Giada's Savory Tomato Pasta Sauce

I've found that in Europe you can often find jarred pasta sauce that resembles something you would get in Italy.  But in the US, I've found that almost everything is full of sugar and has a very different taste than the authentic stuff.  Maybe what one gets in the USA is from some regional part of Italy, however, from the places I have been there, I have never tasted anything similar.  Or maybe Americans just love things that are full of sugar (take a look at the bread aisle for example... everything is so much sweeter than what you would get anywhere else in the world!).  Who knows exactly what the deal is.

Regardless of how much I don't like the run of the mill sauces in the US, I for some reason have been on an eternal quest to find something that will be a good enough substitute for homemade sauce.  I finally think I may have found it.  

Target does all those designer exclusives, and apparently, they also do chef exclusives.  Giada De Laurentiis - who has the Food Network show and is on the Today Show quite often - has an exclusive line of Italian sauces at Target.

I was in Target and noticed them on a random evening as I roamed the grocery section.  As I looked them over with a dubious eye, I saw that one was called SAVORY tomato sauce.  So, I decided to give it a go.  The fact that it said savory really gave me hope, since so many of the US tomato sauces are so sweet.

I cooked it up one night recently when I was tired and didn't feel like making something from scratch.  I was so delighted when I found myself, my mom and my husband all gobbling it down!  It was pretty darn tasty and I was quite pleased.

If you are in a Target with grocery sometime soon, I encourage you to give the sauce a try.  I'm not sure what Giada's other sauces are like, but I am going to give another type a try the next time I shop at Target.  Kudos to Giada for sticking to her roots and creating something pretty authentic and very yummy. 

Penne alla' Amatriciana aka Bacon Pasta

This recipe is an old favorite of mine. I think it's one of the first things I learned to cook. Who doesn't love something with pancetta or bacon as one of the flavors?



Penne alla' Amatriciana
Serves 4 for dinner

Ingredients
1/4-1lb of chopped/cut bacon or pancetta
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 cans of petite diced tomatoes
1 small can of tomato sauce
1/2 cup of white wine
1 pound of penne pasta
1 tsp of red pepper flakes
1 tsp of freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste
Parmesan cheese

Quick tip: It's really easy to cut bacon with scissors.



Brown the bacon in a large deep bottomed pan. When the bacon is done, remove it from the pan and set aside. Throw away the bacon fat left in the pan by pouring it out. Do not wash the pan; the bits of bacon left in the bottom of the pan have a lot of flavor.





Next, add the olive oil to the pan and sweat the onion and garlic with the red pepper flakes, and black pepper until the onions are soft.





Add the white wine to the pan, and reduce the mixture until there is almost no liquid left.



Finally, add the bacon, the tomato sauce, and the two cans of diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil.



Turn down and simmer the sauce for approximately 30 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally.



Cook the pasta until al dente. Add to the sauce, and stir for about one minute, until the sauce binds to the pasta.

Serve piping hot, with Parmesan cheese to garnish.

Fettucine With Shrimp and Grape Tomatoes

I was really hungry so I wanted to make something really quick. After searching around the kitchen for a minute, I found some grape tomatoes, frozen shrimp, a package of fettucine, garlic, and a lime. I could easily make a fast meal out of these ingredients; the longest part of the meal would be cooking the pasta.

So, I put the water on to boil. Here's the recipe I came up with.



Fettucine with Shrimp and Grape Tomatoes
Makes 3 servings

Ingredients
3/4 package fettucine (I used Barilla)
Approximately 100 ounces of grape tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes), halved
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 lb of raw, deveined shrimp
Juice of one lime (or lemon)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp chili flakes
salt to taste
Parmesan cheese to garnish

Heat the olive oil in a large bottomed pan or wok. Saute garlic until very lightly golden brown, approximately 2 minutes.



Add the grape tomatoes. Saute for about two minutes, until it starts to look like the tomatoes are softening and breaking down a little.



Next, add the shrimp. Cook the shrimp until it turns pink. If the pan is nice and hot, this will only take a couple of minutes.



