Adventures in Thyme

Goodbye Sochi, Hello Stoli!

February 26, 2014 by Ginger 1 Comment

Penne with pepper vodka sauce

Here’s a tasty little recipe that will keep your own torch burning using a little Stoli Hot (jalapeño infused vodka).

Ingredients:

1 Box of Penne Pasta (1lb)
~2 Tablespoons each of Butter & Olive Oil
1/2 Sweet Onion, chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 Cup of Vodka (1/2 Stoli Hot, 1/2 plain vodka)
1 Can Tomato Sauce (~15oz)
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
~1/4 Teaspoon each of Rosemary, Basil & Thyme
Generous Cup of grated Pecorino Cheese (can substitute with parmesan)
Black Pepper to taste

How to cook it:

Set your pot of water on the stove and bring to boil. Cook noodles per product directions.

While the water is coming to temperature, heat a frying pan on medium low with butter and oil, adding chopped garlic and onions when ready. Allow these to cook ~10 mins or until translucent then add the vodka. Bring this mixture back up to temperature (you can see it begin to steam and bubble), add the can of tomato sauce, herbs, salt & pepper. Mix well and bring back up to temperature.

At this point I grab a strainer, mine is about 6″ wide and using a ladle pour my vodka sauce thru the strainer and back into the fry pan – so basically I am removing all the chunks of garlic and onion. This is a personal choice of course, you can certainly leave them in, but I prefer a smoother sauce and the garlic and onions have already made their contributions to the party (IMHO). Add the cream and mix well. Grab your pecorino (or parmesan) and grate a generous cup of cheese – take 1/2 a cup or 3/4 cup whatever suits your fancy and dump that into your vodka sauce, mixing well.

The noodles should be done by now, so strain those out using a colander. Fill your bowl with noodles, spoon some vodka sauce over the top and sprinkle on some additional cheese. The Stoli Hot adds a subtle heat well suited to this creamy sauce. You can also substitute the Stoli Hot with bacon infused vodka. Yes, I said bacon!

Banana, Caramel and Ice Cream, Oh my…

February 19, 2014 by Dan Leave a Comment

Bananas and Rum Caramel over Ice Cream

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
6 Tablespoons Butter
2 Bananas, sliced (slightly green work best)
2 Shots Rum
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Combine the brown sugar and 4 tablespoons of butter in a skillet. Melt and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When it starts to thicken drop a little of the caramel into a glass of cold water. It should form a soft ball of caramel in the water. Remove from the heat and add 2 tablespoons if butter, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 2 shots of rum. Return to the heat and stir to combine the ingredients. Add the sliced bananas and cook over medium heat, stirring gently, for a few minutes, until the bananas are soft, but not falling apart.

Remove from heat and let cool until warm. Server warm over vanilla ice cream.

Nachos

February 12, 2014 by Dan Leave a Comment

Nachos

Here’s a low cost, easily adaptable dish that is good as a snack or a meal. It can be made Vegan, Vegetarian, or all out meatlicious; mild, medium, or OMG! Consider our recipe a basic one, add, detract, or just let your imagination run wild. Nachos are also very conducive to set up buffet style, where everyone can customize their own plate. What could be simpler after a long day?

1 Pound Meat (ground beef or shredded beef or you could substitute ground turkey)
1 Package Taco Seasoning
1 Can Refried Beans
Corn Chips
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Large Tomato, diced
1 Avocado, diced
Cilantro, chopped
1 Lime (Optional)

Cook your meat with your favorite taco seasoning. If using ground beef, be sure the beef is browned evenly and broken up into small pieces. Heat your refried beans.

Place a layer of corn ships on an oven safe plate. Top with a layer of your meat and beans. Add another layer of corn chips and again cover with a layer of meat and beans. Add a third layer of corn chips and a third layer of meat and beans. Top with the shredded cheddar cheese. (If you use pre-shredded cheese, be sure it has no anti-caking agent in it or it won’t melt nicely.) Place your place on a baking sheet and put under your broiler for a few minutes. Watch it closely and remove as soon as the cheese melts. Be careful, the plate and baking sheet will be hot.

Serve hot and top with diced tomato, diced avocado and chopped cilantro. You can also squeeze a little lime juice over the top. Enjoy!

Bruschetta

February 5, 2014 by Ginger Leave a Comment

Cucumber and Tomato Bruschetta

What is it about crunchy bits of bread with a deliciously composed topping? And I use that term loosely – a topper of aged cheddar can also be “composed” when one is fending off the munchies during the commercial break of a really good tv show! Our humble little bruschetta is all about the tomato-cuke salad on the top, world’s greatest dressing-delivery-device ever!

