Once in a while, we have readers tell us that we miss certain posts or segments. One of those segments is the “At Home” segment. I eat three square a day, but am usually too lazy to type out what I made. Indianapolis Amy writes a blog here in town and she reminded me how much that segment rocked and if I wanted to write one for her blog. I took her up on the option, so head over there and check it out. A picture of the pasta I made is below.
-wibia
It is about that time of year that I consume a good amount of guac. Salty chips, guac and cold beer…you just can’t beat it. This recipe is really simple, quick, easy and pretty good.
Before I continue: MAKE YOUR OWN GUACAMOLE!!! The stuff is supermarkets is scientific junk. They rarely contain avocados. Think I am kidding? Check out this list from debris.com.
4 ripe avocados
1 lime, juiced
1 garlic clove
1/2 red onion
Cilantro leaves…about a cup. I never measure.
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
1/2 jalapeno, no ribs or seeds. Want it hotter? Use a Serrano. You can add heat later, so default to low heat.
Quick drizzle of olive oil.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Add it all in the food processor, press the button. If you want to be a little more authentic, go with a Mocajete.
Garnish with a little red onion and cilantro. I like a little crunch form the red onion.
-wibia
I love Beef Stroganoff, but it can take a while to make it. This is a go to meal for me in the winter, but I bet it will be mighty tasty during the early spring or fall too.
Ingredients
Flank Steak
Thyme (5 sprigs)
Rosemary
4 T of unsalted butter
1 lb. mushrooms
3 cloves of garlic
2 T Sour Cream
1 T Dijion Mustard
Parsley
1 lb of egg noodles. Whatever kind you like, thick, thin…doesn’t matter.
OPTIONAL: Add onion.
This is really simple and should take about 25 minutes. Take the flank steak and add a little rosemary and thyme to cover. Dried spices will do the trick, but use fresh if you have it. You should be setup like this:
Take the flank steak and either do it on the stove or grill it. It doesn’t matter. Keep in mind it cooks quickly, about 4-5 minutes on each side regardless of saute or grill. You never want to cook flank steak past medium. The first pic is a solid medium.
Cut your mushrooms in quarters. I have tried slicing them here and I just think it tastes better with meatier mushrooms. Two count of olive oil, add a little rosemary and thyme. If your garlic is fresh, then add it now. If you are using the minced in a jar type, add it later. When finished, it should look like this.
Add 2 T of butter to the above. Low-medium heat. Add the 2 T of sour cream and the 1 T of dijon mustard. Fold it all together. Take the other 2 T of butter and toss it into the egg noodles, add a little parsley, salt and pepper to taste.
Add noodles to the plate, put the sauce on top and add the flank steak.
Most awesome quick version of a classic.
-wibia
The last At Home segment showed you how to dress up your quick pasta. This is a little more work, but not a lot. This is one of my favorite meals and a really simple preparation. You will never be the same person after you eat this.
Take four chicken thighs, add kosher salt (Diamond Crystal is my favorite), pepper (from a pepper mill), rosemary and thyme. Dried spices are fine. Leave the skin on, although you may need to trim them. Roll the skin around so it is stretched around the meat.
Two count of olive oil in a sauté pan and sear them. Make sure the oil is hot enough for sizzle before you put them it. Skin side down first for about five minutes, then flip them for about five minutes. They should look like this:
Put them in the oven at 375 for about 18 minutes and do not cover. Approximate timing, depending on how long you leave them in the pan, more time in the pan = less time in the oven. Ya dig?
Now, put some mushrooms and onion in the same saute pan that you just used. Leave about 2 T of fat/oil…you will probably have to take some out.
8 oz mushrooms, 1/2 large onion.
Toss the onions in the saute pan, they should have about a five minute head start on the mushrooms.
Now pay attention here!!
You should be cooking your pasta now, but before you strain your pasta, reserve 1 cup of the starchy water. My favorite for this dish is Nicole and Taylor’s Mushroom Pasta. Sorry out of towners.
The mushrooms and onions are about 10 minutes in the pan and then add the one cup of starchy water and four tablespoons of unsalted butter. It should be looking like this:
Reduce this for around 5-10 minutes until it looks like sauce instead of buttered water.
Plate, finish with a good pinch of salt/pepper and garnish with parsley.
This just might be the best pasta that you have ever had.
-wibia
Remember this segment? Yeah, I doubt it. Last recipe was from IndianapolisEater on February 10th. Understand that since my son (el diablo) is 9 months old, my pursuit of “the good stuff” is compromised. Additionally, where I would normally have two hours to cook dinner, I now have 25 minutes and 1 hand. I know…it was my choice to have a kid, stop yo’ b**chin wibia.
Now, I look for a few shortcuts here and there and ways to add flavor to items that are already in my pantry. In this case, pasta night to a lot of people looks like this:
Look familiar for pasta night?
Emeril’s sauce is okay and I would give it a 6/10, but it is what I had. Don’t buy the really cheap canned stuff…spend a few bucks more. Same goes with the pasta, buy good quality dried pasta. This is a start, a sad start, but if you add a few things, you might have something to talk about.
Getting warmer...
Ingredients: L->R Garlic, Parmigiano Reggiano, Italian Sausage (links), Spanish Onion, Baby Bellas, Sauce, Pasta, Italian Seasoning, Fennel and Red Pepper.
Again, this is quick, easy..cheap and pretty flippin’ good. The trick is, how you prepare this. Let me explain.
So take the pork sausage links (4), cut off the casing. Roll it into a ball like this, and then cover it with the whole fennel, red pepper, and italian seasoning.
TIP: A lot of times, pork sausage is cheaper than ground pork. Watch your prices.
Then break it into pieces, something like this…
Two count of olive oil into a pan and drop the balls of sausage in the pan. Have a big enough pan that they are not sitting on top of each other. Could you have put all the sausage in at one and then break it apart with a spatula? Sure, but that is more of a bolognese and not what we are doing here. After a few minutes, add onion and garlic. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
After about 10 minutes, it should look like this. TIP: the sausage needs to be dark on the outside. In fact, almost a little burnt. Don’t stir this a lot, otherwise it will not carmelize.
It's ready
Add the sauce to the pan above (if most of the oil/fat is gone, if not, dump the oil out). Cook for about 3 minutes until it is warm. I sautéed the mushrooms in a separate pan with 1 T of butter and a two count of olive oil. If you time it out correctly, you can cook the mushrooms in the above pot. Either works just fine.
Add it all together and give it a snow shower of Parmigiano Reggiano on the Microplane and call it dinner.
In future segments, I will teach you how to make all of this from scratch. This is my version of “Semi-Homemade” from wibia.
Enjoy,
wibia
