If you’re just learning to cook, write this recipe down. If you’re trying to impress a dinner party full of friends or a date, write this down. It’s brilliant.

Okay, it’s not brilliant, but it’s easy and seriously, everybody loves it. Chicken cacciatore is one of the first fancypants recipes I ever made and one of the things that convinced me that I might actually be good at this cooking thing.

So remember the baby bottles of wine I told you about? The ones that cost about $1 apiece at my local grocery store? Well, they’re back, this time with a yummy cabernet sauvignon.

You can use any red wine, and if you’re really into wine (I’m not), go ahead and buy a fancier bottle. But this will do the trick nicely, I promise you.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 14oz of stewed or diced tomatoes. (I prefer no-salt added so I can have more control over the seasoning)
• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce (Classico Florentine’s my favorite)
  
• 4lb chicken parts. (Bone-in breasts are great, but if you’re looking for cheap this works great with drumsticks or thighs)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced (use whatever veggies you like. Carrots are great in this dish too)
• 4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
• Generous amounts of Italian Herbs, salt and pepper to taste. (I will never tell you how much to spice something. Just remember that the flavor will intensify as the sauce reduces, so beware of over-salting)
• 1 mini bottle of cabernet sauvignon
• 1 tube of prepared polenta. My favorite is San Gennaro, and many grocery stores carry this. Scared of polenta? Serve this over noodles…chicken.
  

Season your chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Drizzle about 2 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the bottom of a high-walled sauté pan and turn the heat on medium. Give the oil a minute or two to heat up, then add the raw onion, garlic and vegetables. Sauté until the onions are translucent and the vegetables begin to soften. Place the chicken parts skin-down in the pan amongst the veggies and cook until the skin is browned. If you’re using drumsticks, brown them all around.

Pour the little bottle of wine over the chicken and sauté for 2 minutes before adding the tomatoes and spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle generously with Italian herbs…

QUICK TIP: Basil’s hard to screw up. Oregano’s easy to screw up. When in doubt, be generous with basil and take it slow with the oregano. Too much oregano will make your sauce bitter. If that happens, try adding some tomato paste to your sauce. The sweetness of the tomato will help balance it out. Also, salt’s about the easiest thing to screw up, and most shortcut dishes (because they start with canned veg or sauce) don’t require any extra salt. [Follow the cut for the rest of the recipe]

Anyway, back to the recipe. Turn the heat to low and cover your pan, leaving the lid a bit off-kilter to allow for some steam to escape. After 15 minutes, check, stir everything and flip your chicken. Repeat this once. When you repeat this a third time, remove the lid entirely. Your chicken should be cooked enough by now to start tasting your sauce. Season as needed. After another 15 minutes, the sauce should be plenty thick, super flavorful and the chicken will be cooked through.

If it’s not? Remove the chicken and turn the heat on high, stirring often, which will encourage the sauce to reduce.

So about the polenta… Slice your polenta into 1/4″ thick slices. If you’ve got a grill pan, oil it and heat it up. If not, just use a regular frying pan with a little bit of olive oil. Grill or sauté until browned, then flip it over. A few slices creates a great bed for this dish and it’s so much more fun than regular pasta!

Spaghetti Squash casserole is one of my signature dishes and definitely one of my favorite to make, especially when cooking for the week, when I spend a full day cooking and spread the leftovers over the course of the week. The flavor of this gets even richer when made the day before!

I love starting with a small spaghetti squash — a little squash goes a long way, so keep that in mind. My favorite squash are about 7″ long, which  makes enough for about 4 big servings. This is so heavily vegetable-based, this is great for big, light servings.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1 baby eggplant, diced (I use half a small japanese eggplant and used the rest for a stir fry)
• 1 sweet red pepper, diced
• 2 small carrots, diced
• 6 mushrooms, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1/2 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded
• One small–medium onion (depending how much you like onion), chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 can fire-roasted tomatoes (I like Muir Glen Diced Fire Roasted Tomatoes)
• 1 lb lean ground beef

Using a very sharp chef’s knife, cut your squash in half. Scoop out the guts and seeds and throw them away. Take the halves of the squash and place them on a microwave safe dish, cut side down with a little bit of water for 6 minutes. If you can’t fit both on the plate, do one at a time. Let them cool while you’re prepping the veggies for roasting.

Toss the diced vegetables in some olive oil, a little salt and pepper and Italian herbs. Spread in a baking pan and roast for 15–20 minutes. While they’re roasting, brown and drain the ground beef.

Scoop the spaghetti strands out of the squash with a fork and place them in a mixing bowl. Combine all the roasted veggies, the meat, the can of tomatoes with juice, and half the shredded mozzarella in the bowl and mix well. Flavor with Italian Herbs (basil, oregano, etc). Place everything in a casserole dish and top with the remaining mozzarella.

