week knight: cheesy broccoli

this is one of my flavorite new week knight meals. a week knight is an easy dish that saves you if you didn't plan, and just have 30 minutes before bedtime and two ingredients in the fridge. in this case the two ingredients are broccoli and some leftover cheese (of any sort). parmesan, cheddar, Beecher's...you really can't go wrong. i originally made this broccoli as a side dish to lemon chicken pasta, although, in all honestly, the broccoli was so tasty that I snacked until I had eaten the whole broccoli batch before anything else was done cooking. so now, i cut out the middle man and go straight for the good stuff. think of this as a hot salad covered in crispy melted cheese and tangy lemon juice, with just enough substance to be the whole meal deal. if you've been on the hunt for a new, go-to week knight, this is it. adapted from this bon appetit contributor who says, "This Cheesy, Crispy Broccoli Skillet Might Be the Best Thing I’ve Ever Made." believe her. and believe me. who knew stovetop broccoli could turn into a dream come true??? don't delay, make it this week knight and don't ever look back.  plus because it's veg, you'll feel great about this choice being a meatless mainstay for Monday or any day of the week.  for short you can call this dish brocco cheese, broccoli deligh, broccoli d or broccoli deeze or BD or just b-deeze. you know b? you know b-deeze? 

if you're not convinced it can work as a standalone meal, some other thought starters to get you acquainted:
-add on top of any of your favorite pasta dishes for some green (mixed into TJ's pappardelle with roast chicken & parm)
-put atop your adult mac n cheese
-stir into your fave soup for some char and cheesiness (I added to plain matzo ball soup & it was fab)
-serve as a side dish to any favorite meal

the skillet in all of it's glory.

broccoli d in matzo ball soup

broccoli d with beecher's mac & chicken

broccoli d with pappardelle & bolognese

Broccoli Delight / Broccoli D / Broccoli Deeze / BDeeze

Recipe (adapted from Cheesy Broccoli Skillet)

1 lb broccoli (precut florets or floreted broccoli heads)

8 cloves garlic (chopped)

olive oil

a lemon

salt to taste (probably a handful)

crushed red pepper flakes

Add a generous coating of olive oil to a preheated cast-iron pan over medium-high heat, then add the broccoli (try to arrange the cut sides down), season with salt and chili flakes. Let cook, undisturbed, until the undersides are dark brown and the florets are bright green, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic. Toss everything around and let the broccoli cook a few minutes longer, until the new undersides take on some color and the stems are crisp-tender, another 5 minutes or so (but taste one to find out). 

While that's happening, crumble about 4 ounces of cheddar (or your other favorite melting cheese) into ½” pieces, then sprinkle them over the broccoli. The cheese will immediately melt and some will start to drip down into the spots between the florets and onto the hot surface of the pan. Whatever lands there will bubble and brown into cheese sheets. The rest of the cheese will softly melt onto the florets without getting crispy, and that’s just what you want. One cheese, two textures.

holy hot basil

delicious with a runny fried egg on top. excellent for dinner parties, total cooking time is ~7 minutes.

holy hot basil
[neua pat bai grapao]

10 garlic cloves, peeled & chopped
8 bird's eye chilies, chopped
pinch of salt
1/2 cup fish sauce
2 tbsp white sugar
1/4 cup stock or water
2 large handfuls of holy basil
ground pork or chopped beef
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs

Serve w/ steamed thai sticky rice [thai glutinous rice]

Preparation
Coarsely chop garlics with chilies & salt.
Heat a oiled wok over high heat, add in 2 tbsp vegetable oil, fry two eggs until just cooked & yolks still runny, spoon oil over the top to ensure top is cooked well. Lift eggs out & set aside.

Add remaining 2 tbsp of oil to wok.  Once oil is hot, add in garlic, chili & salt mixture.  Stir fry quickly, don't allow the garlic to brown.  Add in the beef or pork and stir fry until just cooked through.  Add in the fish sauce, fish sauce & sugar to your taste.  Add stock or water and simmer quickly.  Add in the holy basil, once wilted remove dish from heat.  

Serve with thai sticky rice & top holy hot basil dish with one fried egg.  

the zingiest pasta of summer

hey peeps. just devoured a pasta like this at cuoco.  i'm all about lemon, garlic & spice and have been all over this since i figured out how to replicate it at home.

Dan isn't big into carbs so it's my go-to when he's not home.

