The Marinara of Your Dreams...

Buongiorno Sizzlers! What a spike in the weather we've had! I was NOT expecting the Arctic freeze to hit us so soon, but I'm not gonna lie.... I like it. 

Bundling up and wearing one of my many.many.many.many pair of boots makes me happy. So does the promise of Holidays soon to come! Anywho, I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday; so I decided to head to the new Whole Foods on San Felipe and Post Oak. WHAT a lovely new space. I almost spent my entire life savings in there!

I decided to whip up a couple things, and one of those was homemade Marinara sauce. I was inspired by a recent post in Bon Apetit and decided to try it out. I never used to care for red sauce until I went to Italy, but I've now become a red sauce snob. I can't help it. You try going to Italy and eating things so fresh and so utterly delightful and then try and come back and open a jar of Prego...not happening. 

And so it was born: Rigatoni in Homemade Marinara with Shaved Parmesano Reggiano

What you Need:

1 box Rigatoni pasta (I was going to use fresh made pasta but got lazy and couldn't find it in the vast aisle)

1 large can whole peeled tomatoes

1 dash of oregano

1 generous whoosh of good salt. Please don't use table salt. 

1 medium onion

1 piece of hard aged Parm/Reggiano for shaving

Fresh basil (not pictured)

What you DO:

In your pan/pot, use either Olive Oil or butter to sweat out your onion. let it sizzle and sautee until fragrant and clear, add your dash of Oregano to let the flavors come out and blend with the onion

Once the onion/oregano is fragrant and cooked well, add your can of tomatoes. I mashed them a bit with a fork to break the larger pieces down. 

Let this simmer and stir occasionally to let thicken. Meanwhile, heat your well salted pasta water. 

Once your water is at a rolling boil, add the Rigatoni, and cook until al dente. Set aside about 4 generous TB of pasta water to add to the sauce. 

Here's where you can decide what to do. I transferred my Marinara into a food processor and pulsed until it was semi-smooth, and the large chunks were gone. I returned the Marinara to the pot, gave it a taste and added salt/cracked black pepper to taste. 

Add your al dente Rigatoni to the Marinara pot and let them mingle and get to know one another. The pasta will continue to cook and the pasta will be infused by the sauce. 

One the co-mingling has gone until you are satisfied, serve pasta with a few sprigs of fresh basil, and shave your parm on top. Voila. Perfect to take the sting out of the cold and warm your bones. 

I'd really enjoy knowing who has tried one of my recipes! If you have, leave a comment and let me know! Have a lovely warm day, and I will be back with a cookie recipe to knock your woolly socks off! 

When you have leftover Kale...

Sizzlers! Since I've been trying extra hard to be good and cook at home every night, I bring you a new recipe. I know I've been gung ho about squash, but tis the season!

After the last squash recipe, I had some leftover kale and decided to use it or lose it. 

Butternut Squash with Lacinto Kale and Almond/Walnut Parmesan

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 bunch Lacinto Kale

1/4 cup slivered or roughly chopped raw almonds

1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts

1 TB Olive oil

2 large cloves garlic, minced finely

1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

1 Butternut squash

THIS IS HOW WE DOOOO IT:

-Preheat your oven and roast your squash at 375 for about 30-45 minutes until tender, then set it aside to cool. Some prefer to roast the squash and then peel and cube, others peel and cube raw, then roast already cubed. I'll let you make the call. 

-In a pan, saute your garlic until fragrant, add your parsley, give it a nice little toss around with the garlic 

-Mix your almonds and walnuts with olive oil and salt, toss to coat

-Add your nut blend to the garlic/parsley to give the nuts a toast

-When you're satisfied with the toastiness of the nuts, add the kale, allow it to turn bright green, then add the squash. Toss the mixture together lightly, lower the heat and you're ready to rock!

-Serve the dish with a sprinkle of Grana Padano or Parmesan. You won't be disappointed. 

And there you have it. Delightful, easy, healthy and perfect for a chilly fall night. 

Lots of restaurant reviews coming up for you! For now, take it easy and Happy Thursday!

You are what you eat. Is that chilled cucumber soup?

Good Morning my friends! I'm feeling chipper today, which is surprising considering I was up till midnight last night organizing my closet and adding to my giveaway pile. 

After work yesterday, I knew I needed a mood boost, so naturally I went to Central Market. My heaven. I could spend hours in there, and I've known the wine guy for quite some time, so that always ends in me buying way more than I need. (Is that possible with wine?)

Anywho...As I perused the aisles and practiced as much restraint as I could, I toted my spoils to the car and eagerly sped home to get to cookin'. 

I now present to you, 2 new recipes that are perfect for fall and this lovely cold snap we're having. I wore boots to work today! (It's the little things)

Recipe #1

Spaghetti Squash with Italian Sausage & Lacinto Kale.

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 Spaghetti squash

1 bunch Lacinto Kale

1 large shallot

2 cloves garlic

2 links delicious house made Italian sausage from Central Market (if you can't swing this, then try to find something that errs on the side of fresh and not from a nasty box.)

