one terrific tomato sauce

I realize that making your own tomato sauce can seem like a chore, while there are many good bottled ones out there, but nothing beats a well made fresh sauce. Lol, just ask any french foodie. In any case, this sauce is really quite simple, taking perhaps 15 minutes to cook once the prep work is done. TOTALLY WORTH IT, especially if you want to add it to a baked pasta dish.

Rich Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
2-3 whole tomatoes or 1 can of diced
1 whole med. onion (white or yellow)
1/4 cup of white button mushrooms, quartered or diced
dash of garlic powder
three dashes of sea salt
three dashes Italian seasonings
2-3 dashes of fresh ground black pepper
1-2 teaspoons of sugar, depending on taste
1/2-2/3 cup of red wine, Cabernet Sauvignon works really well (definitely don't have to spend more than 8 dollars on the bottle)
3 tbs of balsamic vinegar
1 tbs flour or corn starch mixed with 3 tbs of water for rue to thicken

Heat a medium sauce pan with 2-3 tbs of olive oil to a medium low heat. Dice the onion and mushrooms. Once the pan is hot add the onions, stirring to coat them in the oil. Allow then to soften. Add all the spices, other than the sugar, to the pan. Once the onions are close to being translucent, add the mushrooms. Stir well, making sure the oil and spices coat them both well. Wait 2 minutes and then add the wine. Add the tomatoes, gently stirring the sauce. Allow the wine to reduce and cook off the alcohol. Next add the vinegar and sugar. Stir well. Let the sauce sit on the medium low heat fr 3-4 minutes, allowing the tomatoes to cook. Finally add the rue to the sauce, turning the heat up to a medium high heat. You should see the sauce thickening very quickly now. Continue to stir the sauce for a minute to work out the flavor of the flour. Once done allow the sauce to set for 2-3 minutes and then serve with just about anything!

Eat and enjoy!

A new mac and cheese variation for us

So its been a very long time since we posted, and frankly I don't know if anyone is following this at all but I thought it was time to add a new recipe. It's true that we have posted mac and cheese recipes before, but for what some might consider a simple food, to us it is most certainly not. This recipe is something of a ode to sandra lee's semi-homemade, someone who I am really not a fan of, but its her concept so credit where credit is due. This dish plays on some of our earlier mac and cheese variations, using greens to create a more complex flavor while still maintaining its classic down home soul food roots.

Semi-homemade baked mac and cheese

1 package of elbow macaroni
3 - 4 cloves of fresh garlic
1/2 cup of fresh spinach
1 can of broccoli and cheese soup
1/2 cup of shredded Wisconsin cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
2 TBS of butter
1/4 cup of corn meal
1/2 cup of milk or condensed milk
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
1-2 TBS of capers

Bring water to a boil for the pasta. Add pasta, stir, and when reached the desired texture drain. Its best to leave it a little chewy because its going to continue cooking in the oven. Chop the spinach and the garlic. Bring a med. sauce pan to a med heat, allowing the butter to brown slightly. Add the spinach and garlic, and lower to temperature so the garlic does not burn. When the spinach has cooked down, add the can of soup. Continue to stir the mixture as you add the milk, letting the ingredients blend. Add fresh ground black pepper to taste. When the liquids have reached a simmer, turn off the heat, and then add the cheeses, keeping a small amount of the parm aside to put on top. When the cheese has melted, add it to the pasta. Let that set for a minute or two, while you butter the sides of the container you are using to bake it in. I suggest glassware, as it conductes heat well and is easy to clean. Once the sides are coated in the butter, add half of the cornmeal tossing it around to coat the butter. This will create a great crust for the mac and cheese. Add the mac and cheese mixture into the dish, and toss the rest of the cornmeal and parm on top.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and allow the dish to cook for 20-25 minutes or untill golden brown.

This is one great dish, and the leftovers just get better.

eat and enjoy!

Tempura Lime Chicken

Tempura batter is tricky, you will want to mix, mix and mix it till it so silky smooth, but resist! Lumpy tempura batter means good tempura batter! So here we go.


2lbs of chicken, cut into small pieces
tempura batter, follow directions on box. (tip-measure desired amount of liquid and let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes to make sure it's extra cold)
Half cup of flour
One lime
Oil for deep frying )the clearer the oil the higher the temperature will go!


Cut chicken into small pieces then I like to lightly dredge it in flour to insure the tempura batter really sticks, dip and batter and then deep fry. Drain and let sit. When you are halfway finished with the deep frying start juicing lime over chicken. While chicken is still warm garnish with Thai Basil.

It's so good!

optional, add some full fat yogurt to the lime juice and some rice and you will be in heaven!

Semi-Homemade Chicken Satay

Oh wow was this recipe uber easy and tasted amazing.

1lb of chicken
1 package of satay chicken rub
2-3 tlbs of oil

Seriously that's it! Cut the chicken in small pieces, massage the chicken with the rub and oil. Medium skillet with just some non-stick spray. The chicken will be spotty brown and a yellow-ish color. It is beyond good! Such a great way to have not only satay chicken at home, but kosher satay chicken! Yum!

Pad Thai, aka our glorious return!!!

Well, we're back. Yes I know its been...well many months since our last post but here we are. So recently we started going to this new Thai restaurant. It was on something of a whim that we went there, it was between that and a pancake house but I was on the right side of the road so Thai it was. I ordered the Pad Thai and just loved it. We've gone back a few times since then, and so I have decided that it needed to be re-created, preferably in a larger portion.

Pad Thai ( an interpretation of Lai Thai's Pad Thai)
Ingredients:

1 packet of large size/thickness of rice noodles
2-3 large sprigs of Thai basil (its important that its Thai basil)
3 cloves of garlic
1 large shallot
1/8-1/4 cup of enoki mushrooms
1/4 of a pack of firm tofu
1/4 - 1/2 cup of sweet and sour tamarind sauce
1/4 cup of red cabbage
1/2 fresh lime
1 small handful of finely chopped peanuts

Preparation:

Bring a medium to large pot of water to a boil. Just toss the rice noodles into the water when its boiling, and leave it in till its as soft or as firm as you like them. While waiting for the water to boil, chop the cabbage into long thin strings. Chop the garlic, mushrooms, and shallot as well. These can be as fine or as chunky as you like. Personally I like my tofu chewy, so what i do is slice the tofu and place the slices of the tofu on side of a bowl. Then I microwave it for 3 minutes or so, which takes the moisture out the tofu a lot quicker than pressing or using towels. While the tofu is in the microwave, bring a pan to a high heat. Saute the veggies for 4-5 minutes, using just a little spray oil. Once the veggies have cooked toss in the tofu and just stir it around for 30 seconds or so. Now add in the tamarind sauce and lower the heat to a simmer. Once it has been simmering for 2-3 minutes add the noodles to the pan, stir till the noodles are completely coated. Now its time to add the lime juice. Just squeeze the juice over the noodles and serve.

Eat and enjoy!!