SPICY LEMON, GARLIC & PARM SPAGHETTI
If you're eating for 1, here's what you'll need (multiply accordingly if there are other guests in your party, or extra hunger in your belly):

8 garlic cloves (thinly sliced)
1/2 cup parsley (finely chopped)
1 tbsp butter
splash of olive oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano (use your microplane)
zest of half a lemon (or zest of a full small lemon, use your microplane again)
spaghetti for one, can be quinoa or regular gluten pasta (cooked al dente in heavily salted water)

cook your spaghetti in heavily salted water (i heard somewhere that pasta water should taste like the ocean). drain and set cooked pasta aside. add butter, olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes to your pan. cook about 5 minutes on low heat, until garlic is cooked and not brown and the spice of the flakes begins to develop. add in lemon zest. add in your pasta. toss. remove from heat and add in your finely grated parm.

get that pasta into a bowl and slurp it up.    

2,012 garlic clove soup

well, not quite, but about 40-60 cloves of garlic when all is said and done.  i made this soup on New Year's day -- it's easy, very flavorful, healthy and who doesn't love max quantities of garlic??

60 Garlic Clove Soup
Recipe from Martha's Whole Living 
4 heads garlic, halved crosswise (TIP: roast an extra bulb for spreading on bread with your soup)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

8 cups chicken stock

16 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and chopped

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Drizzle garlic heads with oil. Wrap tightly in foil and roast until tender, about 40 minutes. Let cool, then squeeze garlic from papery skin and set aside. Bring stock, potatoes, and roasted garlic to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan. For additional texture, pull out 1-2 cups of cooked potatoes, and blend everything remaining in the pot with an immersion blender. Add potatoes back into blended soup. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with more Parmesan and serve with rustic bread.

roasted artichoke

I grew up loving steamed artichokes served with lemon butter.  My favorite part was the artichoke heart at the end, once all the leaves had been eaten, and eating the heart dipped in more lemon butter.  I saw this recipe for Roasted Artichokes the other day on Pinch My Salt and had to try it.  If you try making this, make sure to cook the artichokes long enough for their size, probably about an hour and 15 minutes, otherwise they turn out being slightly bitter. Both artichokes tasted pretty good, but the smaller artichoke of the two tasted better.

WHOLE ROASTED ARTICHOKES

What to do:
Preheat oven to 425. Rinse the artichokes, and cut off the top quarter of the artichoke, and the bottom of the stem so that it can sit flat on the base as it bakes.  Rest each artichoke on a piece of aluminum foil that you've drizzled with olive oil.  Stuff 2-3 garlic cloves in the leaves of each artichoke, douse with the juice of half a lemon, and about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Sprinkle with kosher salt.  Wrap entire artichoke in aluminum foil and bake at 425 for about an hour and 15 minutes.  Serve with lemon butter or the lemon and oil juice that results from baking.  Don't forget to eat the heart once you've finished all the leaves.

i wouldn't really call it a flower

cauliflower or "cabbage flower" is something I ate a great deal of growing up, but never especially enjoyed.  it was usually served steamed, watery and on the bland side of things.  sometimes served with cheez whiz, which is a sauce that you can conveniently scoop out of a jar and melt, in order to easily pour over any vegetable. you can also add it to macaroni noodles for a "homemade" macaroni and cheese sauce or add salsa to it for a homemade chili con queso dip.

on a recent visit to New Orleans, we ordered a fried cauliflower appetizer served with a chile vinegar sauce.  Although everything is better fried, including the pickles, oysters, okra, chicken and dough that were also consumed on this NOLA trip, I try to steer away from the deep fried lifestyle at home. This appetizer opened my eyes to the flavor potential of cauliflower that is so often masked or subdued by steaming.  It also inspired me to pair it with something more acidic, to give it a little zing.

this is a good side dish for any meal, and is also nice served chilled in a salad.

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER
1 head of cauliflower, trimmed and broken into small florets
4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 tablespoons of grated parmesan to finish

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Trim cauliflower and set aside in a mixing bowl.  Mix garlic, lemon and olive oil in a small bowl.  Pour the lemon garlic mixture over the cauliflower and stir to coat the florets evenly.  Spread onto a cookie sheet or baking dish, and bake for 5-8 minutes or until tender.  The cauliflower may brown on one side, but that adds to the flavor.

Toss with parmesan before serving.

spicy sausage pappardelle

Are you in need of a quick weeknight meal that is meaty, but also easy to prepare? Look no further. I've recently received feedback that MORE dishes with LESS ingredients would be most appreciated. Since I'm a lady of the people, I'm going to work on collecting accessible recipes with simplicity in mind.
This pasta dish contains approximately eight ingredients, only four of which you probably need to go out and buy...these would be the sausage, tomatoes, cream and red onion(and fresh thyme if you don't harvest your own herbs). Chances are if you cook from time to time you already own your own garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and some pasta noodles. Enjoy!