Salt & Peppa to taste

WHAT YOU DO WITH THE THINGS YOU NEED:

-Preheat your oven to 375. Cut your squash in half, scoop out the seeds, make a huge mess (or not) and then lightly coat the open side of the squash with some form of oil. I used coconut oil. Lightly salt. Poke a couple holes in the rind of the squash with your knife (or in my case pretend your stabbing it to take out some aggression you've been harboring from the work day.)  Put the squash face down on your baking sheet and roast for about 45 minutes or until soft.

- When your squash is roasted, scoop out the insides with a spoon/fork/your bare hands and set aside. 

-In a pan, saute your finely chopped shallots and garlic until fragrant and softened. Add your Italian sausage. In order to do this, you need to take the sausage out of the casing. This is not for the faint of heart. But do it anyway because the end result is so #worthit

-Once your meat is cooked through, add your Lacinto Kale, stir a bit till the Kale is a  vibrant green, then add the squash and mix to incorporate. Don't furiously beat it together, just gently mix. 

-WHAM.BAM. You're done. Throw it on a plate and sprinkle with a dash of Grana Padano Stravecchio or whatever Italian hard cheese your little heart so desires. 

#nomcity

Recipe #2

Breakfast Chia Seed Pudding

If you are weird about texture and you don't like tapioca or things that are potentially "slimy" then you will likely hate this. Which is crazy talk because it's delicious & nutritious. 

INGREDIENTS/IMPORTANT THINGS:

I use small 8 oz. mason jars and pour ingredients into each one instead of making a big batch and making a mess when I try to put it into each jar. EACH TO THEIR OWN. 

IN EACH JAR:

1/4 cup milk of your choosing. I use unsweetened almond milk, but you can use regular milk, soy, coconut, eat your heart out. 

2 chopped fresh dates

1 tsp. agave nectar

1 small handful slivered raw almonds

3 heaping tablespoons black chia seeds

WHAT YOU DO:

SHAKE IT. Literally. That's it. Shake the jar so that the ingredients are mixed, and put it in your fridge for at least 4 hours. Take it to work the next morning and annoy your coworkers by telling them how good your healthy homemade breakfast is and glance condescendingly at their Pop Tarts and other various processed foods. 

The seeds will expand and congeal to form a "pudding" over night. Feel free to check your fridge every 30 minutes like I did. It probably makes it taste better too. 

So there you have it, breakfast and lunch and dinner for you! Stay tuned because I have some Butternut and Acorn squash raring to go! Enjoy the weather!

Chimi...changa? No. Chimichurri.

Hola amigos. I leave tomorrow. tomorrow. I can't even.

This week is recipe heavy, but I need to leave y'all with some stuff to do! I'll be posting from my trip, but recipes are always fun to try out. I love tweaking them to my personal taste and making them special just for moi. Try it out, lemme know, just don't burn the house down. 

So we all know I ain't scared of red meat. I've been making steak on Sundays lately since I love waking up early, having a delightful breakfast, and taking my sweet sweet time at the grocery store. 

For this particular meal, I wanted a juicy steak and some veggies. I decided on lemon parmesan roasted zucchini and opted to make a super zesty chimichurri sauce that I was literally licking from a spoon. 

To make your steak, please reference my Meathead Friday post. 

View fullsize

Now that you're a steak samurai, we can get on with it. 

CHIMICHURRI SAUCE:

I love this stuff so much. It's garlicky, zesty, a little spicy and I love how GREEN it is. You can put it on roasted veggies, chicken, salmon, spoon it into your mouth; I won't judge. I did it.

WHAT YOU NEED:

-3 fresh garlic cloves

-1 bunch flat leaf parsley, stems removed

-1 bunch cilantro, stems removed

-1/2 cup red wine vinegar

-1 shallot, roughly chopped

-1 jalapeño, dice and remove vein and seeds

-1 pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

-3/4 cup of good olive oil

-1 tsp salt. I'm a snob and use celtic sea salt, I also prefer Maldon salt to regular 'ole NACL (table salt for those of you who slept through Chemistry class).

WHAT YOU DO:

- You have two options here. If you're in a hurry, go for option 1. If you have time, go for 2. 

OPTION 1: Combine all ingredients, give it a quick swizzle, and let sit for 20 minutes. 

OPTION 2: Combine all ingredients in a food processor (I use my Nutribullet) and give it a swirl. It should be smooth. 

-If you went with option 1, do option 2 after the 20 minute infusion period. 

AND YOU'RE DONE. Taste it, add whatever you think may be missing. Some like to add more heat, you might need a bit more acid by way of more vinegar, or more salt. Whatever tickles your pickle. 

For the zucchini:

- 3 whole zucchini, scrubbed and chopped into matchsticks. You can slice in rounds if you feel like it. 

-Preheat oven to 350

-Juice of 1 lemon

-1 tsp salt

-1 tb olive oil

Mix liquids together and add in zucchini to coat with the mixture. Once they are well coated, spread them on your baking sheet and pop in the oven. After about 12 minutes, once you can tell they're cooked through, sprinkle with parmesan/pecorino/hard cheese of your heart's desire and broil for about 2 minutes to melt and brown the cheese. 

VOILA. #NOMCITY. 

I hope y'all love these and try them out for yourselves! Let me know! It's always so lovely to hear from y'all in the comments. 

Aloha for now, I'm off to the island but will be back next week!