Spaghetti Squash with Meat Ragu

Ingredients

(2 servings with tons of left over ragu)

1 spaghetti squash

1 lb lean ground beef

1 lb ground pork 

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion diced

1 celery stalk diced

1 carrot diced 

2 cloves garlic minced

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp Italian seasoning 

1/2 c red wine

1 tbsp butter

grated Parmesan 

Salt

Pepper 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut the spaghetti squash down the middle lengthwise.  Discard the seeds then place rind side up on a baking sheet.  Bake for 35-45 minutes until tender and you are able to shred squash meat with a fork. 

While the squash is baking, heat a large saute pan on medium heat and add olive oil.  Add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic and heat until softened (about 5 minutes).  

Increase heat to medium high and add the ground beef and ground pork. Brown and season with salt and pepper.  Drain any fat from the meat then add the crushed tomatoes, bay leaves, Italian seasoning, and wine.  Reduce heat back down to medium and simmer until most of the liquid is gone, (you want a lot of meaty goodness).  Discard the bay leaves.  Add butter to sauce.   Season with additional salt and Pepper as you see fit.  

Once the spaghetti squash is done, remove from oven and shred the innards so they look like spaghetti.  Leave in rind for presentation if you so desire.  Top with ragu and sprinkle with Parmesan.

I have a ton of leftover ragu that is going to be used in some other pasta dish this weekend.  Jealous much??

Mushroom and Tomato Barley Risotto

Happy New Year All!

My a few new years resolutions are to cook more, incorporate new foods into the Hub's and my diet,  and be a better blogger.  When it comes to starches in our household, we normally stick to rice, potatoes, pasta, and quinoa.  This week I've been testing out Barley.  I know, its not the most exciting ingredient, but I've never cooked with it. So last night I made a Mushroom Tomato Barley Risotto.  It was so filling, delicious and healthy!

Serving 2 entree or 4 side

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup barley
4 cups chicken broth
8 oz mushrooms, chopped (I had button because they were on sale)
1 small onion, diced
2 clove garlic, minced
1 pint grape tomatoes, divided
2 tbsp butter

In a small pot, bring chicken broth to boil.   Once at boil, lower heat to medium low to keep warm.

In a saute pan, heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat and saute mushrooms for 5 mins.  Set aside mushrooms and liquid.

Heat remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in the same pan.  Add onions and saute until translucent.  Add garlic and saute an additional minute.  Add in barley and toast for one minute.   Add in 1/2 cup of stock and stir until incorporated.  Continue adding stock 1/2 c at a time.  When adding the final 1/2 cup, also include the grape tomatoes and the reserved mushrooms and liquid.

When almost all the liquid is absorbed, finish off with butter.

Enjoy!

Bourbon Peach (or nectarine) Crumble with Bourbon Whipped Cream

Thanks to our CSA, we have a bounty of peaches and nectarines.  One of my favorite combos is bourbon and peach and last night just screamed out Crumble!

2 servings

Ingredients:

For Crumble:

1 1/3 c flour

1/3 c granulated sugar

1/3 c brown sugar

1 1/3 c pecans, coarsely chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 c cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes

Fruit:

3 ripe peaches (or nectarines)

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

2 Tbsp bourbon (I used Woodford Reserve)

Whipped Cream:

1/2 c heavy whipping cream

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 Tbsp bourbon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F

For crumble, mix flour, sugars, salt, cinnamon, and pecans together.  Once combined, work the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips, until you get a crumbly texture.  You will have tons of left over topping. No worries, this stuff stores great.  Refrigerate or freeze until next time (which I will assume is tomorrow

One of my favorite tricks for peeling peaches is cutting an X at the bottom of the fruit and placing in boiling water for 30 seconds.  Once cooled, the skins come right off (works great for tomatoes too!). When using nectarines, I like to keep the skins on.  Cut fruit into bite size pieces and place in a bowl.  Add sugar and bourbon and coat the fruit.  Allow to sit for 5 minutes.  

Place fruit into 2 ramekins and top with 1/4 c of the crumble mixture.  Place ramekins on a baking sheet to catch any drippings. This is a must because cleaning that burnt shit is a BITCH!  Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the juices have started to bubble, (Since there's only 2 of us, I made this in our toaster oven and it took closer to 45 mins.)  I've under baked this before and there is nothing more depressing than under baked soupy buttery mush on top of fruit .  Remove from oven and a allow to cool.  