Add the chili flakes, salt, pepper, and lime juice.



Finally, add the pasta. Leave a little bit of pasta water to add to the mixture. The starch in the water will help the pasta to bind to the sauce. Stir well.





Serve hot, and sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top.

Italian Style Meatballs Are Easy!

For some reason, I thought meatballs were complicated to make. I don't know why I had that impression. Maybe it's because there are quite a few ingredients that go into the little round wonders, or maybe because it's a multiple step process to make meatballs. At any rate, I discovered it's incredibly easy, and also very delicious!

Meatballs
Makes 5 servings

1.5 pounds meatloaf mixture (1/3 ground beef, 1/3 ground veal, 1/3 ground pork)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs
Oil for frying

Combine all the ingredients! Mix with your hands to really make sure everything is well blended.



Form one inch balls with the mixture. The colder the mixture is, the easier it will be to roll the meatballs.






Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large bottomed shallow non stick pan. A medium-high heat will be needed to brown the meatballs nicely.





Add a portion of the meatballs to the pan. It is important to not crowd the pan. Brown them on each side for a couple of minutes, or until they have a nice golden brown color. If you plan on putting the meatballs into a sauce, there is no need to cook them all the way through; a few minutes simmering in their sauce will complete their cooking. If you plan on eating them without immersing them in sauce, once they are browned, turn down the heat to low and cook for a further five minutes, making sure to turn them so that they do not get burned.



I placed my meatballs in my simple tomato sauce recipe, and simmered them for about 5 minutes before serving over pasta. Definitely an all time favorite with Americans I think!

Very Simple, Basic, Tomato Sauce

This is the simplest of the simple tomato sauces. It's so easy to stir up, and many things can be added to it. It also freezes well, so it can be made ahead of time in anticipation of not having enough time to cook a homemade meal.

Add meatballs to this sauce, or scoop some of this sauce in with a bunch of freshly sauteed veggies to make a healthy pasta dinner. It would also be great as the sauce for eggplant or chicken parm. Or us it as a dipping sauce with bread. It's extremely diverse!

Simple Tomato Sauce
Makes 2 Servings

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cans chopped tomatoes which have been pulsed a few times in a chopper
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 heaping tsp sugar
salt to taste
handful of freshly chopped basil, and or parsley (optional)

Heat the oil in a shallow pan. Add the garlic, chili flakes, salt and pepper and saute. It is important to pay very close attention to the garlic. It should take 1-2 minutes for the garlic to become very lightly brown.



Have the tomatoes ready and add them to the pan. Stir all the ingredients together. Finally add the sugar and stir. Let the sauce simmer on a low heat for 10-20 minutes.



If you are planning to add basil or parsley, add it during the last 5 minutes of cooking.



It's possible to use fresh tomatoes for this recipe, but it would make it much more expensive and laborious. Also, tomatoes should be in season so that they actually have some flavor! If you do decide to use fresh tomatoes, they will need to be peeled and chopped. It would probably take 8-10 plum tomatoes to create the same amount of sauce.

Minestrone Soup

Minestrone soup makes a nice comforting meal when it's cold outside. It's also got all kinds of good veggies in it, making it a healthy choice as well. To make it vegan, just change the chicken stock for vegetable stock, and use a substitute for the parmesan cheese. Don't be scared to use some creative license with your soup; if you have some extra veggies begging to be used, try adding them in. The overall taste of your soup will change slightly, but minestrone soup is all about taking what's leftover in the house and making a delicious meal.

Minestrone Soup
Feeds 4 for dinner

Ingredients
3 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, grated
1-2 medium-large potatoes, cubed
1 green zucchini, cut into small pieces
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 cup uncooked tube pasta
1 can of navy beans, drained and rinsed
8 cups of chicken stock
1 tbsp olive oil
Parmesan cheese to garnish
1 bunch of broccoli rabe (optional)



Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add garlic, onion, celery, carrot and potato and saute until softened, about 10 minutes.

