Category Archives: Sauce

Classic Soffritto with Spicy Italian Sausage in Tomato Sauce

Posted on February 18, 2015 | 1 comment

Soffritto is a mixture of seasonings and finely chopped vegetables, such as onions, garlic, celery and carrots that is sautéed in olive oil and used as a base for many Italian dishes. I added a little red pepper flakes and oregano. This soffritto takes an average sauce to a perfect sauce. I first learned how to use it many years ago on a trip to Italy. Plus what an awesome way to get Joel to eat some vegetables!

We came home from a beautiful ski day up on The Highlands out here in Aspen, Colorado. Very much in the mood for pasta. I had a pound of italian spicy sausage on hand and all of the other ingredients for this delicious sauce. A short tubular pasta is always best for this sauce, Rigatoni and Penne work really well. I happen to have a box of Tortiglioni noodles which work really well.

Ingredients:

Soffritto:

4 garlic cloves , whole

1 medium onion , cut into quarters

1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1 ” pieces

1 celery stalk, cut into 1 ” pieces

1 tsp. dry oregano

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes ( now you all know by now how much I love the heat, if you’re not a fan omit it)

Directions for Soffritto:

Pulse onion, carrot, garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes in a food processor until finely chopped. ( see photo) Set aside.

Sauce:

ingredients:

1 28 oz. can or box of pureed tomatoes, if you don’t have pureed you can just throw whole ones into food processor along with its juice and puree it yourself.

1 lb. hot or sweet Italian Sausage, casings removed

1/4 cup olive oil

Kosher Salt, freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbsp. Tomato Paste , tubes of Tomato Paste work so well in cases like this

1 lb. Pasta Noodles of your choice

Finely grated Parmesan or Grana Padano for garnish

Directions:

In the food processor pulse onion, carrot , celery, garlic , oregano and red pepper flakes until finely chopped; transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat, add sausage and cook, breaking up sausage with the back of a wooden spoon, until browned and no longer pink. Using a slotted spoon , transfer to a plate.

Increase heat to medium-high , add reserved vegetable mixture to same pan that you cooked sausage in. Taste and season for salt, cook stirring often until vegetables are golden, about 10 minutes.

Stir tomato paste and 1 cup of water in a small bowl, I used measuring cup and small whisk, add to pot with vegetables. Cook , scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pot. Bring to a low boil, reduce heat and simmer until liquid has almost evaporated, about 10 minutes.

Add reserved sausage, and tomato puree and 1 more cup of water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer, you may need to add more water if sauce gets too thick. Cook on simmer for about 2 hours. Taste for salt.

* you can make sauce 3 days ahead , let cool. Cover and chill , or freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat on stove top on low flame.

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, follow package directions for al dente. Drain and reserve 2 cups of pasta cooking water.

I make more sauce than I need for the 2 of us, so added sauce to pasta in a separate bowl, adding pasta water as I needed it. I froze the remainder.

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Posted in Sauce

Tagged Classic Soffritto in Sauce with Sausage, Soffritto, Soffritto in Sauce

What I made for Dinner – Turkey Bolognese

Posted on December 11, 2014 | 4 comments

Beautiful Zucchini Linguine in Turkey Bolognese Sauce

The weather has finally gotten cold enough to make me want to cook some heartwarming meals and this has to be one of our all time favorites. I will be making enough to eat some tonite and freeze the sauce for another meal when I don’t have the time to make the sauce. Perfect Sunday night food. I must say Pasta is probably my most favorite food to eat. Bolognese sauce is one of my most favorites. Today I decided not to go to my usual Bolognese which is delicious but very heavy and rich. I went with a lighter approach today using Turkey and Chicken Sausage because I couldn’t find italian turkey sausage and didn’t feel like hunting it down, and the chicken sausage worked just fine. I did use dark meat turkey because it is much more flavorful, it is ideal but if you really don’t want to use the dark meat use 1/2 white and 1/2 dark or all white meat . The only negative to this sauce is that it really needs 3- 4 hours for the sauce to cook down. The longer the sauce cooks the more flavorful it will be. This sauce would probably serve 4 nicely with 1 lb. of pasta. You can easily double it and freeze the leftover sauce. So nice to have it in the freezer and just have to make the pasta and you have a wonderful homemade meal. I have now started serving the sauce over shredded zucchini (zucchini linguine) and spaghetti squash. It is so delicious and you may feel a little bit better eating it over zucchini or spaghetti squash than noodles. Pasta or Vegetable it’s pretty awesome. Look on my blog for Zucchini Bolognese Recipe for how to recipe, posted 12/20/2012.

