Tag: easy

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Advertisements

Red sauce is a staple for many different meals across many different cultures. It is one of the four staple sauces of French cooking, and seeing it’s versatility, it is easy to understand why. This recipe is quite simple. Dice up tomatoes, add some water and spices, boil until tomatoes pure, then blend to make sauce smooth. You can cook out the sauce for a long time by adding extra water and boiling it covered. This will mature the taste of your sauce and get rid of any fresh tomato flavor that may remain in the dish. Some people, like my in-laws, like to add pureed vegetables or beans to the sauce. This usually helps with thickening the sauce and can add extra vegetables to your diet or your picky child’s diet. Finally, some people will also add a splash of alcohol. This helps add a richer flavor, and if you enjoy the taste, it may make your sauce taste more mature for a special occasion or date night.

Homemade Tomato Sauce Recipe CardDownload

What You Will Need

  • 3 cups diced tomatoes/halved cherry tomatoes
  • 2 Tbsp Oil
  • 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
  • 1/2 cup Water
  • (Optional) Diced onion, peppers, kidney beans, etc.
  • Pinch of Salt
  • Sauce pan
  • Blender/Dicer

Directions

  1. Heat pan over medium heat. Add oil and tomatoes and cook until soft. Add remaining ingredients and cook uncovered until the sauce thickens.
  2. Transfer to blender and blend till skin is dispersed. Store, or use in recipe as desired.
0

Homemade Pasta – Fettuccine

Advertisements

Homemade pasta takes some time, but it’s so much better than store bought or boxed pasta! Homemade pasta has texture and substance. This is the same pasta recipe I used for ravioli, however instead of making squares, we made strings. I also saw afterwards that it’s easier to cut the pasta by rolling it first before cutting, so make note. Making nests is also important, though I didn’t do that. When I cooked my pasta, it held the shape it was in, so it had lots of awkward bends and twists than would have been present if i just make them into nests. Finally, form into 4 nests, because this recipe makes 4 adult sized servings.

Homemade Pasta Fettuccine Recipe CardDownload

What You Will Need

  • 2 Cups Flour
  • 2 Eggs
  • 2 Tbsp Oil
  • Rolling pin and knife or pasta roller
  • Flour to dust
  • Optional Saran Wrap
  • Optional Freezer Bag

Directions

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or on a clean counter, add flour. Add the eggs and oil, and mix until it becomes a shaggy dough.
  2. On a floured counter, knead the dough until it comes together. It is a drier dough that should not be sticky or wet, you may add a bit of warm water if it won’t come together.
  3. Wrap in saran to roll out later. You can also choose to roll out the dough now. Using a rolling pin, or a pasta roller, make the dough less than 1 cm thick. Use a pasta cutter attachment, or flour both sides thoroughly, loosely roll, then cut the dough into pasta. Shake out pasta then hang on a pasta rack, or form into nests. Cook nest(s) for 30 seconds to 1 minutes, or place nests into freezer bag, seal and freeze.
1

Carrot Top Pesto Shrimp

Advertisements

To see my recipe for Carrot top pesto, click here! When I froze this pesto, I didn’t add any parmesan, so if you are using store bought or even your own homemade pesto, please note that I did not add double the cheese. Also based on flavor, add some sugar or salt to flavor the sauce before adding the pasta.

This pasta is easy and straight forward, pasta, pesto, and shrimp. I didn’t strain my pasta in a colander, and instead used a slotted spoon to transfer the pasta to the pesto. I then boiled my shrimp for 1-2 minutes before using the same spoon to transfer them to the pasta mixture. I boiled my shrimp because I bought precooked shrimp, and at the time I hadn’t thawed them, so it was a great way to warm them up. If you will be doing that yourself, just be careful not to overcook the shrimp. Shrimp is fully cooked when it forms a “c” in shape. If the shrimp looks like an “o” then is will be over cooked, and tougher to eat. This recipe made 4-5 adult sized portions.