SPICY Sausage Pasta
(serves 2)
olive oil
1 red onion, diced
a handful of thyme leaves (fresh or dried)
1/2 tbsp. red pepper flakes (dried chili flakes)
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 pork sausages (Uli's HOT italian!), meat removed from casings and separated into small pieces
1 28 oz. can of peeled, sliced or diced tomatoes
1/2 pint cream
salt and pepper
pappardelle (from trader joe's, any noodle that you love will work)
parmesan to serve
Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over a medium heat. Brown the pieces of sausage in the oil, breaking the sausages as you cook. Add the thyme leaves to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the onion and red pepper flakes and cook until soft. Add the chopped garlic and cook for another minute or so. Add the sliced or diced tomatoes to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook the pasta in salted water. A few minutes before the pasta is ready, add the cream to the sauce and stir. When the pasta is cooked, plate and serve with a heaping spoon of sauce.  

cloudy with a chance of meatballs

Seeing this always makes me want to eat meatballs and share a forkless bowl of spaghetti with a loved one.  Sometimes I trick people into this situation by serving them a bowl of spaghetti with no fork. mwahahaha. it rarely works.

Moving on...I've always had the perception that meatballs were complicated and that you only made them if you were fortunate enough to have inherited a secret, family recipe.  Since I have no Italian family members from which to acquire such a prized item, I figured trial and error would be quicker than waiting around to come into Italian family members and, subsequently, their secret recipes.  Turns out I was right, the recipe I used was a regular, old find-it-in-a-book style recipe, and it took only about 15 minutes to mix up all the ingredients and then another 25 minutes to bake.  Bringing new people into your family and trying to steal their recipes can sometimes take weeks. The meatballs were good, the right amount of garlicy and just a little spicy, just like Grandma used to make in the Old Country.  

ITALIAN MEATBALLS

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used chopped up "everything" crackers from Trader Joe's, because bread crumbs were $3.99 - YOWZA!)
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
1/4 cup grated italian cheese mix
2 tablespoons chopped fresh or dried basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry red wine
1 egg

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients by hand, using a light touch. Take a portion of meat in hand, and roll between palms to form a ball that is firmly packed but not compressed. Repeat, making each meatball about 2 inches in diameter. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Fill a baking dish with one layer of meatballs. Try not to crowd. Bake for 15 minutes until browned well on the bottoms and turn them over. Continue cooking until browned all over and cooked through. Remove meatballs to a plate as each batch is finished. Let meatballs cool slightly; cover and refrigerate until needed.

Yield: About 30 meatballs.

Serve with spaghetti and your favorite marinara or meat sauce.

the original souse king

Just as there are two types of people in this world: those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don't...there are two types of pasta sauces: those that you buy in a jar, and those that you make from scratch. Don't get me wrong, I love popping open a jar of ragu as much as the next guy, but if you want to make an easy, freezy sauce to have on hand AT ALL TIMES, this is the one. It will not let you down. It’s rich, it’s meaty, it's perfect for spaghetti, for lasagna or for eating by the cup full (some people are into that, for reals).

It takes about half an hour to cook all of the ingredients, but then you can just “Set it, and forget it!” (that’s right, Ron Popeil style). The longer you forget it, the more delicious it becomes. It’s pretty much magic. Or maybe it is science. Who can really tell the difference these days?

After cooking and enjoying, bolognese freezes well and thaws quickly for saucy meals on the go.

Ragu Alla Bolognese

INGREDIENTS

½ lb. hot Italian sausages

1 lb. leanest ground beef

1 chopped onion

2 chopped carrots

2 chopped celery sticks

8-10 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press

1 tbsp. oregano

1 tbsp. basil

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. ground black pepper

2 tsp. fennel seeds

3 tsp. salt (salt monkeys, do it to taste)

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 bay leaf

½ cup dry white or red wine (both work well)

¼ cup tomato paste (mix with ¼ cup water)

2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes, peeled and crushed in heavy puree

Remove sausage from casings and slowly brown in a skillet along with the ground beef, a large sauce or soup pan works well. Break up the sausage as it cooks. Once meats are browned to your liking, drain the fat. Add vegetables and all spices to meat pan, sauté until onions begin to cook, and be careful not to brown the garlic. Add the tomato sauce, water and wine. Simmer for 5 minutes and add canned tomatoes. Simmer over medium-low heat, for 1-2 hours. Serve with the pasta of your choice.

More substantial noodles such as linguini, spaghetti or pappardelle, work nicely with this sauce.