Browsing Tag:

parsley

Entrees

Arrabbiata Sauce with Rotini Pasta and Turkey Meatballs

arrabbiata sauce I must admit for most of my adult life I’ve never made spaghetti sauce from scratch. With so many good pre-made sauces on the market, I usually stock up when there’s a sale and (occasionally) doctor it up with some fresh herbs or tomatoes. Can I get an “amen?” Browsing through one of my favorite slow cooker cookbooks – Better Homes and Gardens Year-Round Slow Cooker Recipes – I found a recipe for arrabbiata sauce. I was intrigued because I’d never heard of arrabbiata sauce. After a little research, I discovered that “arrabbiata” is Italian for “angry.” The sauce gets its name from the burn of the crushed red peppers. Most everything about this recipe sounded great, but of course I had to add my own twists to make it more of something I’d want to eat. So I exchanged pancetta for bacon and I added a cup of Cabernet Sauvignon wine to the recipe. I thought if the sauce was going to be “angry,” then being a little “boozy” couldn’t hurt!

Arrabbiata Sauce with Turkey Meatballs

arrabbiata sauce_4 The arrabbiata sauce is extremely easy to make. Your slow cooker does most of the heavy lifting. To start the recipe, I browned the onion, bacon and garlic in a skillet – then transferred the contents to my slow cooker. You add all the rest of the ingredients (except for the pasta and meatballs – those come later!) into your slow cooker and give it a good stir. Set it on HIGH and put on the lid. Walk away for 4 to 5 hours and the sauce will be “perfetto!” arrabbiata sauce_2 About 45 minutes before your arrabbiata sauce is done, you’ll want to start making the turkey meatballs. I used pre-seasoned panko breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning spices, but you can use standard panko breadcrumbs and add in the Italian seasoning by hand. The mixture of the panko, butter and egg help bind the ingredients, and make for a great carmelized “crust” on the outside of the meatballs. I tend to like larger meatballs, so that requires even cooking. The trick is not to rush the browning process, so never go higher than medium-high heat. I don’t make homemade meatballs that often. Usually, I’ll just brown ground turkey into my sauce and make whatever sauce I’m using a meat sauce. But these turkey meatballs were to die for! Well worth the effort. You may want to make a double batch; they freeze well. arrabbiata sauce_6 Cook your pasta according to package directions. I used rotini pasta, but you can easily substitute your favorite pasta or what you have in your pantry. If you’re only having pasta for a meal, I like to use a bowl. It makes it easier to cover the pasta with sauce, without wasting a lot covering the entire length of a plate. Then pile on the meatballs and pour a healthy serving of arrabbiata sauce over it all. Top it with shredded Parmesan cheese and you’ve got a great weekday dinner or weekend lunch that’s good enough for company. arrabbiata sauce_3 I ended up adding Cabernet Sauvignon to this arrabbiata sauce recipe to make it “less angry.” What’s your favorite ingredient to add to spaghetti sauce?

Arrabbiata Sauce with Turkey Meatballs

Rating: 51

Cook Time: 4 hours

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

For Sauce:
1 large onion, chopped
5 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
56 ounces diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano, undrained
15 ounces tomato sauce
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 cup Cabernet Sauvignon, or any dry red wine
8 servings cooked rotini pasta
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
For Meatballs:
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
20 ounces ground turkey, 93% lean
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 medium onions, minced
2 eggs
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

For Sauce:

In a skillet, cook the onion, bacon and garlic over medium heat until onion is tender and bacon is browned.

Transfer mixture to a 5-quart slow cooker. Set skillet aside to use when cooking meatballs later.

Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, parsley, oregano, basil, salt, and crushed red pepper. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours (or on LOW for 8 to 10 hours).

Serve over pasta and turkey meatballs. Sprinkle each serving with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

For Meatballs:

In a large bowl, thoroughly combine ground turkey, breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, dried parsley, mined onions, eggs, butter, salt and pepper.

By hand, form golf ball-sized meatballs and place in cooled skillet (used when browning onion and bacon mixture earlier). Makes about 16 meatballs, or 2 per serving. Feel free to make your meatballs smaller or larger, based on your preference. But make all meatballs uniform in size so they cook evenly.

Place skillet with meatballs on burner at medium-high heat. Every 5 minutes or so, turn meatballs so that all sides will eventually brown and meatballs will be evenly cooked. Watch carefully and remove meatballs from skillet when done. Set aside to serve with arrabbiata sauce and pasta.

Notes

Sauce portion of this recipe lightly adapted from Better Homes & Gardens "Year-Round Slow Cooker Recipes"

http://bakedchicago.com/arrabbiata-sauce-recipe/

Soups, Salads & Sides

Authentic Parisian Parsley Potatoes

This recipe is an adaptation of a traditional Parisian Herbed Potatoes dish. I like this Parisian Parsley Potatoes dish because it’s got only 5 ingredients, it takes less than 30 minutes to prepare and its flavor is simply decadent. You could use any small (or new) potato but I recommend the traditional red new potatoes. They have such a great color and the skins are quite tasty.