While waiting for your crumble to cool, prepare whipped cream by pouring heavy whipping cream, butter and bourbon into a cold bowl.   Whisk until the cream reaches stiff peaks.   

Add whipped cream on top of crumble and enjoy.  However, we like to stay super classy and eat the whipped cream straight out of the bowl.  

   

Hubby's "Cherry Poppin" Bolognese

Bolognese over rotini

The Hubs and I are about to go on our belated honeymoon so,  of course this means we have to clean out our refrigerator before we leave.  After thinking about everything we had in there, all I could think was BOLOGNESE.  I am a Filipino with a crazy obsession with pasta. Hello I put effing pasta bowls on our wedding registry!  When I asked the hubs what he thought, he asks, "What is bolognese?'  I'm like WTF? You poor poor deprived boy (He did not have frosty and french fries or PB and bananas until the age of 30). Naturally I had to make sure that his first bolognese experience was a good one.  Mind you, this would be so much better on the weekend when it had 4 hours to simmer, but this was a Wednesday night, so all had to be done at a reasonable hour.

Simmering away

Bolognese Sauce
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
1 yellow onion, small dice
2 carrots, small dice
2 celery stalks, small dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 oz bacon, diced (i had jowl bacon)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 lb ground bison (lean beef works too, just had this in the freezer).
1/2 lb ground pork (optional).  I did not have that on hand so its not in here
4 Hanover tomatoes, skinned, 2 diced, 2 pureed
1/2 cup sherry or any dry white wine.
1 cup milk
1/2 c red wine.

Heat oil and butter in a large stockpot over medium heat.  Once butter is melted, add onions, garlic, butter, and carrots and saute for 5 minutes.  Add the bacon and saute for an additional 5 minutes.  Add tomato paste and ground beef and cook until beef is browned.  Add tomatoes, sherry, and milk, and simmer for 1 hour stirring occasionally (or if you have all the time in the world, lower the temp to low and simmer for 4 horus). Remember this sauce is about the meat, so dont be scurred of all the liquid  After an hour, and halfway though a bottle of wine, I checked on my sauce, and with glass of red wine in my hand I thought, why the hell not, and poured some red wine in there too.   I simmered it down for an additional 30 minutes until thickened.  I served this over some  Rozoni Garden Delights rotini, because you can't get enough veggie,s and grated some Trade Joe's Unexpected Cheddar on top.

Note - The Hubs was sooo happy about this that he ate two bowls full.  Not this smartest meal to make before going on vacay to a sunny locale.  Oh well, here come two beached whales!

Picadillo Stuffed Marconi Peppers

Our new veggie of the week was the Marconi Pepper also known as the Grilling Pepper.  Grilling bring out the smokiness quality of this pepper and it was delish.  The hubs is praying that our CSA has them again this week so we can try something else!

Picadillo Stuffed Peppers:

4 marconi peppers (or bell peppers)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground beef
1 yellow onioin, diced
1 pint cherry tomatoes. halved
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup white rice
1 can beef broth
1 tbsp liquid aminos (or soy sauce)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt
pepper

1. In a large, deep saute pan, eat oil on medium high heat then brown the ground beef with a pinch of salt and pepper.  When almost completely cooked, add the onion, tomatoes and garlic, and cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes releases its juices.  Add rice, beef broth and liquid aminos and bring to a boil.   Once boiling, reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook until the rice is done.  Add more salt and pepper accordingly.  Allow to cool a bit before stuffing peppers (I was too impatient and now have burnt fingertips to prove it!)

2.  Rinse the peppers then slit them down the middle but only on one side.  Remove the seeds and the white membrane from the inside of the peppers.

3.  Spoon the picadillo mix into the peppers until filled.  Do not over stuff.  (you'll have a ton of left over picadillo, which is awesome for leftovers. Its actually my lunch today!)

4.  Heat grill to high and when hot, place the peppers on a grill grate and allow to heat for approximately 10 minutes.  It will be a bit charred on the bottom.  Sprinkle cheese on top and cover until the cheese is melted.