Next, add the tomatoes, and stock. Bring to a boil. Simmer for approximately 10 minutes.



Add the zucchini and the beans, and simmer for another 5 minutes.



Take off the heat, and add the broccoli rabe. Let sit for a further 5 minutes.

Serve hot and garnish with a nice helping of parmesan cheese.

Veal Parmigiana

A friend asked me to put this up on my blog. I had never actually made veal parmigiana before, so I looked up some recipes online. It's definitely an Italian American favorite. You could change this recipe by substituting thin eggplant rounds or chicken breast.

I think the key to a good "Parmigiana" is to make sure that whatever the main event is (veal, chicken, eggplant) should be as thin as possible. For eggplant this just means slicing it carefully, but for veal and chicken it means pounding it thin. You can pound meat thinner with a special instrument like this, or you can just use something heavy like a rolling pin.

Veal Parmigiana
Makes approximately 8 servings

Ingredients
8 veal scallops
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 and 1/2 cups of pasta sauce (your favorite jarred sauce)
2/3 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 cup of plain breadcrumbs
1/2 cup of all purpose flour
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 cup of mozzarella cheese (or 16 thin slices of fresh mozzarella)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper

Start by making sure the veal is thin enough, if not, pound it until it is very thin, approximately 1/2 a centimeter thick. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Next, mix the breadcrumbs, 1/2 a cup of the Parmesan, the Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper on a plate. Place the flour on to a plate. Place the beaten eggs on to a plate or into a shallow bowl. This is your assembly line.

Take each piece of veal through the assembly line; first, cover the veal lightly with flour. Next, dip and get a light coating of egg all over. Finally, cover the veal with the breadcrumb mixture. Make sure the veal is well covered with breadcrumbs. Repeat the process for your other pieces of veal.

Heat up your olive oil on a medium-high flame. When the oil is hot, add a couple of pieces of veal, cooking on each side approximately 2-3 minutes. Do not crowd the pan. You want the veal to be slightly brown and crispy on the outside. Remove veal from the pan and leave to drain on paper towels. Repeat process until all of the veal is cooked.



Lightly coat a oven safe dish with oil to prevent sticking. Add about a cup of the tomato sauce - just enough to cover the bottom of the pan with a thin layer. Next, add the veal. You can overlap pieces depending on the size of the pan. On top of the veal add the remainder of the tomato sauce. Finally, add the mozzarella over the top of the veal, and then sprinkle some Parmesan on top. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes. If you wish to brown the top, remove the foil for the last 5-10 minutes of baking, or put under a broiler for a minute or two.

I served my veal parmigiana with regular spaghetti and some extra tomato sauce.

Salami and Prosciutto

These are some of the treats that I got from Calabria Pork Store on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. The best part about the Pork Store was the variety of prosciutto's and salami's they had, and, the price! All of the delicious things I bought were only 5.99 per pound! If you go to a deli where they have more than the usual sopprosetta and genoa salami, try some new varieties. They each have their own unique flavors because of the way they have been cured; for example, some salami's are more peppery, and some are more garlicy. The dry air cured hams can also vary a lot in taste; there is the regular prosciutto, but you can also get varieties of pork which have had a combination of air drying and smoking. I love the smoked varieties of pork.



Prosciutto is a delicious savory treat. Try wrapping prosciutto around figs, or cantaloupe, or asparagus. The balance of salty and sweet can be extremely delicious and will have you coming back for seconds and thirds. Prosciutto can also make a delicious sandwich; try it on rosemary focaccia, with a little balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, fresh mozzarella and a ripe tomato. Or eat it plain with a nice piece of whole grain or nutty bread. I had prosciutto with a walnut baguette once and it was incredibly tasty.



Above is a photo of how you would traditionally cut prosciutto; I saw this traditional method being used in Italy at a market in Rome. The iron frame holds the meat in place, and you use a special foot long knife to gently slice across the top of the meat in a back and forth sawing motion. Slicing a prosciutto like this definitely takes a lot of practice and it's fun to observe and watch people slicing the meat this way.

