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)!

Baked Spaghetti Squash

In attempts to reduce the amount of pasta we eat (we like it too much!) I usually throw a spaghetti squash in my shopping cart & hope I remember to make it. Spaghetti squash is great because you can really treat it like pasta but feel better about eating it. This time I made our spaghetti squash like I would baked ziti & I’ll be making it like this again. It was easy & delicious while being familiar but new at the same time.

How do you make your spaghetti squash?

Crispy Cauliflower Nuggets

In the words of my husband, “these don’t even taste like cauliflower.”

I gave these to Chris as an appetizer one night. They were a great way to tide him over while I finished cooking dinner, so I know they’d be perfect for the holidays too without getting your overstuffed before the stuffing. These are a great way to make cauliflower fun to eat & don't really taste like "veggies" they just taste good.

P dot S cauliflower has a ton of vitamin c in it - who knew? So make these & feel good about ’em!

Veggie Lasagna

My grandmother only makes lasagna on Christmas because my dad will be there to eat it. Lasagna is a labor of love & reserved for very special loved ones.  My friend Ashley was up visiting from Texas this past weekend. She is a lasagna worthy friend.  I even whipped up some homemade lasagna pasta sheets to make it extra special. You can of course skip the homemade pasta part & use the boxed lasagna noodles but whatever you do, make this for someone you love sometime really soon, preferably on a lazy Sunday when you have just as much time to make it as you do eat it in really great company.

Garlicky Pretzel Pizza Rolls

On a day when it’s semi-cooler I suggest you make these. Perhaps a great snack for watching the World Cup. I made these for Easter - yes I know that was a while ago but they are timeless snack worthy of a post even if it comes in mid-June.

I started off with visions for replicating this recipe. Things didn’t work out as planned. I tried to make the dough suggested in the recipe that is supposed to be like Auntie Anne’s pretzels (I LOVE AUNTIE ANNE’S PRETZELS). Alas, the milk I used was too hot & I’m pretty sure that I killed the dry active yeast because although it was Easter, it did not rise again. Being that I was making these rather last minute I had to use what I had - so I used pizza dough i had in the fridge.  I used the same method as making pretzels (remember these yummies?) so I think they were pretty close to the initial recipe. The result was tasty & I don’t think anyone (but me) missed the Auntie Anne’s pretzel dough. The next time I make these I will try that recipe again (I WILL!!!). 

Hope you have a fabulous weekend :)

Tomato Sauce Poached Eggs with Basil & Kale

I don’t eat a ton of meat - so Chris doesn’t really either because we eat together. I do however always try to have some sort of protein in our meals. Eggs are a great protein & usually really quick to make for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Last week I boasted about my first successful poached egg experience. As I was going through my photos* & I found some of these tomato sauce poached eggs that I actually made a month or two ago - sorry I fibbed a bit on the poaching because I in fact had poached before! I feel like poaching eggs in tomato sauce is a bit more forgiving & might be the gateway poaching method you need to get your feet - err eggs (?) - wet.


*I photograph pretty much everything I make - sometimes these photos make the blog & sometimes they just collect on my hard drive.

Eggplant Rollatini

I love breaded eggplant. I love the crunchy exterior & the fleshy interior. It's almost meaty - but it's not because it's a vegetable. When I make eggplant rollatini (think egg plant parmesan but rolled up with yummy ricotta cheese inside) I like to keep the integrity of the crunch, otherwise what’s the point of going through all the motions to bread it in the first place? I ensure the crunch by first baking my eggplant with a mixture of panko (the crunchiest) breadcrumbs ahead of time & then when it’s time to put it all together I use just a little bit of sauce to top them with because the more sauce you add the more mushy (less crispy) it gets - but if that's your thing - sauce away!

This is a great & hearty vegetarian option when you’re going meatless. What are you eating for meatless dinners?

Ricotta Gnudi with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Last week I posted about recipes for gnudi (pronounced nude-y) that I wanted to try. To be honest, I didn't grow up eating gnudi. Yes I have ate lots of delicious American-Italian cheese & sauce covered dishes but gnudi wasn't one of them. I had it at a restaurant once & it put it on the map.

So mom & Jennifer (who didn't know what gnudi was when I told them about it) gnudi is like a cheesy dumpling - or as I like to think of it a delicious cheese blob - but that might not sound so appetizing - but it is. They're kind of like the cousin of a ravioli, the difference is there is no clear definition between the pasta & the filling - it's all one homogeneous mixture. DELICIOUS.

I went with Lottie + Doof's  ricotta gnudi recipe.  I used the sauce I posted about on Monday. Overall it made for a pretty tasty Sunday dinner.

Click through for Lottie + Doof's  recipe & photos, of course.

Pomodoro Pizza

Fillippos on First, our favorite pizza place in Hoboken sadly was not able to recover after Sandy so we've been trying out other pizza places in the neighborhood but lately our favorite has been the one right in our kitchen.  I've been whipping up my own pizza dough as of late with Bobby Flay's recipe but I also use the store bought stuff too - I don't discriminate.  Our newest pizza stone has been a great replacement to the one that we broke earlier last year. Per the recommendation of my girlfriend of Amanda the William-Sonoma pizza stone doesn't stick - well if you use cooking spray or olive oil is what i've found. Now that I've figured out how to use it we  (the pizza stone & I) work well together.

Since it's still pretty chilly (spring where are you?!?!) it's still nice to heat up the oven & make the house smell like fresh pizza.

Click through for my simple method of how you can make your own pomodoro (tomato) pizza at home with the multi-purpose tomato sauce that I posted about yesterday.

Cuban Shrimp

This past weekend was pretty low key. On Saturday night we dinned on some Cuban beans, yellow rice & shrimp.  Check out my recipe for shrimp that I came up with via a combo of recipes I found.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb large shrimp, peeled & deveined (we leave our tails on but take them off completely if you like)
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 6 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 8 ounces tomato sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce (or more to taste)
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Make it:

1. In a large pan on top of the stove, heat the oil over medium-high heat, and sauté the onions for 3 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients except the shrimp & parsley, cover the pot, turn the heat to low, and cook for 20 minutes.
3. Add the shrimp, cover, and cook over low heat for 6-8 minutes until shrimp are just cooked through.
4. Turn off heat and set aside until ready to serve with hot rice & top with chopped parsley.