Penne alla Miele aglio salsiccia e salsa di pomodoro – Penne pasta with Honey Garlic sausage in tomato sauce

The definition of a heavenly marriage:  Tomato sauce and sausage in pasta.  It is easy to make as ABC but tasty as XYZ!  If you have young kids at home, honey garlic sausage is the best choice.  However, if you are looking for excitement and an extra kick to your taste bud, a spicy Italian sausage is your best bet.  Get to know your local Italian butcher shop and find out if they make their sausage in-house.  Each shop has its own sausage recipe from generation down.  I rarely buy my sausage from “Super market” for this reason.

This is a very simple recipe.  From start to finish takes about 30 minutes.  A small side salad and a good quality Italian bread dip in olive oil can make your cold winter night turns into a romantic evening!  Oh don’t forget a glass of red wine!

Penne pasta with Honey Garlic sausage in tomato sauce

Penne with braised beef shortrib & tomato ragout, Port and Red wine reduction, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

This is a typical home cooked comfort food good for all seasons.  The rich “port and red wine” reduction with a home-made tomato ragout sauce can make you mouth-watering instantly.   Combine it with a piece of crusty Italian bread, you are the King of the world!

It is very easy to make this dish and there are two methods to cook it, first  on stove top and second slow cook in oven.

Braised beef short ribs in red and port wine sauce, Pappardelle pasta

Beef short ribs           2 lbs

Dry red wine               1 cup

Port                                 1 cup

Beef stock                     1 cup

Cumin powder

Pinch of Kosher salt

Chopped shallot           1 tbs

Chopped garlic             1 tbs

Fresh grounded black pepper

Cooking instruction:

Rub small amount of cumin, kosher salt and black pepper on short rib.  Heat pan to medium and pour two table spoons of vegetable oil, brown the ribs all four sides.  Take ribs out on a plate and turn heat down to low.  Put shallot and garlic in pan for a few minutes but don’t burn it.  Turn heat back up to high and deglaze the pan with beef stock, red and port wine.  Bring to boil and place ribs back to pan and cover it.  Place pan in a 220ºF oven for four hours.  Take ribs out and skim the fat from the sauce, reduce it to 1/4.  Put 1/8 tbs of lemon zest, turn off heat. Quickly whisk 1/2 stick (1/8 lb) of unsalted butter to thicken sauce.  Add salt to taste if necessary.  Put already cooked pasta in sauce and put ribs back before serving.  Sprinkle Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and dinner is served.

Vegetarian Lasagna

It is very easy to make vegetarian lasagna with some basic vegetables.  The trick is to blend the flavor of different vegetables mix together so young children can’t tell they are eating something really healthy.  This is what I do:

 Making of  “Soffritto” – please see my seafood page under scallop section. 

 In addition to the basic carrot, celery, onion, red pepper, shallot, garlic and sweet potato, I even dice up some cauliflower, broccoli and some Shiitake mushroom.  Because I am using the Soffritto instead of ground beef so I want my Soffritto finely dice – just enough to give it a little texture but children can’t tell the difference that they are not eating beef

Also cut up a bunch of spinach and use extra virgin olive oil to cook it down to ½ cup. 

Tomato sauce – ½ cup:  Please see my Eddy’s killer tomato sauce for cooking details.

Nicoise olive                                                                     10 pieces (cut to half)

Cheeses: 

Ricotta cheese                                                                   200 gm

Shredded mozzarella cheese                                       250 gm

Goat feta cheese                                                                150 gm

Shredded Medium cheddar cheese                           150 gm

Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano                     100 gm

Method: 

Put 9 stripes of lasagna (to make three layers) in a big pot of boiling water, add some salt. Keep stirring from time to time to prevent pasta from sticking together. 

First layer –

Grease the baking pan and line the first three stripes of lasagna on the bottom and brush the first layer with tomato sauce.  Add ½ the ricotta cheese and spread it out.  Add 1/2 the olive. Layer spinach evenly on top of the cheese and add ½ of the cheddar cheese on top the spinach. Spread ½ of the Soffritto on top and cover it with three stripes of lasagna.   

Second layer -

Brush some more tomato sauce on top of the second layer; add the rest of the ricotta cheese, spread the left over Soffritto , add ¼ of Shredded mozzarella cheese and the rest of the cheddar cheese on top.  Add the other half of the olive.  Put in all the goat feta before cover it with another three stripes of lasagna. 

Top layer -

Brush the left over tomato sauce on the top layer and cover it with tin foil.  Place the lasagna in a pre-heated 375ºF oven for 40 minutes.  Take it out and turn the oven temperature up to 425ºF.  Put all the Parmigiano-Reggiano on the top layer and cover it with the rest of the mozzarella cheese.  Return the baking pan to the top shelf of the oven for final browning.  Take the lasagna out once you see the cheese has a light brown color and melted.  The self cooking should give the top a darker color in a few minutes.  Let it cool for five ten minutes before severing.  It is a lot easier to cut into portion after ten minutes.

Eddy’s Special Killer Tomato Sauce

 

Eddy’s Special Killer Tomato Sauce:

20 x Roma tomato
1 bunch fresh basil leave – about 25 leaves
4 x Shallots
1x sweet Walla Walla onion
10 x cloves of garlic
Extra Virgin oil

2 x cookie trays

Roughly chop up fresh basil, shallot, garlic, and onion and spread it evenly on cookie trays. Cut tomato to halve and place it face up on top of the onion/shallot/basil/shallot mixture. Dash a generous amount of extra virgin oil all over the tomato and sprinkle sea salt and fresh crack black pepper on top.

Pre-heat oven to 375 F0 and bake the tomato for 90 minutes. After the trays are cool of, scrap the content from one tray to a food processor and blend it to a sauce. Repeat the same procedure with the second tray. Drain the sauce to a medium size pot and simmer it for alt least three hours under low heat. (this procedure can further reduce the acidity of the tomato) Leave it on the stove top over night (without opening the top) and simmer it again the next day for another two hours.

Now the sauce is ready for your pasta or you can make it into meat sauce or meat ball recipe.

Italian meat ball with tomato sauce:

½ LB ground beef
½ LB ground pork
½ LB ground veal
½ cup fine bread crumb
1 tea spoon of sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg
1/8 cup of fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano
½ tea spoon of mince garlic
¼ cup of water

Mix the above ingredients well in a bowl and use your palm to make a slightly flatten meat ball. (don’t make it too perfectly round as you can’t brown it properly).

Heat up a medium size cooking pot (well seasoned) and pour small amount of vegetable oil in it. Brown both side of meat ball and pour your pre-made tomato sauce in it and simmer it under low heat for about four hours.

Prepare you favour pasta and pour sauce with meat ball on top. Sprinkle fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on top and serve with some good quality fresh bread.