Carrot Top Pesto Shrimp Recipe CardDownload

What You Will Need

  • 2/3 cup Pesto
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan
  • 1/2 Tbsp Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Pasta Water
  • 1 1/2 cup Rotini Pasta
  • 1 1/2 Cup Shrimp
  • Large frying pan
  • Large sauce Pan & Colander

Directions

  1. Use the large frying pan with 1/2 Tbsp oil to cook any raw shrimp, 2 minutes per side in a hot pan. If using cooked and frozen shrimp, place your shrimp in a bowl with cold water for 5-10 minutes to thaw then strain through a colander.
  2. Fill a large sauce pan 3/4 with water and bring the water to a boil. Add rotini and cook until al dente. Reserve pasta water before straining.
  3. In a large frying pan, add pesto, sugar, and parmesan. Heat over low heat and combine.
  4. Add cooked pasta, cooked shrimp, and pasta water to pesto. Stir together and heat for a 3-5 minutes over low heat. Serve immediately.
2

Carrot Top Peanut Pesto

Advertisements

Pesto is traditionally made with basil, however, currently people are making pesto with many different ingredients. Typically, people use a leafy green, a type of nut, oil, garlic, and some lemon. Pesto is delicious not only as a pasta sauce, but also as a sandwich spread, mixed into dips, marinade for meats, and a topping for a salad. Pesto is also easy to make in bulk and can easily be frozen to be used at your own pace. Carrot tops are rather bitter, but partnered with peanuts mellows out the bitter flavor. The lemon adds some bright citrus flavor, and the oil holds it all together. Once you are ready to use the pesto, if it’s been frozen, you’ll have to add cheese and a bit of salt/sugar to taste. This recipe makes many servings of pesto.

Carrot top Peanut Pesto Recipe CardDownload

What You Will Need

  • Blender
  • 6 Cups Packed Carrot Tops
  • 2 Cups Salted Peanuts
  • 3 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 4 Tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1/2 cup Oil
  • Ice cube tray (Optional)
  • Parmesan & Sugar/Salt at serving

Directions

  1. Working in two batches, add 1/2 the carrot tops, peanuts, lemon and garlic into a blender. Begin blending on high, and slowly add the oil. If the mixture stops moving, stop and stir before continuing to add the oil. Blend until your desired consistency is reached, and hold back oil or add additional as necessary.
  2. Transfer into a bowl to store in the fridge, or transfer into an ice cube tray to freeze.
  3. Repeat step one with the second half. The full recipe makes almost 3 cups pesto. Freeze for 6-8 hours before transferring to a freezer bag, if desired. If you want to use it right away, mix in 2 cups parmasean, and 2 Tbsp sugar before serving.
0

Sauteed Carrot Tops

Advertisements

This side dish is quick and flavorful. You’ll want to eat it quickly or drain it on paper towels. Once this dish begins to cool down the side becomes too greasy to enjoy, so serve it very hot, and plan to reheat if necessary. 3 cups of carrot tops only makes about 1 cup once they are sauteed. You also don’t want them on the heat for too long or the leaves will burn and crisp up. The garlic brings most of the flavor to this dish. The strong garlic flavor compliments the dulled bitter flavor of the carrot tops. Carrot tops can be polarizing your first couple times eating, but I always heard you should try a food 5 times before you make a decision, because before that, you won’t like it due to novelty. This recipe makes 1 cup, which is enough for 2-3 side servings.

Sauteed Carrot Tops Recipe CardDownload

What You Will Need

  • 3 cups Carrot tops, with excess stem trimmed
  • 4 Tbsp Butter/coconut oil
  • 2 Garlic cloves
  • Large frying pan
  • Spoon

Directions

  1. Begin by preparing your carrot tops. Clean them, then trim the stem to the bottom of the first leaf.
  2. Begin heating the pan over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp oil. Crush your garlic and break them in half, then add that too. Cook until garlic turns golden.
  3. Add your remaining oil and your carrot tops. Stir to coat until everything has wilted. Remove from heat. Crush the garlic and stir into carrot tops. Remove carrot tops to drain on paper towels, or serve immediately.
0

Website Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started