I’ve never made a vodka sauce before, but this was easily the best homemade sauce I have ever made. I found a bunch of recipes online. Some asked for one cup of vodka, others called for only 2 tbsp (!?!). Very few used spinach, but that was a key ingredient of mine.  So, without a clear recipe I ended up combining elements of  to create this amazing sauce. I served it with lobster ravioli, but it would also be an amazing vegetarian dish if you substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock. Here’s what I did (the recipe is behind the cut):

Spinach Vodka Sauce

• 1 shallot, diced fine
• 1/2 small onion, diced fine
• 4 cloves garlic, diced fine
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 4–6 cubes Dorot frozen basil (get it at Trader Joes in the freezer section)
• 1 cup chicken stock (I’ve been singing the praises of Kirkland Organic Chicken Stock from Costco lately)
• 1 can (28 oz) chopped or crushed tomatoes
• 1 large bunch spinach leaves (or a bag of baby spinach). Leave baby spinach leaves as they are, but cut large leaves down.
• Splash of half & half (what I had on hand) or heavy cream
• 2–4 tbsp fresh grated asiago, parmesan or romano cheese
• Salt, pepper, crushed red pepper to taste
• 1 cup plus 1 splash vodka (we used whatever we used to refill our Crystal Head Vodka bottle; a Russian vodka in a less awesome bottle, I thnk… but I digress)

Heat your oil and butter in a large skillet or saucepan. Add the garlic, onions, shallots and basil and sauté for about 5 minutes or so. Add 1 cup of vodka (keep the bottle around for a splash later) and reduce by about half. Add the chicken stock and tomatoes (with juice). When it starts bubbling, reduce the heat. Taste often and season with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper to taste.

After the mixture reduces and starts to become thick and saucy, add the cheese, fine-tune the flavors and add the splash of vodka. Reduce a bit more, then add the spinach until wilted. Before you serve it, add a splash of cream to taste. I like a little, but you can use up to 1/2 cup or more if you want it creamier. The little bit of creaminess will help it stick to your pasta. Taste again and adjust seasonings as necessary before serving.

Serve over pasta and garnish with some freshly grated cheese.

The Gruyere Chik’n Cutlets made the most phenomenal “chicken parm” (although it lacked both actual chicken and parmesan cheese). Once again, this was another case of meat? Who needs meat?!

I made a sauce that started with a jar of marinara sauce, a bunch of carrots and onions. I cannot express how amazing this product is. Quorn’s not for everyone, I’ve heard, but it’s one of my favorite things in the world.

I had a lot of smoked salmon that I wanted to try to use, and when I saw smoked salmon risotto as an option for using it I jumped at the chance! QUICK TIP: Make sure you use a high quality broth or stock to make your risotto! I know now that the last time I tried to make risotto, the reason it failed was because I used a vegetable broth that had a horrible flavor when it concentrated, so this time I used regular water for the rice to absorb.  Additionally, I loaded this up with diced mirepoix (carrots, onion and celery). I waited until the risotto was done before adding the smoked salmon.

I love smoked salmon, so this was absolutely delicious but the flavor ends up being really strong. It’s not a date night meal for sure, but it’s super delicious.

That’s why I took a chance when grilling the steak for this meal, and it made a really big difference! I just grilled it on my Mario Batalli grill pan, since I don’t have the luxury of a nice outdoor barbecue.

This was also my first time trying Archer Farms’ Basil Pesto Cream Sauce, Target’s new house brand of “gourmet” sauces and food products. And the verdict is… meh? This has sadly been the case for every Archer Farms product I’ve tried, and that makes me incredibly sad. They look so promising, with their pretty packaging and exotic flavors, but so far everything I’ve had has been bland as hell until I doctored it up. This sauce was still just cream sauce — barely any basil flavor — even after I added garlic, a few cubes of Dorot Frozen Basil, fresh tomatoes and peppers and shredded parmesan. The steak was well-seasoned, which balanced it out, and it was a yummy dish overall, but I like my basil cream sauce to be overpowering with the flavors of basil and garlic.

In fact, the inspiration for this dish, Bertolli’s Steak Rigatoni & Portobello Mushrooms frozen prepared meal (picked up for a couple dollars on super-sale + coupon), had far more flavor than Target’s jarred sauce. I think I’ve officially sworn off Archer Farms’ sauces, which is just too bad. There’s too much good stuff out there to keep wasting my time with something that doesn’t work.

]]> http://www.shortcutchef.com/archives/451/feed 5 http://www.shortcutchef.com/archives/411 http://www.shortcutchef.com/archives/411#comments Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:58:25 +0000 Tiara Lynn http://www.shortcutchef.com/?p=411 CONFESSION: By stereotypical “Mom’s home cooking” standards, I overseason everything. At least, that’s what it seems like when I read recipes in church and family cookbooks. I need a lot of flavor in my food and I don’t use much salt at all, so I compensate for that by “overdoing it” on the herbs. I must be doing something right because everyone loves my cooking, but I always double, triple and even quadruple the amount of herbs, spices and especially garlic in most recipes. Don’t be afraid to overseason! Troubleshooting your mishaps is a great way to learn how to cook.

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!

CONFESSION: I buy too many vegetables. Like way too many. Way more than we can eat, and we eat a lot of produce. Oh, I have good intentions, and yet it’s embarrassing how much veg we throw away. This is an especially bad problem when I’m cooking for the week and I know all the remaining veggies are likely just going to end up in the trash.

Also, when I cook for the week I occasionally get tired of the same ingredients. This particular week I had eggplant leftover from my stir-fry, and carrots, spinach and peppers left in the fridge, and I simply wasn’t in the mood for a chunky pasta sauce. But then I had a stroke of genius. (Okay, it wasn’t that great, but still…)

I puréed all of them. I sautéed all of the veggies I had leftover from the week with olive oil, two cubes of Dorot Frozen Basil from Trader Joe’s (oh, how I love the stuff). I then took my beautiful Kitchen Aid Immersion Blender and puréed it all right in the pot. I added the jarred spaghetti sauce and voilá!! The flavor was unbelievable.

I ended up with half a bag of mostaccioli and half a bag of bowties, so I made that and served it up with some Veal Parmigiana (have a looksee for my easy recipe). Absolutely dynamite, and a great new way to both add extra veggies to my menu and to use up leftovers. Brilliant!!

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!

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.

Admittedly I was skeptical about trying this recipe, but it sounded so, so good. We picked up some smoked salmon for a steal from the discount meat bin at Woodman’s and I found the recipe when I was searching for ways to work smoked salmon in with pasta.

My shortcut? Vodka sauce from a little fresh Italian place nearby that sells fresh homemade sauces. I simply crumbled up the smoked salmon and sautéed it with olive oil and garlic before mixing it in with the vodka sauce. I served it over bucatini (thick, hollow spaghetti)  and the flavor was shocking.

I’d never have imagined the smoked salmon and vodka sauce could possibly complement each other so well. The sweetness and saltiness played off each other to create such a complex, evolving flavor. It was absolutely sensational. I might try it with a jarred vodka sauce next time.

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.