Angry Sauce

So what a nice day I've had! I didn't go to work (I used my "Summer Friday." We get one Friday off per month during the summer months). I went shopping and bought two dresses, one is adorable and the other is very sophisticated and grown up. Then I came home and set myself to cooking. So what did I make on a day when I felt generally great? Arrabbiata Sauce (the "angry sauce" as Teresa calls it) over some penne purchased at A&S Fine Foods in Wyckoff, NJ (awesome as always, and now you Real Housewife viewers out there have seen the inside of A&S!). Arrabbiata Sauce is a spicy sauce, and I can still feel the oils from the pepper flakes on my mouth and lips. Delicious!

So, if my name and super pale appearance in the photo i posted didn't tip you off, I'm not Italian. The majority of my ancestors are from Northern Europe, Ireland, England, France and the Netherlands. So cooking spicy foods shouldn't really be in my blood. It's a joke in my family, actually, when my grandmother eats something sprinkled with pepper she immediately will grab her glass of water and go "oh! oh my! that's too hot for me!" So, generally speaking Northern Europeans overcook their meats and underspice their foods! I don't mind food from Ireland/England/Germanic/Scandinavian Countries, I actually enjoy those foods, but I really really love foods with a lot of flavor (and prefer my meat cooked rare!). That's why I really enjoyed this arrabbiata sauce!

The sauce takes a while to cook, but the good thing about sauce is that it requires little interference when cooking. After I made the "Quickie Sauce" I just sauteed some onions and garlic and pepper flakes and just threw it all in the base tomato sauce I had made. I just let the sauce simmer for an hour!
The recipe recommends 40 minutes, but it goes on to day the longer the sauce simmers the spicier it becomes. Who am I to turn down extra spice? Not being particularly hungry and in a rush (ah the joys of time off) I left it on the extra twenty minutes. With excellent results. The sauce was spicy, but not overwhelmingly so. Like I said, it's the sort of spice that lingers with you afterward. I think that's a good thing!Anyway, I am headed out to a housewarming party (though it's less housewarming centric and more party centric, I believe) tonight, but I might have an update tomorrow! Check back then and enjoy this lovely June Friday!

Second Wind

I know I said I was going to take a few days off, relax and recuperate because this is an emotionally stressful week for me. All of this on top of an intensified (though with good reason, like I said, our publication launched and I am so so happy about that!) week at work. I had prior plans tonight and didn't expect to get home until 11pm. I also thought this would impede my ability to update. However, the prior engagement was canceled, and I found myself home by 7:20. I decided to unwind and kill time by making dinner.
I actually made two dishes tonight! Both were SO easy to make, and equally as delicious. I made Skinny Pasta al Burro and Brushchetta E Prosciutto. Both dishes are simple and require very little prep. Planned right, they could both easily be made in half and hour.


Up first is the pasta. The recipe's preface said that the quality of the dish depends upon the quality of the ingredients used. So I splurged, and I bought fresh pasta and parmigiano that was aged two years. The cheese was sharp, and so delicious. It was a little pricey, but worth it. Plus, I still have a lot of cheese left over. This dish doesn't have much to it as far as ingredients go, but it does have a great taste. It's a total palette pleaser. I bet it would be hard to find someone that would dislike this dish!

Next, the prosciutto bruschetta. Also easy to make! Baking time is ten minutes and prep time probably five. Seriously, so easy. They also look fantastic finished. This little dish would make a GREAT starter dish to serve at a party or dinner. I think I might make it for our annual Christmas party. I have a feeling it will be a hit. The saltiness of the prosciutto really stands out, followed by the olive oil and then the garlic. I do not know if you all have noticed but garlic takes on this different taste when it's baked. It's less pungent but still delicious. It all worked together great in this dish! My suggestion is as follows: MAKE IT (ok, so maybe I am a slightly biased sodium fiend, so what!).
Come back to the blog on Friday! More food-related updates!

Go Green

I probably should have made tonight's dish last week considering the namesake of the dish was introduced to Real Housewife viewers last week. That's right, I made Audriana's Pesto. The recipe was pretty straightforward and easy to make. This is actually the first time I've attempted to make pesto and I think the end results were really great (I wish I had photos, but my phone's bluetooth and email aren't working oddly. Side note, I hate my phone and cannot wait to get the iPhone 4). So I'm just putting in pictures from other places of pesto.



Pesto is a powerful dish, and this one had a lot of bite. Basil and garlic and pine nuts and everything else! It really packs a punch, but taste great. I've actually been a fan of pesto for about as long as I can recall (though at one point i didn't eat it for a year or two because I happened to eat it before a strain of stomach flu set in-though the pesto didn't make me sick, I just sadly happened to eat my mom's home made before the virus attacked!).

Teresa gives two way of preparing the pesto- mortar and pestle or food processor. I thought about the mortar and then I realized wait I just got back from work after being the from 8:20am to 6:00pm (our managing editor from the London office- who actually happens to be Italian! flew in today, so I got there early to make sure I was ready), and today was the first day back in the office after a three-day weekend at the beach that involved lots of drinking and a horrible sun burn. Needless to say I went with my better judgment and used the food processor.

I thought the process was going to be arduous. My mother told me it would be. Actually, the dish was easy to make! I think my mother just didn't want me using her beloved Cuisinart! But it was easy and so worth it! I will definitely make this dish again. I think that because it is so easy to make that this will be a fun dish to experiment with the proportions of the ingredients- you know, a little more basil, less garlic etc etc!



Anyway, next meal to be made either Thursday or Friday! Make sure to check back then!