Easy Marinara

3-6 oz olive oil (good quality, but need not be extra virgin, save your money. The more oil you add the more flavor it will have. Beyond 6 oz will make it seem oily though.)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced (don't use the pre minced crap, it has a bitter taste)
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (find a good brand that doesn't have too many seeds, skins, or other unwanted crap)
1-2 fresh leaves of basil
or
5-8 fresh leaves of Italian parsley.
3/4 to 1 lb of pasta

Directions:
1. Start the water for the pasta to boil. For this recipe I use a big pot, and a little bit less than a gallon of water. Salt it with about four teaspoons of salt, don't skimp on the salt, you can always tell when pasta hasn't been salted correctly and there is no remedy after it's cooked.
2. In a 14 inch skillet or a deep sided 10-12 inch saute pan heat the oil to a medium temperature. The size of the pan is important (more on this later). Add the garlic and let it cook for a few minutes. Do not let any of the garlic get brown, at that point it's overcooked which makes it bitter.
3. Add the tomatoes and stir together with a wide, flat wooden spoon or spatula. Bump up the heat to medium high until it starts bubbling and then back it off back to medium.
4. At this point the water should be close to boiling, when it is, add the pasta. This recipe will make up to a pound of pasta, but it's best with just a bit less than a pound. Cook it until it's just al dente.
5. While the pasta is cooking you want to take your spoon/spatula and smash the tomatoes up with the flat side. Do this until it becomes somewhat smooth and the chunks are not noticeable. Depending on how much the tomatoes have cooked before you start it shouldn't take but a few minutes to get it to the right consistency, which for me is not chunky, but definitely not a smooth paste.
6. When the sauce is at this consistency it's basically done, cooking it any more will not help it. You can add a lot of different things at this point or you can leave it like it is and just add the basil or the parsley. If you just want the simple tomato sauce then turn off the heat and add the chopped basil. If you like a bit more acid, try a dash of basalmic vinegar (I'd recommend investing in a decent quality one from Caputo's in Salt Lake . . . they have this white truffle-infused number that's delicious). We will do a dash or two of Tabasco at this point, too.

This recipe is quite adaptable to various types of seafood, particularly shellfish. Use parsley instead of basil of using seafood.. When the pasta is done, the dish is done. Drain it and then put it into the saute pan with the sauce still in it. This is key to getting the best flavor from your sauce. A lot of people make the mistake of cooking their sauce in a small pan and then pouring it over the pasta in a separate dish or in the big pot, thus leaving a lot of the flavor that has been built up in the sauce (the oil that stays in the pan holds the flavor). This is one reason why it's important to cook your sauce in a large pan, you want to be able mix the pasta with it while it's still in the pan. The other reason is that it with more surface area it will cook faster, which is a big part of this recipe's convenience.

A word on serving and garnishing

Italians always eat pasta in bowls. A standard place setting includes a dinner plate with a pasta bowl on top. Pasta is always a first course, so when it's done you clear the bowls and you have a clean plate to serve your second course (which for us is usually a simple salad).

Garnishes
The most common garnish for pasta is of course Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. A few other good cheese options include Grana Padano (very similar to Parmigiano Reggiano) or pecorino romano, which is goats cheese and therefore much more pungent. Sometimes when I'm making just a simple tomato sauce I'll add a small pat of butter while I'm mixing it with the sauce. It gives it a nutty flavor that goes well with the cheese.

An Italian would never add cheese to any dish that had any sort of fish in it. It's seen as repulsive and a big no no in Italian cuisine. To garnish the sauce with seafood you can add a few drops of a high quality, robust and fruity extra virgin olive oil to each individual dish and maybe a bit of fresh pepper. I really like Greek olive oils for this (Hygea is a favorite brand) because they are similar to a lot of strong southern Italian oils.

There you have it a great meal in 30-40 minutes depending on how long it takes you to boil water and cook pasta.

Cranberry Ginger Scones

These are dainty, British tea-party scones. NOT fried batter with cinnamon-sugar scones (Which are delicious but NOT scones. Sorry. I don't make the rules). I got turned on to scones when my roommate made them for me and served them with lime curd and Devonshire cream. Now they are an obsession. If you're shy about ginger, leave out the crystallized ginger and stick to the fresh and powdered gingers. But for those of you who love ginger, it's not overpowering. I promise!

