Vodka Pasta

Vodka pasta always seems like a treat when I go to an Italian restaurant, not thinking I can make it at home. I have tried Ina's vodka pasta recipe and while it turned out well, I was put-off by the complexity of the recipe and the 3 hour cooking time. This basic vodka sauce is from Giada and more importantly, is easy and quick - about 45 min to an hour. 

Vodka Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes

Adapted from Giada

6 garlic cloves (peeled and chopped)

1 large shallot, chopped (or two smaller shallots)

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp dried thyme

1 tbsp dried oregano

2 cans of whole tomatoes

1 small can of tomato paste

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup vodka

1/2 cup Parmesan

1 tsp sugar (more based on your taste)

Garlic powder

S&P

Cherry tomatoes, cut in half (amount is based on what you prefer)
Cooked pasta (Penne and bowtie work well here)

1. In a cold pot, put the chopped garlic, chopped shallots, butter and dried herbs. Turn on the heat to medium high and let it cook down until the shallots start to get a little glazed.

2. Add in the whole tomatoes. I use my wooden spoon and smoosh the tomatoes into large chunks. I like to let this sit for about 5 minutes so the flavors start mixing together. Take a quick taste for flavor. Add in additional dried herbs if you need to.

3. Pour in the vodka.

4. Add in a can of tomato paste. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to medium low and let it cook for 10-15 minutes for the vodka to incorporate well.

5. Now the tasting/testing begins. I add in a tsp of sugar to bring out the flavor of the tomato and a quick dash of garlic powder. Take a quick taste and add in additional sugar, salt and/or pepper.

6. Add in the cream. You can probably omit this step if you prefer, but why?

7. Last, add in the parmesan and your vodka sauce is done!

8. Using a mix of bowtie and penne pasta (so the sauce sticks better and gets into those nooks), I add that to a large medium hot pan with olive oil and additional garlic. I add the cherry tomatoes and give it a give stir to warm through.

9. Add a few large spoonfuls of sauce on top and incorporate well.  Turn off the heat and if you'd like, add additional cheese. Serve with some roasted chicken and veggies! 

Hello My Precious!

No real recipe or restaurant review today, but I simply had to share my excitement of my first tomato plant and the subsequent tomatoes. Oh, look how pretty they are!  How proud I am!

How to eat the first pick? Simple and plain. No seasoning, not fancy smancy preparation. I simply wanted to relish in that first taste of fresh, sweet tomato yummy goodness.

For some reason, I can't bear to cook them and would rather eat them simply sliced. Sliced, sprinkled with a little bit of sea salt, quick spray of some basil infused olive oil and a few fresh basil leaves - also from my garden!

Perfect salad before dinner - or in my case, a great afternoon snack!  

Pasta alla Marsala

When at home, Food Network or HGTV is typically on my TV.  It's the first thing I switch to in the morning and I definitely have my favorites - Ina Garten, Alton Brown, Giadda.  I religiously go to their recipes when I have a main ingredient but no clue on how to cook it.  One of the sunday morning Ina Garten shows included pasta alla vodka and while the recipe looked a tad cumbersome, it looked too delicious not to even try once. 

So, I'm all ready to cook and in the midst of cooking and chopping the first step, I realize I don't have vodka but rum.  DANG IT.  I had to revamp and use marsala wine instead.  So, the end result was good but not spectacular.  It tasted amazingly like the tomato basil soup from La Madeline.  Additonally, this would have been good with some type of protein.  However, the amount of work it took to make this dish - roughly 2 hours, I'm not sure it was worth the end result.  I will have to try again with actual vodka and see if baking this in the oven for an hour makes a big enough difference to go through this process.

Pasta alla Marsala

Adapted from Ina Garten

1/4 cup olive oil

1 onion chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 cup marsala sauce

6 tspn fresh oregano, chopped

2 (28 0z) cans peeled whole tomatoes

3/4 cup heavy cream

S&P

1 lb penne pasta

Fresh grated parmesan

1. Preheat oven toe 375 degrees.

2. In a big saucepan, put on medium high heat and put olive oil and onions.  Mix to coat with oil and then add the garlic - this helps to not burn it.  Then add in the marsala wine and let it reduce by half.

