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.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Shrimp, Tomatoes & Arugula

I have a confession to make, sometimes I don’t go grocery shopping every week. Sometimes I don’t have a plan for dinner. There have been a lot of those kind of nights this weeks since I skipped my usual trip to the super market on Sunday & I’ve been left to my imagination when it comes to dinner. This spaghetti squash & shrimp dish was one of those. It was one of those that also surprised me because it was pretty tasty & easy to make.

What do you make on a whim?

Harissa & Honey Glazed Broiled Salmon

There’s a sushi place up the street from my house that has salMONDAYS. As in they have a salmon promotion on Mondays. (I know today is Thursday by the way.) For the most part salmon (or some kind of fish) is on ‘special’ at our house on Mondays too mainly because we go grocery shopping on Sunday & if we buy fish we either make it the same day or on Monday.

This week I broiled the salmon (like I did here) but spiced things up with some honey & harissa half way through the cooking process. If you like salmon & a little bit of spice this one is for you!

Thirsty Thursday: Tomato Wine Pairing

For this week's Thirsty Thursday post I asked Tamara at Bottle Rush for the perfect pairing for one of my favorite ways to eat salmon, Salmon & Melting Cherry Tomatoes.  Tamara was quick to respond, “As soon as I saw this recipe I knew the perfect pairing for this dish - A Pinot Noir from New Zealand. This light red wine is bursting with cherry and strawberry fruit notes to complement the tomato topping but is light enough so it won't overpower the delicate salmon. The other great news about this pairing is over on the other side of the world (NZ) they haven't heard that Pinot Noir should cost an arm and a leg so you can still get great value (this wine costs under $20).”

Are you interested in seeing a specific dish you’ve seen here (or elsewhere) paired with the perfect wine? If so let me know by leaving a comment below.

Better Home Cooking Basics: #38 Ripen Tomatoes on the Counter in a Paper Bag.

To keep with my tomato-loving posts this week, I figured I'd share the tip from my mom on how to ensure ripe tomatoes at home. If you bring home less than red tomatoes pop them in a paper bag (sometimes they'll give you brown paper bags at the farmers market - take them). Sit them on your counter for a day or two et voila you will have ripe tomatoes in no time.  (Please note that if you buy green tomatoes they will not ripen like this but they will make for some tastey fried green tomatoes :)

 Get more of my better home cooking basics here.

Fresh & Simple Tomato Salad

I love tomatoes. I know we are lucky enough to be them year round now but nothing beats a fresh summer juicy Jersey tomato. The best part is that they do pretty much all the work themselves because they just taste that good.

My mom always made tomato salad growing up. I think I had forgotten about it until just recently & then I became obsessed. (When I say obsessed I mean it - we ate tomato salad for a week straight & I still want more.) I loved it then & I love it now & I think you will too. Plus the recipe is so completely easy you’ll have to try it at least once. If you love it as much as I do I have some surprises for you this week on how you can serve & eat it so check back!

Better Home Cooking Basics: #27 Use a Serrated Knife to Cut Tomatoes without Smushing Them

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. The sun finally decided to come out here on Sunday & we were blessed with two great sunshiney days - the others were just as good, sans the vitamin d.

Now that summer has unofficially started I am pretty excited for some fresh farm-to-table produce I plan on hitting the farmers markets for. Tomatoes are among some of my favorite finds at farmers markets, especially heirloom tomatoes (the green zebras are my favorite!).  I picked up this tip to cut tomatoes with a serrated knife to keep them from smushing when you do. Try it - I think it'll give you a good grip on cutting tomatoes the next time you do.

Get more of my better home cooking basics here.

Homemade Gift: Bloody Mary Kit with Spicy Bloody Mary Mix with Herb Infused Vodka

Christmas is two days aways - ahhhhh! I bet you're still looking for that perfect gift for that person that has everything . Well search no more, you've found the answer right here.  (Note: This gift is geared towards adults so if you're looking for a child's gift I'm sorry our search will continue.)  If you love to brunch & imbibe this one is for you or your friends or both! Just a few words - bloody mary kit.

