Simple Fancy Fan Garlic Potatoes

I really love yukon gold potatoes & usually use them to make mashed potatoes but recently I tried making hasselback potatoes with them instead. A hasselback potato (or what I’m calling a fancy fan potato) is simply a potato that is cut in very thin slices almost to the bottom (but not quite through) so that the potato still holds together like a fan. All that really means that these potatoes look really pretty & you can stuff yummy ingredients in between the slices (like lots of garlic!). They were a hit (read: Chris loved them) so they’ll be making more guest appearances on our dinner plates in the near future. Although these taters look fancy they’re pretty easy to make once you get the slicing down.

Juicy Mediterranean Turkey Burgers with Yogurt Sauce, Peaches & Arugula

Last night I was on my own for dinner so that only meant one thing - there would be olives (because I love them & Chris hates them)! I’ve been on a Greek salad & Greek yogurt kick as of late so those were also making the cut. I opted to make a Mediterranean style turkey burger with a yogurt sauce that is pretty much like tzatziki sauce with olives in other words a creamy garlicky & salty sauce. Then I added some feta, sliced peaches & arugula to hit all the other notes I love (read: salty, sweet, spicy).

I have to admit I scoured Pinterest in hopes to learn how to make a juicy turkey burger & thanks to this blog post I will always add pats of butter & milk to my burger mixture. I also opted to grate the onions & garlic into my mixture so that you don’t get big chunks or bites of either but you do get the flavor.

How do you make your turkey burgers juicy?

PS: remember if you make this pasta be sure to snap a pic & then tag me in your photos on instagram (@mrshoh or #HeatherOMade)!

Fusilli with Fresh Tomato Sauce & Ricotta Cheese

After college I moved to NYC to “grow up,” which means I worked three jobs in attempts to make rent & pay off student loans while having some fun too. Glamorous, right? One of my three jobs was waiting tables  in NYC’s Little Italy. During this time I survived on a few staples for dinner: cannolis, pasta dishes my boss would generously share with me & Chinese food from my favorite place a block away.

I really hadn't thought about these meals until I was watching Giada’s show on Food Network yesterday. She was in Italy making all kinds of pasta. The one dish that she made took me way back to my early twenties when I used to share fusilli (the long curly pasta) with tomato sauce & fresh ricotta with my boss. I easily ate this once or twice (maybe more) a week. Giada’s method was simple & straight forward so feeling nostalgic for it I recreated it from memory of what I learned earlier in the day. 

The one key method for making Giada's simple & super fresh tomato sauce sung out to my inner love of tomatoes - especially fresh summer tomatoes. She took fresh tomatoes & used a box grater to break them down for the sauce. Apparently if you do this in a fancy food processor or blender the heat from those kinds of appliances actually change the flavor of the tomatoes (& we don't want that). I had to try it. I did & I loved it. This maybe my new favorite way to make tomato sauce. It’s so easy & fresh that you’ll be making on the regular too. I think it’s time to get this dish back in my weekly rotation like when I first moved to NYC.

Do you have specific food that reminds you of your first “adult” years? I’d love to hear about them. Leave me a note in the comments below.

PS: remember if you make this pasta be sure to snap a pic & then tag me in your photos on instagram (@mrshoh or #HeatherOMade)!

Sugar Snap Pea, Asparagus, Baby Leek, Pesto & Ricotta Pizza

This past Sunday night when it was pouring down rain in Hoboken I opted to make a pizza. On the grill. Outside. For dinner. Thanks to a saintly husband & an umbrella it actually came to fruition.

This is the perfect spring pizza with heaps of green veggies & flavor even you meat eaters will go vegetarian for the day. Plus, I got to use this pesto on it!

PS: Happiest birthday to one of my favorite ladies, Miss Ashley McGee! xx

Make this pizza & tag me in your photos on instagram (@mrshoh or #HeatherOMade)!

