or margarine, as needed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp. dried basil
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 medium onion (about 3/4 cup), finely chopped
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup dry white wine (cooking wine is fine)
• 1, 14.5 oz. can petite diced tomatoes, drained
• Approx. 1/4 to 1/2 cup heavy cream or half&half, or as needed (I didn't really measure this—I just added a few splashes of half&half to create a thicker, creamier sauce)
• Corn starch, as needed (this must be mixed with a liquid first, then added)
• Approx. 8-12 oz. fettuccine or other long, flat noodle

Directions
In a large skillet, heat a little olive oil (enough to lightly coat the bottom of the pan) over medium heat. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and add to the pan (I also sprinkled a little garlic powder on them for added flavor). Cook until they are almost completely cooked through (about 10-15 minutes), then remove from the pan, place on a plate, and cover with foil to keep them warm.

Cooked through and golden brown

Add the dried herbs (including the bay leaf), onion, garlic, water, and 1/2 cup of olive oil, plus a little butter (just a pat or two) to the pan and cook over medium heat, until the mixture is fragrant and the onions are slightly soft. Add the tomatoes and white wine and stir to combine. Add a splash or two of half&half or heavy cream to the sauce and whisk it into the sauce to help it blend. Because the sauce has so much olive oil, it does not necessarily blend completely, so you may notice that it looks a little "unmixed"—this is alright; just whisk it a bit every so often to help keep it blended. Add in cornstarch (mixed first with a little water or cream) if desired (this helps thicken the sauce a bit). Let the completed sauce cook for a minute, then add the chicken back into to the pan, stir to coat, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cover the pan. Before serving, remove the bay leaf from the sauce (these should not be eaten). In the meantime, bring a medium-to-large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain the pasta, return it to the pot, then ladle large spoonfuls of the completed sauce into the pot and toss to combine. Plate the chicken on top of the sauced pasta and serve with an extra spoonful of sauce and a sprinkling of Italian cheese (Pecorino-Romano is perfect!).

The sauce is what makes this dish so good—it's rich, lightly creamy, and so smooth, and it coats the pasta and chicken perfectly. The dried herbs, onion, and wine blend beautifully with the tangy bite of the tomatoes and the garlic, and the olive oil and cream create an amazing texture to the sauce. This was the perfect dish to make with my fresh fettuccine!

Recipe: Angel Hair Pasta with Steak, Basil, and Almonds

My cousin, Jess, got me a Barnes & Noble gift card for my birthday and gave me the great idea to get a new cookbook with it, and that's just what I did. As many of you could probably guess, I got a recently published Giada De Laurentiis cookbook, Giada at Home (I promise I looked at cookbooks by other chefs, but there were just too many good recipes in this one that I couldn't pass up). I've already marked a handful of recipes I want to try, and tonight was my first try at one of them, a pasta dish with a fresh salsa-style sauce, crunchy almonds, and perfectly-seasoned steak. Just a word of caution...be sure you get beef tenderloin steaks and not some other cut. I accidentally picked up the wrong cut, seeing "tenderloin" written on the package, but not noticing the "chuck" also written on it, a.k.a. I got a much less tender and much cheaper piece of meat that was not nearly as tender as the real deal would have been. The dish was still good, but to get it right, you really need the proper beef tenderloin steaks.

Serves: 4-6
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Food processor

Ingredients

• 1 lb. beef tender loin steaks
• Salt and pepper, for seasoning
• 2 tsp. herbes de Provence
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling on the steaks
• 8-16 oz. angel hair, spaghetti, or other long, thin pasta
• 1, 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes and their juice
• Approx. 2 cups (I used two, 2 oz. packs of prepackaged) basil
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 cup smoked almonds (if you're like me and you can't find smoked almonds in your local grocery store, buy regular sliced or slivered almonds and toast them in the oven for just a few minutes at 350*F)
• Italian cheese, like Parmiggiano-Reggiano or Pecorino-Romano, to taste