Put the casserole dish in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, uncovered. The flavor is great right away, but it intensifies overnight! It’s also easy to make for groups, and taking the meat out makes it fantastic for vegetarians, or substituting chicken can make it even lighter.  Definitely one of my favorite recipes!

When I made my Shrimp Scampi a couple weeks ago I knew I’d be craving jambalaya come Mardi Gras, and while I was too busy the week of Fat Tuesday to make one of my signature dishes, I was happy to have the shrimp stock I made conveniently frozen and ready to add to this dish. I didn’t want to use my beautiful jumbo shrimp in this dish, but the flavor of the shrimp was still intense!!

Whenever Woodmans has a sale on Daisy Brand Chicken Sausage I always stock up to freeze it, especially when it’s the Andouille Smoked Sauage. Perfectly spiced with the lightness of chicken sausage — seriously, does it get any better?

Here’s how tonight’s Jambalaya came together so you can try it for yourself. Want a shortcut version? Try my Fat Cat Tuesday Jambalaya from the archives!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups seafood stock, chicken broth or water
• 1 Knorr Chipotle Bouillon Cube (a bit of powdered chipotle or chili powder works too); leave out if you don’t want your jambalaya spicy)
• Juice from 1 can of tomatoes
• 1 cup brown rice

Start the broth, juice and bouillon on a back burner. When boiling, add the rice and reduce heat to simmer. Cover and let this go while you get the rest going. Pay attention to when you started this!

• 2 Links Andouille Chicken Sausage, diced (a regular smoked sausage works too)
• 1 chicken breast, diced
• 1/2 medium onion or one small onion, chopped
• 1 red or green pepper, diced
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced (or 1 tbsp jarred garlic)
• 1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Roasted Corn
• 1 can tomatoes (add the juice to the rice)
• Penzey’s Cajun Seasoning (generously, to taste)
• Dash of Penzey’s Gumbo Filé.

Add the onion and garlic to a deep sauté pan (I love my Pampered Chef Flat-bottomed Wok for this) with a little bit of olive oil and sauté until the onions start to sweat. Toss in the chicken breast and sausage and a few shakes of Cajun Seasoning and cook until the chicken is white on the outside.

Add the tomatoes and some more seasoning and toss until everything is coated. Add the rice and the cooking liquid and toss to combine. Reduce heat to low and cover, checking to stir and taste every 10 minutes. Add more cajun seasoning to taste, a little each time.

You’ll want the rice to go about a total of 45 minutes, so continue cooking until your rice has hit 45 minutes.  When it’s nearly done, add the roasted corn.

Bravado? Maybe a bit, but it’s true. My meatloaf, even when not in MEATCAKE! form, is the stuff of legend. Back when I made the MEATCAKE! I promised a recipe but failed to deliver. Today I give you my secret (modified from Mark Bittman’s recipe in How To Cook Everything). You’re welcome.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork (I usually buy country ribs—about $1/lb—and grind it myself)
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I like Progresso’s Garlic and Herb breadcrumbs) soaked in
• 1/2 cup milk (until soggy; takes a few minutes)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 large cloves minced garlic
• Dash of Penzey’s Chicago Steak Seasoning
• 1 large carrot, shredded
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced fine (optional)
• 1/2 green pepper, diced fine (optional)

Combine all the above ingredients well. And USE YOUR DAMN HANDS. Get ‘em messy. You can wash them. There’s no way to combine this well enough without using your hands. Form into a loaf and place in a bread pan (I use a silicone bread pan). Bake at 350ºF for about an hour, or until the internal temp is about 160ºF. Drain the grease and transfer to a cookie sheet to set.

KETCHUP GLAZE (from Black Widow Bakery, where I learned to make the MEATCAKE!):

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/8 cup dark brown sugar
• Splash of Worcestershire sauce

To make the glaze, heat ketcup, sugar and worcestershire sauce until combined. Spread over meatload. Clean your pan IMMEDIATELY afterward or it’ll be a pain to clean.

That’s it!! It’s super easy and so, so very good.

Italian restaurants and I have a tricky relationship. It’s because I make REALLY good Italian food. I’m better at some cuisines than others, but Italian is easily the one I understand the most completely. Because of this I find a lot of Americanized Italian food bland, often salty, and usually end up saying “My lasagna/ravioli/pesto is better.”

However, there’s one dish that they make at Basilico in Norridge, Illinois, that I crave regularly called “Pollo Bella Vista.” It’s “Breast of chicken topped with prosciutto, eggplant, mozzarella, tomato, and artichoke hearts; baked in a light marinara and wine sauce” and it is absolutely divine. I decided to try to create the flavor at home and while I didn’t get it exact (lacking the eggplant and didn’t use wine), what I created is definitely going to be a new favorite in this house. So, in honor of Basilico’s delicious recipe, I call this one “Baked Pasta Bella Vista.”

