Green Beans

This recipe is a quick way to give a little more flavor to canned beans, (although it is much better to use fresh!)

Ingredients:
Handful or two of green beans (Or a can)
Water
White Onion
Bacon (bits, but actual cooked bacon is much better)

1. If using fresh green beans, first wash and cut off ends. Cut in 1/2 if you wish
2. In a small saucepan, put enough water to cover about 1/2".
3. Finely chop up 1/4 white onion.  (You might need more or less depending, just do it by taste).
4. Add in bacon.
5. Cover and let cook for around 10 minutes. 

Baked Asparagus

The quantities for this recipe are a rough estimate.  I have never really measured them out, just always done it by eye and taste.

Ingredients:
12 stalks Asparagus
1 tsp. Garlic Salt
3 tbsp Olive Oil/Butter

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Wash and cut the ends of the asparagus.
3. In a small bowl mix Olive Oil and Garlic Salt.
4. Lightly brush stalks with mixture just until fully coated. (Not too much, or the asparagus will be mushy)
5. Bake for about 10-12 minutes.  Asparagus should be crunchy!

Red Wine Chicken with Veggies

So tonight, I decided I wanted to cook chicken with red wine to see how it tasted.  So this is the simple recipe I used.

Veggies:
Fresh Carrots
Fresh Brocolli
Chicken Broth
1 1/2 Shallots
1/4 Garlic Clove
Salt to Taste

Chicken:
Skinless, Boneless Chicken
Olive Oil
4 Shallots
1/2 Garlic Cloves
Red Wine of your choice
Salt to taste

Method:

For the vegetables, I cut the carrots into slices and broke up the brocolli to reduce the cooking time.
Next I cut the shallots and garlic cloves. I then started by putting all the ingredients in a pot over medium heat and covering.
When it was close to boiling and the vegetables were soft, I put it on simmer and left covered.

For the chicken, I used thawed, skinless, boneless chicken.
I cut it into 1" pieces to cut down on cooking time.
I cut the shallots and put them in the pan to sauted with the olive oil.
I added the garlic in with the chicken.
Over low to medium heat, I covered the chicken for about 5-10 minutes before adding in the red wine and continuing to cook until chicken was finished. I made sure there was enough wine to keep the chicken moist but not too much so it wouldn't drown it.

Any suggestions or questions? Please comment below.

The completed dish

Kiss the Cook

How many languages can you say Kiss the Cook/Chef?

English: Kiss the Chef

French: Embrassez la Cuistote

Spanish: Besa a la cocinera

Italian: Baciate la cuoca

German: Kuss den Koch

If you know a better translation, please post it here. Also add as many languages as possible!

Marinara Meatballs

This yet another recipe I tried last night. I have never made meatballs before and it seemed that every recipe I looked over called for ground veal, which I expected to be hard to find and expensive. I opted to use ground turkey instead. There are so many recipes for meatballs, this one in particular are just for snacks (or if you want to turn it into a meal that's fine as well, they just aren't designed for spaghetti and meatballs)


Marinara Meatballs
1/2 c. Ground Beef
1/2 c. Ground Turkey
1/2 c. Ground Pork
1/2 c. Ground Chicken
1/2 Small Finely Chopped Onion
4 tsp. Minced Garlic
1/2 c. Parmesan Cheese
1/2 c. Romano Cheese
3 Eggs
2 tbsp. Parsley
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 c. Bread Crumbs (Or Seasoned croutons, smashed)
1 c. lukewarm water
1/2 c. Olive Oil
1 1/2 c. Marinara Sauce
1 tbsp. Finely Chopped Basil

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 Degrees F.
2. In a small bowl beat eggs. Then add garlic, cheeses, parsley, basil, salt & pepper
3. In a large bowl mixed meats together well. Then add onions, bread crumbs, water, oil, marinara sauce and first bowl. Mix until well incorporated.
4. Put parchment paper down on a cookie sheet. Make balls about 1" or so round and space about 1/2" to 1" apart.
5. Bake in oven for 25 minutes.

3 Meatballs

Recipe makes about 50 meatballs

Simple Pasta Dish w/ Peas & Carrots

I first saw this recipe made on the Food Network by Giada De Laurentiis. She was cooking it for her daughter, Jade's, birthday.  It is simple enough (and rightfully so since it was created for a child's palette), but I decided to add a little more umph to it. Here is my version of her recipe.

Pastina w/ Peas & Carrots
1/2 lb (8 oz) Pastina or small pasta (farfallini)
2 tbsp. Olive Oil
1/2 small onion
3 medium carrots, peeled & diced into 1/2" pieces
1 c. Chicken Stock
1 c. Fresh Peas (or Frozen Peas, thaw before cooking)
1/2 c. (4 oz) Cream Cheese
1/2 c. (4 oz) Mascarpone Cheese (If this is hard to find, some people recommend substituting Equal parts of 1/4 c. Sour Cream and 1/4c. Cream Cheese, along with 3 tbsp. Heavy Whipping cream and 1/8 c. Ricotta Cheese [this is a rough recipe, and I haven't tried it myself])
Salt to taste
2 tbsp. Fresh Basil, chopped
1/8 c. Parmesan Cheese
2 slices of New York Sharp Cheddar (Any sharp cheddar that you like)

(Optionally you can add cooked shredded chicken)

Directions
1. Bring water to a boil & cook pasta of your choice.
2. In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chopped onion and cook until soft.
3. Add the carrots and chicken stock, bring to a boil. Boil for about 5-8 minutes or until carrots start to soften.
4. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
5. Add the peas to the pan and cook for 2 minutes until the peas are warmed through and carrots are tender.
6. Stir in cooked pasta.
7. Add cheeses and stir until melted. If sauce is too thick, add some pasta water.
8. Add chicken if you would like.
9. Salt to taste
10. Chop basil to garnish dish.

Pictured with Fettuccine (no chicken)

Marinara Sauce

Upon doing a bit of research, I found that all marinara sauce is spaghetti sauce, but not all spaghetti sauce is marinara sauce. Generally marinara sauces are designed to be more complex that spaghetti sauce, have chunkier tomatoes and no meat. For the most part whenever I am approaching a new recipe, I generally search the internet for 3 top rated recipes that have differences in the main or "secret" ingredient, then I form my own from that. Here is what I have come up with so far, mind you when I was doing the recipe I had made some changes and forgot to write them down.

Marinara Sauce
2 (14.5 oz) cans Tomatoes (Better to use fresh 14 Roma Tomatoes)
1 (6 oz) can Tomato Paste
4 tbsp. Freshly Chopped Parsley
1 Clove Minced Garlic (1 tsp)
2 tsp. Italian Seasonings
1 tsp. Marjoram 
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Ground Black Pepper
6 tbsp. Olive Oil
1/3 c. Finely Diced Onions
1/2 c. White Wine (the trick to selecting a cooking wine, is to choose something you would like to drink as well)

Since I prefer sweet wines, I looked for a Zinfandel or Riesling.  I found a rather cheap wine that was actually really good (Funf #5 under $10 for the bottle)

Directions:
Put oil in pan with spices. Let simmer for 10 minutes.
Add in tomatoes (If using fresh tomatoes, slice and remove seeds and cut into 1/3 in" chunks)
Let simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
Add in 1/2 c. of wine and continue to let simmer.
Do taste tests throughout and spice accordingly.

Marinara Sauce simmering