garlic

Roasted Red Pepper Penne.

September 19, 2011 · 128 comments

I promise that I am showing you the 4th post (in a row) full of red food with good reason.

As a self-proclaimed tomato sauce hater, I’ve just about had enough. Enough tomatoes, enough sauce, enough chili… enough enough enough. I have two giant tubs of chili frozen in my freezer, and at this rate I’m hoping they will stay edible for two full years. They truly are giant and I sort of just want to chuck them in the trash. I seriously cannot imagine putting one more bowl of chili beneath my chin, no matter how good it tastes. Lord help me.

But at any rate, I did manage to make this pasta dish last week for dinner that I’ve been dying to share with you, red or not. It’s simple and in my mind – perfect for a Monday when you really just wish it was Friday.

You won’t find me eating raw peppers anytime soon, but I do really love them roasted on top of things like pizza and pasta. So I ended up roasting my own, which is totally doable. If I can do it, you certainly can too. Trust me. I am not a chef by any means… I just play one on this blog.

We have especially been loving roasted reds lately. It all started when my husband decided he was in a sandwich phase – but not just any sandwich phase – triple the meat (think turkey + ham + roast beef), three different kinds of jarred peppers, spicy mustard and two kinds of cheese. Similar to his diet Mountain Dew, cheddar and peanut butter cracker, and chocolate-chip-cookie-over-the-sink phases. He was going through an entire jar of roasted red peppers per sandwich, being that most jars are complete rip offs and only contain one whole pepper twirled together in a manipulative way to make you believe it’s really two or three. One pepper! Ha. What a joke.

And I got in on this too when I started slicing squares of fontina and topping them with the peppers then laying both on buttered toast. I’ve been all over that and was buying 4-5 jars of roasted peppers at time which was nearing the brink of ridiculousness.

All you need to do is throw the peppers under your broiler, char them ’til black, then stuff them in a ziplock bag and let them do their thing. It’s really not a big deal, and yes… I’ve tried that whole roasting-on-my-gas-burner thing and it just skeeves me out. I’m not too skilled when it comes to things in the kitchen like chopping with a scary knife and remembering to turn off the oven, so I didn’t find standing over an open flame very desirable. Um, plus… have you seen my hair? Someone likes hairspray.

I love this dish for multiple reasons, one of them being that it is not tomato based (duh) and the second being that the sauce leaves just a light coating on the pasta. I do not like my pasta swimming in sauce, unless we’re talking alfredo… the language of love. Give me cheese or give me death. My suggestion would be if you do like tons upon tons of sauce, double the sauce recipe to the same amount of pasta. That’s a lot of garlic and delicious spice. Maybe just don’t make out with anyone right after eating it? Or do. Whatever. Maybe you like that sort of thing.

Roasted Red Pepper Penne

serves 4

2 large red peppers

3 cloves of garlic

1/3 cup parmesan cheese

4-5 basil leaves, torn

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

4-5 tablespoons olive oil (I used a garlic-infused from Fustinis)

2 cups of dry whole wheat penne

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

2 thin sliced boneless, skinless chicken breasts

salt & pepper for seasoning chicken

To roast peppers: remove core and seeds from peppers and slice into pieces. Lay on a baking sheet and preheat the broiler in your oven. Place under the broiler skin-side up until skins are completely charred and black – this took about 10 minutes for me but will depend on your oven. Just check every 2 minutes or so. Immediately remove peppers from oven and using kitchen tongs, quickly place them in a ziplock bag then seal it. Set aside for 20-30 minutes.

While peppers are “steaming” in the bag, pat the chicken breasts completely dry with a pepper towel, then season them with salt and pepper. Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Brown chicken on both sides until cooked through, about 4-5 minutes per side. {I made the chicken the same as this recipe.} Set chicken aside to cool, then add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the same skillet with onions and a sprinkle of salt. Saute over medium-low heat until onions soften and caramelized. Cut chicken into pieces.

Boil water and prepare pasta according to directions. Remove peppers from the bag and peel the skin off to discard. It’s okay if a little bit of char remains as it adds to the flavor. Add peppers, garlic, parmesan cheese, basil, salt and pepper to a food processor. Blend until pureed, then stream in 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil so mixture comes together.

In a large bowl, combine penne with chicken and onions. Add red pepper sauce and toss thoroughly to coat as it is very thick. Serve with additional parmesan cheese and a few basil leaves.

I need a cookie after all of this.

{ 128 comments }

Roasted Garlic and Dill White Bean Dip.

September 2, 2011 · 110 comments

For someone that is neither with child nor a growing adolescent, I have some really odd food fascinations.

It’s been six weeks and counting, and I have been compulsively buying fresh dill because I can’t get enough. And before you tell me that I should just grow it, I will show you a picture of my basil plant that I accidentally banished to the shade and watered… once. I fear for my future children.

At the risk of identifying myself with a certain poofy-haired Jersey girl, I’m nearly positive that my love for dill started with pickles.

Man… I loooove pickles.

But not the bread and butter kind. The dill kind. The only way I can describe that skeevy bread and butter chaos is that they taste… unnaturally sour and too wet. [Hopefully that's never what she says. Ever.]