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 chicken breasts, diced or sliced
• 4 slices prosciutto, chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4-6 sundried tomatoes, softened and chopped
• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained but left in can; set aside
• 1 jar good spaghetti sauce (Classico Spinach Florentine is my absolute favorite)
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 lb penne pasta, cooked al-dente and rinsed

Preheat your broiler to HIGH. In a large sauté pan or flat-bottomed wok, sauté chicken, prosciutto, onion and garlic in a little olive oil until cooked through. While this is going, take each artichoke heart and squeeze the juice into the pan. It’s a little labor-intensive but it’s worth it for the flavor. Then, chop all the artichoke hearts. By now your chicken should be cooked through, so you can add the artichokes.

Cook down until the sauce this creates reduces a bit. Now add your jar of sauce and toss it all until combined.

Put the cooked pasta into a casserole dish and cover with 1/2 of the cheese. Spoon the sauce over this and stir it all until combined. Top with the remaining mozzarella. On a shelf in the middle of the oven, broil uncovered until cheese is browned and bubbly (about 10-15 minutes). You can skip the broiling step if you don’t have a broiler, but the burnt cheese on the top just adds to the flavor.

When I discovered Trader Joe’s had langostino tails (little, sweet lobsters) for only $9 a bag I about lost my mind. There’s little I love more than seafood alfredo, and now I would be able to make my own!!

It was really quite simple to do. I thawed and rinsed the langostinos before sautéeing them in olive oil with a generous amount of finely chopped garlic until they were cooked through. To the olive oil, garlic and langostinos I added a jar of Five Brothers Garlic Alfredo Sauce, a bottle of which is always, always in my pantry. I let this simmer just long enough to combine the flavors. This time I added some Trader Joe’s Roasted Corn for some sweetness.

It’s easily one of my favorite meals and tastes like $20-a-plate pasta. Absolutely sensational. I’ll be looking for more exciting ways to cook langostinos in the future. YUMMMMM.

Inspiration hit tonight and boy was it a good one. I present to you a new favorite. The flavor was complex and intense, sharp and sweet. It was kind of the perfect meal, and if I had a restaurant this would so be on the menu.

Since I don’t have a restaurant, I present to you my recipe.

Red Pepper Pesto

• 1 jarred roasted red pepper (I got the jar with two whole peppers for 99¢ on sale and am now kind of sad I only bought two jars!)
• 6 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in 1/4 cup olive oil until soft
• 1 tbsp pine nuts
• Handful of fresh basil
• 1 large clove garlic
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until puréed. Cook on low for about 15-20 minutes in a saucepan until some of the moisture is cooked away. Toss with pasta and goat cheese. This was outstanding with some previously frozen cheese ravioli.

This was one of the tastiest things I’ve made in a really long time. I can’t remember where I found the picture I saw online that inspired me to create this, but the recipe is my own and completely improvised, so hopefully my measurements are about right.

CONFESSION: I make the best lasagna. It’s true. Whether it’s my vegetarian lasagna or my combo, I do it best. I can’t order lasagna in Italian restaurants because all I can think is “mine’s better.”

The problem is, there’s no recipe for me to share. It’s different every time. But while I don’t have a recipe to share, I do have techniques. My favorite technique is for my trademark Lazy Lasagna, always a favorite at dinner parties. This is great for a large group or for a good week’s worth of cooking. Freeze extra portions in vacuum-sealed bags for quick lunches later!

Why is it lazy? Well, because lasagna is layers of noodles and cheese, right? What about cutting out the extra work and getting the cheese and noodles all together? I use cooked ravioli—the Jumbo Vegetable Ravioli from Mr. Luigi’s Ravioli Co. is by far my favorite— to cut the cooking time by more than half. It’s a shame there doesn’t seem to be a way to order these online, because they’re extraordinary.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 bags Mr. Luigi’s Jumbo Vegetable Ravioli; boiled with a little oil to prevent sticking, cooled and set aside.
• 2 jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 1 lb ground beef or sausage
• Fresh produce of choice; zucchini, bell peppers, eggplant, spinach, squash, whatever
• One large onion
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, chopped or pressed
• Plenty of shredded Italian cheese
• olive oil
• Deep lasagna pan… I just ordered my Mario Batali Lasagna Pan, so I’m looking forward to using it and reporting.

1. Make the Ravioli (boil according to package directions with a little bit of oil to prevent sticking. Rinse with cold water.

2. Make the sauces. For the meat sauce I first cook, drain and season the beef or sausage, then toss in a jar of sauce with plenty of herbs and some parmesan and let it simmer. For the vegetable sauce I chop up all sorts of veggies and fry them up with herbs and olive oil before mixing in with a can of Clasico Florentine sauce.