3. Add in the tomatoes, 1/2 of the fresh oregano and S&P.  Cover the pot and put it in the oven for roughly 1 hour.  While this is in the oven, start boiling and cooking the penne pasta.

4. Once time is up, take it out of the oven and let it sit briefly for 10 minutes to cool down.  Take our your food processor and then blend everything up. Then pour blended mixture back into the pot and put it on medium high heat.  Add in rest of the oregano and the cream.  Recipe called for 3/4 but I only used 1/2 cup.  Add in some S&P to taste.

5. Next, add in the pasta and mix thoroughly. Add in the grated parmessan on top and serve!

Tomato & Egg

This may look a little perplexing but this was one of my favorite side dishes growing up.  It's so simple and when you eat it with a hot bowl of rice, so good!  My mom has made this dish since we were itty bitty.  I know the combination is a little odd but for as much reason why wendy's frosties and french fries or sea salt and chocolate go so well together, cooked eggs and tomatoes do too.  These are best when the tomatoes are nice and juicy - not the firm ones.  What makes this dish so good is when the tomato juices ooze out while cooking and then mix with the eggs.  Also, green scallions make this much tastier and add a nice hit of color to the dish as well.

Tomato & Eggs

recipe from my mom

2 large tomatoes, cubed

4 large eggs

1 green scallion, chopped - white and green parts (I didn't have when I made but definitely add it if you have)

Sugar

Salt

1. Clean tomatoes and cut into small cube sizes.  Heat pan with a little bit of oil.  Once hot, add in the tomatoes including all the tomato juice.  Sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over the tomatoes.  Let it cook down until they are soft and start sizzling.  Sprinkle with a tad of salt. 

2. Beat the eggs together - well.  Then when the tomatoes are ready, pour the eggs into the pan.  Let it sit to cook for about 30 seconds and then lightly scramble the eggs with the tomatoes.  I take my spatula and move it from the outside in and make a J.  When the eggs are almost cooked, turn off the heat and add in the chopped scallions.  Lightly incorporate and then serve!  I love this with hot rice. 

Watermelon, Tomato & Basil Skewers

This will be a short post since this receipe was almost too easy. Driving home on Friday and was so thirsty that the thought of eating cold, juicy fruit made me take a side trip to the grocery store. Lots of great fruit in season including lychees at my local HEB...and they are surprisingly so very fresh and delicious. I couldn't resist getting a watermelon as well. Grocery stores are sneaky - they load boxes of great looking watermelon right when you walk into the door so it's impossible to miss and then to make it more appetizing, they 'display' the red-ish, juiciest watermelon halves so that you always believe whichever melon you pick, it's going to be just as good. So back to the appetizer. While cutting the watermelon into cubes, noticed I had some tomatos as well. Hrm...they look pretty together so they must taste yummy together! I lucked out, I was right. Well, I couldn't do just that.....why not grill! I also couldn't resist pairing them with basil and with my new basil plant that has been growing like crazy, seemed like a perfect combination. These made a great complement to a bbq dinner or could just be a fun appetizer to enjoy while your entree is still cooking.

Watermelon, Tomato & Basil Skewers

Skewers:

16 cubes of watermelon (roughly 1.5 inch)

1 - 2 tomato cut into big chunks (or you can use cherry tomatoes)

12 fresh leaves of basil

Salt

Dressing:

2 tablespoon Basalmic vinegar

2 tablespoon good olive oil

pinch of salt

pinch of sugar

1. Make sure to soak your wood skewers in water for a few minutes so they don't burn on the grill (like mine did...I didn't follow directions.) Alternate a watermelon, basil, tomato on a skewer. I put two of each on one skewer and made roughly 8 skewers.

2. Sprinkle two sides with salt.

3. Grill! Should take about 4 minutes for each side. I grilled only two sides.

4. For the dressing, pour basalmic vinegar into a bowl. Whisk and slowly pour in olive oil until dressing gets a little thicker. Add salt and sugar. Taste and add more as you need. I also chopped up basil.

5. Drizzle the dressing over the skewers. Eat as soon as they come off the grill so they are still warm!