6 Grill Recipes for Memorial Day

It’s (almost) finally here, the (un)official start of the summer: Memorial Day Weekend! I hope you’re doing something super fun this weekend. If it inclueds firing up the grill  here are 6 great grilling recipes for everybody (vegetarians to omnivores)! Enjoy!

1. Bang Bang Grilled Shrimp Salad
2. Grilled Chicken Sandwiches with Goat Cheese, Spinach, Caramelized Onions & Mushrooms
3. Grilled Steak with Arugula, Parsley-Parmesan Salad
4. Grilled Peach, Brie & Basil Pizza
5. Simple & Tangy Grilled Aspargus
6. Spicy Sweet Grilled Pineapple Rings

Gluten-Free Sesame Crusted Bluefish Sticks

Both Chris & I have distinctive nostalgia connected to bluefish. I’ll admit, I didn’t love it as a kid. I think we ate it for months on end (my Grandpa John was a fisherman for sport & gave us tons & tons of bluefish that he caught - I know freshly caught fish - I lived a ‘miserable’ childhood. What I would do for freshly caught fish on the regular now.)  Yesterday, while grocery shopping Chris came back from the fish counter with a grin & bluefish, so that’s what we had for dinner except I made it in a way that I’ve never had before: sesame crusted bluefish sticks. They're gluten free & don’t taste ‘fishy’ at all, in other words they were delicious. I really like the crunch that the sesame seeds offer. They taste great with my quick, rustic tartar sauce. If you're not a fish eater I dare you to try these & not like them.

Do you have any memories of bluefish? How do you make yours?

Chickpea & Tomato Ragout

I make dinner most nights after I get home from working all day so quick, easy & tasty food is ideal. We ate this chickpea & tomato ragout with some grilled fish (cod, I think) but I could make a meal out of this alone. It's reminiscent of pasta e fagioli (pasta with beans) minus the pasta. It's ready to eat (prep to finish) in about 20 minutes & you can eat it hot, room temp or cold.

Green Pea & Asparagus Soup with Poached Eggs & Toast

I love a flavorful soup that isn’t full of cream (although cream based soups are delicious too). This soup that I found while skimming the pages of Cooking Light magazine called out to me. It’s vegetable based & only has a little bit of butter. Plus, they recommend serving it with a poached egg & toast which is a no brainer for me that I was automatically going to love this recipe. I did. Chris did. You will. It’s a perfectly green & light enough for warm spring days or nights yet satisfying soup!

Better Home Cooking Basics: #61 Top Baked Potatoes with Greek Yogurt Instead of Butter or Sour Cream.

If you love to load up a baked potato with gobs of butter or sour cream (like we do at our potato-loving house) this tip is for you. Swap out those fatty condiments for protein rich Greek yogurt instead. You'll get all the creaminess with less guilt & some nutrition to boot.

Want to take your baked potato to the next level? It's easy & tasty. Use this simple recipe to add some fresh & creamy flavor to your next baked potato.

Shrimp Lettuce Wraps + Sesame Peanut Ginger Dressing

TACOS. There I said it again. I wanted to make tacos again this week (shocker) but I opted for a lighter twist. I swapped out my go-to corn tortillas for big pieces of butter lettuce. In actuality I made lettuce wraps (like I did here) but I used shrimp. They were just as easy to make & fun to eat as regular tacos except I felt a little bit better about the extra helpings.  I loaded mine with veggies & some sesame peanut ginger dressing. Click through to get the recipe for the tasty shrimp I made for these, plus the dressing! Yep you get two recipes today. You can use them together like I did or just make one or the other (ex: make the dressing to serve with salad all week long or make the shrimp & toss with some quinoa).

Pasta Bolognese

Every now & then I make something with red meat. As you probably know if you’ve stopped by before I’m not a huge fan of it, but Chris is so from time to time I’ll make it. This past Sunday I made a pasta bolognese from Anne Burrell’s recipe that I adapted to make my own. This bolognese sauce takes 3-4 hours (yes that long) to cook(!!!!) hence why it’s made on a Sunday. I actually cooked the sauce on a Sunday &  we ate it with pasta on a Monday.

