Penne alla Vodka

It's no news around here that I love my Pinterest.  It's really too bad that it wasn't around when we got married or each time I was pregnant.  Or is it really too bad?

I do love pinning new and different treats that I find.  Sometimes I actually try them.  Seriously.  And then sometimes, I look back over them later and think, "nah. Kids just aren't going to go for that."

Then I found the penne alla vodka recipe.  I knew I was going to have to try it out and hope and pray that everyone loved it, because I had already made up my mind that I did.

(pinned from the kitchn)

Penne alla Vodka
serves 4-6




Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, finely chopped (optional)
1/2 sweet onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3-4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (I like chef's cut)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, to taste
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup vodka
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 pound (16 ounces) penne pasta
Parmesan cheese, for serving
Chopped parsley, for serving

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add prosciutto and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 4-5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium. Add the onions and cook until softened and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and garlic, stirring to combine, and sauté for 2 more minutes.

Stir the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, sugar, and salt into the onion mixure. Stir in the vodka and increase heat back to medium-high. Briskly simmer for 8 - 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the alcohol flavor has cooked off. Reduce heat to low and whisk in heavy cream.

While making the vodka sauce, bring a large stockpot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water before draining. Gently fold the cooked penne and reserved prosciutto into the vodka sauce and continue cooking on low heat for another couple of minutes. (I actually use a little less than one pound of pasta because I like mine very saucy, but it is easier to just cook the pound and add it to the sauce to taste.) Toss with a bit of pasta water if sauce is too thick.

Season with additional salt and red pepper flakes if desired, and serve with fresh Parmesan and chopped parsley.



The results?  Oh. my. gosh.  Everyone loved this!  Even though the red pepper flakes gave it a little kick, it was promptly pronounced a "do-over", which is always a good thing.

**I didn't use any prosciutto for the simple reason that we didn't have any, but I can only imagine how terribly amazing that would make it.  However, if you're looking for a great meat-less dish, this can stand on it's own two feet.

Pizza Margherita

Friday night around here is pizza night.  Always.  We love pizza and usually make our own, unless Paco pleads with those big brown eyes of his and I give in.

We usually make just a basic pizza dough and then the regular toppings.  Good, but not anything terribly special.

That is, until I found this recipe from (wait.  can you guess?)...  Yes, Taste of Home.  

I've had the recipe cut out and ready to try for um, a couple of years now.  Well, I finally got around to trying it and it is now our family's most favorite pizza ever.  No, seriously.  You should have seen us inhaling it.  It was enough to bring tears of joy to my eyes.

Traditionally, pizza margherita is meatless, which is fine by me, but not my carniverous hubby.  So I added 1 pound of italian sausage and it was awesome, although it would have retained the same level of awesomeness without it.

Ingredients

• 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups bread flour
• TOPPINGS:
• 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes, drained
• 20 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 8 cups (2 pounds) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugar, salt and 1 cup flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
• Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough down; divide in half. Roll each portion into a 13-in. circle. Transfer to two greased 14-in. pizza pans; build up edges slightly. Cover with a clean kitchen towel; let rest for 10 minutes.
• Spoon tomatoes over dough. Top with basil (savor the fresh smell of that basil!), oregano, cheese (make sure you grate enough for little fingers to grab as they run by), pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Drizzle with oil. Bake at 450° for 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

*Because I'm having a love affair with my bread machine, I made the dough in the bread machine and I added a little bit of italian seasoning.  Super yummy and easy!

You could also use fresh tomatoes from your garden if you have one rather than the diced tomatoes.  Of course, if, like me, you have a black thumb and you live two miles away from the surface of the sun, you would understand how completely laughable that is for us.

Italian Sloppy Joes

Mmmm, these are one of our family's all-time favorites.   This is another recipe I found many moons ago from a Taste of Home magazine.  (Many moons ago...  aka less children, more money, bigger and cleaner house, much duller life.)

Every time I say we're having these for supper, a general outcry of joy erupts.  It's so easy to make, so it's perfect for our family of seven.  Plus, it makes a ton, so there are lots of leftovers.  Score!

Ready?

(photo courtesy of Taste of Home)

Ingredients

• 1 pound mild or sweet italian sausage
• 1 pound hot italian sausage
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fennel seed
• 8 to 10 French or submarine rolls, split
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

• In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, cook sausage, garlic, green pepper and onion over medium heat until the sausage is no longer pink; drain. Add the tomato sauce and seasonings; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Spoon about 1/2 cup onto each roll; sprinkle with cheese. Yield: 8-10 servings.

