Tag: Italian

italian sausage & vegetable medley

September 26th, 2011 · Bambino Steps (Kimberly) ·

More often than not, impromptu dishes, thrown together without much forethought, turn out to be the most delicious. Such was this simple dish, prepared and served within 20 minutes on a particularly busy, stressful day last week. It had me reaching for the camera, and scrambling to find a scrap of paper to scribble down the recipe before it left my brain for good. This is absolutely fabulous on its own, but could also make an excellent soup with the addition of a quart of vegetable stock, or even spooned over zucchini ribbon pasta.

Italian Sausage & Vegetable Medley

  • coconut oil
  • Italian sausage – if you’re local, you must try it from New Seasons
  • 1 medium zucchini, sliced into half moons
  • 1 cup small Crimini mushrooms, sliced
  • 3-4 kale leaves, finely chopped
  • 1 quite small yellow onion, diced

Optional:

  • 1 egg for each serving
  • kelp flakes or fine sea salt to sprinkle over fried egg

Crappy pic but thankful I snap photos of my meals for Twitter.

Directions: In a large cast iron skillet, heat a spoonful of coconut oil and saute Italian sausage over medium-high heat until the outside is brown, but insides are still pink. Toss in zucchini and stir, cooking for two minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes, then add kale and cook for several more. Finally, add onion and saute for another five minutes. In a separate, smaller skillet, fry one egg in coconut oil for each serving. Top each serving of the medley with a fried egg, sprinkle with kelp flakes, and serve immediately. Mangia!

Side note: I recently re-organized all food-related posts to make it easier to find recipes. Explore more deliciousness under the Mangia category here. If you’re still not finding what you’re looking for, try using the new search box, which is located on the sidebar.

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6. Autumn, 9. Paleo, Mangia 3 comments - Tags: , , , , ,

bacon parsley linguine

June 2nd, 2011 · Bambino Steps (Kimberly) ·

Last week we spent the week at the coast, beach combing, visiting sea lions, and as the sun went down, watching Twin Peaks (on Netflix) and drinking white wine. We ate our fair share of clam chowder, grilled cheese sandwiches, bay shrimp salad and clam strips. After a few days we needed a break from seafood and the fridge needed a good clean-out, so I cooked up a large skillet of pasta, of the bacon and parsley variety to be exact.

This pasta was unreal. Comments at the table included:

“Cheers to lunchtime wine!”

“Om nom nom.”

“I love you.”

- “Thanks.”

- “No, not you, I mean I love you , but I was talking to the pasta.”

“Beef bacon is rad.”

“I’m going to have to lay down after this.”

The noodles slurped up perfectly, swimming in a white wine sauce, the bacon was perfectly salted, and the parsley and mushrooms gave it just enough earthy flavor to round it out. And can I just say how amazing uncured beef bacon is? Seriously special. I served this alongside buttered garlic french bread and a glass of white wine. I intended to make a green salad as well, but really, when you’re consuming a main dish of carbs, followed by a side of carbs, I’m not sure any other food, green or otherwise, is needed.

After we feasted I knew it was one of those recipes that I needed to sit down and write out as quickly as possible before it left my memory. So in case you can’t read my handwriting, here it is:

Bacon and Parsley Linguine

  • 6-8 pieces of uncured beef bacon (I used Painted Hills)
  • 1 lb. linguine (my favorite dried pasta)
  • 3 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 2-3 cloves garlic
  • 1 small red onion
  • 8 white button mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 1 small bunch parsley, finely chopped
  • course salt and black pepper
  • optional: scant 1/4 teaspoon crushed red peppers

Cook bacon in a large cast iron skillet. Drain on towels and a plate, crumble. While the bacon cooks, boil a large pot of salted water, add the pasta and cook until al dente. While the pasta is cooking, add the olive oil to the still hot skillet and sautee the onions and garlic for two minutes. Then add the mushrooms and continue cooking until golden. Pour the wine into the skillet and let it cook down just a bit, then add the bacon and stir. The pasta should be done at this point, drain and add to the skillet. Toss with parsley, crushed red peppers and pepper. Serve piping hot.

Mangia!

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4. Spring, Mangia 8 comments - Tags: , , ,

(italian) seasons greetings

January 8th, 2011 · Bambino Steps (Kimberly) ·

One evening, about two years ago, I was making pasta and my little jar of Italian seasoning ran out. Rather than purchase a new jar, I read the ingredients off the side label and blended up a new batch right then and there. Since then, I’ve refilled that little jar at least a dozen times. I purposely planted seeds from each herb in my blend over the spring, with the hopes of drying them and giving away the herbs as gifts. Sadly, some plants never survived past the sprouting phase and after all that canning I couldn’t quite muster the energy to preserve anything else. Thankfully, bulk organic herbs are easily available at the market, so I was able to whip up a huge batch of the blend. Buying in bulk is so awesome! It saves a ton of money and creates much less waste in the landfill.

Italian Seasoning

  • 4 TBS. oregano
  • 2 TBS. marjoram
  • 1 TBS. thyme
  • 2 tsp. basil
  • 2 tsp. rosemary
  • 1 tsp. sage

Combine ingredients in a widemouthed glass jar. Using a chopstick, mix until well blended. Store in a cool, dry place. For a different blend, try using less oregano and add in parsley and chopped dried garlic. I use this seasoning liberally in dressings, pasta sauces and marinades. I also sprinkle it across eggs,  roasted chicken and vegetables, and when I’m feeling more ambitious, to mayonnaise and butter when making sandwiches.

For the packaging I used 1/4 pint jelly jars, scraps leftover from making unpaper towels, and those gift tags as labels. The blend was a huge hit! I plan to make many more jars to use as gifts throughout the year. If you make this, I’d love to know how you like it.

