Tomato and Tortellini Soup

What You'll Need:

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves peeled and minced
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon dried oregano
4 basil leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
4 cups chick stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
24 ounce can diced tomatoes
15 ounce can of tomato sauce
20 ounces three cheese tortellinis
1/2 shredded parmesan cheese

What to do:

In large sauce pan, heat olive oil. Add onion, garlic and fresh diced rosemary. Sauté for 5 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce oregano, basil, salt, pepper, stock and heavy cream to pot. Simmer for 20 min and taste. Add more seasonings as desired. Optional: for a smoother finish you can ladle half the pot mixture into blender and blend till smooth then return to pot with remaining mixture. Place tortellini in pot under tender and cooked thoroughly.

To serve, ladle into bowls and garish with parmesan cheese and diced fresh basil.

Penne with Chicken and Vodka Sauce

Penne with Chicken and Vodka Cream Sauce 

What You Will Need:

1 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 small shallots, minced (about 1/2 cup)
4 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 4 teaspoons)
1 can tablespoons tomato paste
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
6 tablespoons vodka
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 pound boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (pounded with meat tenderizer till thin)
1 pound dried penne pasta
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1. What You'll Do:

   In a large pot, melt butter. Add diced shallots and cook till softened. Stir in garlic and cook about 30 seconds. Add can of tomato paste and let softened and caramelize a little, maybe 1 minute. Add cans of diced tomatoes. Transfer in batches to a blender, or use a emersion blender to make smooth. Some chunks are ok if you like it thicker.
2. Transfer tomato mixture back to pot and stir in chili flakes, vodka, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and sugar. Bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened and flavors are melded, about 15 minutes. Stir in cream and season to taste. You can add more cream or less depending on taste. Just do a little, stir, taste and add more if desired. 

   Cook pasta to directions. Get a pan on stove really hot. Season flattened chicken breast with salt and peer. Cook each side till browned (3 min each side). Remove chicken from heat and cut into long strips. add chicken to sauce and let marinate for at least 5 min. Keep warm while pasta cooks. To Serve, spoon cooked and drained pasta in serving dish. Add spoons of sauce with chicken and mix. Add another layer of pasta to serving dish and more sauce and mix. This way you don't over sauce your noodles. Top with grated parmesan cheese and chopped basil. 

   

   
   

   Bon Appetit! 

   
   

Roasted Potato Salad

I wanted to make potato salad for a BBQ dinner we were having. However, I wanted something light and on the healthier side instead of traditional mayo based stuff. I am having fun and feeling inspired trying new dishes for summer bbqs.

 

What you'll need:

2 pounds fingerling potatoes (roughly diced)

2 celery stalks, minced

3 tablespoons plain greek yogurt

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoons minced mint

salt and pepper to taste

 

 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400. I KNOW, you don't want to turn on the oven in the heat of summer, but the crunch and roastyness will be worth it. Mix diced potatoes and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper. Put potatoes on baking sheet and bake for 35 minutes making sure to stir a few times to prevent burning.

 

Once browned, remove from oven and cool to room temperature.  

 

While your potatoes cool, whisk remaining olive oil, yogurt, and lemon juice together. Add salt and pepper to taste...and maybe a little more lemon juice if you want it zesty.

 

Pour potatoes into serving bowl and add minced celery. Pour dressing on top and mix until potatoes are coated. Garnish with mint and serve. 





 

 

 

Bon Appetit!

Asian Inspired Grilled Corn

 

I love summer. I love Summer bbqs where everyone hangs out outside playing yard games and grilling! Summer is my happy place.

 

One of my go-to side dishes is grilled corn; summer corn is sweet, inexpensive, easy to prepare, and always a crowd pleaser. There are so many varieties of grilled corn, but here is an asian twist to the summer dish!

 

 

What you'll need

2 medium cloves of garlic (minced on a microplane grater)

1 inch of fresh ginger (peeled and minced on a microplane grater)

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

4 tablespoons of soft butter

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

8-10 ears of fresh corn on the cobb  (shucked)

1/4 cup diced scallions



 

 

Directions

Preheat grill to medium heat. While grill is heating, mix garlic, ginger, soy sauce, butter, and lemon juice until combined in a small pot. Set aside on stove.

 

Place corn on grill. Cook the corn till you get a light grill on all sides. Keep rotating corn every minute or so to keep from burning for about 10 minutes.

 

Transfer corn to serving dish.

 

Turn stove with small pot of sauce on low. Stir until butter is melted and sauce is thin.

 

Coat the corn with sauce mixture using a brush or spoon. Sprinkle scallions over corn and serve.

 

 

 

Bon Appetit!

Napa in a day

 

My husband is two days older than me, and I love to remind him he is my older man. Every year for our birthdays we run away to the greater San Jose area. We are huge hockey fans and every year as a birthday treat the San Jose Sharks play back to back home games around our birthdays. This year we went to a game on Thursday and Saturday which left Friday open to escape to Napa for the day.

 

Our day started the best way possible with a Parisian breakfast at Bouchon Bakery. Every rich and savory treat you could wish for was ordered and paired with a heavenly salted caramel latte. The ivy covered building and seating area outside provided the perfect backdrop to allow for my fantasy of sitting in Paris somewhere.

 

 

From there we stared our day of wine tasting. My favorite by far was taking the tour and tasting at amazing Domaine Carneros. Every girl should have a little bubbly on her birthday.

 

 

We ventured downtown Napa and stumbled into the coolest place, The Oxbow Market.  This market place had several restaurants with communal seating so we got some treats from a few places. Our favorite was Hogs Island Oysters.  We then did some light shopping through the market at Whole Spice and Napa Valley Distillery where we got some unique bitters for cocktails. If you go to downtown Napa, I highly recommend this place.  

 

 

After some more wine tasting, a dream came true, we had dinner at Ad Hoc. For anyone who knows me, I am obsessed with Thomas Keller, and specifically this cookbook created after this restaurant. The cover of the pig was painted on our dining room wall...that's obsession.

Ad Hoc's menu changes every day, you will never experience the same meal there twice. They do a 4 course family style menu with one optional supplement; if you go, get the supplement.
 

 

Our meal was amazing and lived up to all of our expectations. My husband, being the smooth talker he is even got us a tour of the kitchen and we got to talk to the head chef. Words cannot express enough the high level of service and amount that extra attention and we got after they learned it was not only our birthdays, but how utterly food-geeky we were for being there!  Dreams do come true for these foodies.

Oscar Party Recap

 

Candy bar with to-go boxes as party favors

 

 

Loads of food. Beet salad, braised short ribs with mash, mini vegetarian lasagnas and toast, shrimp toast, goat cheese balls with smoked salmon, mini cheese cakes just to name a few!

 

 

 

Oscar bingo boards and Oscar ballots for games!

 

 

A lot of lovely ladies.

 

 

Photo booth pictures.

 

 

Travel Bug

I believe in adventure and traveling. I believe in pushing oneself to their boundaries...and then to keep going. Traveling has made me a deeper more well rounded person. I believe in the power of experiencing new cultures and food and getting lost from time to time. 

I am lucky to have a husband with the same passion for food and travel as me. With this shared passion, we both have the same issue right now...a bad case of the travel bug. We are starting prep work for our next four day holiday and trying to decide which of these great American cities we want to visit. Both are achievable for a short four day holiday. Both cities offer outdoor adventures, food, culture, cocktails, and a new area to explore. If you have visited these places....PLEASE let me know your opinions. Help is appreciated.

New Orleans

 
 

Portland