Directions
Move an oven rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 450*F. Place the steaks on a rimmed baking sheet and season both sides with salt, pepper, and herbes de Provence, then drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 10-12 minutes to get steaks to medium doneness (less time for medium rare, more for medium well). Remove the steaks from the oven and let them rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes. In the meantime, bring a medium to large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta to the water and cook according to package instructions (about 4-5 minutes). Drain and return to pot, drizzle with a little olive oil to keep it from sticking, then place the lid on the pot to keep the pasta warm. In a food processor, combine the dice tomatoes and their juice, garlic, lemon zest and juice, basil, and 1/4 cup olive oil. Blend until coarsely chopped. Pour the sauce over the warm pasta and toss to combine. Add the almonds (be sure they are either sliced, slivered, or crunched up into pieces) and toss to combine. Either serve the steaks whole, alongside the pasta, or slice the steaks into 1/4-inch pieces and toss with the pasta, then serve. Serve topped with Italian cheese if desired.

This dish is the sort of dish that can easily transition from a summer meal to a winter meal. The fresh, uncooked sauce (warmed through by the hot pasta), packed with crisp basil and bright tomatoes, adds a summery feel to the dish, but the smoked or toasted almonds add a warmth and nuttiness that makes it perfect for colder weather. The steak is the perfect compliment to this pasta, but chicken breasts, seasoned the same way, would work just as well in the dish.

Recipe: "Cowboy Caviar" (Veggie Salsa)

I got this recipe from my best friend, Emmie, and her family, and it quickly became my go-to dish for picnics, parties, and summer snacking. I can't, for the life of me, remember where its name came from, but it's essentially a chunky vegetable salsa served best with tortilla chips. When I first encountered this dish, Emmie and I were preparing it for a Stanley Cup party at her place back in 2009 (the Pittsburgh Penguins were the champs that year! So awesome!). I wasn't that enthusiastic about the ingredients at the time (I'd never had avocado, I wasn't a fan of tomatoes, and I was pretty sure I'd hate the black beans), but Emmie insisted it would all come together perfectly and I'd love it—and she was right. It's chunky, packed with flavor, and a great way to get your vegetable serving for the day.
 

Served in Tostitos Scoops chips

Serves: Many
Prep. time: 10-20 minutes
Cooking time: No cooking necessary
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1 lime, juiced (or approx. 2 tbsp. bottled lime juice)
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 4 avocados, chopped
• 1 (14.5 or 15 oz.) can petite diced tomatoes (I like to drain some of the liquid from the can, but it's not necessary)
• 1 (14.5 or 15 oz.) can black beans, drained
• 1 (14.5 or 15 oz.) can yellow corn, drained
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)

Directions
Add the black beans, corn, red onion, tomatoes, and avocado to a large bowl. Be sure the red onion pieces are small, because the flavor is very strong and getting a huge chunk of red onion in your mouth is not very tasty. Gently stir the ingredients together to mix, being careful not to crush the avocado. Add the lime juice and salt and pepper, to taste, and stir a little more to mix. Add cilantro if desired (my mom hates cilantro, so I only add it if she's not around to eat it). Serve with tortilla chips or pita/flat bread.
It keeps for 3-5 days in the fridge (though my dad will keep eating it for a week or more)—the avocado will start to brown fairly quickly, but while the mixture may not look as appealing after the first day, it's just as tasty! If you use fresh limes, I highly recommend keeping the zest and using it in another dish. It's such a shame to waste such a delicious ingredient. I'm planning on using the lime zest from today to make mini lime cheesecakes tomorrow—recipe to follow, of course!

Close up of those delicious veggies

This salsa is delicious, and pretty healthy (if you don't eat too many tortilla chips with it). It's great for parties (I made it for a Super Bowl party during my junior year of college and it was a big hit), but it also works great as an easy summer snack.