Linguini with Peppers and Sausage.

You my friends will need:

sausage. I opted for chicken sausage, because it makes me feel like I'm eating healthier
peppers.  I like red and yellow.  They taste yummy and they look pretty
onion.  I used a jumbo sweet one

garlic.  I used FIVE good sized cloves                                                            
white wine-go ahead and pour a glass    
fennel seed
fresh parsley.  I used Italian parsley because it sounds fancier :-)
Parmesan cheese. I always use the block and grate as needed...HUGE difference
pasta.  You can use whatever you have.  I prefer linguine, or a thinner noodle

Optional is crushed red pepper

Start the water to boil for pasta

chop everything. 
I did this all on the same cutting board.  If you do the same I would not leave them on the cutting board, but put them in individual bowls, or on a plate.  I ended up contaminating my parsley and had to chop more.  By everything, I mean the garlic, onion, peppers and parsley.

When the water for pasta starts to boil, you want to SALT THE WATER BEFORE adding pasta. I use Kosher salt and I always think I used too much, but I don't. 

Use a pot, or skillet that is high enough to hold the finished product.

In this pot add enough water to cover almost half of the sausage.
Add whole sausages and  cover with a lid.  I'd say cook on Med for 10-12 minutes.   It's okay if it isn't totally cooked, but you want it good enough to cut easy.

Check your pasta.  As soon as it is done you want to remove it from the heat and drain.  VERY IMPORTANT:  RESERVE THE PASTA WATER.  You don't have to keep it all...I'd say a cup to be safe.

well, the one on the left is before and the other is after.  And you can't see the same measurements, but you get the general idea, right??  This is how much pasta water I used.  I think I could have used about 1/4 cup more, but it was still GREAT!!






Okay, after the 8, or 10, or 12 minutes of steaming/cooking sausage remove it from the pot or skillet.  Slice into...slices :-)

Add olive oil and heat up on medium on the low-ish side

Add onions and saute until they start to get soft, then add garlic.

If you are gonna add crushed red pepper, you should add it when you add the garlic.

Cook the garlic and onions until the onions are translucent and then add the peppers.  You want to salt and

pepper the veggies.  This is when I add some of my favorite Italian Seasoning..

You want to cook the veggies for another few minutes and then pour in the wine.  I used about 1/4 a cup.  Then, I topped off my glass and then added another splash to the pot.  Cook it down until the wine is almost cooked out. 

 Now you will add your sausage slices and fennel seed.

Now take your pasta and add it to the pot.  This is where tongs will come in handy.  You want to toss the pasta to mix the sausage and veggies into it.  Start adding your reserved pasta water a little at a time.  You don't it soaked, or runny just a little wet to help mix it all up.  The pasta water also adds a great flavor.

Now take your parsley and fresh parm and cover the top of the pasta

and using your tongs gently toss it all together.  I gotta take a blog lesson... adding these pictures keeps messing the text up!!  Frustrating!!  Love this dish!!  I served it with stuffed bread, which I will blog about next.  Just not tonight, because this is taking forever!!

EMJOY!!

 

Italian Beef Stew

Let me start off with an apology.  I am going to do my best to make my posts easy to read and more importantly easy to follow in the kitchen, but if you know me you know first hand what un-medicated ADD looks like.  I am also going to do my best to take pictures as I go, but for this first recipe I only have a finished picture.

I was hanging with my friend Audrey (who is an amazing cook-I'm sure you will hear her name often) when she was preparing this dish.  It should be said that hers was Italian Beef Soup.  You will learn that I base my creations off of recipes, but rarely do I follow them.  Sometimes this is disastrous, but usually it works to my benefit!  Cooking is like painting to me.  I love it.  I love the planning, picking and the process.  I really love sharing it.  Cooking for people is what cooking is about.

I hope that you are able to try some of this stuff to share with those you love.  I would really love if you would let me know how it works out for you!!

Let's get this going...