Parisian Parsley Potatoes

You melt the butter in a heavy pan. Then add the potatoes, salt, and pepper – and stir to coat. Cover the pan and let it cook on medium-low for about 30 minutes, shaking every 5 minutes so that the potatoes on the bottom of the pot don’t burn. When the potatoes are done, toss with parsley and serve.

These Parisian parsley potatoes are missing something....

Don’t these potatoes look delicious. Did you notice which of the 5 ingredients is missing? The parsley! Even when you only have 5 ingredients, you must pay attention to the recipe. I had plated the potatoes and after shooting a photo  realized I had totally forgotten the parsley. What’s Parisian Parsley Potatoes without the parsley? Potatoes that are buttered, salted and peppered. Still good ,but missing a star ingredient.

ooh la la - Parisian parsley potatoes

Even if you make an error with this recipe, it’s easy to fix. I simply put the potatoes back in the sauce pan and tossed with the parsley. Situation under control!

Authentic Parisian Parsley Potatoes

Rating: 51

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

8 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 pounds red new potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled, cut in half
2 teaspoons sea salts
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons parsley

Instructions

Melt the butter in a large heavy sauce pan. Add the potatoes, then salt and pepper. Toss well until potatoes are coated.

Cover the pan and cook over medium-low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when tested with a small knife or fork. Occasionally shake the pot without removing the lid to prevent the bottom potatoes from burning.

Turn off heat and let potatoes continue to cook (with lid on the pan) for another 5 minutes. Toss with parsley and serve hot.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten's Herbed New Potatoes in "Barefoot in Paris" cookbook.

http://bakedchicago.com/authentic-parisian-parsley-potatoes-recipe/

Appetizers

Pistachio-Pecorino Flatbread

Pistachio-Pecorino Flatbread with Turkey Breast and Sun-Dried Tomato

Have you ever bought an ingredient in bulk at Sam’s Club or Costco only to wonder weeks later just how you’re going to use it all? Yep, me too. More often than I care to admit. My latest “bulk buy” was a mega-huge-monster-sized bag of Pecorino Romano cheese. Luckily, I love the taste of Pecorino Romano and it lasts a long time in the fridge or freezer. But because this mammoth-sized container of CHEESE has been staring at me every time I open the refrigerator, I’ve been challenged to come up with new recipes worthy of this great ingredient.

When I heard that today was National Pistachio Day (and I LOVE me some pistachios), I decided I’d whip up some pistachio-pecorino flatbread for lunch. I had some leftover turkey breast that I could shred for protein and some delicious sun-dried tomatoes that would be a great accent flavor. It was only 9:30 am but already I was psyched for lunch!

Pistachio-Pecorino Flatbread

I used a package of Pillsbury® Original Crescents. Just unroll the dough on a prepared baking sheet. Brush with extra virgin olive oil and season with parsley flakes and Italian seasoning. Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Then remove from the oven and cover with shredded turkey breast, diced sun-dried tomatoes and generous amounts of shredded Pecorino Romano cheese. Note: in the photographs, you’ll notice I used grated Pecorino Romano cheese, which was fine but tended to fall off the flatbread. I’d recommend using shredded Pecorino instead so it has a chance to “hang on” to the flatbread better.

Pop it back in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Then sprinkle with chopped pistachio and you’ve got a great lunch for 2 to 3 — or apps for 4 to 6 folks. This would also be a great (and super quick) Academy Awards viewing party appetizer. Just saying. Enjoy!

pistachio pecorino flatbread with turkey breast and sun dried tomato

Pistachio-Pecorino Flatbread with Turkey Breast and Sun-Dried Tomato

Rating: 51

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Yield: 4 servings (2 slices per serving)

Ingredients

2 cups oven-roasted turkey breast, shredded
2 tablespoons pistachios, chopped
3/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, diced
extra virgin olive oil
parsley, chopped
Italian seasoning

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unroll the dough and arrange the crescent dinner rolls on the baking sheet so they are lying flat.

Drizzle each with olive oil. Using the back of a spoon, spread the olive oil to cover the tops. Sprinkle lightly with Italian seasoning and chopped parsley. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until light golden brown. Remove from oven.