This recipe is not particularly difficult (actually it’s pretty easy) but it does require a big time commitment. Growing up my family didn’t identify pasta bolognese sauce as a ‘thing’ it was just spaghetti & meatballs. When the meatballs broke apart in the sauce I guess that was our version of a bolognese sauce which I learned later in life (after waitressing on Mulberry Street) that it is a meat sauce. So this recipe isn’t a Grandma Pesce recipe but it is a good one & I’d make it again.
 

PS: Happy Birthday Amanda! I love you & hope this is your best year yet! (In hindsight I really should've made manicotti huh? :)!)

Jalapeño Scrambled Egg Tacos

I love tacos. We make them at least a few times a month if not weekly at our house. I like them all. It’s so fun to add a little this & that & build as you go & then eat with your hands! What I love even more is serving everything on a cutting board which means less dishes to wash (tiny win!). This week I’ve been making piece meal trips to the grocery store so there hasn’t been a whole lot to work with when I conjured up this idea of egg tacos. We had eggs so that is what went in the tacos. I don’t love scrambled eggs but in these tacos I did.

Regardless, I would make these again for breakfast, lunch or dinner. These would actually be really fun for a brunch party. They’re simple & tasty & most importantly fun to eat!

Better Home Cooking Basics: #56 Butter Bread with Mayo for the Best Ever Grilled Cheese.

I love a good grilled cheese. The bread is buttery & crispy & the cheese is melty & gooey. When you get a good one you know it & there is nothing better. I’ve tried endlessly to make the perfect grilled cheese at home but it wasn’t until recently that I found this life (or grilled cheese) changing tip in Bon Appetit that I was able to perfect my grilled cheese sandwich. The key - the secret to the best grilled cheese is MAYO!! Who knew? I’m personally not a mayo fan but you don’t taste the mayo with this method, you just taste nutty, brown, crispy, toasted bread. What’s even better is your cheese gets all melty & gooey just like you’ve always dreamed!

So without further adieu, this is what you do:

Grilled Chicken Sandwiches with Goat Cheese, Spinach, Caramelized Onions & Mushrooms

I know it may appear that we never repeat the same meal in our house - but here’s a secret- we do! Since chicken is kind of blah (I’m bored with it just thinking about it) I find it is more exciting when it’s sandwiched in between some deliciously charred bread & smothered with toppings. Then it’s almost like you’re not eating the chicken at all. What’s even better is that you can make these sandwiches with simple ingredients & you get to eat them with your hands!

3 Bean Escarole Soup with Garlic Oil & Homemade Croutons

Growing up my mom would make what my grandfather & father would call ’scroll & beans. For those not familiar with this language ‘scarole means escarole. If you’ve never had escarole I encourage you to try. It’s actually a lettuce but it tastes really good, almost sweet, when it’s cooked. I’ve always had it in chicken broth with canellini beans, grated cheese & crusty bread so when I found this recipe I channeled my youth & conjured up my take on this classic (to me) combination. I used three different kinds of beans because I didn’t have three cans of cannellini beans, so if you want to stick to one kind - go for it! You can skip the croutons & extra cheese if you like - but why would you want to do that? This is a quick & satisfying dinner especially while this weather continues to flirt with spring (it was 37 degrees yesterday & I think that’s pretty close to spring - today not so much.)

PS: For those observing Lent this will be a great meatless dish for your Friday dinner. Enjoy!

PPS: if you're gluten-free - skip my beloved croutons!

Savory Dutch Baby: Broccoli Rabe, Garlic & Pecorino Romano Cheese

Tuesday was National Pancake Day. To honor said day I wanted to make some kind of pancake for dinner but I didn’t want a sweet one, I wanted something more ‘dinner-like’, savory. After perusing the web for savory pancakes I found a bunch of savory dutch baby recipes so I made on a whim I made a savory dutch baby with the familiar flavors (to our house) of broccoli rabe, garlic & Pecorino Romano cheese.