You'll need to find some cool bottles or recycle old ones you have. I bought mine at fishs eddy (these & these). Some cute labels (like these) &  a marker. Oh & a cute box or gift bag to wrap it.

Then you'll need the most easy & delicious recipes for the best customized bloody mary, EVER, which I found while reading one of my favorite vegetarian blogs, Oh My Veggies, (totally worth checking out even if you eat meat!) the other day.  I stumbled across the brilliant kit ideas in the potluck section.

Sherrie from With Food and Love posted how-to make her insanely beautiful & easy rosemary infused vodka & linked to her bloody mary recipe. She had me at bloody mary & next thing I know I'm whipping up my own bloody mary kits with herb infused vodka thanks to her inspiration for gifts(!).  Be sure to check out Sherrie's post on making rosemary infused vodka here, & get her original bloody mary recipe here.

Read on to see how I put my own twist on Sherrie's great gift idea!

Fall Salad with a Sweet & Spicy Oil-Free Dressing

It's finally feeling like fall out there.  We've been eating a lot of squash at our house as of late. It's a real fall like veggie (or is it a fruit? it has seeds so I think it's a fruit).  As you know I usually just roast up some squash to keep on hand like I did in this post last week.  This time I incorporated butternut squash into a hearty salad with a sweet & spicy oil-free dressing that I will definitely be making again.

Mushroom Ravioli with Sautéed Veggies

After a long weekend of being spoiled by deliciously decadent wedding festivities and meals we came home to a nearly bare fridge.  So this dish is actually whatever was left in my fridge/freezer plus some fresh ingredients I picked up at the market up the street on my way home from work.  It's kind of a nod to these melting tomatoes  plus some other veggies. The mushroom ravioli as well as the s‪autéed‬ mushrooms make this dish a meaty meatless dish.

Herb-Marinated Tilapia Kebabs

Tilapia always seems to be on sale so I bought some.  Usually I'm nervous about putting fish directly on the grill (because it always sticks - for me at least) but I was willing to give it a shot.  This recipe I found in Rachel Ray's Everyday magazine incorporates tilapia & set my fears aside for grill-sticking fish.  It makes for a great light dinner. I served mine with a side of baby arugula & black wild rice.

PS: It's July - when did that happen?

Zucchini Pasta e Fagioli

I've always been a fan of pasta e fagioli (often butchered by Italian-Americans like myself as something that sounds like pasta fazool).  In plain English it's pasta with beans. My mom used to make it with tomatoes, garlic & those short cut noodles or tiny elbow macaroni.

When I have a fridge full of produce I try to use it so I don't lose it. We had some zucchini in the fridge which lead me to this new (to me) take on pasta e fagioli, I call it zucchini pasta e fagioli. I left the dried pasta in it's box & shaved my zucchini into wide noodles instead (similar to here) - making it gluten-free pasta my friends (& Auntie Pat).  It's a very rustic dish which is code for it's not super pretty but it tastes really good, so serve it just after sunset when the light is that cool blue color & you're too hungry to care about how it looks.

Mediterranean Chicken Wrap

I love Mediterranean food, if you haven't noticed.  This post is this week's recipes wrapped into one, literally. Sometimes if you don't feel like cranking the oven it becomes a sandwich kind of night, or in this case a wrap kind of night. Just because you didn't turn the oven on or use your stove top doesn't mean you have to sacrifice flavor. This Mediterranean chicken wrap proves just that.

Refreshing Israeli Salad

Living in Hoboken & working in NYC I am spoiled by food inspiration.  One of my guiltiest pleasures is the Taim Mobile that dangerously close to my lunchtime neighborhood. It's a ritual, I always order the falafel sandwich with everything on it in a whole wheat pita - because that makes it healthier!  On their amazing menu tacked to the side of the truck is a wide variety to sides & other dishes, one of which is Israeli salad made with tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley & a lemon mint dressing.  Sounded easy & spring enough for me to make it, so I did. It's great by itself of in a wrap (more on that later). Make sure to click through to get this super simple recipe.

