Pesto Trapanese

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Smelly Danielly

There are days when I am a fan of Pesto Sauce, but then there are days where I’m not. I’ve come acorss some good store bought ones, but really, Pesto, for me, only tastes amazing when it’s home made, and given that I don’t have a basil plant (my supplier, Nonna, hasn’t hooked me up yet) I haven’t made home made Pesto in a while.

Then, while watching Lidias Italy (the thing I do EVERY night from 7 – 8 because I am that obsessed) I can across a recipe for Pesto Trapanese. The method is the same but the ingredients are a little different. This is something you NEED to try!

Ingredients

¾ pound cherry tomatoes, very ripe and sweet
12 leaves fresh basil
⅓ cup whole almonds, lightly toasted
2 garlic clove, crushed and peeled
¼ teaspoon peperoncino
½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for cooking the pasta
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated

This made enough sauce for 2 pasta dinners. If you’re going to dress the pasta within a couple of hours, leave the pesto at room temperature. You can refrigerate for longer storage, up to 2 days, or freeze for up to a month.

Steps

Put the tomatoes, garlic cloves, almonds, basil leaves, pepperoncino, 1/2 tsp. salt, and Parmigiano-Reggiano into a blender or food processor. Blend for a minute or more to a fine purée; scrape down the bowl and blend again if any large bits or pieces have survived.

With the machine still running, pour in the olive oil in a steady stream, emulsifying the purée into a thick pesto. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Cook your pasta as directed until it is al dente, lift it from the cooking pot, drain briefly, and drop onto the pesto. Toss together, sprinkle with cheese and serve!

Tips from the Chef…

It literally took me 5 minutes to make this Pesto sauce, so talk about quick and simple. As you will notice, the pesto has this great green and red texture to it, until you add the olive oil and it turns neon yellow! It’s like making pasta in the 80s. HA. I also sauteed some chicken in olive oil and added it to the pasta, just for some protein.

If I would suggest anything it would be to do this in a food processor. Maybe it’s just me but I hate using a blender because I find everything gets stuck in the bottom. Maybe I just don’t know what I am doing, but what I do know is that my next kitchen purchase is going to be a food processor!

This is probably one of the best pesto sauce I have ever had. No, it is not your classes Genovese Pesto, but it is a great alternative.

I modified the original recipe a bit, so if you wish to see it click HERE. Lidia has so many great, simple Italian recipes that I strongly suggest you catch an episode of her show or check out her recipes online. I am totally in love with her.

Enjoy!

Rigatoni all’Amatriciana

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Smelly Danielly

I think it’s safe to say that everything tastes better with bacon. The saying rings true with Pasta as well.

While taking Italian Classes at the Italian Centre in May we learned how to read and follow recipes in Italian. The recipe that they gave us to read was for Rigatoni all’Amatriciana – Rigatoni with Pancetta. The dish sounded so good we immediately translated it and made it for dinner!

Like most Italian dishes, this was very simple to make and the flavours were wonderful.

All you need is…

200g Rigatoni
1 Large Onions, finely chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
4 Slices Thick Cut (1/4″) Pancetta
1 Can Diced Tomatoes
Salt & Pepper
Parmigiano Reggiano

Chop up the onion and garlic and saute in oil over medium heat until the onions become transparent.

They suggest cutting the pancetta into very fine juilenne strips, but the butcher didn’t quite cut our pancetta thick enough so it was too hard to juilenne. We just roughly chopped it and then added it to the garlic/onion mix.

Cook everything until the onions are golden brown and the pancetta is transparent.

Next, add the tomatoes, salt & pepper and cook over high heat for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook your Rigatoni in boiling salted water until it is al dente.

Once the pasta is ready, drain it and finish cooking it in with the sauce. The remaining juices from the tomatoes will finish the cooking process and will add great flavour.

Finishing your pasta by cooking it in the sauce for the last few minutes is a great trick I learned that really makes all the difference. I now do it with every pasta dish I make!

Top the pasta off with some freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and you are ready to go!

This was such a great simple dish that tasted amazing!

Little bits of pancetta are always a wonderful surprise in any dish you make :)

Veggie Casserole

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Smelly Danielly

My Vegetable Casserole was definitely an experiment but since I was working with ingredients I am very familiar with, I wasn’t too worried about it. This was my first time making a dish for a big group of people with out following a recipe! Oh I live on the edge alright ;)

Veggie Casserole

First I thinly sliced 2 yellow onions and caramelized them.
Then I roasted 2 bulbs of garlic and grated a block of Mozzarella cheese.
Lastly I sliced and lightly sauteed 3 zucchini.

I layered all my ingredients in two layers.

Zucchini, Tomatoes, Onions, Garlic, Cheese, REPEAT!

I popped it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes just so everything would warm through. The veggies were already cooked so it was really just a matter of getting everything to the same temperature and having the cheese melt.

I wasn’t expecting to use such a large dish, but it was all that Mom had so I worked with it. A smaller dish would have made everything more ‘compact’ which is what I was expecting but it’s OK, it all worked out!

This dish is definitelynot hard to make, it’s just a bit time consuming, especially with the tomatoes! But if you prepare all your veggies ahead of time, assembling it at the last minute is easy to do.

The flavours worked so well together; it was utter perfection. I treated the girls to leftovers the next day and they were obsessed!

I may have to make this my signature dish.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes of Love

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Smelly Danielly

A few weeks ago my Mom threw a small dinner party for some friends and invited Chad and I along. I wanted to contribute something to the dinner and got this crazy idea to make a Vegetable casserole out of my favorite things. With out having any real recipe to follow I consulted my personal Food Guru Claudia to see what she thought of my idea. She loved what I wanted to put together, but suggested the use of slow roasted tomatoes instead of fresh ones. This is why she is a Food Guru.