While my pickle love is nothing new – I’ve always been a fan – I tend to go through stages. Sometimes I crave them and go through two jars in one week. Sometimes I forget about them because I can be flakey. Sometimes after finishing that second jar I’ve decided I’ve had enough.

After eating them straight up (usually with some olives and cheese) as a child, I eventually graduated to dipping my salty potato chips in the leftover stream of pickle juice on my paper plate while eating grilled burgers for dinner. This was long before those pickle-flavored potato chips hit the shelves in the grocery store, but I vividly remember the exact morning that a girl on my school bus hopped up the steps with said potato chip bag in hand. Totally weird and delicious. I was jealous of potato chips.

One thing I absolutely never, ever did was eat peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, which my dad ate as a kid. In fact, he’d still probably scarf one now. I can’t even fathom that mess… but if you’re into that kind of thing, I pretty much love you. And if this yucky feeling I hold over peanut butter + pickles is how some of you feel about bacon? I’m crushed.

Anyway, this is just one of the many ways I’ve been enjoying some dill this summer. I think it’s fabulous, but you could probably rub roasted garlic on a shoe and I’d demolish it. So, so good.

The dip. Not the shoe.

Roasted Garlic and Dill White Bean Dip

make about 1 cup of dip

1 15-ounce can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (or about 1 1/2 cups of cooked beans)

2 bulbs of roasted garlic

3 tablespoons of fresh dill

1/4 cup of olive oil + more if desired

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Combine beans, dill, roasted garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor and blend until smooth. With the processor running, stream in olive oil and make sure to scrape the sides and bottom a few times. Serve in a bowl garnished with fresh dill and additional drizzles of olive oil.

I need a dip intervention.

[Also, if you're searching for some Labor Day recipes, here is the compilation I put together for the 4th of July: 70 Party Recipes. If you have any questions about party recipes, feel free to ask in the comments!]

{ 110 comments }

The Ultimate Marinade.

October 9, 2009 · 8 comments

This marinade is incredible – as well as extremely versatile. It is super simple to throw together, and chances are you have most of the ingredients already.

It takes less than 5 minutes.

We have been using this in my family for years. The base is some simple soy sauce.

I prefer the reduced-sodium version. I’d rather get my sodium load in other blood pressure raising meals.

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl or baking dish.

Give it a good whisk!

The most common foods we marinate in my house are chicken and steak. The marinade is also INCREDIBLE on shrimp before it is grilled, or on veggies (not that I would know). I can imagine it may also be good with tofu.

Hmmm..didn’t I just post about a possible vegetarian switch? By the way, thank you all so, so much for your suggestions! I am going to attempt a few of them this weekend.

The Ultimate Marinade

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup sherry wine

1-2 tablespoons brown sugar

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 teaspoon ginger powder

Combine all ingredients together and mix in a large bowl or baking dish. Whisk until sugar has disolved and pour over meat, seafood or veggies.

{ 8 comments }

Roasted Garlic and Gorgonzola Cream Sauce.

Imagine my excitement this past weekend when Ree, The Pioneer Woman, recommended my recipe on Tasty Kitchen! Woohoo! I felt like a mini celeb. She is just too cool. This recipe, while short and sweet (or savory?) was born during my weekend trist with roasted garlic. Oh, how divine. And so easy to make! Even easier to eat. Along with some gorgonzola, I knew I just HAD to make a cream sauce. I began by making a roux with butter and flour. This weekend someone asked me how I knew to make a roux. I knew long before I ever watched The Food Network, because Mother Lovett used to make one all the time for her famous macaroni and cheese. I’ve tried to recreate that mac n’ cheese many times and she always told me it was too dry. Always. She wrinkled her nose and said ‘I like mine a little creamier.’ This was [...]

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Roasted Garlic Gorgonzola Smashed Potatoes.

I came home this afternoon to find 4 empty roasted garlic heads laying the middle of the street in front of our house. Some little critter must have got into the garbage and dug those babies out. Can you blame them?? Have you ever thrown away something- cookies, cake, etc – and covered in with a disgusting substance, like soap, to keep yourself from devouring the entire thing? Miranda did this on an episode of Sex and the City once, and though I had thought of it, I had never done it. I tried it once with a pound cake and found myself digging the remains out of the garbage to eat. I cannot be helped. I had a large tub of gorgonzola, which now has only about 1/4 cup left since I love it so much I eat, sleep, breathe and bathe in it. I made these Roasted Garlic Gorgonzola Smashed Potatoes pre-gorgonzola bath. Thank goodness! I use Yukon Gold’s because they are my favorite potatoes. [...]

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Roasted Garlic.

We have an abundance of garlic at home and I barely scraped the surface by roasting some yesterday. If you’ve never had it, it comes out so carmelized and sweet – it is absolutely delicious. I made a good amount so there are a few roasted garlic recipes to come this week. Cut off the top half – a little less than 1/4 of the garlic head. I wanted to take off most of the ‘paper’ around the garlic and just leave a light layer. By rubbing back and forth it came off very easily, as opposed to trying to peel it all away. However, I was left with this mess. It was totally worth it. Beautiful garlic. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t like it? I only know a few. But I’d like to meet more, so [...]

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