Ingredients:

6 Tablespoons Olive Oil, plus more if necessary

1 lb. Italian style Turkey or Chicken Sausage, removed from casings. You can also mix in hot or sweet Italian pork sausage if you don’t mind using the pork.

1 pound ground Turkey ( I used dark meat )

Kosher Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

2 medium yellow onions, peeled and finely diced ( app. 2 cups)

3 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 28 oz. cans whole peeled tomatoes with their juice

1/3 cup tomato paste

1 box. Rigatoni ( or any other macaroni you like ) or spaghetti or if you like use *shredded zucchini or *spaghetti squash ( see notes)

Grated Parmesan Cheese for serving

Directions:

Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large heavy pan over medium high heat. ( I use my Le Creuset ) Add the sausage meat and break it up as it cooks, turning now and then, until browned all over, about 10 minutes. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon to a bowl and set aside, add the ground turkey to the pan along with a good pinch of salt and a few fresh grind of pepper. Cook the meat stirring here and there, for 10 minutes as well, till meat is nicely browned. I remove and put in bowl with the sausage which was set aside. Add another 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and add the onions and garlic. Cook until onion breaks down and gets soft, another good 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juice along with 1/2 cup of water. ( You may need more water as you go) Add the sausage and ground turkey, stir the sauce well. Bring the sauce to a boil, season to taste with salt and pepper and turn the heat to low. Cover almost completely with a lid (allowing a little steam to escape) and gently simmer for 4 hours. You may want to add splashes of water if sauce is drying out. After 2 hours I added the 1/3 cup of Tomato Paste, and replace lid and continue simmering for 2 more hours. I added water as it cooked, you’ll have to judge for yourself how much water you add. I added 1/4 cup at a time.

When the sauce is ready for serving, bring a large pot of water and prepare pasta according to package directions.

serve with sauce over the rigatoni ( or any pasta you like) with a nice grating of Parmesan.

Yum!

*so many stores now sell zucchini already shredded and it’s dry and ready to go. The only problem with doing it yourself is that you must get the extra moisture out.

*Spaghetti Squash – just have the store cut it in half because it’s a tough one to cut at home. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and scoop out the seeds. Spray a rimmed baking sheet and turn squash open side down on baking sheet and cook till soft, probably 45 minutes or so. Remove from oven and with a fork remove the inside of the squash into a bowl, it comes out like very thin spaghetti.

For full recipe on Zucchini/Squash go to my Zucchini Bolognese Recipe.

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Posted in meat, pasta, Sauce, vegetables, vegetarian

Tagged A lighter Bolognese with Turkey, bolognese sauce, Pasta with Turkey Bolognese Sauce, spaghetti squash, Turkey Bolognese, zucchini bolognese

Tomato Time Pasta

Posted on August 25, 2014 | Leave a comment

Nothing but beautiful tomatoes out there begging to be eaten in a million different ways. Perfect for a “Meatless Monday” dish or any night of the week . There are tons of local tomatoes out there now. At any local farmers market you can pick up pints of these beautiful babies. This is a lovely light pasta.

I had bought 2 pints of those beautiful little cherry tomatoes and right now there are those gorgeous yellow sunburst tomatoes also available. I wasn’t sure what I would do with them. They varied in size so I knew if I made a sauce some were getting cut and some would stay whole. Nothing ever sounds better than a plate of pasta to me, nothing. These beautiful tomatoes are only out for such a limited time you have to get them while the getting is good. Some of the tomatoes were super small and I left them whole while I halved the larger ones. There are so many variations of this sauce and feel free to improvise. We love it this way. So simple and so delicious.

Follow me on Instagram @cookingwithcandi

Ingredients:

1 lb. spaghetti , I like long spaghetti for this but whatever kind you like is good– I used a whole box but you can use however much you’d like

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced. If you’d prefer you can slice thinly

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper* we like it spicy so if you don’t want it that spicy cut to 1/4, I actually used 1 whole teaspoon and it packed a lot of kick.

