teacher by day - chef by night
This is SO simple and easy – roast up some fresh tomatoes with garlic, olive oil, & salt and you have your sauce. The only “work” to this is planning an hour ahead to roast up your tomatoes. So what are you waiting for – enjoy the flavors of summer and enjoy!!
WARNING: You house will smell AWESOME while this is cooking, so you will be hungry while this bakes
Stuffed Peppers – I am sure that many of you have a go-to recipe for these. How many of you have a Stuffed Pepper recipe that would help you use up some of the over-abundance of Zucchini you are now faced with!? Well, this recipe is a lighter version and also nice & healthy because some of your filling is a super healthy zucchini.
Feel free to adapt this as needed – I really think that this is one of those recipes where the ingredient amounts (and even what you put in) are totally up to you!
So its time to get creative with Stuffed Peppers… Make this vegetarian by leaving out the sausage. No Orzo – no problem, use brown rice. Want it more spicy: add it. You get the idea. Get out in the garden & then get into the kitchen!
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Cook your orzo about a minute shy of the package directions. Drain and set aside. Begin to brown your sausage in a large saute pan with a drizzle of olive oil. When the sausage is just about cooked through, add the onion and chili flakes. Allow the onion to soften and become translucent, just a couple of minutes. Then deglaze the pan with a good splash of wine, making sure to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom. Add the zucchini and tomato sauce and let cook for another minute or two, until the zucchini starts to soften. Turn off the heat and stir the cooked orzo your grated cheese. Taste & adjust seasoning as necessary.
When you set your peppers into a pan, make sure they are setting flat (either in a loaf pan OR by slicing a tiny bit off of the bottom [being sure to not leave a hole in the bottom of your pepper]) OR set the peppers into their own little foil beds in the pan. Arrange the pepper halves upon the oven-bound vessel of your choosing and sprinkle the insides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stuff (tightly) the sausage and orzo mixture into each pepper half. Feel free to pile it up. Once your peppers are stuffed, put some more grated cheese atop the peppers and pop them in the oven for anywhere between 20 and 30 minutes, depending on your desired level of pepper doneness. It was perfect for us at about 20 minutes – the peppers still have a crispness to them, if you like them softer – feel free to do it that way!
* Any extra stuffing is great the next day on its own or even over some pasta!
And I leave you with this, today’s Question of the Day… What is your favorite food to stuff (shells, peppers, tomatoes, etc) AND what do you love to stuff them with?
Who needs to plant your own garden when you have good neighbors! I know that this time of year many people feel they are over-run with Zucchini – if you find yourself in this situation, then I am sure you are already being a good …
Pasta: go to & quick and easy. There are so many ways to do pasta, but so often we find ourselves going to the same recipes. No no no – not this time! I pulled out my Pasta and Sauces cookbook from the Prevention Magazine’s Quick …
FALL OFF THE BONE…
When you hear those words, you know you are eating something delicious! As this chicken made its way to the plate and people started to take their first bites, I heard the comments “how long did this cook” “it melts in my mouth” “I don’t even need my knife” just brought a smile to my face and is what a cook wants to hear about their chicken which has been simmering on the stove! Add that with some (40 cloves worth) garlic that has been browned & simmering for more than an hour and I don’t know how you can go wrong…. Ok – I take that back: make Oven Baked Latkes the same way that I did, then you can go wrong! (good thing this chicken was so good or the meal, and all of Hanukkah, would have been ruined, in my mind at least!)
(as adapted from Joelen’s Culinary Adventures – as she adapted it from Ina Garten… but check out Joelen’s photos – hers give this dish the “wow” appearance that mine did not, although the flavor was all there!!)
Dry the chicken & season both sides with salt and pepper. Heat the butter AND oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. In batches, saute the chicken, [skin side down first], until nicely browned, about 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Turn – being careful not to pierce the skin with a fork. If the fat is burning, turn the heat down to medium. When a batch is done, transfer it to a plate and continue to saute all the chicken in batches until complete.
Add all of the garlic to the pot. Lower the heat and saute for 5 to 10 minutes, turning often, until evenly browned. Add [2 tablespoons of the bourbon and] the wine, return to a boil, and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
Return the chicken to the pot with the juices and sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Cover and simmer over the lowest heat for at least 30 minutes, until all the chicken is done.
[I cooked for about an hour here and skipped the rest of the recipe & just plated right from the pan with some sauce right over top] Remove the chicken to a platter and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the sauce and the flour and then whisk it back into the sauce in the pot. Raise the heat, add the remaining tablespoon of bourbon and the milk (cream), and boil for 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Pour the sauce and the garlic over the chicken and serve hot.
* Serve this with some kind of starch. I tried to make oven-baked latkes which needed (A) to be [much!] thinner (B) to have more spices (C) to have not used vegetable oil spray on the tin foil (D) to have been fried the way latkes should have been! My family does not allow me to give up though, and mom thinks I should give it another shot in the oven making them thinner.
And I leave you with this: “Love may make the world go ’round… but garlic (& chocolate) is what creates love!”