Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Ragu

BRUNA'S RAGU


This is the recipe that my mother in law taught me how to make. 
It is simple and it is ALWAYS delicious. 
It can be served over pasta, used in lasagna or eaten with bread. 
Anyway you serve it, you will LOVE it!



Ingredients: 
28oz San Marzano Crushed Tomatos (or 2 16oz cans) 
medium size onion
small can of tomato paste
ground beef or turkey 
nutmeg 
crushed red peppers 
salt
Skin of Parmesan cheese and grated cheese for serving

Dice the onion. I LOVE this handy little onion cutter. Perfect little squares and saves the 
mess!

Put the onions in a pan with enough olive oil to almost cover them and a large pinch of red
pepper flakes (or more if you like it spicy)

Cook this over a medium flame until the onions become translucent. 

Add in your meat.

Add in the salt and nutmeg. Just a small punch of each. 

Mix it all up and break up the meat as it cooks thoroughly. 

While the meat is cooking, put the crushed tomatoes in the blender and set them to chop. 
I use San Marzano tomatoes because they are more flavorful. You can find them almost
anywhere. 

Add the tomatoes to the meat and onions. 

Add 2 TBSP of tomato paste (which is approximately 1/2 of the small can)

Use the can and fill it with water (it is fine if there is still paste in it)
Add the water to the sauce. 

This part is not vital to the recipe, but it really adds another depth of flavor. 
I put a couple of parmesan rinds in the sauce directly. 

Let the sauce cook for 10 minutes on medium/low heat. Take out the rinds and serve it!!!
It is simply perfect. 


 CLICK HERE TO OPEN A PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS RECIPE 

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

INSALATA DI FAGIOLI E TONNO

Basically that means white kidney beans and tunafish!!!
But let me tell you, the first time my husband made it, I was like, NO FREAKING WAY am I going to eat that. But, I got up my courage and tried it (its not so pretty) and I am here to tell you, it was MAMMA SLAPPIN good!!!!! (And that is REAL GOOD) And not to mention, it is PACKED full of protein and fiber! So you won't be hungry all afternoon!
Here is the recipe, with my husband as the star chef!

INSALATA DI FAGOLI E TONNO

Ingredients:
1 pkg tuna (6.4 oz)
1 can of white kidney beans
(you can make these and chill them in the fridge if you don't like canned beans)
juice of 1/2 lemon
Italian Parsley
Quarter of an onion (I hear red onions are best!)
Olive Oil
Salt and Cracked Black Pepper




























1. Drain the beans.

























2. Rinse the beans. (excuse the bowl and the coffee cup in the sink.)

























3. Transfer it to a bowl and break up the tuna into the beans.

























4. Rinse the parsley.

























5. Chop it up.






















6. Add it to the bowl.
(I did not put onions in mine, because this was my lunch and I wasn't feeling raw onions today, but this is the point you would want to add your finely diced onions to the mix!)

























7. Add olive oil.
I just put some on top of everything. I don't measure it. Put the amount that you would put on a salad.

























8. A a fat pinch of salt. =)

























9. Add in your black pepper (put as much as you want!)

























10. Squeeze in your lemon and mix it up!
































11. Of course, now you have to taste it! (That's the chef!)





































Here it is all pretty and ready to eat!!!
(What you don't eat, put in the fridge. It is DELICIOUS after these flavors have set together and are nice and cold! But eating it fresh is good too!)

























And here is our resident taste tester who LOVED this salad!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

BERRY HAND PIES

This is really a simple, delicious sweet snack.
Not only that, it is super easy to make, it is always a hit and you can do it with ANY fruit you want.
You could even use Nutella!

BERRY HAND PIES
Preheat your oven to 450.
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 15-17 min

Ingredients:
2 or 3 boxes of Cold Pie Crust
4 Cups Fresh Berries
1/3 cup flour
1/2 sugar
Splash of Almond Extract
3 Egg Yolk + 3 TBSP water
Non Granulated Sugar (Sugar in the Raw)


























1. Put your berries in a bowl and rinse them. Then add your flour, sugar and almond extract and mix it all together.


























2. Roll out the cold pie crust. Use something that is bigger than a biscuit cutter. I found the powdered sugar duster and it was the perfect size, so I used it! LOL






































































About the size of your palm is how big the circle should be. (You can do these as big as you want)


























3. Put a teaspoon of the berry mix right in the middle of the circle.


























4. Fold the pie crust over the filling. Press it down with the edge of you hand. Sort of warm it up so it sticks together.

















































5. With your fork, press the edges shut.

























6. Now, put your 3 egg yolks and water in a small bowl and mix it together. Then brush it over each pie.





















































7. Get a handful of the sugar and GENEROUSLY sprinkle it over each pie.

























8. Put them in the preheated oven (450) for 15-17 minutes or until they are nice and brown.
Take them out, line them up and serve them!
They are most delicious when they are warm with a side of vanilla ice cream.
But they are wonderful by themselves and not warm too!
Any way you eat them, I GUARANTEE you will love them!