It turned out to be somewhere between a pancake & a quiche if that’s possible. The pancake puffs up & gets crispy almost like the crust of a quiche but takes 1/4 of the time to prepare & bake.

I liked it. Chris liked it. I’ll definitely be making this again.

What do you put on or in your pancakes when you eat them for dinner?

Roasted Cod with Mushrooms, Leeks, Fennel & Frekkeh

I’m pretty much a creature of habit when it comes to our weekly grocery shopping, but you already knew that because I’ve said that before. So I’ll continue. I usually pick up some fish that’s on sale, fresh veggies & some kind of grain from the whole grain aisle. I recently found frekkeh (pronounced freak-uh) which is really young wheat (sorry not gluten-free) that to me has a texture (when cooked) somewhere between rice & quinoa. I took a stab at making some with some of my regular ingredients in the rotation: cod, veggies & chimichurri sauce.

It turned out to be pretty delicious, plus you can eat it all in a bowl &  it’s a pretty complete meal. We’ll definitely be having more frekkeh in the future.

Have you tried frekkeh? What do you make yours with?

Broccoli Rabe & Cheese Quiche

The first quiche I made was for my french class in 7th grade. I’m shocked I even knew what quiche was at that moment in time. I remember my mom not being too keen about my choice - one because it was time consumptive & two because the ingredients I chose were on the expensive side. I don’ remember exactly what I put in it but I think there was bacon & lots of butter & eggs. I don’t even remember what it tasted like but I remember making it.

The second time I made a quiche was this past September when I made it for my sister-in-law & brother-in-law who just had their second sweet baby. Knowing they wouldn’t have a lot of time to prepare meals let alone heat them up I made them a quiche since it can be eaten at any temperature - warm, cold or room temp. Plus it has protein & veggies in it. And we can’t forget about the crust - the rich buttery delicious crust. It’s equal parts crispy, creamy & delicious.

This past Sunday I made one for dinner with broccoli rabe & peccorino romano cheese & I will make it again. The crust is the most time consumptive part since you have to cook it twice but it’s worth it. If you’re hosting a brunch or dinner or want to bring new parents something hearty to each this is it. You can make it ahead of time & let’s face it - it’s pretty impressive being that it’s of French origin & all. I served ours with a like mixed green salad with chopped cherry tomatoes.

PS: Mom this one is much easier to make & less expensive but tastes every bit expensive - you should make it for Dad!

Easy Black Bean Soup

I've been eating this black bean soup since Saturday & I'm happily having it for lunch again, today. Granted I made enough to feed a small country but it was too easy not too & I'll confess when I cook with dried beans I always forget that those 1lb bags make A LOT.

As I just hinted at I used dried beans for this recipe, so while it is easy it is time consumptive as in the beans take about 2 hours to cook. If you have a free afternoon or some time on the weekend I recommend making this & then eating it for lunch for two weeks. You can also easily freeze it after it has cooled down.

One thing that I ask you to do to fully enjoy this soup is to top it with this cream sauce. The tanginess of the yogurt & acidity of the lime take this to another level. Do it!

PS: you can totally make this recipe gluten-free if you don't eat it with tortilla chips that have flour & you can make it vegan by using veggie stock & skipping the cream sauce.

PPS: if you don't wan to make 2lbs of beans cut the recipe in half!

Crispy Beer Battered Fish Tacos

I’ve recently been really into cooking cod. I mainly pick it up from the super market because it’s wild caught & on sale - win win. We love tacos at our house. They’re fun to eat & to make & I can’t wait to make these again. They’re fried, yes but it’s fish - that makes it healthy right? Regardless they're super pretty & taste AMAZING & the textures are just soooo good.