Cranberry-Ginger Scones
Serves 12 scones

3 cups flour
1/2 cup plus 1 TBS Sugar (plus more for dusting)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Dash of salt (or 1/2 tsp if using unsalted butter)
3/4 cup COLD butter (1-1/2 sticks)
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 C dried cranberries
1/4 cup baker's crystalized ginger, diced fine
1 tsp dried ground ginger
1 TBS fresh grated ginger
1 cup buttermilk OR 1/2 C plain yogurt + 1/3 C milk


1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, placing rack in the lower third of the oven
2. In a large bowl mix dry ingredients then cut in butter by hand with a pastry blender (or forks if you don't have a pastry blender) until its mixed and looks like crumbs.
3. Add lemon zest, cranberries and ginger(s).
4. Make a well in the center of your mixture (think mashed potatoes with a well for the gravy--same idea). Pour the buttermilk or yogurt and milk into the dry ingredients. Mix until JUST BARELY combined with your hands. Seriously. DO NOT OVERMIX THE SCONES! Unless you're into tough little rocks.
5. On a lightly floured counter, knead the lump once or twice. Divide the lump in half and pat into a flat circle 3/4 in. thick. Your circle will have cracks on the edges. Leave 'em. Don't work the dough any more than you have to.
6. Cut into pie-wedges (about 6 per circle)
7. Put scones on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper (I just use my silicone-glass baking sheets). You can freeze the scones at this point and thaw them for a later date.
8. Brush the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle sugar on top before baking.
9. Bake until the scones are golden-brown and cracking (about 20-25 minutes).
10. Serve with lemon or lime curd and Devonshire cream.

Key Lime Bars

Spring is coming. If I post enough fruit, fresh, and barbecue recipes it will make it true! These amazing little bars are addictive and tangy and springy. They are courtesy of everyone's favorite felon, Martha Stewart. I love all her recipes.

Crust:
1 C plus 2 1/2 TBS finely ground graham cracker crumbs
1/2 C sugar
5 TBS unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
3 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp finely grated lime zest
1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
2/3 C lime juice

Garnish:
Whipped cream
Key limes thinly sliced into half moons

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Make crust: Stir graham crackers, sugar, and butter into bowl and press evenly onto bottom of greased 8 in square baking dish, bake for about 10 mins, let cool completely
3. Make filling:
• Mix egg yolks and lime zest mix on high w/ whisk attachments, until thick, about 5 mins.
• Add sweetened condensed milk in a slow steady stream mixing constantly. Raise to high, mix until thick, about 3 mins.
• Reduce speed to low, add juice, mix until just combined

Spread filling evenly on crust. Bake 10 mins, cool completely, cool at room temp until cool to the touch and then in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.


Garnish

My Mom's Dinner Rolls

Yeah, I know. Three recipes in one day. I got laid off from my job and I'm now made of time.

My mom always forgot to make rolls beforehand and very rarely did they get a chance to rise. Somehow, these always turned out great.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. dry yeast

2 c. warm water

1/3 c. sugar

1/3 c. olive or vegetable oil

1 egg

2 1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 c. nonfat dry milk

5-6 c. all-purpose white flour

Directions:

1) In a large electric mixer (or use a hand mixer with dough attachments) combine yeast and warm water. Let stand 5 minutes

2) Add sugar, oil, egg, dry milk, and salt, plus 2 cups of flour.

3) Mix on high speed until mixture is smooth.

4) Add remaining flour, 1 cup at a time, until dough forms a soft ball.

5) Shape into round balls for rolls. Dough should fill one jellyroll pan, or make 30 balls.

6) Bake at 400 degree for 15-20 minutes.

My Favorite Waffles

I often rely on commercially-available, just-add-water pancake mixes. I wouldn't dream of this for waffles, as it's impossible to get the ideally ethereal, whispery light waffle batter from a mix.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 c. flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 3/4 c. milk (2% is best)

1/2 c. oil (can be halved if watching your figure)

2 eggs, yolks and white separated (set whites aside)

Directions:

1) Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl.

2) In another bowl, beat egg whites only with hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Stiff peaks means when you pull the hand mixer blades up, the egg pulls up from the mixture in little points.

3) In a blender, mix egg yolks, milk, and oil.

4) Pour egg yolk mixture into dry ingredients, stirring until just wet. Do not overmix. Batter will be slightly lumpy.

