Archive for the ‘sauces’ Category

« Older Entries

No Cook Pasta Sauce

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Here is a quick pasta dish to whip up on a hectic weekday night.  The sauce can be prepared in the the time it takes for the pasta to cook, check it out:

IMGP1232

Penne with Spinach Sauce

I’ve had this in my recipe queue for some time now but I was waiting until I had all the ingredients on hand to try it out.  Either I had the spinach and no

No Cook Sauce

No Cook Sauce

cheese or vice versa.  Fortunately since I used very little creme fraiche on the black bean soup I made last week I decided to substitute it in for the cream cheese-definitely a tasty upgrade.  The only other change I made was in the pasta- I didn’t have any penne on hand so I used some gemelli which has a nice bite to it when cooked al dente.  If you like things more acidic add either some lemon zest to the sauce or a squeeze of juice to your individual bowl.  I also like the fact that this recipe incorporates pureed spinach as well as whole to give it a balance of texture and color.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in pasta, sauces, vegetarian | No Comments »

Veggie Bolognese

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

I know the title sounds like an oxymoron, but I came across a neat technique to pull off this dish without missing the meat.  It requires mushrooms and a food processor…the finely ground mushroom gives the illusion of meat crumble throughout the sauce.  I haven’t tested it yet but being a lover of mushrooms, I can’t imagine it being anything less than delicious.

pclips023

This is my stand by Bolognese Recipe, and I’ve included some other traditional recipes to follow- just substitute the meat for finely chopped mushrooms.  Mushrooms can also be more cost effective than meat- save those extra dollars for some tasty dinner wine!

Simple Bolognese

Pasta Bolognese

Ragu Bolognese

Tags: , ,
Posted in pasta, sauces, vegetarian | 2 Comments »

An Italian Classic: Poor Man’s Puttanesca

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

A few weeks back I decided to tackle a product I have never used before: Anchovies. I made a classic Puttanesca, and a less-than-classic (no raw egg)) Caesar Dressing(which I highly recommend making!).

olivesttar_capers_hLotsa_anchovies

For the Puttanesca, I used capers, tomatoes, red pepper, katamala olives, and anchovies. I followed  the most “classic recipes” I could find, but still, I failed. This dish is famous because it is considered cheap, easy food to make. Finding excellent quality olives, anchovies, and capers for cheap is, I think, a thing of the past. Until I can find cheap, and high quality ingredients, I will avoid this traditional dish.

My friend Alanna has forwarded me this recipe, which maintains the fast, and cheap aspects of the Puttanesca, without the questionable & fishy anchovies. I must point out I do not condone watching Twilight, no matter how good the food is.

Poor Man’s Puttanesca

by Miss Alanna, guest crow

This is a lovely and fantastically filling veggie spaghetti dish that goes well with anything.  I made it up for an evening of Twilight with my roommate.  Coupled with a few glasses of red wine it made our experience of vampire abstinence porn even more satisfying!

1 large can tomato puree (homemade or store bought)
1 TB tomato paste
¼ cup red wine
4 cloves garlic
½ onion
4-5 TB mixture of coarsely chopped black/green/pimento/kalamata etc. olives
Olive OilSalt/PepperPinch cayenne pepper
Spaghetti
Parmesan cheese

  1. Sautee diced onions and garlic in a generous amount of olive oil, S&P
  2. Reduce heat to medium and add the tomato puree, tomato paste, and wine
  3. Once simmering, add basil and olive mixture.  Add pinch of cayenne pepper and a touch more salt
  4. Add between ½-1 more cup of olive oil to the sauce, until it reaches the consistency/richness you desire
  5. Mix sauce with pasta, top with massive amount of cheese, and consume whilst guiltily watching Twilight and developing true feelings for Robert Pattinson’s hairdo

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in pasta, sauces | No Comments »

A Crow Favorite: Goat Cheese

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Goat Cheese is a huge crowd pleaser among us crows but when we cook for larger groups, not everyone is a fan of this tangy cheese…yet.