PS: a special welcome to the world to little baby Jonathan! I can not wait to meet you!!

Provençal Cherry Tomato Gratin

I've really never met a tomato that I don't like. Ok that's a little bit of a lie, canned stewed tomatoes gross me out but I love all the others.

I came across this recipe in my new go-to cookbook (Barefoot Contessa's FoolProof Cookbook) for provençal cherry tomato gratin. It is a great side dish & if i didn't have to share I'm pretty sure I'd eat the entire casserole dish myself.

Try it yourself & let me know what you think. Read on for the recipe.

PS: there were no leftovers at our house.

Hearty Minestrone

Seems as though the beginning of this week will be almost springish but, le sigh, January will return by the week's end.  So with the big chill on the horizon I see lots of warm soups in my near future.

Try this minestrone soup on for size, I did. (Photos & recipe after the jump!)

Putanesca Sauce

I love olives, maybe obsessively so.  The other night when I was making dinner for just me I couldn't help but feel giddy about making a simple putanesca sauce chock full of briny olives & capers.  putanesca sauce has a fun history, be sure to read about it here.

Here's how I make mine:
Ingredients:

• 8 oz crushed tomatoes
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 6 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives
• 3 tablespoons capers
• 1 tablespoon hot pepper flakes
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

Make It!

1. Add olive oil to a hot deep skillet or sauce pot.
2. Add chopped onion & sprinkle with salt. Let onions sweat until soft & clear.
3. Add garlic & hot pepper flakes & cook until fragrant.
4. Add crushed tomatoes, olives & capers. Cook for about 10 minutes.
5. Season with salt & pepper if necessary (please: taste before you add salt, the olives & capers probably will have added enough salt at this point but it truly depends on their briny-ness).
6. Toss with freshly cooked pasta & freshly grated parmesan cheese.

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.

Fish Tacos

Who doesn't love tacos? When we were in Hawaii for our honeymoon I ate fish tacos at least once a day.

Chris loves sushi & seafood but he usually opts out of cooked fresh fish.  These fish tacos are great way to get him to eat fresh fish.

I used this recipe with some fresh tilapia for my fish tacos.  The key is to prepare the marinade ahead but to only marinate the fish for 15-20 minutes max, otherwise the lime juice will start to "cook" the fish.  The best part is that you get tons of flavor in just a short amount of time & since it's a marinade you don't have to spend a bunch of time mastering your knife skills - chunky & mismatched sizes are OK here!

I grilled whole wheat tortillas & topped with chipotle mayo, shredded cabbage, tomatoes & fresh baby spinach.

What's your favorite kind of taco?

P dot S: Happy Birthday Christine! xoxo

Fresh Pasta With No Cook Sauce

Chris & I made the rounds visiting some of our family for Memorial Day Weekend. On Monday, we hung around home base & visited with my aunt, cousins, sister and friends. My generous aunts gifted me my Kitchen Aid Mixer for my bridal shower - I'm not sure how I got on with cooking, baking or life with out it.  To top it off my Aunt Theresa (one of our guests of honor) gifted me the amazing pasta attachment so I felt it was necessary to whip some fresh pasta up in her honor.

I opted for this no cook sauce that I saw the Barefoot Contessa make (as I jogged along on the treadmill, drooling all the while. A complete mind/body work out if you ask me).  It takes minutes to prep but tastes better with time so plan ahead & make it in the morning.  Then just add pasta & tons of Parmesan cheese for dinner.

As always I think you can amp up the garlic & cheese for this dish (& any for the matter).  Just remember that as soon as you drain your pasta, add the sauce right away so that it doesn't get super stuck together.  Don't be shy to add some olive oil if need be.

I'll be making this again soon especially since my husband categorized it as "unfair good" - so he really liked it!

Oh & one more thing, if you're banking on left overs you should just go ahead & triple the recipe - it's that good.

Click through for some fresh photos!