Since we have off this Friday, I'm going to scratch my itch to cook lots of good food. I'm going to make soup, beouf bourguignon, and stuffed peppers.
The soup is going to be a vegetable pasta - I love using those tiny diatalini pasta that are often in pasta fagioli. Basically, I'm going to use my food processor to process carrots, onions and celery very finely and to process potatoes sort of chunky. Warm oil in a large, heavy pan, add the potatoes. Essentially, you want the potatoes to "melt" and make the soup thick and velvety. Once the potatoes are browned and leaving bits on the pot (but not burned) add the celery/carrot/onion mixture. Add a few cloves of minced garlic. Clear a spot in the middle of the pot and add tomato paste; let it brown for a minute or two. Add a little white wine to deglaze the pan. Add a few bay leaves, some rinds of parm cheese, and about 4 quarts of boiling water. Let simmer for about an hour, uncovered, until reduced.
The veggies should have pretty much dissipated so that the above is really just a "broth". Then I'll add more, larger chopped carrots, celery, onions, leeks, and let those cook for about 30 minutes. Then I'll add the tiny pasta and cook for another 15 minutes or until it's tender. Mmmmmm...
I always use Ditalini in my pasta w/ broccoli. You just cook the pasta about half way, drain half the water, add your broccoli, tons of garlic, (don't make this on a meeting night!) salt, pepper, & red pepper flakes. Add a little parm on top, and you've got a quick healthy yummy meal.
oh garlic. i was out with a friend at a restaurant and we both didn't realize it but we ordered dishes heavy on the garlic. and the waiter just looked at us and was like, "so this isn't a date?" & i was like, "how'd you know?" and he said"nobody on a date would want to eat this much garlic." i always forget how potent it is because i love it.
Oooh, who's your "friend"????
haha just a friend.
Dish little lady! I'm not out there to get the juicy "news" anymore and I miss it. :P
I think I've finally mastered my grandmother's stuffed peppers recipe:
In a large sautee pan, lightly sautee 1 medium onion, chopped and 4 cloves of garlic, minced in olive oil. Add 1.5 lbs. ground beef (I used ground round) and cook for about 5-7 minutes, or until cooked through. Add 3/4 c. fresh dill, minced and 2 large cans of crushed tomatoes. Stir to combine and bring up to a simmer. Add 1 c. uncooked white rice and remove from heat.
Meanwhile, cut the tops off about 8 Italian (sometimes called "frying") peppers (they're the light green, super long ones), removing the seeds but keeping the tops themselves (so the peppers have hats). Stuff the peppers with the beef mixture and set in oven proof roasting pan, putting any extra filling around the sides. Add about 1 cup water on top.
Roast in a 400 degree oven for about 1 hour, checking every 25 minutes or so, adding more water as necessary (the end product should be quite cohesive, not soupy, so add small amounts of water if the sides start to dry out).
These are soooooooooooooooooooo good!
i love stuffed peppers, i do mine almost exactly the same. (I don't use dill) A really nice addition is some toasted pignoli (pine) nuts.
so funny, i just read this again, cuz i think i'm going to make them tomorrow, and i thought to myself, hm, these can use some pine nuts....and that's the comment i posted previously.