Irish_Goat

My man-crow was one of those goat cheese haters, always asking if it was included into my dish.  If I answered yes he would skip over it calling it “goat cheese raunch”, if I answered no- he would dive right in.  I debated lying about the ingredient but quickly came up with ways in which I could warm him up to the taste.  Flavors can be blended and morphed so easily by either combining them with other ingredients or simply by the way they are cooked that it is hard to rule out an entire food product without first trying it in many ways.  I was once a fennel hater, but quickly changed my mind once I tasted it roasted with chicken; after that experience I began to warm up to the taste of it raw and now I actually enjoy fennel in any which way!  If my taste buds can do a 360 with fennel, I am determined for people to try it with all of their self-proclaimed dislikes, starting first with Goat Cheese.

Tips for warming up to Goat Cheese:

  • If you are trying Goat Cheese for the first time and are afraid of disliking the tangy flavor, I would suggest buying a mild brand such as Trader Joe’s Chevre.  This variety tastes more creamy than tangy but still allows you to become familiar with the distinct flavor.  From this point you can begin to branch out to more artisanal varieties at your local cheese store.
  • Combining it with other cheeses is a crafty way to incorporate it intoIMGP0983 meals.  Last time I made Baked Cauliflower Mac and Cheese, I used a combination of Gruyere, Parm and Goat Cheese in my bechamel.  Even my weary man-crow gobbled it up.  I may never see him spread it on a cracker but seeing him enjoy a dish that contained Goat cheese is still a victory in my book.

Tips of using Up Leftover Goat Cheese:

  • Goat Cheese is great on Pizza.  A crow favorite pizza topping is roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions and goat cheese.  Last time we made this we added chopped chicken apple sausage, lets just say we were too busy mowing to take any pictures of this winning pie.
  • Have leftover pumpkin puree from making pies from scratch??  Recently Mo had a ton left over from making pumpkin creme brulee and pie so we combined it with goat cheese and toasted walnuts to make a delicious filling for home made ravioli.
  • If you want to jazz up your quesadilla, rather then use cheddar or monteray jack, try spreading goat cheese on your tortilla and adding sauteed mushrooms, spinach and poblano peppers.
  • Simple way to use up some remaining Goat Cheese is to sprinkle it on top of your ordinary salad.

Its easier to enjoy friend and family food gatherings if you have little on your dislike list.  Challenge yourself this holiday season by re-tasting some of those flavors you have previously written off.  Rediscovering foods is the perfect way to reward yourself with a present.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Cheese, baking-savory, salad, sauces | 2 Comments »

Hot Stuff!

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

This is a guest post from our friend Kevin- First introduced to the crows as a dance machine, we soon discovered his love for food when we tasted his homemade salsa.  Here is the first post from an Honorary Man Crow:

WARNING: These recipes are not for the weak of tongue- this salsa packs some H-E-A-T!

HOT SAUCE!

My girlfriend has this massive habanero plant that is seriously like an inch thick at the bottom.  I swear this thing is growing bark and turning into a tree.  Anyway, I picked about 50 peppers off this one plant (there were 50-100 peppers left when I was done), so it’s hot sauce makin’ time.  Fortunately, my brother/roommate has a food processor because I have no idea how I would make this without it.  Roast everything in skillet.  Do this until the carrots soften up, then put everything in a food proccessor and blend it up.  I addedhotstuff-2 just a little bit of vinegar, then added water until it was a good hot sauce consistency.  It’s going to be a little thicker than the stuff you get in the store. I think the carrot flavor really compliments the habanero and makes it nice and sweet.  Oh yeah, and it’s really hot.

40 habaneros
4 large carrots
onion
4 garlic cloves
vinegar
cumin
allspice
salt
pepper

SALSA!