Dressing:

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 cup Olive Oil
2 or 3 teaspoons Honey
Sprig Rosemary
3 or 4 Sprigs Thyme
Salt and Pepper to taste

Chop the herbs and place in a blender with the vinegar and honey. Put the blender’s lid on and remove the hole cover in the middle of the lid. Turn the blender on to a medium speed and slowly drizzle the olive oil into the blender. The oil and vinegar will emulsify giving you a nice, thick dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Salad:

4 or 5 tomatoes
1 cucumber

Peel and seed the cucumber, cut into strips and then cut the strips into about 1/4 inch pieces. Quarter and seed the tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes into small pieces about the same size as your cucumber pieces. Place cucumber and tomato into a bowl. Add a little of the dressing and toss gently to coat. Add more dressing if needed. (Save the remaining dressing for another salad or to use as a sauce for steak.)

Bruschetta:

Baguette
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
Parmesan or Pecorino cheese

To make your Bruschetta, take a nice baguette and slice it on a slight diagonal. Brush both sides of each slice with olive oil and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Gently broil the slices of bread until they are lightly toasted (you want some color and texture, not hockey pucks). Now, peal your cloves of garlic and cut them in half. Rub the cut side on the top of your bread. Place the bread on a plate and top with the tomato and cucumber salad. Top with thin pieces of Parmesan or Pecorino cheese (a peeler makes nice thin slices.) Serve.

Oh, and if the salad doesn’t quite stay on the top of your crunchy slices, you can easily spread a little of the leftover dressing on the top so the salad will “stick” better. Who needs leftover dressing anyway?

That which we call Bacon…

January 29, 2014 by Ginger 1 Comment

By any other name would taste as yummy. Bacon – it’s all the rage, but was it ever not? Today we’re actually cooking with its close relative – Pancetta. Typically, bacon and pancetta both come from pork belly and are cured, but bacon is cold-smoked while pancetta remains au natural. The flavors of each are distinct, but can easily be interchanged one for the other.

Let’s be frank tho, who the heck cares?! Once either starts frying in your pan you’ll soon have a crowd in the kitchen sniffing around like bloodhounds. Let’s cut the chatter and rattle some pots and pans with Roasted Brussels Sprout Farfalle with Pancetta.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts Farfalle

You will need:
1 box of Farfalle pasta (also packaged as “bowtie pasta”)
~ 4 Pancetta slices – slivered (if your grocery store’s deli does not have pancetta you can normally find packaged pancetta in the refrigerated section with specialty deli meats and cheeses)
1 lb of Brussels Sprouts (or about 1/2 lb per person) cleaned and sliced into quarters
1/2 sweet onion – sliced (or a shallot if you are not fond of onions)
1 garlic clove – chopped
1 tsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1.5 cups of heavy whipping cream
1 cup of shredded pecorino cheese (or parmesan if you prefer)
1 lemon – zested
salt – to taste

1. Heat your oven to 425 degrees F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper; in lieu of that you can use an oven safe oiled pan.

2. Put ~ 1 tsp of oil in a fry pan and fry the pancetta slivers. You are accomplishing two things (1) Making the crumbles for the top of the dish AND (2) drawing out the pancetta flavor/oil for the onions and brussel sprouts. Keep stirring the pancetta until they are brown and crispy (but not Bacos!), carefully remove the pancetta but not the oil and layer the crumbles on a paper towel.

3. Into this hot pan (with the pancetta oil) fry the onions until they begin to soften, now add the brussels sprouts and continue to cook 5-8 minutes. The sprouts will turn a vibrant green. Keep stirring. The onions should now be translucent or close to it. Add the garlic and stir a few more minutes. Carefully spoon the mixture onto your prepared oven pan – try not to spoon out any extra grease (but there really shouldn’t be much in there; it should be coating your veggies). Place in your oven and cook about 20 minutes or until the brussels sprouts are tender – they still have “body” but they aren’t crunchy. Also, set aside your fry pan to use for the sauce later.

4. While the sprout mixture cooks in the oven start a pot of water to boil for the farfalle, and cook it. Reserve ~ a cup of pasta water for possible use later.

5. While the farfalle and veggies are cooking, pour the 1.5 cups of heavy cream and cup of pecorino back into the fry pan and bring the temperature up – do not boil this, just a nice slow heat until the cheese is incorporated and the sauce thickens. If it gets too thick use some of the pasta water to thin it out.

6. When the farfalle is al dente pour thru a strainer and add the pasta to the sauce. When the brussels sprouts are tender add this to the sauce and noodles, mix gently.

7. Serve with pancetta crumbles and lemon zest. Enjoy!

Finally, and without further ado: What’s the name of a movie about bacon?

Hamlet of course!