Enjoy.  We paired this with some grilled sweet corn with herb butter.

Super Easy Tomato and Zucchini Pasta

I've been eating like a fat ass for the past few weeks and my body has started to revolt.   So  I wanted to make a light and easy dinner and after scrounging my fridge, I came up with this super easy (and surprisingly) delicious meal.

Tomato and Zucchini Pasta
(serves 2)

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes sliced in half
1 large zucchini diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
6 oz pasta (I used macaroni because that's what I had)
1/2 tbsp butter
1 c shredded chicken (optional)
1/4 c feta cheese
salt
pepper
1/4 c reserved pasta water

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degree oven.  Mix tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, oil, salt and pepper in a oven safe baking pan and bake for 20 minutes.

2.  While the veggies are roasting, cook pasta per package directions until al dente.  Reserve 1/4 c pasta water and drain the rest.

3.  When the veggies are done roasting, remove from oven.  Melt butter in a saute pan over medium heat.  transfer all contents, including the liquid, from the baking pan, the pasta water, and the chicken to the sautee pan and cook down for 5 mintues.  Once thickened, add the pasta and coat.

4. Top with feta cheese and enjoy.

One of the many bowls I ate that night

This was seriously one of the easiest meals ever.

Oyster Mushroom and Parmesan Risotto

I have a massive love affair with risotto.  We just joined a CSA and received some beautiful oyster mushrooms that just screamed out risotto.   Last night was the perfect opportunity to make some risotto as a side dish for lamb loin. 

Lamb Loin with Mushroom risotto, beets and asparagus

Oyster Mushroom and Parmesan Risotto 

serves 6 as a side or 2 as a meal

1 yellow onion (diced)

3 cloves garlic (minced)

8 oz oyster mushrooms diced

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1/2 cup white wine

4 cups chicken broth 

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1.  In small sauce pan bring chicken broth to simmer and keep hot on stove.

2.  In large saute pan melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.  Add onions, garlic and mushrooms and cook until onions are translucent and mushrooms are soft.    

3. Add rice to pan and coat with with butter, onions, garlic and mushrooms and stir until rice lets out a nutty aroma 2 minutes.  

4. Add in white wine and stir until absorbed. 

5. Ladle in hot chicken broth 1/2 cup at a time and stir until fully absorbed and continue adding broth and stirring until all broth is absorbed and rice has a creamy consistency.  

6.  Stir in remaining 2 tbsp of butter and Parmesan. 

Chicken Adobo

When the Hubby and I traveled to the Philippines last year, the one dish he asked if I could make was Adobo (eeek!).   Adobo is the unofficial national dish of the Philippines (if the Black Eyed Peas can mention it in a song you know it is) .  It consists of meat or vegetables simmered in a marinade of soy sauce, vinegar, and garlic.  Its one of those dishes that reminds me of home, and lets be honest, there is nothing wrong with the smell of 6 cloves of garlic cooking!

Before my self inflicted domestic bootcamp, I was not exactly known for my kitchen skills (also why I asked for cookbooks for my bridal shower).  Well four months in, things in the kitchen are looking up as told by our nightly food comas and our waist bands getting a bit snug.

So last night I attempted to make some chicken adobo.... Holy sh*t it was delicious!

Chicken Adobo:

6 chicken thighs (preferably with bone and skin)

1/2 c soy sauce

6 cloves garlic minced

2 tbsp coconut oil (or as needed to coat the bottom of the pan)

1/4 c apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 c water

3 bay leaves

1 tsp whole black peppercorns

1. Marinate chicken in soy sauce and garlic for at least 3 hours. 

2. Heat coconut oil in large saute pan or dutch oven over medium heat.  

3. Once oil is hot, brown chicken for 3 minutes on each side

4. Remove chicken from pan and drain the oil from the pan.

5. Pour the soy/garlic marinade in the pan.  Add the water and bring to a boil.  Once at a boil, add back chicken, bay leaves, peppercorns, and vinegar and lower heat to a simmer.  Simmer for 30-40 minutes until cooked though.    If you have a fat separator, remove chicken from pan and strain liquid and pour into the fat separator.  Pour liquid back over chicken and serve with rice (preferably jasmine)

I would have included a "completed" picture, but we were a bit over zealous and dug right in.