3. Preheat the oven to 350º and start layering. Spray your pan with some olive oil cooking spray or actual olive oil and lay down a layer of ravioli. Use half of sauce one and a generous amount of shredded cheese. And just keep going. Layer of ravioli, layer of sauce. For the top layer,add the remaining sauce and top with the remaining cheese. Top it all off with Penzey’s Brady Street Cheese Mix

4. Bake for 45 minutes!

Slice and serve… delicious! This served a very hungry dinner party of 8 with two servings of leftovers.

About a month ago we got a great deal on a whole ham in the discount meat bin. $7 for a TON of ham. The up side? A lot of really good smoked ham. The downside? That’s a lot of ham, and for us, ham is a sometimes food, which means getting creative. I’ve been wanting to try making scalloped potatoes for some time and this was a good opportunity. I combined a few different recipes to come up with this one.

It turned out PERFECT. Rich, delicious, with a sauce that made me lick the bowl. Seriously, I licked the bowl.

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 small yellow gold potatoes, sliced thin
• 1 medium white onion, sliced
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1.5 cups half & half
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 1 cup chopped ham

Preheat oven to 400º.  In a saucepan, melt the butter with pepper (again I’ll sing the praises of Penzey’s Shallot Pepper) and Garlic Salt to taste. Add the flour, then when it’s all melted, add the half & half. Stir this until the sauce starts to thicken. Remove from heat.

Sauté the onions in olive oil (butter works too) until cooked through. In a separate bowl toss potatoes, onions, ham, cheese and sauce. Spread in a baking pan and bake for 45 minutes.

QUICK TIP: Don’t skimp on the fish! Spend the money and get high-quality fish, because there’s nothing worse than fishy-tasting sushi. If you can find one, go to an Asian grocer. I won’t make sushi with fish from anywhere but Mitsuwa for my sushi fish and other Asian ingredients.

There are lots of ways to make su-meshi, sticky sushi rice. This is my method.

INGREDIENTS: TIARAMAKI (Tiara’s maki rolls)

• 2 cups Calrose Rice, Sushi Rice, or Brown Sushi Rice. I swear by Kagayaki Brown Sushi Rice.
• Rice Vinegar, 3 tbsp
• White sugar, 7 tsp
• Sanrio Hello Kitty Furikake … wait, what?

I came across this at first because it was adorable. Then it became what I consider my signature ingredient that makes my Tiaramaki special. The Hello Kitty brand includes dried bits of 7 different vegetables in all: broccoli, tomato, radish, green pea, spinach, pumpkin, seaweed and carrot. You can also use the seasoning packet that comes with most brands of roasted nori, the seaweed for rolliing.

I prepare my rice with my Black & Decker Handy Steamer, adding a little extra water. Mix the rice vinegar with the white sugar and set aside. When the rice is cooked, put into a mixing bowl. Add the vinegar and sugar with two packets of the vegetable furikake.Put in the fridge until cool, at least 30 minutes.

More on the recipe behind the cut…

To make the rolls, you will need:

• 1-2 small pieces of sushi-grade fish; I use tuna or salmon for my dinner parties
• 1 package roasted seaweed nori
• 1 small zucchini, sliced julienne style
• 1 small carrot, sliced julienne style
• 1 bunch spring onions
• 1 avocado, sliced (how to slice an avocado)
• Mayonnaise
• Sriracha Thai Chili Sauce
• Pickled Ginger
• Penzey’s Wasabi Powder
• San-J Premium Tamari Soy Sauce (don’t skimp on the soy sauce… this is by far the best I’ve tried)
• Sushi mat

Slice the fish thinly across the grain and set aside. Mix 3 tbsp mayonnaise with a small squirt of the chili sauce. This will be your spicy mayo, so make it as mild or spicy as you’d like. Mix the fish with the mayonnaise until coated.

You can find many YouTube videos and step-by-step instructions for making maki rolls; this is how I do it. Lay your sushi mat in front of you with the slats laying horizontally. Place a piece of nori on your sushi mat, the shiny-side out. Using a rice paddle or wet fingers, take a bit of rice and put it in a thin layer across the entire piece of nori. This is the part that takes the most practice, so don’t be alarmed if it seems like your first few rolls are too thick or skimpy. About 1″ from the bottom, layer in a thin line some fish, one line of julienne carrots and one line of zucchini, 1–2 spring onion segments, a slice of avocado and a layer of coated fish. Using your mat to help you, begin rolling the nori by folding the first bit over and pressing down. Continue rolling the sushi, keeping pressure on the roll. Again, this will take practice. Set aside and make the rest of the rolls.

Chill the rolls for at least 10 minutes. You will cut this into pieces using a VERY sharp knife. Wet the knife first, then use a slicing motion with as little pressure as possible. Cut it into 3/4 inch segments.

Serve well-chilled with pickled ginger, tamari sauce and wasabi.