Did you make any edible gifts this year?

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2. Preserve, 3. Winter, 9. Paleo, Mangia 8 comments - Tags: , , , , ,

kale & white bean soup with rosemary & olive oil flat bread

June 19th, 2010 · Bambino Steps (Kimberly) ·

Tonight I made soup. Did I mention it’s nearing the end of June? Yup, steaming hot, delicious soup. It just sounded downright homey and hearty after a busy day shopping at the farmer’s market and fabric store. I tore the soup recipe from the pages of Real Simple, as I tend to do, but you can find the recipe here. The only modifications I made were to omit the soup pasta and halve the amount of salt that it called for, but next time I’ll use the full portion.

The flat bread preparation just seemed necessary due to the lack of soup pasta and sliced bread in the house. And dammit, I just felt carbs were essential. The bread paired nicely with the soup and it was super easy to make. My husband actually whipped up the dough while I made the soup and as that simmered I quickly topped the bread, popped it in the oven and it was ready right as the soup was. The whole production took about 30 minutes. Seriously.

Rosemary & Olive Oil Flat Bread

We’ve made this dough three times in the past week alone, twice for pizza, now for flat bread and there’s another little ball sitting in the fridge waiting its turn to be topped. My husband made the dough in the food processor this time around and changed the ingredients enough that it warrants instruction:

Dough:

  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 cup bread flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Topping:

  • scant 1 tablespoon Spanish olive oil (to drizzle on top of dough)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
  • a small handful fresh basil leaves

Include dry ingredients in food processor and give it a zap (proof yeast in water first if allowing dough to rise. See original recipe for instructions). Add wet ingredients and give it another few zaps. Divide the dough and roll into two separate balls. Refrigerate or freeze one ball for another day. Roll out the other dough ball on a baking sheet or pizza stone by hand to about 1/4 inch thickness. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle rosemary on top. Bake for five minutes at 425 500 degrees. At five minutes, quickly top with basil leaves, turn the sheet, and cook an additional five minutes. (I added the basil leaves at the beginning, which is why mine look crispy brown instead of vibrant green.) Slice or break the bread and serve alongside soup. Mangia!

And a little preview of what’s to come:

Strawberry rhubarb hand pies! A little Father’s Day gift for my husband and Pops. I’ll post about this later as I may have already eaten one two of the pies and feel disgustingly over-sugared. Oopsie. Plan thwarted.

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4. Spring, Mangia 4 comments - Tags: , , ,

pesto pasta and honey mint asparagus; Bear for dessert

May 28th, 2010 · Bambino Steps (Kimberly) ·

Sooo…this has been a foodie week. I’ve been completely obsessed with making new things and have many more ideas than there are meals to eat. After making the asparagus stir-fry the other night, I had quite a bit of asparagus, basil and mint left over and kept pondering what to do with those little herbs and greens. I thought about making fresh egg salad or turkey and avocado sandwiches, piled with a layer of fresh basil, and while that sounded delicious, I wanted a more robust dinner, and this my friends, delivered: pesto penne pasta with honey mint asparagus. Sounds like a strange combo, and considering I was just trying to clean out my fridge, I suppose it kind of was, but you know? It worked.

The pasta was rich and nutty and fresh. Pesto is so simple to make and this recipe made enough for four meals. The asparagus was equally good; sweet, but also made savory by the richness of the pine nuts and flax seeds. I followed a basic pesto recipe that I got right off the package of organically grown basil by Ratto Farms LLC.

Homemade Pesto (adapted from recipe found on Ratto Farms Organically Grown Basil)

  • 1 cup fresh basil leaves – packed
  • 1-2 cloves garlic (I used three)
  • 3 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, plus a few tablespoons, divided (I grated fresh parm right into the mixer..I’m guessing it was about 1 1/4 cups. I needed to use up the brick purchased for this pasta dish)
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Place washed and dried basil, garlic, pine nuts, salt and cheese in blender or food processor. Add olive oil and pulse until mixture forms a thick puree. Pour over cooked hot pasta, sprinkle with remaining cheese and serve. Serves 2-3 (like I said, it served four for us). I used probably about a pound of whole wheat penne pasta. I buy pretty much whatever I can in bulk, and so I just used what I had left in my jar.

Honey Mint Asparagus

  • 1/2 bunch asparagus
  • drizzle of honey
  • 1/2 handful of fresh mint leaves
  • pinch of pine nuts (approx. 1/2 teaspoon)
  • pinch of flax seeds (approx. 1/2 teaspoon)

Steam the asparagus a few minutes after the pasta has started cooking. It took about 8 minutes maybe before it was perfect. (I use this contraption to steam veggies and stuff while cooking pasta or soups. I LOVE IT). Sliver mint. Divide cooked asparagus between two plates and sprinkle with mint, pine nuts and flax seeds; drizzle with honey and serve. Makes two hefty servings.

I think this take on asparagus is unexpected, yet delicious. Next time I might pair this with a small grilled chicken breast and add a dollop of ricotta cheese or a chevre (oh man, like Juniper Grove would be dank) on the asparagus. It’s a hearty enough side to be paired with something lighter both in taste and heft.

In other random news, I have been even more obsessed lately with a) embroidery and b) knitting. I’m actively embroidering, but not so actively knitting as my choice of materials, hemp, is proving to be a tad more challenging to work with and I am an EXTREMELY novice knitter. That said, my obsession lies with this pattern, which makes this:

Apparently the heavenly creature depicted is named Bear. Um, how this could become any cuter is like, unfathomable, because I’m not sure anything could ever top this.

Knit better. MUST.

* knit overalls images source: The Purl Bee

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4. Spring, Create, Mangia 9 comments - Tags: , , , ,