*I have also used italian-seasoned ground turkey and it turns out just as yummy!  Either way, this recipe is a definite comfort food for our family.  You can use my bread machine Garlic Hoagie Roll recipe and I promise your family (parents, boyfriend, dogs, whatever) will love you forever.

This is linked up to Tuesday's Tasty Tidbits at Permanent Posies.

Paco's Primo Pizza Sauce

Happy 2012!!

New Year's would not be New Year's at our house without pizza in some way, shape or form.  We absolutely love it, Paco especially.

We make our own pizza dough in the bread machine (easy, peasy lemon squeezy) using the recipe that came with the machine.  I always add a few extra (wink, wink) ingredients though, to give it a extra dose of Smoochin' in the Kitchen goodness.  I add garlic powder, rosemary, italian seasoning and herbs d' provence (my especial favorite).  All of this is to taste, so play around with it.

Speaking of "to taste", we wanted to share Paco's pizza sauce with you and there are like, no measurements.  You just have to sample over and over.  (so sad, right?)

So here's Paco's Primo Pizza Sauce:

can of tomato sauce
spoonful of tomato paste (if you like thicker sauce)
about 2 T. olive oil
2 t. of granulated garlic
1/2 t. onion powder
1 T. italian seasoning
2 t. pepper
oregano to taste
basil to taste
pinch of sugar
pinch of salt
pinch of wifey (hee, hee)
1 t. crushed red pepper (if you like it a wee bit spicy, like we do)

**Again, these are all approximations.  Just play with it.  Also, when making the dough, use the garlic powder because it's finer.  But, when making the sauce, use granulated garlic because if you use the powder it clumps too easily.

Got all that?  This just gives you a rough idea of what he put's in our sauce here in our kitchen.  Really, it's one of the big reasons I fell in love with him.  The Kitchen-Aid Standing Mixer just sealed the deal all those years ago.

If you do something special to your sauce that you just love, will you share it with us?  Or if you try this, let us know!

Here's to many smooches in the kitchen for you in 2012!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

We love Italian food.  (If only you knew how much of an understatement that is...)  It ranks up there with Jesus, each other, our children and chocolate.  Do not underestimate the love of Italian food in this house. Give us pasta, garlic, olive oil and just about any kind of sauce and we are happy people.  We have garlic breath, but we're happy.  At least it's only Paco and Jamie smoochin' each other in the kitchen.  No one else would want to!

When we were first married and I was learning more about cooking, I knew I wanted to find a good homemade spaghetti sauce recipe.  I found one pretty early on and have made it about a million times over the years.  Okay, maybe not a million, but a ton anyways.  This recipe will make enough sauce for two meals, although I have a feeling with three boys growing up here, it won't stay that way for much longer.

Here we go...

Ingredients:

1 1/2 - 2 lbs ground beef
2 green peppers, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 t. dried oregano
1 1/2 t. dried thyme
1 1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1 1/2 t. dried basil
1 1/2 t. pepper
2 t. salt
1 T. sugar
6 oz. can tomato paste
2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
1/2 c. water
1 T. olive oil

Directions:

Brown beef in a skillet, drain and transfer into large pot.  Combine peppers, onions, celery in pot.  In separate bowl, mix together remaining ingredients; add to beef mixture.  Simmer over low heat for 3 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally (swatting hubby with the wooden spoon for sampling before it's ready and then kiss him, hoping that will hold him over).  Remove bay leaves.  Serve over cooked pasta.  Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Notes:  You can always add mushrooms if you'd like.  Paco is a major fan of fungus, Jamie is (for some strange reason) not.  Also, be sure to remove the bay leaves!  The bay leaves absorb all the acid produced in the sauce and if they're eaten, they could produce major upset stomach yuckiness.  And nobody wants that.  The garlic breath is enough to contend with.

Set the table in romantic kind of way for seven, complete with plastic plates and sippy cups.  Look at each other lovingly as five children are happily slurping up spaghetti a la Lady and the Tramp.  Wait.  Maybe that's just our house.  Okay, technically only four kids are eating spaghetti.  Baby Jack will be joining them in no time, though.  Better start doubling this batch.

As always, if you try this let us know what you think! 

PS This freezes beautifully in Ziploc gallon bags.  When you freeze it, make sure you lay it flat in the freezer so it doesn't freeze into sharp angles, causing the bag to get holes.  As it's defrosting, I always put it in a bowl in the sink to catch any drips.