2 pints of cherry tomatoes or you can use about 3 cups of chopped fresh tomatoes of any type. I cut the larger tomatoes in 1/2 and I left the little ones whole.

app. 20 leaves of fresh basil, I just cut them up into small slivers

Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste –I used app. 1 teaspoon on tomatoes and added towards the end

freshly grated parmesan at your discretion

Directions:

Cook pasta according to directions on box for al dente. Reserve a cup of pasta water in the event you may need a little more liquid in your sauce. Add 2 tablespoons of salt to cooking water for pasta. The Italians like to say that their pasta water should be like sea water good and salty.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat add 4 tablespoons of olive oil and garlic, cook until garlic is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Be careful don’t want to burn this garlic. Add the crushed red pepper now and the tomatoes, and cook over medium heat. I also added some kosher salt (about 1/2 teaspoon to start, you can always add more) and a little freshly ground black pepper. Stir for a while to make sure garlic doesn’t burn and tomatoes start to burst and deflate about 5 minutes. I let the tomatoes simmer in the pan for about 15 minutes. Taste for Salt and Pepper. The longer the tomatoes sit in the oil and cook down on a low simmer the better the sauce will be so if you have a little time let it sit.

Once the spaghetti is cooked and you’ve drained it ( remember to reserve a cup of pasta water). Add it to the pan with tomatoes and over medium-high heat toss the pasta with the tomatoes well. Add the basil and if you’d like add cheese. I let everyone add their own cheese at the table.

Remove the pan from the heat and plate it up.

Yum! and even more delicious the next day.

Fresh Basil Pesto

Posted on August 22, 2014 | Leave a comment

Chicken and Pesto on the Grill

Pasta Pesto

The original recipe for this delicious pesto appeared back in May 2011 on Cooking with Candi. Yummy Pesto was the title. This is the same recipe from my BFF Suki. I have tried many pesto sauces and this remains my absolute go to favorite. It is super easy and while the basil is abundant you should make it and freeze it. When you freeze the pesto in a container, pour a thin layer of olive oil over the top . I have it frozen for up to 3 months. I use it on chicken, pasta, and it’s wonderful as a spread. This recipe is good for 2 lbs. of pasta usually. So I use 1/2 and freeze the rest if it’s just the 2 of us.

Pesto Chicken on the Grill with Grilled Peppers and Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Fresh Basil

If you are going to use on chicken , just brush on the chicken sprinkle a tiny bit of kosher salt on it and let it marinate for a few hours at least and it can be marinated overnight in the refrigerator. Take it out of fridge and let it sit at room temp. before putting on the grill. That’s it!

*You’ll need a food processor

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh basil (washed)

1/2 cup romano cheese (grated)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese ( grated)

1/2 cup pignolli nuts or walnuts

1 cup extra virgin olive oil–use a good one

1 – 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter (it’s good if the butter is softened before adding) you can soften in microwave

4 cloves garlic – peeled and whole

freshly ground black pepper–to taste

*kosher salt to taste if you feel you need it after finished making pesto

Directions:

I put all ingredients except for olive oil in the food processor. Give it a few grinds using the blade attachment. Then I slowly add in the olive oil through the top of processor while it’s on. Beautiful green pesto! so easy. Taste for salt and pepper

Cook pasta and drain and add pesto. Done!

Slow Cooking Beef Stew–Ten Hours

Posted on January 16, 2014 | 1 comment

All I can say is A-mazing! I have to admit I was a doubter the morning I put this together . I didn’t think I had enough liquid and on my way home I picked up Beef Broth but when I walked in the door and the aroma hit me I knew it was right. So right and I am so excited because I used what I had in the house and am delighted with the results. It’s always weird when you’re wearing your pajamas at 8 a.m. , you’re on your second cup of coffee and slicing and dicing vegetables and braising beef cubes on the stove. I doubt I’ll ever get used to that but what a pleasure it is to walk through the door at the end of the day to this!!!! Yum is all I can say. I really did cook for 10 hours. I completed my prep and turned on slow cooker by 9 a.m. and we ate at 7 p.m.

If you’re looking for a more conventional method of Beef Stew, go to my website and enter Sunday Night Stew on a Tuesday Night.

This will serve 4 people generously. You can adjust for less people.

Ingredients:

4 lbs. stewing beef. ( I buy from the butcher at Whole Foods or at any butcher) It’s usually chuck roast cut into cubes.

