Penne alla vodka

Talk about a simple, tasty dish of garlicky goodness. Don't skimp on good ingredients. Yum.

Penne alla Vodka

One 35-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano) with their liquid
1 pound penne
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
10 cloves garlic, peeled
1/3 lb. finely chopped pancetta or prosciutto
Crushed hot red pepper
1/4 cup vodka
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil for finishing the sauce, if you like
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for passing if you like

1. Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil in an 8-quart pot over high heat.
2. Pour the tomatoes and their liquid into the work bowl of a food processor. Using quick on/off pulses, process the tomatoes just until they are finely chopped. (Longer processing will aerate the tomatoes, turning them pink.)
3. Stir the penne into the boiling water. Bring the water back to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook the pasta, semi-covered, stirring occasionally, until done, 8 to 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Whack the garlic cloves with the side of a knife and add them to the hot oil. Cook, shaking the skillet, until the garlic is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Cook pancetta until slightly sizzling. Lower the work bowl with the tomatoes close to the skillet and carefully — they will splatter — slide the tomatoes into the pan. Bring to a boil, season lightly with salt and generously with crushed red pepper, and boil 2 minutes. Pour in the vodka, lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer, and simmer until the pasta is ready.
5. Just before the pasta is done, fish the garlic cloves out of the sauce and pour in the cream. Add the 2 tablespoons butter or oil, if using, and swirl the skillet to incorporate into the sauce. If the skillet is large enough to accommodate the sauce and pasta, fish the pasta out of the boiling water with a large wire skimmer and drop it directly into the sauce in the skillet. If not, drain the pasta, return it to the pot, and pour in the sauce. Bring the sauce and pasta to a boil, stirring to coat the pasta with sauce. Check the seasoning, adding salt and red pepper if necessary. Sprinkle the parsley over the pasta and boil until the sauce is reduced enough to cling to the pasta.

6. Remove the pot from the heat, sprinkle 3/4 cup of the cheese over the pasta, and toss to mix. 7. Serve immediately, passing additional cheese if you like.

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

These are particularly sinful. And yummy. And addictive.

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

Brownie mixture:
1 c. butter (2 sticks)
2 c. white sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
3/4 c. Hershey's Special Dark baking cocoa (or Ghirardelli baking cocoa if you are feeling particularly indulgent)
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Cream cheese mixture:
Beat together till smooth the following
8 oz. cream cheese (one normal brick)
1/3 c. white sugar
1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Blend brownie mixture ingredients until smooth.
3. Spread brownie mixture into 9X13 pan.
4. Beat cream cheese mixture with hand mixer until smooth.
5. Glob dollups of the cream cheese mixture onto the prepared brownie batter and swirl in with a toothpick or wooden skewer
6. Bake 28-30 minutes (I like them to be a little gooey still, but not liquidy in the middle when I poke a fork in)
7. It's better to cool before cutting as they cut more smoothly, but I doubt you'll be able to wait :D

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

I stumbled upon this one on the Kraft website of all places. IT IS INCREDIBLE and absolutely perfect for this cool grilling weather we've been having in Utah. I of course made modifications to the original, ridding it of Kraft products and otherwise elevating this chicken to manna from heaven levels. I also increased the amount of bruschetta so you can have more for your crusty bread or just to eat with a spoon.

The technique on this chicken is a little weird, but not difficult. You grill the marinated chicken on one side, then place foil on the grill to cook the other side. The foil catches every last bit of lovely bruschetta and prevents your grill from getting nasty.

Note on grills: we have a tiny cheap $15 camping grill with small camping propane tanks plus charcoal. It was a small investment and pays off big time for our cooking-for-two needs. But if you don't have one, I'm sure this one would also work in the oven on a grill pan.

Chicken:
* 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
* 1/4 cup of your favorite italian dressing or marinade.
I didn't have any, so I used a couple TBS balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sun dried tomatoes, salt, and herbs.

Bruschetta:
* 2 large roma tomatoes, finely chopped
* 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (optional)
* 1 large clove of garlic, minced
* 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar (or to taste)
* 1 TBS olive oil
* Kosher salt to taste
* 1/2 cup  Shredded Italian cheeses. I mixed hard Romano and Parmesan with mozzarella and it worked fabulously
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried basil leaves (but it's so much better with fresh!)


1. Marinate chicken for 10 minutes to 2 hours depending on your time constraints. Rotate chicken often.

2. Place large sheet of heavy-duty foil over half of grill grate; heat grill to medium heat.

3. While grill is heating, combine bruschetta ingredients and let sit.

3. Grill chicken on uncovered side of grill for 6 min.

4. Turn chicken over; place, cooked-side up, on foil on the grill. Top with bruschetta. Close lid. Grill 8 min. or until chicken is done (165ºF).