Place shredded turkey breast evenly on each flatbread piece. Sprinkle with diced sun-dried tomatoes and cover generously with cheese. Bake for another 5 minutes, or until cheese melts.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Serve immediately.

http://bakedchicago.com/pistachio-pecorino-flatbread-recipe/

Entrees

Why is Arrabbiata Sauce angry?

arrabbiata sauce_1 I must admit for most of my adult life I’ve never made spaghetti sauce from scratch. With so many good pre-made sauces on the market, I usually stock up when there’s a sale and (occasionally) doctor it up with some fresh herbs or tomatoes. Can I get an “amen?” Browsing through one of my favorite slow cooker cookbooks – Better Homes and Gardens Year-Round Slow Cooker Recipes – I found a recipe for arrabbiata sauce. I was intrigued because I’d never heard of arrabbiata sauce. After a little research, I discovered that “arrabbiata” is Italian for “angry.” The sauce gets its name from the burn of the crushed red peppers. Most everything about this recipe sounded great, but of course I had to add my own twists to make it more of something I’d want to eat. So I exchanged pancetta for bacon and I added a cup of Cabernet Sauvignon wine to the recipe. I thought if the sauce was going to be “angry,” then being a little “boozy” couldn’t hurt!

Arrabbiata Sauce with Turkey Meatballs

arrabbiata sauce_4 The arrabbiata sauce is extremely easy to make. Your slow cooker does most of the heavy lifting. To start the recipe, I browned the onion, bacon and garlic in a skillet – then transferred the contents to my slow cooker. You add all the rest of the ingredients (except for the pasta and meatballs – those come later!) into your slow cooker and give it a good stir. Set it on HIGH and put on the lid. Walk away for 4 to 5 hours and the sauce will be “perfetto!” arrabbiata sauce_2 About 45 minutes before your arrabbiata sauce is done, you’ll want to start making the turkey meatballs. I used pre-seasoned panko breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning spices, but you can use standard panko breadcrumbs and add in the Italian seasoning by hand. The mixture of the panko, butter and egg help bind the ingredients, and make for a great carmelized “crust” on the outside of the meatballs. I tend to like larger meatballs, so that requires even cooking. The trick is not to rush the browning process, so never go higher than medium-high heat. I don’t make homemade meatballs that often. Usually, I’ll just brown ground turkey into my sauce and make whatever sauce I’m using a meat sauce. But these turkey meatballs were to die for! Well worth the effort. You may want to make a double batch; they freeze well. arrabbiata sauce_6 Cook your pasta according to package directions. I used rotini pasta, but you can easily substitute your favorite pasta or what you have in your pantry. If you’re only having pasta for a meal, I like to use a bowl. It makes it easier to cover the pasta with sauce, without wasting a lot covering the entire length of a plate. Then pile on the meatballs and pour a healthy serving of arrabbiata sauce over it all. Top it with shredded Parmesan cheese and you’ve got a great weekday dinner or weekend lunch that’s good enough for company. arrabbiata sauce_3 I ended up adding Cabernet Sauvignon to this arrabbiata sauce recipe to make it “less angry.” What’s your favorite ingredient to add to spaghetti sauce?

Arrabbiata Sauce with Turkey Meatballs

Rating: 51

Cook Time: 4 hours

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

For Sauce:
1 large onion, chopped
5 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
56 ounces diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano, undrained
15 ounces tomato sauce
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 cup Cabernet Sauvignon, or any dry red wine
8 servings cooked rotini pasta
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
For Meatballs:
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
20 ounces ground turkey, 93% lean
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 medium onions, minced
2 eggs
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

For Sauce:

In a skillet, cook the onion, bacon and garlic over medium heat until onion is tender and bacon is browned.

Transfer mixture to a 5-quart slow cooker. Set skillet aside to use when cooking meatballs later.

Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, parsley, oregano, basil, salt, and crushed red pepper. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours (or on LOW for 8 to 10 hours).

Serve over pasta and turkey meatballs. Sprinkle each serving with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

For Meatballs:

In a large bowl, thoroughly combine ground turkey, breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, dried parsley, mined onions, eggs, butter, salt and pepper.

By hand, form golf ball-sized meatballs and place in cooled skillet (used when browning onion and bacon mixture earlier). Makes about 16 meatballs, or 2 per serving. Feel free to make your meatballs smaller or larger, based on your preference. But make all meatballs uniform in size so they cook evenly.

Place skillet with meatballs on burner at medium-high heat. Every 5 minutes or so, turn meatballs so that all sides will eventually brown and meatballs will be evenly cooked. Watch carefully and remove meatballs from skillet when done. Set aside to serve with arrabbiata sauce and pasta.

Notes

Sauce portion of this recipe lightly adapted from Better Homes & Gardens "Year-Round Slow Cooker Recipes"

http://bakedchicago.com/arrabbiata-sauce/

Appetizers

Pistachio-Pecorino Flatbread with Turkey Breast and Sun-Dried Tomato

Pistachio-Pecorino Flatbread with Turkey Breast and Sun-Dried Tomato

Have you ever bought an ingredient in bulk at Sam’s Club or Costco only to wonder weeks later just how you’re going to use it all? Yep, me too. More often than I care to admit. My latest “bulk buy” was a mega-huge-monster-sized bag of Pecorino Romano cheese. Luckily, I love the taste of Pecorino Romano and it lasts a long time in the fridge or freezer. But because this mammoth-sized container of CHEESE has been staring at me every time I open the refrigerator, I’ve been challenged to come up with new recipes worthy of this great ingredient.