I looked up a few recipes on Slow Roasted Tomatoes and settled on this one.

I used 12 Roma tomatoes and sliced them in half.

I tossed them in Olive Oil, Thyme, Basil, & Oregano.

I put them in the oven at 225 degrees and checked them after 4 hours.

After 8 hours they looked pretty much perfect and the entire apartment smelled amazing.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

I pealed off their skins, put them in a bowl and set them aside.

It’s amazing how much the tomatoes shrink. I thought I may have a few leftovers to experiment with but alas, they were all needed for the casserole.

These tomatoes were definitely easy to make. I can’t wait to make them again and use them for soups, pastas and salads.

If you have 8ish hours one Saturday, I suggest you try this out for yourself. Times and temperatures can be adjusted according to your stove and how you want your tomatoes.

nom nom nom

Tomorrow I will post the recipe for my casserole!

Recipes alla Kraft Canada

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Smelly Danielly

It is a truth that not many people know, but I am highly obsessed with the free magazine that Kraft Foods sends out every few months. Not only am I obsessed with the free magazine, but I also get their weekly emails, and check their website on a regular basis. I know, I know, I’m bordering on being labeled as CRAZY.

I love the Kraft Foods magazine because all of their recipes look amazing and are so easy to make. Yes, the point of the magazine is to promote Kraft Foods and the products that they carry, but honestly most of the products in my fridge/cupboard are Kraft products so it works out nicely. Plus, you can always substitute certain ingredients for things you already have in your fridge.

In the most recent issue there were two recipes that looked really good and I wanted to try them out. If I could, I would actually make every recipe they publish, but in being married to someone who doesn’t eat things of the sea or things in/with a cream sauce, it tends to be a little more difficult. Thankfully these two recipes consisted of ingredients I knew he would enjoy so I was determined to make them!

The two recipes I tired were the Easy Lemon-Chicken Piccata and the Roasted New Potatoes.

Easy Lemon-Chicken Piccata

Ingredients

2 large lemons, divided
2 small boneless skinless chicken breasts
Miracle Whip Calorie-Wise Dressing
Ritz Crackers, finely crushed (about 1/2 cup)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 Tbsp. butter

I substituted the Miracle Whip for regular Mayo, because I like the flavour better. I also left out the chopped parsley. I would not substitute regular bread crumbs for the Ritz crackers because the flavour of the crackers really added to the chicken, and the crust it created was delicious.

The easiest (and cleanest) way to crush the crackers is to put some in a ziplock bag, zip it closed and then crush away!

If you don’t have chicken broth readily available or you don’t want to open a whole can, just cut a small chunk off a Chicken bullion cube and dissolve it in warm water. That’s what I did!

Steps

Cut 4 thin lemon slices from half of 1 lemon. Squeeze juice from the remaining lemons and set aside. Coat chicken with the Miracle Whip and then the cracker crumbs. Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 5 min. Turn the chicken and cook on medium heat for another 5 min. or until chicken is golden brown on both sides and fully cooked. Transfer chicken to platter and sprinkle with parsley. Cover the chicken to keep it warm while you make the lemon sauce.

Carefully wipe out the skillet with a paper towel so that no bits of cracker are left behind. Add lemon juice and broth to the skillet and cook on medium-high heat for 6 to 8 min. or until slightly reduced, stirring occasionally. Add the butter and lemon slices and cooking on low heat for 3 to 4 min. The butter should be melted and the lemons should be heated through. Pour the sauce on the chicken and serve!

The chicken turned out perfect. Since Chad and I are lovers of all things Lemon flavoured these hit the spot. Definitely something I will be making again and again!

Roasted New Potatoes

Ingredients

1 lb. new potatoes, halved
3 slices bacon, chopped
2 Tbsp. Kraft Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tuscan Italian Dressing
1/4 cup Miracle Whip Calorie-Wise Dressing
1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. Kraft 100% Parmesan Finely Shredded Cheese
2 tsp. chopped fresh parsley

For this recipe I again substituted the Miracle Whip for regular mayo, as well I used the parmeasan I had in my fridge instead of buying the Kraft Parmesan. I also didn’t use the fresh parsley and increased the amount of garlic (naturally). I would definitely suggest investing in some of the Kraft Extra Virgin Olive Oil Salad dressings. Not only do they taste great on salads but using them to marinade meats and veggies is a simple and fast way to add flavour!

Steps

Preheat your oven to 400ºF.

Combine the potatoes, bacon and Italian dressing in a bow. Make sure everything is coated nicely. Spread the mixture onto the bottom of a 17×11-1/2×3/4-inch pan (basically a cookie sheet) and bake for 45 min. or until potatoes are tender and crisp around the edges. Make sure to stir the potatoes after 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the Miracle Whip, lemon juice and garlic together. If you want to make the dressing thinner you can add some milk and mix it together.

Once the potatoes are done sprinkle them with the parmesan cheese and parsley. Drizzle the sauce over the potatoes or serve separately for dipping purposes.

The potatoes we so easy to make and so tasty! We decided to serve the sauce on the side and dip our potatoes in it. The sauce we definitely the best part! Mayo, Lemon Juice, and Garlic. Flavour explosion! I can definitely see us using this sauce for adding flavour to lots of different recipes.

Now, since I’ve clearly myself sound like the biggest promoter of Kraft Foods Canada, I might as well go ahead and suggest that you go to their website and sign up for the free magazine and emails. It won’t cost you again and you might just find a recipe you really love!