2 medium size yellow onions, thinly sliced

4 carrots , peeled and sliced . I like a decent size carrot chunk so cut into decent size chunks. Or you can use baby carrots. ( app. 2 – 3 cups ) and leave them whole.

I used red and white potatoes because that is what I had in the house, any potatoes you’d like to use. Peeled or not, I don’t peel. I quartered them. Just don’t make them too small because they will disintegrate.

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup red wine

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup boiling water

*Beef Broth on hand to thin out if necessary.

*2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary–if you have in the house and want to use it , it adds a great punch of flavor.

*you will be searing the meat first, so that’s where I used Salt and Pepper. ( see directions) and it was enough for us.

Directions:

First:

I placed about a 1/2 cup of flour into a shallow bowl and added about a teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. I lightly coated the meat with flour, then dumped out excess flour and prepared my Le Creuset for browning the meat. I heated up 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil and when oil is hot (not smoking) I added meat in batches to brown them. I had to add a little bit of olive oil to second batch. I put meat on a paper towel lined plate to drain a little bit before adding to slow cooker. Spray slow cooker insert with Pam cooking spray first for easier clean up, then add meat to bottom of slow cooker. Add all of the vegetables on top.

In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, wine, Worcestershire sauce, Rosemary and boiling water. Pour over the meat and vegetables. Cover and Cook on LOW for 8 – 10 hours.

You really don’t need noodles or rice with this because you have the potatoes. If you’d like omit the potatoes and serve over rice or noodles. Your choice.

I served in large shallow bowls.

A nice crusty bread would be nice served alongside to sop up the sauce.

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Posted in meat, Sauce, slow cooker

Tagged Beef Stew for 10 hours, Slow Cooker, Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Pan-Fried Salmon with Green Goddess Tzatziki

Posted on June 6, 2013 | Leave a comment

Just a wonderful weeknight dinner using Salmon right on the stovetop. Really delicious Tzatziki which is so super easy to make, it’s super fresh tasting and the herb flavor really comes through. I have many different sauces that I make and a few different tzatziki sauces as well but this is what I did this time. Original recipe comes from Giada De Laurentiis . I played around with a few ingredients but definitely got my inspiration for this one from her. It helps to have a fish spatula for flipping over salmon which I learned from my cooking classes with Karen Lee. Tzatziki sauce can be made a day ahead and chilled in the refrigerator. There will definitely be left over sauce , you’ll have enough sauce for at least 6 pieces of salmon. It makes for a delicious dip as well, and great served with grilled chicken.

Ingredients:

2 7 oz. salmon fillets, about 1 inch thick, skin on

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil

Tzatziki:

1 cup plain Greek Yogurt ( 2% fat)

2 tablespoons mayonnaise or vegenaise

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon – I had trouble finding fresh tarragon so I had to add dry tarragon. I used about a teaspoon of dry, I would have really liked the fresh but couldn’t find it that day.

1 tablespoon white vinegar, you can use white wine vinegar as well

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus you may want extra at the end for taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, you may also want to add more of this as well

1/2 an English hothouse cucumber, seeded ( app. 1 lb)

Directions:

For Tzatziki:

Combine the yogurt, mayonnaise, basil, chives, tarragon , vinegar , salt and pepper in a food processor. Blend until the herbs are finely chopped and sauce is a pretty pale green. Scrape the sauce into a bowl.

Coarsely grate the cucumber using the large holes of a box grater onto a paper towel lined plate, pat dry and let it sit out and air dry for a few minutes. I used my mini processor and then let it dry on paper towels for a few minutes. Then mix the cucumber into the tzatziki. Add salt and pepper to taste. The tzatziki can be made one day ahead if you like.

For Salmon:

Pat dry the Salmon with some paper towels, then sprinkle the salmon with salt and pepper. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Cook the salmon, skinned side up , till it turns a golden brown, about 4 – 5 minutes depending on thickness of salmon. Flip the fish ( if you have a fish spatula this will be easier) and cook for another few minutes until done. It really all depends on the thickness of your fish. You’ll definitely need to turn on the exhaust fan for this one.

Serve warm, at room temperature or even chilled with the tzatziki. Yum! I served with roasted asparagus .

Classic Soffritto with Spicy Italian Sausage in Tomato Sauce

Posted on February 6, 2013 | 2 comments