My husband has an addiction and its to Pasta Buttera.  We scour the menus of local and not so local restaurants in search of his beloved Pasta Buttera. Finally one night I decided we were going to make our own version of this dish because we just cannot afford his dining out buttera habit!  I’m sure our favorite restaurants simmer the sauce on the stove-top all day but since I work all day – everyday I decided to come up with a  time-saving “Cheater Edition” and I’ll tell you what….It rivals any others!

Here’s what you need:

1 lb. bulk sausage (any variety you like)

1 – small shallot – finely diced

3 – cloves garlic – minced

1 C. – heavy cream

2 – jars your favorite tomato and basil – tomato sauce

½ stick – butter

1 ½ C. frozen peas

1 lb. ziti

Pinch of salt/pepper

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

How to Prepare:

Pre-heat and coat a large skillet with extra virgin olive oil – lightly brown – but cook through sausage – add diced shallot and cook until translucent – add minced garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes – add your 1 ½ jars of sauce and stir in sausage – add salt and pepper to taste – add ½ stick of butter – stir in until melted – add heavy cream and stir in until well combined – add frozen peas to sauce 2 minutes before removing from burner – add cooked ziti to sauce and combine well.  Serve and enjoy immediately.

In a large pot filled with cold water add:

1 – Small Onion (Quartered)

4 – Cloves Garlic – Rough Chopped

Salt & Pepper to water

However many racks of ribs you plan to cook

Cover ribs with additional water to make sure the ribs are full submerged

Cover pot and bring water to a boil then simmer for 25 minutes

Remove ribs from pot and place on pre-heated grill with the temperature set on medium-low.  At this time you will begin basting your ribs with your favorite BBQ Sauce allowing the ribs to cook for 5 minutes per side before flipping – I like to flip my ribs twice per side to achieve the max BBQ sauce flavor.  If you want to add additional smoky flavor simply create a smoker pouch and incorporate that into the in active side of the grill.  

Please note this time saving cooking method ONLY works with baby back ribs because they have the least amount of fat to start.

The ribs in the photo above were prepared using the above method…Don’t they look delicious!  If you have any rib time saving tips let me know in the comment section below.

Here’s how I make it:

Husk the corn making sure to remove all of the silk – brush with olive oil  and place on a preheated grill set to high.  Depending upon your grill rotate the corn for 8-12 minutes or until a slightly charred exterior begins to appear but the cob is still firm (see photo above).  Once the corn comes off of the grill serve immediately with traditional S/P and butter or for a unique Mexican style twist combine sour cream – fresh lime juice and cilantro to taste and “slather” corn with your sour cream blend for a refreshing – creamy bite!

Tip #1: Make Sure The Steak is Room Temperature Before Placing On The Grill: Here’s the deal if you put a refrigerator cold steak on the grill two things are going to happen.  First your steak will be tough and secondly it won’t cook evenly.

Tip#2: Do Not Use a Meat Fork: The worst thing you can do to a steak while cooking is pierce the flesh by slicing it to check for doneness or using a meat fork to flip the steak.  Both allow the natural juices to run out of the steak leaving you with a dry steak.  Instead use tongs to flip your steak and an instant read thermometer to check for doneness.

Tip#3: Crank Up the Heat: It’s important to sear your steak when placing it on the grill.  To ensure this happens crank up the heat to max on your gas grill or wait until the charcoals become ashy white hot – Then cook the steaks for 3-5 minutes per side.

Have a steak grilling tip or question? Let me know in the comments below…

Finally a few years back I came across a bag of natural lump charcoal.  I was intrigued to learn more and went home to hit the information superhighway (AKA the Internet).  I learned that natural lump charcoal is made from a variety of hardwoods and has no chemical additives.  What’s great about it is that it actually burns hotter – faster and easier than the traditional briquettes that I was used to.  Here’s the deal – you DO NOT use lighter fluid with this variety of charcoal (that’s right the BBQ gods with sweep down and deem you unfit to operate your grill).  Rather, you simply either use an electric fire ring or natural fire starters.  The charcoal will usually take about 8 minutes to get up to about 400 degrees.  Natural charcoal burns incredibly clean and only leaves a small amount of ash for cleanup. 

There is a boatload of brands out there and natural charcoal can be purchased anywhere from home centers, to grocery stores, to your favorite grilling specialty retailers.  Personally, I enjoy the Natural Lump Charcoal by Big Green Egg that is normally only found in specialty retail stores.   

Do you have experience with natural lump charcoal? Love it – hate it? Let me know in the comments below…

So for all of you that live with or are exposed to those pesky “diet” sabotages tell me what you do to stay on track…We totally need to form a support group!