6) Gently fold in stiffened egg whites. Leave a few egg fluffs visible on top.

7) Pour onto a lightly greased waffle iron. Will make 8-12 waffles depending on the type of waffle iron you use.

Hummus

Motion DeSmith's post about onion dip inspired me to post this easy and delicious homemade hummus recipe. It requires a few ingredients you might not have hanging around the house, but are becoming increasingly available at many food retailers. I could probably die happy eating only Greek/Moroccan food, so I make this stuff pretty frequently.

Ingredients:

1 can 16 oz. chickpeas/Garbanzo beans

2-3 minced garlic cloves

1-2 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/3 c. tahini paste (sesame seed paste; typically comes in a jar or a tin)

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

1/2 tsp. kosher salt (or more to taste)

1/3 c. chickpea liquid, reserved

Directions:

1) Drain chickpeas, reserving liquid for later.

2) In a small skillet over low heat, cook garlic and cumin in 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil, until garlic is soft and cumin is fragrant, about 1 minute.

3) Turn out over chickpeas.

4) Add tahini (it's about the viscosity of peanut butter, so be prepared with a spatula to dig it out of the measuring cup), lemon juice, and salt. Mix in a blender or food processor until smooth.

5) Add chickpea canning liquid to achieve desired consistency.

Variations:

1) At step 4, add some bottled roasted red peppers to the mix.

2) Add roasted eggplant for a variation on baba ghanouj.

3) Add a dash of cayenne for a spicy hummus.

Serve with warm pita bread. You can make your own by setting the oven to 425 degrees and placing a jellyroll pan upside-down in the oven. Make a basic bread recipe, roll out 6-in pieces to 1/8 in thickness, and flip onto the pan for 3-5 minutes (watch carefully! You want them golden brown but not crispy). The heat from the pan and the heat from the air cook the dough on both sides, creating an air bubble inside and thus the enviable pita pocket. This process can take practice, so don't be discouraged if your pitas don't puff up. They will still be tasty.

Carmelized Onion Dip

This is the ultimate dip for ruffley chips for a summer barbecue OR for when you get laid off and want to loaf around in your sweats all day and watch the Food Network. The genius of this dip is that it tastes vaguely reminiscent of the onion dip of your youth, but classed up a notch or two with the addition of caramelized onions and yogurt. Yogurt is necessary for your digestive system, so basically when you eat this dip you're practically doing your body a favor.

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large yellow onions (they look like a lot now, but they'll shrink like a frightened turtle)
• 3/4 C sour cream
• 3/4 C plain or Greek yogurt
• 2 TBS dehydrated onion flakes (to taste)
  
• 1/2 tsp salt

Finely chop onions. Saute onions in the olive oil along with a pinch of salt on medium heat. Stir occasionally, cooking until the onions are deeply golden, brown, and caramelized - roughly 25 -30 minutes. Let cool.

In the meantime, stir together the sour cream, yogurt, onion powder, and salt. The important thing is to add whatever onion powder you are using to taste. Add a bit at a time until it tastes really good. Set aside until the caramelized onions have cooled to room temperature. Stir in 2/3 of the caramelized onions, scoop into a serving bowl, and top with the remaining onions. I think this dip is best at room temperature.

Makes about 2 cups.

From 101 cookbooks.

Stuffed Baby Bells

I made these up one day when trying to decide what to serve with my country style ribs. They pair fantastically with barbecue, but also work well as party food.

1 small clamshell package yellow, red, and orange baby bell peppers (about 8-10 oz)

4 oz (1/2 pkg) 1/3 fat cream cheese
1/4 C shredded mozzarella cheese
1 TBS crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (more to taste)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 roasted red pepper, minced
Dash of salt

Mix all ingredients well

Cut the tops off of baby bells, clean out seedy insides, and stuff with cheese mixture. Put caps back on, exposing some of the cheese mixture in between.

Bake in a rimmed pan or baking sheet at 350 for 15 minutes, until the skins are cooked but not mushy. Blister the outsides by broiling for a couple of minutes.

Use different cheeses if you have them. I like the sharpness of the Gorgonzola with the sweetness of the peppers.

Bison Lentil and Whatever-Else-You-Have-Sitting-Around Chili

The beauty of chili is that, in my opinion, it's really whatever you feel like. It's pretty difficult to screw up chili. It typically involves dumping various cans into a big pot and seasoning them together. It ends up being whatever beans and junk I have in my cabinet. I like using ground bison because it has a soft, woody flavor and about half the fat of ground beef. It's now available at many local grocery stores, including Harmons and Sunflower Market.