5. Serve with grilled asparagus tossed in olive oil and kosher salt.

Mostly Vegan Lemon Poppyseed Cookies

I'm not vegan (ummm, hello? No bacon?) but I did have a delicious vegan cookie from the local organic grocer and it was delish. There are the closest approximation I could come up with. Good if you know people with egg allergies or vegan folks!

Delish Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter (soy butter if you are going for real vegan; real butter works better!)
3/4 cup soy yogurt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla (I just did a big splash)
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
Zest of lemon or ~1 tsp dried lemon zest
Juice from 1/2 lemon
2 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp. poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350. Blend the sugars, butter, and soy yogurt together (you could probably substitute 6 ounces of plain regular yogurt). Gently zest just the outer layer of the lemon, cut in half and squeeze cup up to keep the seeds from dropping in the bowl.

I found that it was possible to drop onto the baking sheet using spoons but the dough was a lot easier to handle if chilled for 30 minutes or so. I recommend putting 9 cookies on a regular cookie sheet because the dough spreads quite a bit.

Bake 10-12 minutes (check at 10 because they can get toasty quickly). Let them sit on the baking sheet for about 2 minutes, then let cool on cooling racks. Enjoy!

Lemon Greek Potatoes

A friend who worked in a Greek restaurant made these for me and I was addicted. I rudely ate out of the serving dish and dabbed my potato in the lovely lemon sauce at the bottom. Mmmmm... Anyway, she searched forever to find the closest recipe to the potatoes that they made at the restaurant, and she found this one:

Ingredients
• 3 lbs waxy potatoes (I prefer to leave the skins on)
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 1/2 C chicken stock

Shortcut directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400. Cut potatoes into chunks.

2. Toss the cut potatoes in olive oil and place in a glass baking dish and microwave for 10-15 minutes while your oven is heating until your potatoes are starting to get tender.

3. Combine the rest of the sauce ingredients and pour on potatoes. Bake for 20 minutes until potatoes begin to brown and get a little crispy and the sauce at the bottom is thickened from the starch.

Long directions:
1. Cut potatoes into chunks and combine all ingredients to marinate for 2 hours.

2. Bake potatoes and sauce in glass baking dish at 400 for 1 hour and 15 minutes.


Whether you marinate them or not, these potatoes have quite a punch.

Classifications and a Search?

Hey, I was thinking about cooking blogs I frequent and how labeling makes world of difference when you want to make pork or can't remember that muffin recipe you saw a few months ago. When we post recipes, it would be awesome if we could look at the labels on the right and see if our recipe fits in any of those categories and then add any other descriptors. Most of the recipes have labels, but sometimes the labels are too narrow for effective searching. Also, since I'm not an admin, could one of you add a search widget to the blog?

Annnnd,you can tell me to shut up if I'm being anal. I won't mind.

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Bisque

I'm Motion de Smiths and I feel weird introducing myself to people. Nevertheless, I love to cook basically anything. I'm a fan of quick meals that come together easily, but I'm not afraid of spending 5 hours on hazelnut gelato when I have a free Sunday.

I think restrictive diets are stupid. Eat what you want, when you want, just maybe not in the vast quantities you want. To clarify, I also like Megan's ideas on eating better. I don't consider eating more good stuff a stupid diet at all. EAT!



This is an EASY and fabulous recipe adapted from one I found on epicurious.com

Ingredients:
• 5 large red bell peppers
• 3 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup grated hard cheese of your choice (I used Gouda and Parmesan)
• 3 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil

1. Roast red peppers under broiler on a lipped cookie sheet, rotating every 3-4 minutes until parts of the skin are charred. Put hot roasted peppers in a paper bag for 5 minutes to allow the moisture to redistribute and make seeding a snap. Seed peppers and place them in a blender with your chicken stock until pureed. Depending on the size of your blender, this may be done in batches.

2. Bring red pepper mix to a low boil adding paprika and sugar, and any other seasonings you may want.

3. Reduce heat, add cream and cheese, simmer for 5-10 minutes until somewhat thickened (though it's not a thick soup, it shouldn't be watery).

4. Add kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste. Serve with paninis or crusty bread with sauteed mushrooms.

NOTE: Though I love jarred roasted red peppers for many recipes, this is NOT, I repeat NOT one of them. The flavor just does not work--it's pickled and harsh instead of sweet and mellow.