My Favorite Recipes

This is a soup that I got from Giada DeLaurentis and has become a staple for fall and winter nights. It has great flavor, fairly healthy and easy to modify. Don’t have chard? Use kale or any other dark green leaf vegetable. Don’t have potato? Use zucchini. No Pancetta? Use bacon. Soup to thick? Add some water. You get the idea. Look in your refrigerator and find what works.  Double the recipe and use the leftovers in the recipes that follow.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
  
• 2 carrots, peeled, chopped
  
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 3 ounces thinly sliced pancetta, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 Tbl of tomato paste
• 1/4 cup white wine (optional)
  
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound Swiss chard, stems trimmed, leaves coarsely chopped
• 1 russet potato, peeled, cubed
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 fresh rosemary sprig
• 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained, rinsed
• 2 (14-ounce) cans low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 ounce piece Parmesan cheese rind
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
• Salt and pepper

Procedure

Heat the oil in a heavy large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, pancetta, and garlic. Saute until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add red pepper flakes and tomato paste and stir into vegetable mixtue and cook for one minute.  Add wine and reduce to a glaze, about 2 minutes.  Add the Swiss chard and potato; saute for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and rosemary sprig. Simmer until the chard is wilted and the tomatoes break down, about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, blend 3/4 cup of the beans with 1/4 cup of the broth in a processor (or just mash them up) until almost smooth. Add the pureed bean mixture, remaining broth, and Parmesan cheese rind to the vegetable mixture. Simmer until the potato pieces are tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Stir in the whole beans and parsley. Simmer until the beans are heated through and the soup is thick, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Discard Parmesan rind and rosemary sprig (the leaves will have fallen off of the stem.)

Things to do with the soup

• Don’t have enough to feed a crowd? Toast some bread and put a slice in the bottom of each bowl, prior to filling the bowl with soup.
• Got leftovers? Toast some bread and line a bottom of a baking dish with the toasted bread. Pour the leftover soup over the bread. Heat in an oven at 350 degrees until hot and bubbly, and serve as a side dish.
• Got leftover side dish? Put into a sauce pan and heat, add some water to thin if necessary and now you have Ribolita. Serve and enjoy.

This is a simple recipe that makes any pasta taste great.  Its even better with fresh homemade pasta.  Its a fairly quick recipe, so start heating your water to cook your pasta right before you start making the sauce.  Once the sauce and pasta are ready, add them together and if the sauce is too thick, add some of the pasta water to thin it out.  Add your parmesan or romano cheese, open a chianti and you are in for a pleasant evening.  Sauce is good for about a pound of pasta.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbl olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 clove of garlic, diced or put through a press
• 3 anchovies
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes
• 1 Tbl tomato paste
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 28 oz can Muir Glen dice tomatoes
• 1 tsp sugar (optional)
• 6 to 8 leaves of fresh basil or  2 Tbl of fresh oregano (or about 2 tsp dried oregano)
• salt and pepper to taste

Over medium heat add olive oil to a saute pan, and add the onion and saute until soft and translucent, but not brown.  Add anchovies and saute until anchovies melt into the oil and onions.  Add garlic, chili flakes, and tomato paste, saute for about a minute and stir into the onions.  Add the wine and let it boil until most of the liquid is gone.   Add the tomatoes, stir and return to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer uncovered until tomatoes break down.  Taste for seasonings.  If the tomatoes are tart, add some of the sugar to balance.  Season with salt and several grinds of pepper and taste.  If you have fresh basil or oregano, add it right before adding the pasta, if all you have is dried, add it when you add the garlic.

Now that our friend Jim has moved to New Zealand, he has had a craving for good ol’ salsa as many of the condiments down under don’t have that spicy bite and the salsas they do sell are more like Taco Bell taco sauce. So, per Jim’s request, her is an easy tomato and jalepeno salsa. This one is based on a Rick Bayless recipe.

Ingredients

• 1-1 1/2 lbs roma tomatoes
• 2-3 jalepeno salsas
• 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 Tbl apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• salt
• water

Procedure

1. Place tomatoes and chiles on a sheet pan and place under a broiler. Broil until skins are charred and tomatoes and chiles are soft and freely giving their juices. Rotate the tomatoes and chiles to cook all sides evenly.
2. While the tomatoes and chiles are under the broiler, place the onion slices and garlic cloves in a cast iron skillet, or a griddle over medium heat. Cook until the onion is soft and the cloves are soft and the skins are brown or black. Peel the garlic.
3. Place the chiles, onion, and garlic in a food processor and pulse until medium chop. Add the tomatoes and all the accumulated juices. Pulse until combined.
4. Add cilantro, and pulse until chopped.
5. Add water until the salsas the consistency that you like. It will thicken as it cools, so runny is good.
6. Season with the vinegar and add salt to taste, usually about a teaspoon or more.
7. Put in a bowl or jar and cover and refrigerate until ready to use.