I don't use an exact recipe, but here's an approximation of what I made today.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c. whole dry lentils (rinse in a colander, drain, and set aside)

1 lb. ground bison

1 shallot or med. onion

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

3-4 cans of basically whatever beans you want, undrained (I used kidney and black beans today. Also good: Garbanzo beans, butter beans, chili beans, whole pinto beans)

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained (or use fresh; add about 1/2 c. liquid of some variety if using fresh)

1 small can low-sodium tomato sauce

1 can corn, undrained (optional, but it makes it colorful)

1 can diced beets, undrained (also optional but it adds lots of pretty color to the broth and lots of good texture)

1/3 c. red wine (also optional, but hello? Red wine makes almost everything better).

1ish c. stock of some sort (I had homemade chicken stock in my freezer, so I used that. Turned out fine)

Seasonings: Lots of chili powder, kosher salt and cracked pepper, Tabasco sauce, dash of paprika, splash of lemon juice and red wine vinegar, dash of cayenne. This is totally a matter of taste. I like a strong acidic and very spicy chili. You can made it as brave or as tame as you want.

Direction:

1. Lentils first. Rinse and drain those suckers. Put them in at 5 qt. pot and cover with 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, for 40 minutes.

2. Bison next. Chop the shallot and garlic and brown with the bison in 1 tsp. vegetable oil. Cook thoroughly.

3. Start opening cans like a mad woman. Basically, if it's in a can, dump it in a big pot at this point. DON'T DRAIN THE CANS. Add the liquids (red wine and stock) to the mix.

4. Dump the browned bison into the pot. (Seriously, chili is so ridiculously easy it's almost embarrassing).

5. Bring everything to a boil and start dumping in seasonings. I probably use 2 Tbsp. of chili powder, 2 Tbsp. salt, I crack black pepper till my wrist hurts, and dump in ingredients until it tastes right to me. Not rocket science, people.

6. When the lentils are done, drain them (much of the water will have absorbed into the lentils themselves) and dump them into the pot with the rest of the ingredients.

7. Serve with a dab of sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese if you so desire.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

For some reason I went nuts last week and bought three 8-ounce packages of Baby Bella mushrooms. This is why I'm often banned from the grocery store--to me, it's like Disneyland and I tend to overdo it. Anyhow, I needed to use my shrooms and came up with this recipe, simplified from a few online. It's a one-pot soup, which is nice, and it's so, so creamy and delicious.

Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 TBS butter
2 TBS flour
2 sprigs of fresh thyme, stripped from stem
8 oz package of Baby Bella Mushrooms (by all means, substitute better shrooms if you have them, but the Baby Bellas worked just fine)
1 C White wine
1 package Pacific Organic Mushroom Broth (1 Quart)
Parmesan rind (optional)
1 C Cream
1/4 C milk
2 more TBS flour
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Coarsely chop onion and mince garlic. Clean mushrooms by rubbing with a lightly damp paper towel. Cut off bad spots and remove stems. Coarsely chop the stems, and thinly slice the tops.

2. Set mushrooms aside. Add onion and garlic to your soup pot with about half of the butter and cook 5 minutes, or until onion is starting to get tender.

3. Strip the thyme leaves from their stem. Add thyme and mushrooms and cook until they begin to release their juices, about 3-4 mins. Do not salt yet, as it dries out the shrooms.

4. Add the rest of the butter in the middle of the pan with the mushrooms and onions on the side. As it melts, make a quick roux with the 2 TBS flour, then mix in with the mushrooms and onions. Cook for another 2 minutes or so.

5. Measure 1 C of white wine (cheap stuff from the liquor store is way better AND less expensive than "cooking" wine). Add to pot, cooking for 1 minute.

6. Add Parmesan rind and 1 quart of mushroom broth, heat through. The high-quality broth here makes up for the fact that I didn't have wild mushrooms on hand. The rind deepens the flavors and adds that extra je ne sais quoi.

7. Mix the 1/4 C of milk and the remaining 2 TBS butter to make a thickener. Yeah, you could have used more butter and made it part of the roux in the beginning, but I thought I'd save you a few hundred calories.

