Pasta Pomodoro

I started my garden planning yesterday. I scooped seeds out of a few beautiful red, yellow, and green bell peppers and a few roma tomatoes and laid those out to dry for starting in a day or two. My three-year-old son helped me seed some flats with herbs and water them. And I’m going to pick up an eggplant and some grape tomatoes soon and save the seeds from those for planting.

All this garden prep makes me think of fresh tomatoes in my summer garden, which also makes me think of my favorite pasta dish. The flavor of fresh tomatoes sauteed with garlic and olive oil and tossed with basil chiffonade is one of my favorites from summer. It’s not summer yet, but I found a good deal on some nice roma tomatoes at the market yesterday, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make this dish. Read more

Pasta Thing

The first time my future husband made this dish for me, I asked him what it was called and he said, “It’s just a pasta thing.” The Pasta Thing can be anything you want it to be … the recipe varies based on whatever we happen to have in the pantry. We alternate between an Italian or Mexican version.

Equipment

4 quart sauce pan
8 quart pot
9×13-inch baking dish, lightly coated with cooking spray Read more

Michael’s Spaghetti and Meatballs

We usually have some kind of pasta for Sunday dinner, and this is my husband’s favorite. He takes over the kitchen and makes the sauce and the meatballs. His philosophy is always to err on the side of more flavor, so he piles on the garlic and onions. He makes his meatballs using a pan saute method, and then drops them into the sauce while it cooks so that the character of the sauce is infused into the meatballs. The sauce is a chunky garden-style, with plenty of mushrooms, onions, peppers, and olives. We use fresh ingredients in season and canned or dried out of season. We often double the recipe and then freeze the sauce and meatballs in 32 ounce containers to pull out for quick meals.

Equipment

3-5 qt mixing bowl
#40 scoop
frying pan
sharp knife
6 qt stock pot Read more

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

In the summertime, our garden is filled with the scent of sweet basil. We usually try to devote an entire raised bed just to basil. We use it fresh in dishes such as this pesto throughout the summer and into the fall. When we near the end of season, we cut down all the remaining stalks and spend an afternoon making different kinds of pesto and freezing it for the winter. We usually make several batches of this so that we can pull it out for a quick meal, and the wonderful flavor always reminds us of our summer garden.

[Updated: October 19, 2008]

Equipment

food processor Read more

Cincinnati Style Chili

We’re still perfecting this recipe, but so far we like the results. My husband spent a number of years in Ohio, and he thinks this is pretty darn good. The first time I tasted a Cincinnati style chili, I was ecstatic. It tasted exactly like the hot dog chili we used to get at the Roanoke Market when I was a little girl. I guess that hot dog vendor must have spent some time in Ohio.

You need to allow 3-1/2 to 4 hours to make the chili. If possible, make it the day before and then warm it up (it’s even better that way). Or if you are absolutely craving a 5-Way, use a very lean beef and make it the same day, just make sure you start early.

[Updated September 6, 2008]

Equipment

4 quart pot Read more

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