The food processor also helps with the salsa making.  You can throw all the ingredients in there and pulse the blender until you have it the way you want it (I like my salsa fairly chunky).  I prefer to blend individual ingredients and add it into a separate bowl. This way if I decide I need more onions or whatever, I can blend it up without thinning out the salsa too much.  But then again, I guess you could just move it into a separate bowl once you decide you need more of whatever then blend it.  I guess a better reason is that other ingredients blend more quickly than others, so you don’t thin out the tomatoes while trying to blend the onions down.  Adjust the recipe based on how hot you want this, I was going to add another habanero, but I didn’t want to make it too hot for the crows, who still thought it was insanely hot…
hotstuff-1
(The only thing that wasn’t grown in my garden or my girlfriend’s was the cilantro)
12 tomatillos
20 roma tomatoes
2 habaneros
4 jalapenos
4 cayenne peppers
salt and pepper
1.5 bunches of cilantro

Kevin will also be hosting his second annual Sausage Fest this month- check it out on the events page!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in sauces, vegetarian | 2 Comments »

Colorful Salad

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Monday night I got to hang out with a good friend that I rarely get to see. We made pinhole cameras (or rather started to make pinhole cameras), and made a retro typewriter work in a build up to a delicious diner. Here are some action shots!

SDC11675 SDC11674 SDC11672

For the main bit I made Mo’s Sauce-y Vodka Sauce- although I had no heavy cream so I improvised with a  whole milk/cream cheese combo that did the trick less a few cream cheese lumpules. So good! I have never been able to master the thick/richness of a store bought sauce, but this one didn’t need it. It was especially good as leftovers the next day as the liquid had soaked into my al dente noodles.

I had no lettuce, but a good array of fresh salad veggies- plus an avacado to boot! Along came the inspiration for this delicious summer side salad that rounded the meal out perfectly.

Bright Summer Salad

1 cup blanced sugar snap peas

2 inches paper thin sliced English Cucumber

1 shaved carrot (done with the veggie peeler)

1 can cannellini beans rinsed, drained

1 small red gypsy pepper

paper thin sliced onion, to your liking

1 very large yellow heirloom tomato, cubed

Avacado- Cilantro Sauce

1 whole avacado

the top part of a cilantro bunch (about 1/4 cup)

1 clove garlic

juice from 1 lemon

Salt & Pepper

a few T Olive Oil

Milk- as needed

In a blender (or it fits perfectly in 1 of the cup shaped parts to the magic bullet) combine all the ingredients minus the milk. Blend until smooth. Open, taste for further seasoning. If you want a more watery sauce use milk to thin it out.  Toss with veggies and serve immediately.

SDC11669

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in San Francisco, pasta, salad, sauces, vegetarian | No Comments »

Sauce-y!

Monday, September 21st, 2009

It’s been almost a year.

A year since I was granted the recipe for one of the finest sauces I’ve ever had the pleasure of devouring. A sauce so good that it puts most people in a prolonged state of pure joy (or a straight-up food coma). I’m talking about pasta’s BFF-the vodka sauce.

Some friends of mine came to visit recently and I found myself in a frenzy trying to find a dish that would be (A) filling, (B) delicious, and (C) special enough for some out-of-town guests. Presto vodka sauce! While my sauce simmered, we sipped on the Ommegang brew, “Three Philosphers” and munched on mustard cheese, salami and fresh bread.

Appetizers and Beer

A friend of mine passed on this easy and delicious recipe and I’ve stuck by it ever since. You can tweak to make it your own but this version is wonderful on its own! Bon appetit!

Sauce!

Vodka Sauce

1 stick butter

1 medium onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic

1 cup vodka (I used Stoli, but any decent vodka will do)

2 (28oz.) cans diced tomatoes

1/2 pint heavy cream

1 cup frozen peas (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, melt down butter and cook onions and garlic-about 10 minutes. Add vodka and simmer over low heat for another 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper and cook uncovered for about 30 minutes.

While stirring, slowly add heavy cream. Add peas and cook until heated through.

Serve over your favorite pasta!

