Recently, my wife Ana surprised me with a delicious Dominican dish – sancocho. This stew of beef, chicken, sausage, potato, yucca, plantain, squash, corn, and more is a veritable ‘stick to your ribs’ type of meal. Sumptuous and satisfying, this treat is a labor of love and usually served on special occasions simply with white rice. Well, I can say this – it was a special occasion to come and find this dinner waiting for me! Now to work on the recipe… Thank you baby, te amo mas cariño mio! Enjoy…
I want to give a hearty thanks to the gang at Mad and Delicacy for sharing this recipe recently. After seeing this delicious and simple dish, I knew I had to make it for one. This pasta dish is perfect for a quick weeknight meal and a budget conscious diner. Originating from Nursia in the central region of Italy – a town well known for scenery, truffles, and sausages – this dish is similar to many regional favorites like Penne Arrabiatta, Pasta all’Amatriciana, Pasta alla Genovese, Pasta Puttanesca, Spaghetti alla Carbonara, and a host of others. Made with just pasta (like penne), Italian sausage, Parmesan cheese, butter, and cream, it definitely is not a diet friendly dish though. Oh well, you can’t have everything…
I found this dish researching some other recipes I want to make and the simplicity really struck me. A one pot pasta dinner that really works? Well, the gang at Serious Eats seem to think so, so who am I to question it? The truth is, this dish is super simple and really delicious! The sausage creates the base flavor, the spinach adds its supporting flavors, and all of it is bound to the pasta with a little cream and a heap of Romano cheese. While this dish may not make the weight loss cookbooks, it makes mine for being a simple, delicious one pot pasta that satisfies the need for a quick meal. So if you are seeking a way to enjoy spinach and pasta, give this…
OK, now that I have your attention with that beautiful recipe title, I am sure you want to know what it is. Well, it is meatballs in a roasted red pepper sauce. Doesn’t that sound delicious? I thought so, that’s why I made it. I used mild Italian sausage, whole milk ricotta, and panko crumbs for the meatballs to create a mild flavor that will not compete with the robust sauce. Mentioning the sauce, it is simply flavored so the roasted red peppers shine. It seems that this dish would be one dimensional, but the beauty is in the sum of all the parts. The sausage renders its juices into the sauce, the sauce gains a silky mouth feel with that lovely pork flavor…
What? Did I just hear a collected groan and harrumph of disbelief in being able to make a delicious lasagna for one? Well, you are partially correct. This recipe is perfect for two… or one with a nice serving as leftovers. Normally I do not like leftovers, but there are a few dishes I make exceptions for – goulash, schnitzel, and lasagna among my favorites. This recipe is a little more involved than my typical quick and easy style, but this dish deserves the extra effort. But in all honesty, the toughest part may be finding a small baking dish. I use a 7x5x1.5 (3 cup) size Pyrex baking dish. Once you have that small baking dish, just think of how wonderful it will be to…
Tonight I decided to perform a different type of mash-up. This one is doing a Creole flavored fried rice cooked like an Asian fried rice. As many of you know, gumbo is served over rice, jambalaya is everything cooked together, etc so I thought “Why not do an Asian fried rice with Creole seasonings and such?’. Hot country sausage, the trinity (onion, bell pepper, celery), long grain rice, Tabasco, and Creole seasoning replace chicken, broccoli, soy sauce, etc. The results were, if I say so myself, fabulous. If you enjoy Cajun and Creole cooking, this is a recipe I suggest you try. It’s easy and it’s a whole lot of flavor. Can you hear the zydeco playing already? Save Print Creole…
Tonight I am making a simple, but tasty Hungarian bean and sausage soup – bableves kolbásszal. Since finding this gyulai kolbalsz at a local international market, I searched for recipes to try with it. This recipe is a mash-up of several I found on Hungarian blogs and web sites. I think the sausage is the star, but do not count out the supporting players, These supporting ingredients bring a wonderful depth of flavor – turnips, parsnips, carrots, onion, parsley, garlic and of course… bacon! Add sour cream and vinegar and this soup has pizazz! Give this hearty and flavorful soup a chance and you’ll be celebrating Hungarian cuisine like me! Save Print Bableves Kolbásszal Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: …
Tonight we are going Cajun with some Jambalaya! You may be thinking”What? How do you do that for one person? And doesn’t it take a lot of work?” Well, the answer is… jambalaya is a simple dish to prepare and of course you can make it for one person. Let me show you how I do it! Save Print Prawn and Sausage Jambalaya Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 35 mins Total time: 50 mins Serves: 1 Ingredients 1 andouille sausage, sliced 6 – 8 large prawns, peeled and deveined ½ green pepper, diced (approximately ½ cup) 1 stalk celery, diced (approximately ½ cup) ½ onion, diced (approximately ½ cup) 1 tomato, diced (approximately ½ cup) 2 cloves…
Remember in one of my first posts I mentioned planning to reduce the possibility of waste. Well, when I used the ricotta in two recent recipes (Simple Stollen and Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Waffles), I still had approximately 1/4 cup remaining. Not wanting to waste it, I built this recipe around it. It is a simple recipe and easy to adapt to other ingredients like chicken instead of sausage; brussel sprouts, green beans or cauliflower instead of broccoli; etc. Just know that for all the planning, sometimes you just have to wing it. So, are you ready to try something new and delicious? If so, then dive right in! Save Print Orchiette with Italian Sausage and Broccoli with Lemon Ricotta Sauce Prep time: 10 mins Cook time…
Tonight I made a delicious and simple Hungarian stew based on a recipe I found online from Chef Clara Czegeny. This dish uses Hungarian spicy smoked sausage like Csabai Kolbász and potatoes as the primary ingredients. Add to those basics two different types of Hungarian paprika and you can imagine the wonderfully robust flavors you are about to enjoy. Of course, I tweaked the recipe slightly – adding diced roasted red pepper and a sectioned carrot – because I wanted to incorporate just a slight sweetness to balance out the spice and earthiness. This dish comes together quick and easy, so it is perfect any night of the week. Are you ready to take a quick trip to Hungary to satisfy your hunger? I am! Save Print…