This weekend is my Mother-in-Law’s family BBQ and among other tasks I’m helping to streamline the cocktail menu to allow Jeff, my Father-in-Law to break out from behind the bar and join the party.  He’s known for his quirky and innovative drinks so I know I have to bring my “A” game to our pre-party meeting.

I want the drinks served in large pitchers with the star of the show being the Watermelon Sangria served in the actual watermelon body with a serving ladle – this serving idea came straight out of this issue of Food Network Magazine.  The reason for the pitchers? The drinks are made pre-party allowing Jeff to escape from his bar duties plus it encourages guests to help themselves!

I plan to begin perfecting my Watermelon Sangria recipe over the next few days.  Although, at first thought I’m thinking of using white wine to keep the drink light and not over power the watermelon, I also feel vodka (maybe flavored – maybe not) might be another great addition instead of brandy also helping to keep things light.  I know we’ll need a little simple syrup to help sweeten the drink up a bit or perhaps pineapple juice. 

I’ll post my final recipe and pics once it has been perfected.  In the meantime got a sangria tip – or story post in the comments below!

What's Missing From This Photo?

So many of my friends and clients take a recipe as if it’s gospel.  Words on a paper that are to cook by and never to be tampered with.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a dish prepared and the cook is scraping off items and pushing them to the side of their dish.  Finally, one day I got brave enough to ask a friend what’s the deal and she simply said – “it was in the recipe”.  All I could think is you’ve got to be KIDDING me!

So today’s tip is easy – if you don’t like an ingredient don’t include it.  If you get to the grocery store and the chicken looks like its seen better days switch to a different protein.  If your mid-way through the cooking process and you realize your out of an ingredient try substituting with something else you have in your pantry.  Some of my most amazing culinary discoveries have happened by substituting.  I know at first it might seem a bit rebellious but I promise you the recipe police will not show up at your door and who knows you might just discover a new favorite recipe.

What brought this topic to mind is our Chicken Marsala.  This has become one of my favorite recipes and almost a weekly staple due to its price and ease.  I’ll share the recipe with you another day but today’s point is to ask…What’s missing in this picture.  Give up?  Alright, I’ll tell you…Mushrooms!  My husband detests mushrooms and I love them but I enjoy this dish as much with or without the mushrooms…So for the sake of my family’s enjoyment we leave ‘em out.

So come on…For tonight’s dinner I dare you to think outside of the recipe box and make the recipe your own!

Meatballs Grillin' & Chillin

I don’t usually splurge on pricey grilling accessories but I’ve been eyeing the Meatball Grill Basket from Williams-Sonoma for the past few months.  For a whopping $50 the basket  allows the griller to cook 12 meatballs simultaneously and because they pop into a form you can rest assured all of your meatballs are all the same size.  Honestly, aside from a holiday dinner I have no need to cook 12 meatballs and my family doesn’t give a hoot if they are the same size.  Rather the idea of grilling a meatball is what sparked my interest. 

Last night was the first time we used the Meatball Grill Basket.  I used the same meatball recipe I use indoors because I wanted to truly taste the difference between preparing them traditionally indoors and grilling them outdoors.  

First, lets discuss the ease factor – after spraying the basket with non-stick cooking spray and loading the basket I simply popped it on the grill after a few minutes I flipped the basket and cooked the other side and before I knew it voila the meatballs were cooked to perfection.  No sticking to the basket – no meatballs sticking to the grill or rolling around the grates it was almost too easy. 

Now we’ll talk flavor (my favorite aspect of any cooking process).  The grilled meatballs were beyond delicious.  The outside was crisp and the interior was warm and soft.  I used my infrared gas grill because I wanted to obtain a high temp for searing the meatballs. 

So if you’ve got a little extra cheddar in your pocket this week I whole-heartedly suggest running – not walking to Williams – Sonoma to pick up your very own Meatball Grill Basket.

Have a Meatball Grill Basket? – Ever grilled meatballs before? – Got a tip? Write in the comments below – I’d love to hear from you!

How to Prepare

1 – Bunch Asparagus

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Kosher Salt

1 – Clove Garlic Minced (optional)

Break one of the pieces of asparagus with at its natural breaking point with your fingers.  Take your broken piece of asparagus and hold it up to the remainder of the bunch – using a knife slice the rest of the bunch to size and dispose of the trimmed stems.  In a long dish (I use a pyrex small casserole dish – but whatever you like) add the asparagus – coat with EV olive oil – Kosher Salt – and your garlic.  Hand mix all of the ingredients and place on a hot grill.  The asparagus with cook very quickly so keep on rotating them across the grill grates.  Once the begin to slightly soften and appear to have a slight amount of grill char remove from the grill.  Place on a serving plate then drizzle with EV olive oil.

Here’s the deal with asparagus don’t over cook them because they continue to cook even after they are removed from the grill.  To add another layer of flavor you can also squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the cooked asparagus.