When I heard that today was National Pistachio Day (and I LOVE me some pistachios), I decided I’d whip up some pistachio-pecorino flatbread for lunch. I had some leftover turkey breast that I could shred for protein and some delicious sun-dried tomatoes that would be a great accent flavor. It was only 9:30 am but already I was psyched for lunch!

Pistachio-Pecorino Flatbread

I used a package of Pillsbury® Original Crescents. Just unroll the dough on a prepared baking sheet. Brush with extra virgin olive oil and season with parsley flakes and Italian seasoning. Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Then remove from the oven and cover with shredded turkey breast, diced sun-dried tomatoes and generous amounts of shredded Pecorino Romano cheese. Note: in the photographs, you’ll notice I used grated Pecorino Romano cheese, which was fine but tended to fall off the flatbread. I’d recommend using shredded Pecorino instead so it has a chance to “hang on” to the flatbread better.

Pop it back in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Then sprinkle with chopped pistachio and you’ve got a great lunch for 2 to 3 — or apps for 4 to 6 folks. This would also be a great (and super quick) Academy Awards viewing party appetizer. Just saying. Enjoy!

pistachio pecorino flatbread with turkey breast and sun dried tomato

Pistachio-Pecorino Flatbread with Turkey Breast and Sun-Dried Tomato

Rating: 51

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Yield: 4 servings (2 slices per serving)

Ingredients

2 cups oven-roasted turkey breast, shredded
2 tablespoons pistachios, chopped
3/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, diced
extra virgin olive oil
parsley, chopped
Italian seasoning

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unroll the dough and arrange the crescent dinner rolls on the baking sheet so they are lying flat.

Drizzle each with olive oil. Using the back of a spoon, spread the olive oil to cover the tops. Sprinkle lightly with Italian seasoning and chopped parsley. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until light golden brown. Remove from oven.

Place shredded turkey breast evenly on each flatbread piece. Sprinkle with diced sun-dried tomatoes and cover generously with cheese. Bake for another 5 minutes, or until cheese melts.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Serve immediately.

http://bakedchicago.com/pistachio-pecorino-flatbread/

Soups, Salads & Sides

Authentic Parisian Parsley Potatoes

One of the basic philosophies I subscribe to when it comes to the kitchen is  that there’s no such thing as a bad potato recipe. All things aside, if I could only eat one food item for the rest of my life it would probably be potatoes. They are so versatile, so delicious and often very easy to prepare. What’s not to like about that?

This recipe is an adaptation of a traditional Parisian Herbed Potatoes dish. I like this Parisian Parsley Potatoes dish because it’s got only 5 ingredients, it takes less than 30 minutes to prepare and its flavor is simply decadent.

You could use any small (or new) potato but I recommend the traditional red new potatoes. They have such a great color and the skins are quite tasty.

Parisian Parsley Potatoes

You melt the butter in a heavy pan. Then add the potatoes, salt, and pepper – and stir to coat. Cover the pan and let it cook on medium-low for about 30 minutes, shaking every 5 minutes so that the potatoes on the bottom of the pot don’t burn. When the potatoes are done, toss with parsley and serve.

These Parisian parsley potatoes are missing something....

Don’t these potatoes look delicious. Did you notice which of the 5 ingredients is missing? The parsley! Even when you only have 5 ingredients, you must pay attention to the recipe. I had plated the potatoes and after shooting a photo  realized I had totally forgotten the parsley. What’s Parisian Parsley Potatoes without the parsley? Potatoes that are buttered, salted and peppered. Still good ,but missing a star ingredient.

ooh la la - Parisian parsley potatoes

Even if you make an error with this recipe, it’s easy to fix. I simply put the potatoes back in the sauce pan and tossed with the parsley. Situation under control!

Authentic Parisian Parsley Potatoes

Rating: 51

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

8 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 pounds red new potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled, cut in half
2 teaspoons sea salts
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons parsley

Instructions

Melt the butter in a large heavy sauce pan. Add the potatoes, then salt and pepper. Toss well until potatoes are coated.

Cover the pan and cook over medium-low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when tested with a small knife or fork. Occasionally shake the pot without removing the lid to prevent the bottom potatoes from burning.

Turn off heat and let potatoes continue to cook (with lid on the pan) for another 5 minutes. Toss with parsley and serve hot.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten's Herbed New Potatoes in "Barefoot in Paris" cookbook.

http://bakedchicago.com/authentic-parisian-parsley-potatoes/