Penne with Sausage & Olive Sauce

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Olive Sauce

It’s no secret that I love those dear Housewives of New Jersey. When my favorite matriarch of the Manzo family, Caroline, talked about an olive tomato sauce that her family always had on Christmas Eve – I immediately put that on my “to-do” list in the kitchen. Her recipe is top-secret of course, but in the scene it showed her slicing up fennel so I knew that went into the mix. So, I started there and just kind of winged it.

I added some sliced up Italian sausage, two kinds of olives, and fennel – as well as all the other standard tomato sauce fare. The brininess of the olives add such a different twist from a standard tomato sauce. Also, a greater depth of flavor. And, as most pasta dishes go, it didn’t take long to throw together. If you wanted to make this a vegetarian dish, it would be just as delicious without the sausage.

If you’re like me, and find yourself in a rut when it comes to new pasta dishes – give this one a try!

Penne with Sausage & Olive Sauce

1 lb Italian sausage links (I used hot)
1 can black olives, drained and roughly chopped
1 can green olives, drained and roughly chopped
2 (28) oz cans whole tomatoes, lightly crushed with clean hands
1 onion, diced
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. penne pasta
olive oil
kosher salt
fresh chopped parsley, for garnish
Parmesan cheese, for garnish

Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a large, heavy bottomoed saucepan (I used a dutch oven) and place over medium-high heat. Add the sausage links, and brown well on all sides. Don’t worry if they’re not cooked all the way through, they’ll finish cooking in the sauce. Remove from pan to a plate, and set aside.

Add the onion and the fennel, and saute until starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for an additional minute. Add in the tomatoes, and olives and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt, I add about 1 tsp.

Slice the sausage into 1-inch pieces and add slices to the sauce. Reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for 40 minutes – stirring occasionally.

Cook pasta according to package directions, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining. Add the drained pasta to olive sauce, stirring to combine. If it seems dry, add a splash of the pasta water to help loosen up the sauce a bit.

Garnish with chopped parsley and grated Parmesan cheese before serving.

Source: inspired by The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Caroline Manzo

Raspberry Truffle Brownies

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Raspberry Truffle Brownies

I don’t know about you guys, but my local grocery store has been getting in some gorgeous berries the past couple weeks. It’s my idea of California Dreamin’ in these bleak winter months. What a wonderful state – right? To produce this kind of produce all year long? Seems like the cold has finally REALLY set in here, and I’m ready to pack my bags!

So, yeah – these brownies. They’re nothing short of amazing. I changed the original recipe up a bit by adding whole raspberries to the brownie batter, and also by adding some pureed berries in place of the raspberry jam in the topping. The result was a moist chocolate brownie, studded with tart raspberries – and topped with a not-to-sweet raspberry chocolate frosting. That’s important, because I was a bit concerned they’d be too sweet – but it really was just right.

These would be perfect for Valentine’s Day, but honestly I don’t think you’ll want to wait another month and a half to make these. If the berries in your store are looking good, pick some up and make them this weekend. You won’t regret it!

Raspberry Truffle Brownies

For the brownies:
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 and 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp instant coffee crystals
2 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup fresh raspberries

For the filling:
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 package (8 ounces) softened cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup fresh raspberries

For the chocolate drizzle:
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp shortening

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8×8-inch baking pan and set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate chips over low heat. Cool slightly.

In a small bowl combine the flour and baking powder, whisk to combine. Set aside.

In stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the eggs and brown sugar until combined. Add vanilla extract. Dissolve the coffee crystals in hot water and add to chocolate mixture. With mixer on low, slowly add the chocolate to the eggs and sugar. With mixer still on low, add the flour to the bowl and until just combined. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the raspberries.

Pour into prepared baking dish and place in oven to bake for 30-35 minutes. Until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

For the filling, melt the chocolate chips and let cool slightly. Puree raspberries using a food processor until smooth, them push through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Set pureed berries aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy, with mixer on low add the powdered sugar, melted chocolate, and pureed raspberries. Mix until well combined. Spread the filling evenly over the cooled brownies. Refrigerate for a couple hours before slicing and serving.

For the drizzle, melt the chocolate chips and shortening – stirring well to combine. Drizzle glaze evenly over cooled brownies. Garnish with fresh raspberries.

Source: adapted from The Curvy Carrot via Cooking Classy

Beer-Candied Bacon

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Beer-Candied Bacon

I had my first taste of beer-candied bacon on a burger at my other favorite local brewpub, Evolution’s Public House. While I don’t really remember anything remarkable about the burger itself, that beer-candied bacon really resonated with me. And, I tucked it away in the “make sure to try at home” file.

So, when I went into bacon-hoarding overdrive during the Holidays – and had about three pound in the fridge after Christmas, I decided to give the beer-candied bacon thing a go to have for New Year’s Eve munching. Takes less than 1 minute to throw the glaze together, then some cooking time in the oven. Which, by the way, if you haven’t been cooking bacon in your oven you’re missing out. No grease splatter, no bacon sticking to the pan, no more uneven cooking. Just perfectly crisp bacon, every time. If you line a baking pan with aluminum foil, it’s super-easy cleanup too!

With the playoff games ahead of us, as well as Super Bowl, these sweet and salty little bites of heaven would “drop the bomb” on anyone who tried them.  I served them in my favorite pint glass (yes, that’s a honey badger) which I thought was cute. It was almost like a bouquet of bacon; there’s an idea for Valentine’s Day, ladies! I used a stout for the glaze, but I think that most beers (maybe aside from an IPA) would work for this application. It’s a quick and easy appetizer that’s so fun and different – a great start to the new year in my book!

Beer-Candied Bacon

1 lb thick-cut, high quality bacon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp beer (I used Dogfish Head’s Chicory Stout)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine brown sugar and beer in a small bowl, whisking well to form a thin syrup. Set aside.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place a wire cooling rack on top. Place the pieces of bacon on top of the rack, overlapping if necessary. Place in oven and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and brush one side of the bacon with the beer syrup. Flip, and coat the other side with the syrup as well. Return to oven and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and repeat process another time or two more, until bacon is crispy and browned, and you’ve used all the glaze.

Cool on wire rack for at least 1 hour before serving.

Source: adapted from Oskar Blues Brewery

baconstoutchocolatecheesecake-150x150

 

I made this beer-candied bacon to go in conjunction with a Bacon Stout Chocolate Cheesecake. If you’re into the idea of beer and bacon, make sure to check it out here!