You will need:

From the store
-beef.  I recommend getting a roast and asking the butcher to cut it into stew pieces.  It's more tender.
-onion (I used 2)
-fresh garlic (I used 3 cloves)
-RED WINE
-chicken broth (in the box)
-can tomatoes (I used 4 small cans...it tasted great, but was almost too much for the pot)
-carrots
-celery
-red potatoes
-portobello mushroom
-Polenta

From the kitchen
-Italian seasoning (I have and love the McCormick blend that you grind as needed)
-Salt and Pepper
-capers
-oregeno
-olive oil
-block Parmesan cheese

OKAY.
Before you start I would open the wine and pour a glass.  Then, chop your onions, garlic, and veggies.  I didn't cut my carrots-I had the mini ones in the fridge and they worked great.  I also had portobello slices.

You want to flour and salt and pepper the meat really good.  I put flour in a baggie and then added the meat.  It was a mistake because I had too much flour and it caused trouble a little later on.  I would recommend putting the meat in the bag and then adding flour and salt and pepper.  I don't wanna scare you, because I think the extra flour made the stew so good, but when I was browning the meat it scalded the pot...which added an extra 20 minutes because I had to scrape the black tar out...

So, now that your have floured your meat you need to pour olive oil in the pot and turn the eye up on like medium high...you wanna get your oil hot, hot, HOT!!  Cross your fingers and drop that meat in.  Flip it around and DON'T walk away.  You don't want to cook the meat...just barely brown the outside.  Let me tell you I was freaking out because of the extra flour that was burning, so I took my meat out before it was browned on every side and my meat wasn't raw when the stew finished.

After you brown your meat you want to remove it from the pot and turn the eye down on low.  This is when I had to scrape the pot...I talked to Audrey and ideally you will have some goo to scrape and keep with the meat...but mine was scorched, so I had to chunk it.  I'm guessing that if there isn't any oil left you should add a little more and then add the onions.  Sautee them about halfway and then add the garlic. Continue cooking over low heat until the onions are translucent.

Now for the real fun...  add the browned meat to the onion and garlic.  Then, you want to pour wine over it.  I used about a third of a bottle.  I immediately thought I was gonna fail.  It looked like purple mush.  I got my wooden spoon out and just sort of stirred it around.  I would guess this went on for about 20 minutes...until the wine cooked off.  The rest of the bottle is fair game now.

Decide how many servings of polenta you are going to make.  I did a serving and a half.  It was more than enough for 5 of us.  So, for my 1.5 cups of polenta I was supposed to use 4.5 cups of water.  I poured out a cup of broth from my box and set it aside.

When the wine cooks off add the celery, tomatoes, and broth.  I cooked this long enough for the tomato/acid flavor to cook off.  And to drink a glassish of wine.  I added the carrots and potatoes during that time.  I'd say 35ish minutes after adding the broth.  The last thing I ordered was the mushrooms.  Let it cook until the veggies start to get soft, but aren't mushy.

Remove from the eye and cover with a lid and let it sit for an hour.  After about 45 minutes take the broth that you set aside and add the right amount of water to it.  Bring to a boil and add the polenta.  You wanna stand over it and stir for about 5 minutes.  Then take off of the heat and cover and let sit for a few minutes.  Take the Parmesan block and grate over the polenta in the pot.  I overdue the cheese, but honestly I don't think you can overdue it.Mash and stir your cheese around in your polenta.

Now you wanna get your bowls out and put a scoop of polenta in each one and then cover with stew.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!

Give me just a little more time.....

Okay, it is so late, but I am here.  I don't love the layout of the blog.  I am gonna keep trying to figure this design thing out.  My first post will be my Italian Beef Stew.  I am so proud of how it came out.  Actually I will probably do a post about how and why I cook.  If I can't get a good design this week-I promise to start posting as is. 

"The most important things to do in the world are to get something to eat something to drink and somebody to love you.”