Tags: , ,
Posted in pasta, sauces, vegetarian | 2 Comments »

For Those Gluten Freebies: ARROWROOT

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Luckily us crows are free of food allergies, but since we like to entertain it is always wise to have some vegan/gluten free strategies in our back pocket.

plantrootpowder

Arrowroot is a gluten free starch that can replace wheat flour as a thickening agent in culinary dishes.  This allows people who have gluten allergies to enjoy those thick and creamy comfort dishes (being served over quinoa pasta of course).  The vegans out there can also enjoy these same comfort dishes, but would have to dissolve the arrowroot powder in almond or soy milk.

I first learned about arrowroot watching this ridiculous, but entertaining cooking show on the Create Channel called Christina Cooks.  She makes alot of vegan meals, most of which I would not replicate, but she does incorporate interesting ingredients and techniques.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Domestic Tips, pasta, sauces, vegetarian | No Comments »

MMM Meatsauce

Monday, September 14th, 2009

I try to limit my consumption of meat, but when the craving for meatsauce arises it must be satisfied.  My go to recipe is always Bolognese.  There are tons of different Bolognese recipes out there, my own is a bit different because I use ground turkey instead of beef and I use two secret ingredients: Beer & Mascarpone Cheese.

Bolognese Sauce

  • Saute finely diced onions, carrots, and celery in olive oil.  Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and bay leaf
  • Once vegetables are softened, add in ground turkey, salt and pepper.
  • When turkey is cooked through add a half bottle of beer (use the same rule you would with wine: don’t cook with anything you wouldn’t drink*)
  • Once alcohol has cooked off add can of crushed tomatoes, salt, freshly chopped basil and celery leaves.  Simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Right before you toss with pasta stir in marscarpone cheese
  • Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving to allow pasta to soak up the sauce

IMGP0649

*I recommend an ale, I used Berkshire Brewing Company’s Lost Sailor Pale Ale- its a local tasty beer and I always have a growler of it in my fridge.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Cheese, Meat/Poultry, pasta, sauces | 1 Comment »

Getting Saucy

Monday, August 31st, 2009


It is (sadly) the end of summer. But before the colder months officially set in there is one of my favorite foodie seasons- tomato season. Tomatoes are gorgeous right now- and the crows have been snacking on big, plump, brightly colored heirlooms sliced onto fresh bread.

I engaged in my own personal end-of-summer tradition this weekend- getting saucy. Off of tomatoes. Let me explain. I am a total marinara sauce snob- a product of being lucky enough to grow up in a Sicilian family where having jarred sauce in the pantry was the embarrassing equivalent to a dirty bathroom or being out of salt. Simply not done. Every summer my mother would cook an enormous pot of marinara sauce with the tomatoes she grew in her own garden and then freeze individual portions in her large basement freezer. That way there would always be fresh homemade sauce all winter- for pasta, lasagna, eggplant parm- where ever it was called for. And I became spoiled.
So now I follow suite, making my own sauce at the end of every summer. This year I made a total of 7 quarts; from roughly 16 lbs of fresh (although regretfully not homegrown) roma tomatoes. And although my mother’s and my grandmother’s sauces put mine to total shame, at very least the ten perfectly stacked portions of sauce in my freezer right now assure me that there will be no need for jarred sauce in this apartment this winter.

There is no exact recipe here for this marinara- for things like wine, paste, salt, pepper and basil you have to just taste and add as you cook. But basically for 7 quarts of marinara sauce I used:
16 lbs fresh roma tomatoes, diced with skin on
1 can tomato paste
2 medium yellow onions
1 1/2 heads of garlic.
1 large bunch of garlic
1-2 cups of red wine.
Absolutely, positively, never any sugar. This is law. I don’t think I really need to explain.
Total from start to finish this whole operation took me about 1:45- about an hour for prep and to get it started and about 45 minutes to simmer. I tossed some of the fresh sauce with spaghetti and topped with grated parm- served up simple with a side salad. A delicious way to celebrate the close of my favorite season.
Mangia bene!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in pasta, sauces, vegetarian | 2 Comments »

« Older Entries