Pesto with Fresh Egg Noodles

During my trip to Arthur Avenue, the Italian neighborhood in the Bronx, I visited a place called Borgatti's. All they do there is make fresh pasta of different varieties. People were ordering pounds of fresh pasta and ravioli as well as sheets of pasta to make homemade specialties.

When you order fresh noodles at Borgatti's, they take sheets of fresh pasta and ask what width noodles you would like. I didn't really know what size I wanted, so I picked a width somewhere in the middle, probably equivalent to a store bought linguine.

They take the pasta sheets and put them through their industrial sized noodle machine. Low and behold, the noodle sheets came out the other end of the machine in noodle form and in a big heap. After a dusting of semolina flour to keep them from sticking, they wrapped the noodles in paper and weighed them... I think the total came out to $1.73 and the quantity was over a pound. Mmm.. fresh egg noodles!



I was advised not to keep the noodles in the fridge for more than two days. So I had to decide quickly what to make with them. I hadn't made pesto in a long time and it sounded like it would be very good with my fresh noodles.

Pesto Sauce
Makes enough sauce for 1 lb of pasta

Ingredients
1 cup of Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of pine nuts
1 large handful of fresh basil
6 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 cup of olive oil

Combine cheese, pine nuts, basil, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor. Add olive oil slowly to the mixture. You can blend the mixture until it is smooth, or leave it roughly chopped, it just depends on your preference. Either way, the end result will taste delicious.

Fresh pasta only takes about 5 minutes to cook. Once the noodles are done, pour sauce over them, and stir over heat until all the pasta has some sauce on it. Serve piping hot!

Arthur Avenue

Yesterday I ventured to a famous Bronx spot; the legendary Arthur Avenue. It's considered to be one of the "Little Italy" spots in New York. After a rather long journey (almost 2 hours of bus riding!) I got off the bus. During the last hour of my bus ride, the scenery consisted of bodegas and fried chicken shops. When I rounded the corner on to Arthur Avenue, I was suddenly in a different world!

Arthur Avenue looks a little like something out of the movies; I felt like I would see men in suits standing on a corner with big black town cars nearby. Needless to say this was not exactly what I found, though I did see a huge 1980's black town car at one point! So maybe the mafia aren't in plain sight...

There are a plethora of shops and restaurants on Arthur Avenue; everything you could ever need to create delicious Italian food! The pleasant surprise was the price of most of what I bought. The only expensive items were the olive loaf and the prosciutto bread (but I've never seen prosciutto bread before so I had to try it!) from Madonia Bakery.



There are lots of deli's and cheese shops and pastry shops. I'll leave you with the image below of a deli in the market... lots of tasty treats! If you want more information on Arthur Avenue try www.arthuravenue.com or www.arthuravenuebronx.com.

Ravioli with Bacon, Baby Spinach and Pine Nuts

I had some supplies sitting in the fridge from a recent trip to Costco, and searched to think of a recipe in which I could use a bunch of the ingredients.

Here is what I came up with. It's rich and filling!

Ravioli with Bacon, Baby Spinach and Pine Nuts
Makes 2 servings

Ingredients
1 11oz package of fresh ravioli (I used mushroom ravioli)
2-3 strips of bacon chopped into very small pieces
1 package of baby spinach
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese to garnish


This is a very simple recipe. Brown the bacon until crispy. Add the garlic until it starts to soften. Then add the pine nuts until they start to turn golden brown. If your ravioli is not ready at this point, turn off the mixture until the ravioli is ready.

Ravioli is easy to cook; gently place it in boiling salted water just as you would with pasta. The only trick is to not boil the ravioli too furiously; it will break them and the filling will come out. Simmer the ravioli gently according to the directions on the package - it usually only takes a few minutes.

When the ravioli is almost cooked, add the spinach to the bacon, garlic and pine nuts and add a bit of black pepper to taste. When the spinach starts to wilt, add the ravioli and stir gently until everything is mixed together. Be careful not to break the ravioli's open!

Serve with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.