8. Add the thickener and the 1 C cream and bring the mix just barely to a boil before lowering the heat and letting it thicken for a few minutes.

9. Remove Parmesan rind. Season generously with salt and fresh ground pepper and serve.

TIPS:

* Parmesan rind. It is the best secret ingredient a girl could ask for. I always buy huge bricks of Parmesano Reggiano from Costco and cut them into big chunks for easier use. I cut off the rind in big chunks and save it in a separate bag to add to soups and sauces that are simmered for a long time. It goes in just about everything and makes you feel cool that you are using the entire cheese. Parm without a rind is packaged lies.

German Pancake

I'm convinced that everyone knows this recipe, but I'm going to remind you how awesome it is anyway. German Pancakes (aka Dutch Babies) are a staple in my diet. When I don't feel like eating anything or when I can't summon up the energy to cook, the German Pancake is my go-to recipe despite the hour of the day. I LOVE them.

I believe that there is only one way to eat a German Pancake--with fresh lemon juice and a dusting of powdered sugar. I'm a purist. But I suppose you can do whatever you want with them (provided you try lemon and powdered sugar).

So anyway, from someone who has had approximately 238 German Pancakes in her life, here is how to make the perfect German Pancake:


1 TBS salted butter
3 eggs
1/2 C milk
1/2 C flour
1/4 C sugar
dash of salt
splash of vanilla

1. Heat oven to 425. While oven is heating place butter in a medium cast iron pan (or if you don't have one, a ceramic or glass pie dish works well too). Melt butter in the pan in the preheating oven until the butter is brown. Seriously, trust me on this one. Brown.

2. While butter is melting and caramelizing, mix up the batter. Beat the three eggs together with the milk using a wire whisk. Add the flour, sugar, salt and vanilla and whip it good for a minute.

3. Carefully pour the batter into the brown butter in the pan. Aim your batter so that the brown butter is nicely distributed.


4. Bake for 10 minutes. It's done when the pancake is high and puffy.


5. Serve immediately with fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar. I tried Meyer Lemons today and loved the interesting flavor and added sweetness.

(Serves 2)


TIPS:

* Making your pancake in a cast iron results in more even cooking and a shorter, flatter pancake with bubbles.
* Making your pancake in a pie dish will give it really high edges that will brown nicely while the center is perfectly cooked through. If you make your pancake in a pie dish, make sure you put your oven rack in the middle of the oven to give it lots of room to rise without hitting the heat element.
*The cast iron pancake is not superior to the pie dish pancake. I like to mix them up, depending on what I'm into.

Grilled Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

This is one of the few recipes I can call my own. After much trial and much more error, I have reproduced one of my favorite things to order at Thai restaurants. This was a great relief for me last year as I was far too poor to actually go out to eat more than once in a blue moon, and it has served me well ever since.

4 boneless skinless small chicken breasts (or 2 of the huge ones from Costco)

Marinade:
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 in. piece of fresh ginger, grated
2 tsp fish sauce
2 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS honey
1 TBS sweet red chili sauce


Peanut sauce:
6 TBS crunchy peanut butter, preferably the kind you grind fresh at various hippie stores.
1 red chili, seeded and finely chopped or Thai red curry paste to taste (start small)
Juice of 1 lime
3 TBS coconut milk
1 TBS sweet red chili sauce

1. Rinse chicken breasts. Cut them into strips about 1" wide x 2" long x 1" thick (about the size of two bites).

2. Mix all marinade ingredients remembering to make the spiciness to your taste (but don't completely forgo it, trust me. I'm a wimp.)

3. Marinate chicken for a few hours or overnight, rotating breasts occasionally. While you marinate the chicken, soak your skewers in water by setting them in a cookie sheet or another lipped sheet full of water.

4. Heat grill to medium-high heat.

5. While grill is heating, thread the marinated chicken strips on your skewers, 2-3 strips per skewer, depending on the size of your skewers. If you didn't soak your skewers, you will want to cover as much of the skewer as possible to prevent it from burning on the grill.

6. Once grill is heated, grill skewers 3 1/2 to 4 minutes on each side until chicken is cooked through.

7. While chicken is cooking, prepare the peanut sauce by blending the sauce ingredients in the blender until grainy but not super chunky. You may need to add some salt if you have fresh-ground peanut butter. Adjust to your taste preferences, adding more hot/sweet/or salty as needed.

Serve with sticky rice, curry, or veggie kabobs.