(This was my first time making them so they got a little messy, but they were still wonderful! I have made them since and have gotten better about not tearing the pie crust and getting the right amount of berry inside.)

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

MY MANGO SALSA

This recipe is really a mix match of about 4 recipes I found online.
I just pick and chose my favorite things out of the recipes and mixed it all together!

This salsa is great as a dip with tortilla chips or served with grilled shrimp, halibut or chicken.
Any way you eat it, it is GOOD!!!!


What you need:
1 diced ripe mango
2 TBSP diced red pepper
2 TBSP diced red onion
2 tsp fresh diced jalapeno (more if you want more heat)
1/2 cup diced fresh pineapple
Juice of 1 lime
optional - salt and red pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients and serve!!!

Just remember: this is the recipe the I like it. Feel free to add more onions if you love them or more jalapeno's if you want the heat it up. Just taste it and make your measurements.
Sometimes its hard for me to put exact measurements on things because I really do a dash of this or a bit more of that... you know! 

GRILLED SHRIMP, AVOCADO & MANGO SALAD

This is the most simple salad recipe ever.
But I am going to show you for the sake of the pictures!

My history with this salad:
My friend Suzanne and I try to go out to lunch every 2 weeks or so. Recently we went to this little Thai restaurant that had the most delicious salad I have ever eaten. Tempura Shrimp, Avocado & Mango with a White Sauce. It is really an appetizer, so I didn't feel bad when I had 2 of those for lunch! When I got home, I decided that I wanted to make a lighter version of the same dish. So, that is how my salad was born. And I have to tell you, the grilled shrimp are EVEN BETTER than the tempura shrimp! 

GRILLED SHRIMP, AVOCADO & MANGO SALAD
Serves 3

What you need:
1/2 lb Fresh Shrimp with the peel on
1 ripe avocado
1 ripe mango
Olive Oil
Old Bay Seasoning
optional - White Sauce


How to tell your mango and avocado are ripe:
If they give a little to the touch, then it is perfect for this salad. 
You don't want the fruit to be over ripe and mushy for this salad, 
but you also don't want it to be too hard. 
A soft give to a press is perfect. 



















1. Cook your shrimp.
What I did with these shrimp was put them, peel and all, in a bowl with some olive oil and some Old Bay Seasoning. Just roll them around in it. Then I put them directly on my hot stove top grill. I cooked them for about 3 minutes on each side. When your shrimp turns orange, they are ready.


















2. Peel and dice your avocado and mango. 
You can arrange this anyway you want. 


















3. Peel off the shell of the shrimp and clean the spine. 
I clean out the spine of the shrimp by making a slice directly down the middle of the back and just scooping it out. 
Then I cut the shrimp into 3 pieces and put them on top. This way they are a little more bite size. 
You can leave them whole if you are using smaller shrimp or if you just prefer it that way.

























OPTIONAL: Add White Sauce. 
I put it on top here, but you can put it on the side and use it sparingly.
You really don't need a lot. A little goes a LONG way! 


















































ENJOY!!!
Trust me, you are going to be eating this all season. It craaaaazy good! 

Sunday, May 23, 2010

HOMEMADE KETTLE CORN

I know, for me, when I go to the beaches in South Carolina and there is any kind of festival, there is ALWAYS kettle corn near! And it is so freaking good, I can hardly stand it. Then, you get home you wish you had more. There may be a few stands around, but they are hard to find and when you do find them, the lines are FOREVER long. So, I decided to go on a hunt for a good recipe. I randomly found one online, and then sort of tweeked it to me and now I am sharing it with you! 


Ingredient List:
Butter Flavored Oil
Sea Salt
1/4 cup sugar (I use organic sugar, but you can use white or brown)
1/2 cup white popcorn 

1.Cover the bottom of the pan with oil and add 3 popcorn kernels. 
Not too deep, but enough for the kernels to be peeking out.

2. Cover the pot and place it on the heat. Set your flame to about 6 or just over medium heat. Make sure you shake these around while the oil is heating. When the 3 kernels pop, the oil is ready.

3. Remove the pot from the flame and add your popcorn kernels first, then your sugar on top of it. Then stir it VERY QUICKLY. (this is so important because the oil is hot and it will pop the popcorn quickly.) But make sure that you are getting the sugar good and mixed in with the oil and kernels. 

4. Cover your popcorn mixture and place back on the heat. You need to shake the this intermittently almost the entire time it is popping. It may take a minute for it to start popping but shake it, put it on the heat, shake it, heat, etc, even after it starts popping. Great thing is its a mini workout! Burn a few calories before you eat a few! ;) 

5. Transfer your popcorn to a large bowl. Sprinkle IMMEDIATELY with salt. I use a good amount of salt because the great thing about Kettle Corn is the sweet to salt ratio. 

6. With your hands mix the salt into the popcorn while gently separating the kernels. It cools quickly, so you need to do this right away.

7. Now that is is nice and seperated, it is ready to eat!!!!!!

Seriously easy and most definitely worth the time!!!!!